it’s a bit late, but happy new year. or, since chinese new year is coming up, then amen to that. either way it’s 2010 and i’ve got work to do.
“to know me is to have a brew with me… using big words helps, too”
apparently my archive on the old University of San Francisco servers has finally exploded and I’ll need to rebuild it. but we’ll get to that when the time comes.
it’s been a busy month, as usual, but the new system is in place and it’ll be easier for me to update. and it doesn’t screw up when you use different browsers! that’s a good thing.
anyway, let’s get to it.
a nice benefit of having an architect brother is an innate ability to relate to architects. so, since i met half of his old work crew sometime in 2009, brian coming back for vacation prompted another happy hour at EZ5 on commercial street in san francisco.
it was fun to meet a few new people and talk about architecture and distance running and inappropriate dancing. but it was just another night at EZ5. happy hour with people you don’t work with can still be pleasant if you know what you’re talking about.
the next day, in a further attempt to expand my ‘web of evil,’ as some of you have called it, i joined sally and hendrick and tiffany for a volunteering day. while we were supposed to be helping poor families get a nice holiday meal, there were just way too many volunteers to be effective.
so, i did what i do best, which was to take pictures. i think i did a good job of capturing it all, from the agony of children forced to sit upon santa’s lap in front of the forebodingly crooked christmas tree to the ecstasy of biting into buttery biscuits and gravy. i won’t comment on the cupcakes, because i simply don’t do them, though their attention-gathering capacity can’t be denied.
what also couldn’t be denied was the birthday of glen park resident Phat Joe. i headed down to kilowatt on an otherwise debilitating night and had a drink. i also met the photographer of last year’s animal erotica photography display at 540 last year. the word “zebracock,” appropriately, found its way into the conversation.
further up in the week i caught a showing of Avatar with my brothers in 3D and IMAX and all that crap. it was a pretty good $17 headache, to be honest. but getting the brothers cadiz together for any event is rare enough, and the movie was good, the company even better.
soon after came christmas with the cadiz family, for the first time spent in half moon bay rather than at our childhood home in san francisco. with my niece around, things were a bit different, and i’ve come to realize, only now, that christmas is more for her rather than for the adults.
the day leading up to the event was stressful enough, with all of my shopping taking place int he three hours prior to meeting my family at church, but it had to be done, and was somehow accomplished.
thankfully my gifts were well received, though i did come to one conclusion: with 90% of women, you can’t go wrong with chocolate, cookies or picture-framey stuff.
new year’s eve for chuck was a bit more quiet than usual. i didn’t attach myself to any huge party or private gathering, opting to take susana’s advice to have curry as my last meal of 09 and proceed to watch the fireworks, where i ran into aprille on the waterfront.
the fireworks were passable, given that trees and the ferry building clocktower obscured much of the view, but it did the job and soon i was on my way out to the marina to see horace and karin and the accountants and software engineers of the south and east bay.
to give you an idea of the situation, the moment i walked into Circa there was a patron pinned against the bar by security guards, presumably for a billing issue, and the entire floor was a mess of confetti and the jagged plastic shards of broken champagne flutes. but it didn’t keep anyone from enjoying themselves. happy new year, indeed.
i did call it early, though, because i had to meet my family the next day for dimsum at rincon center. as usual, attention was paid to the baby, with her “high fashion” h&m dress and all, but the soup cart nearly going into the main fountain also provided some entertainment. this brunch was the eldest cadiz brother’s gift to all, and we all dug in.
i wondered why the sesame balls were so goddamn good, and i found out later on that they were on the list of7x7 magazine’s top 100 things to eat in San Francisco before you die. while i’ve cut my ties to the yelpers and yelp-ish among us, for reasons related to attention-whoring, among others, i had to admit that yank sing made a pretty damn good sesame ball.
a few days later i went down to mountain view to meet the new homies at Sushi85, where $25 gets you unlimited sushi, and it ended up being pretty good. except for the stuff slathered in weird yellow sauces. americanized rolls continue to confuse me.
immediately after, i came back up to the city for stanley’s 21st birthday, spent mostly at holy cow getting him drunk [and watching him get his spoon on] before ray2 and hendrick and i had some grub at vcaf back in the richmond. it was a long night, with lots of food, lots of driving, and some big spending, though none in vain.
about a week later happened to be dede & amanda & brita’s birthdays, spent at the flat in potrero. i’ll admit, it was nice to have a dignified, adult dinner party, for once, though elements of the college years did make an appearance.
the food was incredible and it was fun catching up with the stanford crew, even if i wasn’t able to have the Accidental President grace them with his presence.
the second tuesday into the new year was tim’s last night hosting trivia before he shipped out to arizona. it was another entertaining night at The Bitter End, whose employees and patrons reinforce its reputation as the best bar in the country.
so we all signed a card [which apparently wasn't big enough], sung a few songs, won the damned thing [as usual] and split a few pitchers. overall it was a great sendoff, because i wasn’t able to make his official goodbye party. but it was enough.
that weekend, brian also came back to san francisco for my dad’s 60th birthday. in the month preceding we’ve got into the habit of going to various hipster coffee shops in the mission district, from fourbarrel to ritual coffee roasters, with a stop in japantown to check out the new building.
i have to say it’s a satisfying experience to get a cup of coffee at any place where the line goes out the door, as it routinely does at these places. the wifi and instapapered articles and company made the time pass easily, as did the discussions on the origins of our species [specifically mating habits].
i also took the opportunity to give my last christmas gift, with a night spent mostly in north beach at the secret epic bakery before the bohemian cigar store and the outer sunset. i put extra effort into my gifts for a reason, so “fluffage” was important. along with acquired tastes.
either way, to know me is to have a brew with me, whether it’s beer or coffee. using big words helps, too.
and it’s been a long and debilitating winter in terms of fitness, so i was glad to get back in contact with the captains and coaches and officers of my beloved dragon boat team, Ripple Effect, as we planned our 2010 season and outlined our specific goals for world domination.
i did have to pop 3 benadryls just to be able to exist in Kristine’s house for a few hours, but i did fine, and i aired my grievances as best and as clearly as I could when the time came. of all things i’m looking forward to this season, even though i know i’m gonna get sick of everyone after a while. 7 months of the same people will do that to you, but not quite yet.
the next day had me on the road picking up a giant tiramisu from north beach and a huge container of malabon palabok for my dad’s 60th birthday. in the rain. i got down to the house in half moon bay soon enough, prepared the bruschetta, and got ready for the onslaught of relatives.
their arrival was actually a welcome break from any of the usual cadiz family birthdays, as every family event since the birth of my niece has been dedicated solely to her. it was nice to have other people breaking up the attention and speaking as adults, rather than everyone devolving into an “OMG THE BABY IS SO CUTE” kind of kindergarten stupor.
the food turned out great, with universal love for the cake, though i could’ve done less with people claiming a little too hard to know of my secret epic bakery. i also could’ve done away with the mandatory spate of family pictures, though those couldn’t be avoided under any circumstance.
as for entertainment, my niece kept stealing my phone and ipod, and we watched Paul Blart because despite the presence of a bootlegged copy of Avatar there was a certain individual who fussed at having not seen it. under normal circumstances i wouldn’t mind, but the opportunity to see a $17 movie for free, specifically this one, doesn’t come often, especially with everything else at stake.
anyway, as the night wore on i was finally able to beat Modern Warfare 2, which has actually made me feel a bit guilty about playing games where you shoot for sport, though the story was compelling enough. the drive back up devil’s slide wasn’t bad, so even though the day was mixed, i received the patriarch’s approval, at least for another day.
and a couple days later i was finally able to see Avatar again. i met the stanford crew at B Restaurant after a harrowing journey through yerba buena gardens, and my ticket ended up being free because the group had a spare. so, i spent it on popcorn. i told eric to get me a box of whoppers, and i proceeded to devour the entire thing.
but i doubt i’ll see a movie in 3D ever again, given how you’re punished [with a headache] for looking at something [blurry] on the screen that the director doesn’t want you to focus on. subsequent viewings of any movie are to take in those details, and apparently james cameron doesn’t want us to. but i absorbed enough to be good on this whole universe of Pandora at least for a while.
mixed in with all those albums are a few things that were harder to recall: the development of Chuck as a competent cook [though not a chef, lawl], being out with clients, and celebrating thin Tim’s birthday with no human being within a mile coherent enough to remember what happened.
we also celebrated the birthday of Noah “the frank” at The Bitter End with Jimmy and met some new friends at Vessel. and, of course, spent a night catching up with Rob, his Accidental Presidency, as he came back on vacation from med school. Lucky Chances was a must on that particular night.
speaking of which, it’s nice to catch up with people from ages past, from those who you weren’t exactly sure you were dating to those you wished you had, along with the ever-present but still amusing psychos. at least the food was good, as well as the scenery.
among other adventures i finally finished the series of Cthulhu novels by HP Lovecraft and have moved on to Dracula, spending more and more long nights at various Starbuckses delving into this newfound fascination with gothic horror. goosebumps novels, comparatively, ain’t shit.
so, now we’re caught up on 2010. you probably saw the pictures on facebook already, but if you can’t view facebook from wherever you are i’m glad to accommodate.
anyway, i’ll get to this thing more often in the new year, that’s a promise. and away we go.
