it sure felt like it, i’ll tell you that.
- the international arrivals lounge at SFO is, quite literally, the happiest place on earth. never before had i seen so many tearful reunions and greetings with flowers and balloons occurring pretty much 24/7.
- new travel pillows, which i call ‘cashews,’ are for the win
- usf kasamahan > miyake, any day
- after a couple weeks in the philippines, my dad’s now a doctor. i wanna go to the philippines and be a doctor in two weeks. i mean, talk about a crash course…
- rose is back! holy shit! unfortunately she’s probably back in chicago by now. for the record, she is not an MBA candidate.
so valentine’s day weekend was, in fact, the perfect storm, eye and all. let me explain.
on friday the 13th me and the USF’ers finally got around to celebrating christian/stephanie/irene’s birthdays with the annual tradition at miyake in palo alto. we don’t fill up the restaurant like we used to, but, apparently, we still roll deep.
we finished off the night at blue chalk in palo alto, which decided not to kick us out this time. i stumbled up and down the main stairway and somehow ended up paying for a round of jaeger bombs, but, eh, oh well. we gave life to the place and ran into a few familiar faces along the way. and a few new ones. and francis got in three fights, but it didn’t count as a triathlon this time.
and isn’t it great to wake up hung over on valentine’s day? i thought so. i fried up enough to get me going then headed out. though things didn’t go exactly as planned, it was a pleasant, calm day, from the peninsula to union square to polk street, laurel village and parnassus heights. i even ran into some old friends.
the next day it was once more unto the breach for claire’s baptism at 7 1/2 months. we slogged through rainy san francisco traffic over to saint thomas moore for the onslaught of relatives and friends and holy water. and hot dripping wax thanks to a candle they handed me which didn’t have a drip-guard. thanks, altar boy.
the ceremony itself went well enough, even if claire was wailing half the time. i didn’t realize how complicated the procedure was, though, it actually involved a lot of walking. and singing. and improv, but you know i’m good for that.
afterward was “mc skewer,” the newest iteration of the local todai, which closed not too long ago but apparently only had its management change, not its menu.
[best part, despite not being in the philippines, was frying a dvd player because of an unmarked 220volt electrical outlet.]
the food was generally okay, just that the actual meat didn’t come often enough. still, chicken hearts and pork spareribs and sushi never tasted so good. catching up with the relatives was the best part, despite the obligatory “so where’s your girlfriend?” line of questioning.
and after all that came the long and rainy drive to berkeley to see miss wang, et al. the drive was generally worth it, but i didn’t have the energy to stick around for karaoke. demonstrating drunken hippo rage to laine and the billy took the last of my reserves.
and here i am, back at the end of highway 92. just letting it all wash over me.
