today we went to buckethead's san jose streetlight appearance. things did not go as smooth for us as we had hoped. twiddle thumbs and i got off work 2 hours early which i knew would give us time to apply for twiddle thumbs's passport and get to buckethead fairly early but i didn't count on the unexpected errands. twiddle thumbs was supposed to go to the mall to buy a gift certificate that will be given away at the campus staff breakfast tomorrow. then we had to drop off the certificate at someone's house. i also forgot to get gas yesterday. the delays added up. when we got to streetlight, it was packed. i brought my video camera and was able to get a recording, but i'm afraid it wasn't a very good one. much of my view was blocked and some asshole in front of me who was also taping kept blocking my view.

buckethead went on earlier than he did in santa cruz but i think he played slightly less as well. he did take some time out from his performance to give away toys. one thing he did play in san jose that he did not in santa cruz was the pirates of the carribean song, "a pirate's life for me". i don't know why but i always like to hear him play that one.

after he played, there was an autograph session. we got in line and most of the line was stuck outside in the cold--it got pretty cold. eventually i went back to the car to get our jackets. the line wasn't very long but we ended up spending two hours in line. when we finally got up to buckethead, it was well worth it though. he signed cds and posters for us and we even took pictures with him. i can't wait to see how they come out. when i got home, i noticed something that he wrote on one of the cds for me: "thank you for your support". that is the first time i have seen buckethead sign something that wasn't a death joke sort of thing. it was very sincere of him and i really appreciate it. i think he wrote that because he remembered me from santa cruz and we had him autograph the pictures we had previously taken with him. he was really surprised to see those pictures. he bent down to stare at it because i don't think he recognized himself. who would under a mask? ;) i had to correct him when he wrote my name again. he keeps writing "marik" and i drew in the air a "o". for twiddle thumbs, he spelled her name correctly on one thing, but on the photograph he wrote "verinca" or something like that. either buckethead's dyslexic or he must've dropped out of school to devote his life to music.

after streetlight, we were hungry. it was past 9:30pm and we remembered a health food store in san jose so we went there immediately. they close at 10pm and had about 10 minutes to shop. we were amazed. the selection was so vast but for premade food there wasn't much of a choice so we bought some vegan cookies. why do all these natural/whole foods stores sell so much meat and cheese? it'd be really nice to go to a vegetarian store for once.

then we went next door to starbucks so that we could have something warm to drink and use the laptop to check email. surprise surprise, starbucks fucking charges you for internet connection. that fucking blows. even though i've only been there once, i'm used to a local santa cruz coffee house that has free internet. the starbucks price wasn't even decent. i've paid less for the internet in japan, a most expensive country. starbucks can kiss my ass.