- nation’s isn’t good to have more than once a month. twice in a week will kill you.
- you learn something new everyday when it comes to dragonboat. you could also get very, very wet.
- pizza my heart now has a location on bay street in emeryville. i wasn’t aware of this.
- though i’m usually averse to ‘asian clubbing,’ i do make exceptions.
- a couple fridays ago, we buried a good friend of mine. though it was certainly a solemn ceremony since his time was cut way too short, never before had i seen such an outpouring of people’s hearts.
practice continues. saturdays and wednesdays, same cold lake, same great crew,same habit of filling the void emptied out on the lake with grease and carbs and anything to get you going.
the rest of that fateful week at the end of march wasn’t exactly the easiest to get through. we had eric culp’s memorial service that thursday, and never before had i seen a mortuary so packed and so ready to share its memories of our dear friend. but unity was eric’s thing, and he sure knew how to bring people back together.
the night really wasn’t so bad, i caught up with a lot of people i haven’t seen in a while, reconnected with some whose friendships were previously tainted, and we shared a lot of great memories. i met with benflan and tim and their crew in the late evening and had a great time, as well.
the next day we had the homegoing service, and it proved to be more of a celebration of a life than a funeral. we finally got to slow down and take a deep breath at the reception back at Riordan, and, at least for a few hours, harken back once again.
that night i had some time to meet the stanford guys downtown for a drink or two [or three] before the ‘asian club event’ i was obligated to go to, so i found them behind the met and we went to the W.
afterward, i cabbed it to the birthday at 181 and met some great people [cal, my condolences for simply living out in the valley]. fortunately a few other things finally came into focus [though clearing those up isn't entirely in my control].
i left really early in an attempt to get enough sleep for practice, but there i lay until about 4am just… thinking. somehow i had enough stamina to do 4 laps around the lake the next morning. bashful bull too awaited us afterward.
i cooled off and vegged for a bit before heading to oakland with the guys for a rock band & poker night at dave’s, which did wonders to clear my mind and just have some fun.
[i was also forcefully reminded that pizza my heart kicks major ass, especially when the idiot employees make mistakes and give you an entire pizza for free.]
the workweek couldn’t pass any slower, but practice that wednesday played its part [though it did get my entire right side wet], and nation’s filled in the void.
and earlier today, e-hustle and i had to go to nation’s again because a local filipino restaurant decided to take holy week off. oh well.
looking back just a little farther, it’s been an incredible year since last April. my priorities have certainly changed, the people have as well, and it might have just taken the passing of a friend to finally, finally put things in perspective.
how much more am i willing to go through to see out a few other noble dreams i’ve kept in my back pocket? things that could be just as great but don’t require nearly as much effort are waiting around the corner, so why do these impossible dreams matter so much?
we’ll have to see.
