They spend time in Studio 69 with Rebec, Fred, Morgan and guest stars Timmy and Slug.  The theme for the night is a "big-ass bottle of Stoli."

 

They work their last evening at the fair.  They have the best time on the last night because they are well-seasoned tablers at this time and are prepared in every way for all that happens.  They don't even close up early and manage to outwork the (overzealous) Christians they've been neighbors with for the month.  Richie finally has his deep fried snickers bar.

 

Kim calls in to work, overworked and under rested from the weekend void of REM sleep.  They spend the day doing some light shopping (but heavy grocery shopping) and head home for a Sake night with SLug, Timmy, Morgan and Fred.  Richie naps most of the day while Kim reads. 

 

 Khanh spends the night with Richie and Kim in Studio 69.  They talk, drink Sake, and have a perfectly decent evening. 

 

Kim, Khanh and Kieu watch movies all day (the tuxedo, red dragon, __________, (brainfart) and minority report, for future reference)

Later that night, they lovely lovebirds pick up Khanh and meet Dan and Jen at the LR for their "fun night" and trannual celebration.  They play pool and get mildly toasted. 

 

They have a relaxing evening at home- dinner consists of mother and child, (honey mustard rum chicken, bok choy and eggs) tomatoes topped with crunchy garlic bits and kiwi strawberry soda.  The have a single glass of wine and fall asleep by 10 pm.

 

Friday evening.  They take off with Don and Mary for Cantamar, Mexico to stay for a weekend on a beautiful beach filled with sand dollars and back door-to-back door merchants.  (The backyard was the beach) 

 

August 9, 2003

They spend the day in the water playing around, kayaking about, and watching porpoises.  They go to the best taco stand in the wolrd for shrimp tacos and buy a hungry, scruffy little bum-dog a plate of carne asada.  they watch him scarf down the plate in record time and Kim feeds him a sip of her beer.  They hope he makes it, but for a little puppy no larger than a couple of handfulls, they feel bad.  They go home after that and get back in the water.  They go to a nearby RV Park to visit some of Don's friends and relations and have more beer and more shrimp, this time, jumbo shrimp with a spicy cocktail sauce.  (No complaints here!)  That night, after Kim and Richie are sufficiently sunburned, they have an oceanfront dinner at Calafia, a beautiful restaurant on a cliff complete with live pianist playing Scott Joplin rags.  He plays the entertainer as the four of them walk in.  Richie is sick from sunburn covering most of his body and the four of them go home and go to bed.

 

They visit Puerto Nuevo for a lobster lunch (with soup, rice, beans, tortialls, guacamole and chips) and Richie has the Mariachis play Kim a song of her choice.  She chooses La Llorona, one of her favorite mexican folksongs and sips on her margarita happily as the trio of mariachis serenade the quartet of them.  After that generously-proportioned lunch, they shop in the scorching sun for mexican blankets for Cassandra.  They also find a little turtle necklace for Rebec.  kim is intruiged by the little boy who holds a knife the same size he is.  In a matter of minutes, he transforms a whole coconut into a hand-held drink complete with straw.  This skill reminds Kim of herself at that age, only she had a piano and not a knife in the development of her trade.  She feels strangely fortunate and sad.  Mary stops at her coffee shop, the only outdoor shop Kim has ever really seen, and the owner/worker remembers her from past trips down.  They relax in the much-needed shade listening to hip-hop and head home after watching a beautiful sunset over the water in Don's backyard.

 

They watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding at Kim's with Khanh and Jen.  They break spaghetti afterwards and stop off at Jen's to drop her off.  Richie comments to Kim, while on Chapman, that he has had a very "fun" night.

Kim is happy.

 

Evening one of the four day event, Kim and Richie kick off the jazz-filled weekend outside near the pool of the Irvine Marriott.  Paul Smith is quite the comedic allusionist, a cat whose solos consist mostly of "quotes" or allusions to previously composed material.           

 

Ken Poplowski (t/s), Judy Roberts (p/vocal), Wycliffe Gordon, Scott Hamilton and Joey DeFrancesco headline this evening's event.  Some of the other memorable players were Lynn Seaton (b), Jeff Hamilton (a "10" on the drums) and good ol' Butch Miles.  Some of the memorable eats were the california rolls topped with unagi, the unagi, salmon, yellowtail and sake.  Last year at this event, Kim buys a Stoli and tonic from the bar from a blonde bartender who was new to the job and this year, it's a sushi bar.  Cool! 

 

They walk around the block and see friends around the Studio 69 area in the late afternoon.  The area is rife with drunken people and friends meeting friends; it's street fair weekend.  Richie meets up with some old friends who he recently discovers are his new neighbors as well.  After a delay, they go to the jazz party to hear Wycliffe Gordon, "The Three Tenors," Scott Hamilton, Ken Poplowski and Ricky Woodward with Tom Ranier, Lynn and Jeff again.  They even stay for the after hours lobby set that night, lounging in comfy padded armchairs and listening to Wycliffe wail.  They leave after a couple of numbers and stop across the street to explore what the pretty white building might be.  They sit by the water for awhile and talk about nothing in particular.  They are soon ready to go home.

 

After their last night at the West Coast Jazz Party, they start to feel almost jazzed out.  Doing the same thing, going to the same place for a date for four nights in a row has a certain charm, but the charm should be experienced seldom rather than often.