- i think it’s obvious that i’m a part of team pacquiao.
- say no to electric toothbrushes! fight the machines! join the resistance!
- it’s kind of odd when people park their safeway shopping carts next to you at a starbucks. like, really, really odd.
- no, i’m not telling you the secret. yet.
- when are engineers useful? when BevMo doesn’t give you the correct tap for your keg.
so it’s been a busy two weeks. i haven’t had a day off from anything until just last night, and today i finally had a day to just relax, have coffee, and go buy my pacquiao giants t-shirt. even though it took three tries.
work’s been, well, work, and the rest of it’s been… tedious. let’s get to it.
practice continues. we have a race coming up in two weeks and it’ll be a fun, fun, tiring time getting everyone ready. i had a chance to be up front, and it was definitely an interesting day. even though i just might have collapsed a lung.
i changed at the lake, ate with the team and then headed to golden gate park for tim’s birthday keg kickball thingy. two kegs, only one usable tap. thank god for engineers. the game went fine, other than the ball smacking my beer as i was rounding second, which meant i was out.
[but the fallen soldiers were not forgotten. we made sure of that.]
the weather was good and hot, and the keg tossing made things interesting [though not crushing your head upon release wasn't a guarantee]. it kind of became like a mini trivia night thanks to some electronic quiz thing that was passed around, but we’ve grown used to that by now.
i headed to oakland to my absolute favorite starbucks, vegged a bit, and ended up taking phil and the gang to Serra Bowl for our team’s bowling/drinking mixer with DieselFish, another local team. i actually remembered their names this time, but refrained from bowling and commemorated the night in the best way i could- by buying lumpia and getting people to take granny shots [bowling from between the legs]. for a buck.
the next day was easter, the most holy day of the year, apparently. the family and i headed to st. ignatius church on the USF campus, and it was, as always, opulent.
[the heathens, however, had no idea what to do since they only come on easter and christmas. haha.]
to address some concerns, yes i took advantage of the church’s free WiFi, again, but only while waiting for mass to start! fair enough?
it was my niece claire’s first easter, so we had her take part in the easter egg “hunt” on the lawn afterward, though she was more interested in tossing the candy around and poking it than eating it. you’d also be surprised at how bitchy some of the other parents were about getting a photo with the easter bunny.
things quieted down during the week and i was able to make it back to the bitter end for trivia night the following tuesday, which we followed up with a trip the rockit room and some very close, though ultimately lost pool games.
that week also happened to be the windiest of the year, so our water practice was cancelled in favor of a regular workout. i gave it all i had until i tweaked my back and started getting all light-headed, but,well, you try. pho followed, as did a great discussion on tv. and a very vulgar prodigy song. you know the one.
that friday i walked around japantown with irene, figuring out how to eat crepes and finding out about a shady car-detailing company at the bottom of one of the garages. walking up and over fillmore wasn’t an option for the day, so i saved that challenge for myself on the weekend.
earlier that morning i got an invite to celebrate one of my 15-year-friends’ birthdays, though at a club, and with asian people. as i said before, i’m usually opposed to “lol azn clubbing,” but exceptions have to be made. keip and kristi yamaguchi’s goddaughter met us there, as did the sunset crew [though coincidentally for erick's birthday].
i left a little early so i could make the next morning’s workout at the polo fields, but, damn, it was hot as hell. and who knew it’s possible to practice for dragonboat when there’s no water nearby?
what made it more entertaining were the elementary soccer games going on around us- those parents were getting pissed, like “hey! that’s my kid! get your hands off of him or i’ll tear you a new one!”
after getting out of there, we sought refreshment [and discovered that arby's no longer sells chicken strips, only shitty popcorn chicken] then headed to the high school youth races at lake merced. god damn, those kids are good.
we had a lot of team members helping to coach, along with friends from other teams gutting it out on the water. they tried their best after the fog rolled in, after which, according to one coach, they “couldn’t see shit.”
so i finally challenged myself to take on the fillmore street hill the next day. i ate on the waterfront, then walked from the marina to japantown, finally went to a cherry blossom after about seven years of missing it, then walked on back in 90-degree weather.
the word “sweaty” is an understatement. i did run into eric and dede on the way down, and the free iced coffee made it easier, but i t was rough hike.
i received a late invite to see scott’s trivia night at fishbowl the next day, so i headed on over and comiserated with wettstein over the state of our lives, talked with james about the state of the union, and opined with scott and mr. webb about the state of baseball. it’s been a while since i’d seen them all at once, so it was good to catch up.
i even ran into mary from a past life. a past life involving getting verbally banned from a dorm of a local university, unfortunately, but, well, you know how it goes when you’re 20.
the next night i had to forego the filipino heritage night at the giants game [with pacquiao throwing out the first pitch] for ken’s 25th birthday party down in san jose. i shared some cheesecake with tran before heading back in and meeting the locals.
now i know a lot of you like cheesecake factory, but i’ve never had very many good experiences there. everything’s either overcooked or undercooked or smells funny or costs a billion dollars. so, i tried to play it safe and get fried chicken strips.
was it a success? one of them was undercooked and bit gooey. however, the facemeltingly delicious oreo cheesecake made it all worthwhile.
the next night we were finally back on the water, and during one of san francisco’s longest heat waves to date. funny thing is, though, right when we started practice the fog and freezing wind decided to show up again. that and some unseasonably warm water [kind of like someone just peed in it, i'm foserious] made for an interesting practice.
we did manage to warm up at win’s afterward, but the cold front continued to press.
the next night was a wine tasting barbecue poker night at eric’s loft, so we partook in some great ribs and beef. the wine tasting went well enough, though the lack of any score standardization threw things off a bit.
howard and i discussed the goings-on in florida, i talked business with dr. phelts, and the usual with mr. galvez. who knew that i’d still have so much in common with half of stanford medical center’s ICU?
that friday, jenny had her birthday shindig over at bruno’s, where i ran into a lot of familiar faces, though their insistence for me to take another drink, then another shot before leaving were definitely suspect [especially since we all had practice the next morning].
and her friends knew too many of my friends. it’s… a tiny world.
immediately after that, i headed to trad’r sam’s for brian’s birthday, where the richmond crew showed up in almost full force and i got to meet half the staff of knbr. a few sips from scorpion bowls made it worth the drive, but i made sure to straighten the hell out before i made it to sleep that night.
…and it seemed like i was the only one feeling well enough for a full practice the next day! we took a few good laps around the lake and it was just warm enough, even though the damned rowing clubs had to take all the good parking.
…and so ended the streak of social stuff. saturday night i stayed in and worked, and this morning i got to hike on the peninsula before running errands. it’s back to the grind once again.
and i apologize profusely if i haven’t paid any attention to you specifically, just wait until i’m back in your orbit. satelliting is hard.
