- the japanese restaurant at san francisco center has a bowl that contains all of japan. no, really, if it has anything to do with japanese food, it’s probably in this bowl.
- frappucinos suck, but i didn’t know how much until i had a freddo from peet’s. they melt faces.
- space hulk is a deceptively simple, yet challenging and rewarding game. and it’s free!
- paddling on lake merced at night is calming, or as calming as you can get when you’re yelling and running drills. watersports really take your mind off of everything else.
- the worst part of moving on is changing all my passwords. and i mean every single one of them.
- eric culp [at right] was a great friend from college, and it’s a shame to have to say goodbye so early- i’ll see you all at the funeral this week
so honestly there hasn’t been much else to it.
the day after st. patrick’s day was the first night practice of the season out on the lake, and even though the drills were good and strenuous, muscle aches are something i’d much rather deal with than lethargy.
following that night we headed to win’s and filled up, again pretending that stan-the-man was michael phelps. only issue was that i still haven’t got used to the strange soup they serve.
the next night, brian and i went back to the asian film festival and caught a series of films, collectively titled “times of departure.” i now want to go to singapore. and mumbai. and rhode island, for some reason.
we followed it up with some udon at mifune, but i couldn’t help pondering the impossibilities. i know that i always say “you only live twice,” but now that i think about, shit, i should get moving! looking at the world is now a priority.
practice continued that weekend, good and hard and absolute. the water’s a great place to take out your aggression, though usually a hot shower should follow. we went to get pho at westlake afterward, and i sat at the guys’ table where we discussed… gentlemen’s matters. as we usually do. let’s just say you shouldn’t bring your glasses and caps everywhere.
the next week was undeniably long, nights spent digging into code and addressing client demands while chugging coffee and eventually struggling to sleep. is this life of marketing in the digital age finally getting to me? let’s hope not.
practices are now pretty much the only picturesque thing i do until spring starts [thankfully it did last week], so i kept up my ways on the boat and managed to actually keep up with the strokes at front, per my personal pledge for better timing.
timing is also important for eating incredibly spicy food, especially if your stomach isn’t up to the challenge. king of thai taught me that the hard way later that night.
i spent an afternoon downtown with irene that week, taking in the sights and having lunch in the dungeon below bloomingdale’s, digging into a bowl that contained the essence of japan. seaweed, fish, rice, sprouts, more weird fishy crap and more weird vegetables. and pickled ginger. i guess it was japanese jambalaya, but can’t be too sure.
i actually didn’t resist the shopping trip afterward [or at least observing it for all its bloody glory], though i did run into a bunch of people i know.
i did have the afternoon off, so i ran some errands out of laurel village and finally redeemed a coupon for a free drink. i asked what the best one was, apparently it was called a “freddo,” so i took it and took a hike through laurel and onto the edge of pacific heights.
the drink was actually good, and the daytrip was even better, as i saw small crowd gathering at the lyon street steps to witness a marriage proposal. touching, sure, [he picked a damned good day to do it] but perspective followed, as it usually does. it’s still with me.
practice and food would follow that weekend, though not as intense this time because i tried my hand at teaching some technique. though results remain to be seen, i think i did a relatively okay job.new members? maybe. at least i wasn’t sore this time.
a trip to frjtz later that night made my day a little easier to get through, as it didn’t end until about 4am due to code and client demands, and my sudden urge to personalize a small game i found called space hulk, whose imperfections i found to be reminiscent of… everything i’ve come to value.
[reverse engineering code is fun, though the moment i start getting paid for it i know i'm gonna hate it]
the last solace of the week was claire’s 9th month celebration back in the sunset. it’s great to see how far she’s come and how the family is doing. it’s the american dream to a large degree, with some lumpia thrown in for good measure. but seeing them all, and together, added to this perspective even more.
so it got me thinking. and not just in a “this is the end of the entry so i better wrap it up in a semi-thoughtful-manner” kind of way. i work my ass off, on and off the water, in the way i entertain myself and go about pursuing this… this dream.
and while it’s good sport to “keep up with the joneses,” it does get to you sometimes. some people get better and earlier opportunities, some have great luck, and some have the opportunity to have whatever the hell they want. their lives are blessed, spotless, ethereal even.
but what about the rest of us, gutting it out back here on earth?
