So I had meant to write about this awhile ago. But apparently I take a good deal of time to write e-mails each day so I never had a chance to sit down and actually start writing. But here we go…my plan is to buffer it with as many pictures so I don’t have to actually write anything of much substance.
And to clarify, I’m talking about *last* Friday.
It actually started off rather uneventful, I woke up in my Sacramento apartment and went to work. As it was my first week, there was very little for me to do so I ended up heading for the Amtrak station by 1130. I shipped out of Sacramento by 12.
Amtrak isn’t that bad. Really! It’s actually a nice little train ride. You can sit down, relax, enjoy the scenery. And I can tether on my Droid so I’ll have access to the internet then. Won’t be bored out of my mind after all.
The scenery might get old after a few more trips though…
Fields.
It’s like that once you leave Sacramento, then industrial factories after Davis, then the water as you get to Richmond.
Anyway, once I get to Richmond, I transfer over to the BART and BART back to Embarcadero.
On the way back I took a random photo for no reason. I wanted to focus on the flower but get the vague shape of people in the background.
Can you see the blobs of people in the background?
One of the high points of Friday was that I would get a chance to hang out with Kim at the apartment. Hanging out with Kim is such a rarity that anytime out with her is a bit special.
The plan for the night was decidedly not so fancy however. Takeout pizza, baking cookies at home and a viewing of “Up in the Air” was the agenda. I hadn’t seen it and bought the Blu-ray to do so while Kim was interested enough in it to watch it one more time with me. I think she was just there for the cookies.
Food pictures, necessary as always.
—————————————————— Cookies a la Kim.
Anyway, some pizza, a few cookies and one enjoyable George Clooney movie later, Kim decided to take her leave to head out for another party in the city. That was fine, she told me she was thinking of heading out anyway so I decided to just call it a night at this point (relatively early, at 10).
Or so I thought. As I was starting to get ready for bed Kim would send me a surprise message asking if she could come back and hang out some more (looks like the party wasn’t all it was cracked up to be). In any case I would oblige (again, hanging out with Kim is a rarity) so she would come back and we would pass some more time with talking, but more importantly, some Rock Band.
Despite her lack of energy, she somehow made it through a few songs.
—————————————————— My only complaint was that she did not engage the star power when she sang.
Kim could only take so much Rock Band fun so we would officially call it a night around midnight. I was then really set for sleep, but then yet another message comes in! This time Andrew and Jayme want to hang out a little bit (they were in the city before watching the Cal game) for some late night eats. Lucky Chances, while the original idea, would be difficult since I didn’t have a ride back. So we decided to head out to the Mission for some bacon wrapped dogs. Although Jayme had a small incident with a pepper (watch out for them) the dogs were enjoyed by all.
—————————————————— Always worth the wait.
Smiles all around.
Andrew would even attempt to eat more, at a place nearby famous for their rather large Cuban sandwiches…but unfortunately their grill had closed for the night (it was at least 1AM by this point). A meal that will have to be taken on for another day it seems.
While the bread was ready to go, the grill was not. Next time Andrew.
A fun full Friday! So fun that I’m still writing about it the next Wednesday.
Not all the time, but there have been some people and some things that have just annoyed me to no end.
Many times I just want to reply back to directly, let them know of my annoyance and maybe even burn the bridge.
Anger can be a strong motivator and very tempting to succumb to. I mean, who doesn’t like telling someone off?
But I guess I’m too passive aggressive in the end to do anything about it. My loss.
However, I have been finding that all this ridiculousness has been doing wonders for getting my writing ideas flowing again. (Writing execution is another story folks…making up ideas is easy for me, following through has been a pain.) Some happy, some sad, but mostly coming from the same source.
Then this begs to question for me…does this mean if I get happy I won’t write nearly as well?
Maybe it’s possible. Many have been inspired from negative feelings.
So I’ll just have to pull from the well of inspiration as long as it lasts then.
Unfortunately with this one I don’t remember all that much of it (I usually do forget my dreams easily unless I write them down immediately after waking up) but for some reason my dad was on a conference call with my boss from my project in my house. It was on speaker phone so I could hear what was going on. I didn’t really engage them but I tried to sneak by quietly and head downstairs.
As I was just leaving earshot I heard my dad say “Roland will take care of that”, like they were assigning me work. I was just then starting to pay attention when I woke up to a loud noise. At first I thought it was my alarm waking me to start a brand new day.
Unfortunately when I looked at the clock, it was 8:30 AM, an hour later than my intended time to wake up (and when the car pool was going to leave for work). The loud noise was not the alarm but rather my phone. Someone was calling me. I didn’t pick up the phone in time but soon realized the sad truth: I went from a dream about work to being late for work.
Still requesting: a nice dream. It doesn’t even have to be about love anymore, it can just be about ramen or something.
I had a feeling all Saturday that I should check my work e-mail for something big. I didn’t actually do it until Sunday morning, whereupon I learned I had to completely change my work plans. No longer was I going to Sacramento like I had planned that evening but I was now headed to a brand new location that was not discussed with me previously. Not sure how I like being told where to go and be expected to react within a limited timeframe.
On a much bigger scale of eerieness, I was lying in bed Saturday morning wondering how I would react if a tsunami hit San Francisco (my reaction would be to go to my office building and go right the 41st floor). Unfortunately, that was also the day of the terrible earthquakes in Chile which caused tsunami warnings all over the Pacific (including parts of California).
This is not good.
I’d like some positive premonitions.
How about one where I meet a cute girl who falls in love with me?
Unfortunately they’re not expected to medal, so probably won’t be seeing them bring their curling abilities into the medal matches, but it’s a round robin tournament at the Olympics, so plenty of chances to catch them in action. Thanks nbcolmypics.com! (May want to do something about your spoilers on the front page though) I must say I enjoy their nickname, “Curling Musume” (カーリング娘) which loosely translates to “Daughters of Curling”.
So basically, if I find myself settled in a cold weather climate in Japan, the first thing I need to do is find the nearest curling club.
Bonus, check out their intro video from the 2006 Olympics. Only Moe Meguro and Mari Motohashi are in Vancouver although Mari apparently was the “mood maker” of the team according to the commentary. I can see why according to this video (and some of the other videos from 06 if you click around).
Unfortunately, I don’t think Mari is bringing the same level of excitement to Vancouver (she did get four years older after all). But she is apparently popular enough that they released a DVD chronicling her first trip to Okinawa (Japan’s Hawaii) in Japan.
Looks like I have something I need to buy when I go back…although Anna Ohmiya is my favorite from this year’s team.
I wrote “Selective Memory” in order to get into a Creative Writing class because it required a writing sample. I didn’t get into the class. I don’t know if it was because the class only had space for English majors or if the work just wasn’t that good. I probably should’ve asked the professor then. In any case, it’s up for your consumption.
