Back From San Jose

While I didn’t get the pleasure of debuting another book, I did at least get the chance over the weekend to be a panelist!  The topic of the panel was on historic fiction and while I had to dodge some questions because “I just remembered it that way” wasn’t the sort of answer that would have helped anyone, over all I did a good job and had a lot of fun.

I sang karaoke for the first time since starting my transition on Saturday Night.  I sang “I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Miserables and actually did OK, for being two years out of practice and my voice being trashed by a nagging cough.

I also got to spend some time with someone from one of the reincarnation forums I post on, who had previously been a German soldier in both world wars.  After a toast and a quick lunch, we made a spur-of-the-moment trip to the Rosicrucian Peace Garden and museum in the older part of San Jose.

While I can’t find any evidence that I had been there (by all accounts Phil had taken RC courses by correspondence) I nonetheless had the intense feeling that I had been there before.  This was compounded by the fact that in the last few years, the grounds of the compound have been transformed into a beautiful palm tree garden.  I can’t help but wonder if the beatific vision Phil had was nothing more than a hazy “memory” of the future.

Interestingly, the RC peace garden had previously featured a statue of Julius Caesar in front of the planetarium (my friend even had a photo of this statue).  When I was there, however, we saw this instead:

A statue of Pythagoras had been erected in place of the statue of Caesar some time prior to my visit.  I cannot find exactly when one statue replaced the other but it seems strange nonetheless.  I’d be tempted to believe that this is a sign that the Empire will not stand before me but that’d just be crazy and grandiose.  Nonetheless, seeing the photo of the statue of Caesar where Pythagoras now stood gave me chills!

The museum was pretty impressive too, though sadly too dark to get good quality photos with my 8-year-old digital camera.  I did get a photo of the outside of this gorgeous building though:

Afterward we went to the Winchester Mystery House, though we didn’t have time to go in (maybe next time I’m down there).  I did get to see it from the outside:

After that, it was time to go to the airport.  I had just enough time to get dinner (which I literally finished in the gangway out to the plane).

I definitely want to spend more time in California soon.  I’d forgotten how much I missed it.