Which brings me to my niece. She turned 2 [...]]]> Little kids make the world go ’round. It’s not adults, what with our complicated and wanton desires, but the wee ones who gently coax tribute from their parents and families and everyone else who thinks that no cuteness shall go unrewarded.

Which brings me to my niece. She turned 2 not all that long ago, and the occasion called for a party replete with Disney theme and costumes and about 50 mylar balloons that needed to be carried 4 long blocks by your author because there was no room in anyone’s car and because it seemed like a pretty gnarly adventure at least until they got tangled up in some equally gnarly tree branches. But I digress.

She’s smart and can speak clearly beyond the usual grunting and screaming. She eats like there’s no tomorrow, and upon trying to pick her up the first word to come to most people’s minds is “heavy.”

More importantly, though, this little girl finally made me realize that I don’t hate kids, after all.

In college I volunteered for two years at a Vietnamese community center on Geary, doing my best to tutor and teach despite the pushback and brattiness and budding ghetto-ness of the kids that spent their Friday afternoons there. But it didn’t work, and of all things it made me never want to go near kids ever again, though that’s putting it lightly.

All that changed when my niece was born. She was handed to me about a week out of the womb and was roughly the size of a Papalote triple-threat burrito*. And within a split second, I hadn’t even brought her close yet, she pooped.

Feeling that vibration and realizing what happened (and also being unfamiliar with remedial measures) initially horrified me, but at that moment I realized that these kinds of things happen, naturally. Babies poop and cry, because they’re not quite aware of the intricacies of how to run to the bathroom or wipe up or grab a bite to eat just yet.

Extrapolating it a bit, maybe the punkass kids talking back to me at the community center so many years before didn’t know any better, either. They weren’t aware that I was using my free time to help them and that I would’ve appreciated if they shut their yaps for just a few minutes so we can get through their homework, upon whose conclusion the screaming may begin again in earnest.

So that’s why kids do what they do, and, hopefully, cut the crap as they mature. Now I love kids, and have the patience to deal with them. While I won’t be running a daycare anytime soon, having kids in my presence is no longer something I dread.

And it all started with the poop. Maybe it wasn’t the most sanitary epiphany the world has ever seen, but I’ll take it.

“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 [...]]]> 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.

the first big event since the last time was, at long last, the wrap-up of the 2009 dragonboat season. it took a damn long while, i’ll admit, but the planning and the unnecessary need to make [...]]]> 35 days! yeah. it’s been a long, cold month. meanwhile, i’ve been playing a game of circumstances. let me explain.

the first big event since the last time was, at long last, the wrap-up of the 2009 dragonboat season. it took a damn long while, i’ll admit, but the planning and the unnecessary need to make our banquet nice like Space Dragons did make it better than last year’s slumber party. awards abounded. the food was passable.

but something was missing. maybe i felt like i was gonna get a bigger award. maybe it was how my date to the damned thing didn’t work out. maybe it was the frustration of escaping a crowded club, taking the absolutely wrong roads, ending up in alameda, then accidentally coming back across the bridge.

whatever it was, i needed some calming down, which was achieved only by a malt and patty melt at orphan andy’s at 5am.

so i had a while to stew it over. what usually helps is to be around some new people, to seek a different crowd. fortunately, AiLin’s birthday at Dave & Buster’s was that friday. the food was good, they had beer, and i couldn’t really complain otherwise, other than a few somewhat awkward moments brought upon me.

the next night was jamie’s birthday at element, and it was good to see some old coworkers that are still young enough to celebrate these things. the theme was pork/bacon/pigs, which included a roasted lechon and bacon-sprinkled donuts. it was bacon overload, to be honest, so i actually showed some restraint.

afterward i met keip and dan at kezar pub, where we discussed the viability of going to college in wisconsin and told of the funny chinese names we knew over some pizza. “forever wong” and “harry wang” were a hit.

thanksgiving came later in the week, and it couldn’t come soon enough. if 2008 was a down year, this was supposed to be better. and it was, in a lot of ways, but there’s still plenty of work to be done, and a lot of things i wish i could’ve handled better.

those things, however, didn’t involve food. i made an appetizer of tuna pintxos, which were a hit, and brought a studebaker cheesecake from andronico’s. it didn’t take long to catch up with the rest of the family, so, predictably, we got to spend 90% of the remaining time taking pictures of Claire. apparently it’s all we do until the next grandkid pops out.

afterward, we went to see the independent films being shown directly on the walls of Coit tower it was interesting, but it was also quite cold.

unlike the rest of america, i didn’t overeat the day before, and i didn’t spend anything on black friday. one of the better lessons i’ve learned in 2009 was to disregard the american tradition of overconsumption. so, there i was, content in my frugality and un-gluttonousness, watching a whole bunch of football.

being content is rare, in general, so i reveled in every second i could before the next social event.

…which came the next day. alma had her 30th birthday party in san jose, and it was an 80s affair. fortunately, i had a throwaway blazer in my trunk, so i put it on and rolled up the sleeves to look like don johnson from Miami Vice. it came full circle wen i walked in the door and Phil was dressed as detective tubbs.

again, alma and miguel never fail to throw great parties. lots of interesting people and a ton of pictures.

that night i made it back into the city just in time for the tail-end of kristine’s birthday party [or what was left of it] at bruno’s. the celebrant and her girls were falling asleep and only drinking water, her useless boyfriend sat there and took up space, and i started to get really bored. so, i did what i do best, and i started yapping.

i got sufficient entertainment out of it, and headed home. sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands.

early the next tuesday i heard some horrible news about a high school friend of mine. So-Youn passed away in Morocco recently and her local memorial service would be that night. while i didn’t talk to her all that much, her sister was a good friend of mine and i can’t imagine losing a sibling.

so, off to the service i went, and fortunately i did run into a few people i knew. it wasn’t the greatest feeling in the world to find out that someone died so young, but her contributions to the peace corps and to her family & friends preceded her. i did lose it at some point, as anyone reflecting back on such a great life would, but i think we can look at the positive effect she had and try to move forward as So-Youn would like us to.

i did end up making it to trivia tuesday afterward, and the beer and loads of pringles took at least some of the edge off of the night. well deserved.

that wednesday the dragonboat team decided that they loved each other too much to not see each other again until next season, and had a potluck. 30 people ended up coming. suffice to say, i was glad to see them.

not having the time to make anything, i picked up some appetizers from Marnee Thai [overpriced, but it was on the way] and we watched the final-final version of the team’s year-end video. it’s nice to know that about 65% of the photos came from my camera.

we also started planning stanley’s 21st birthday. to start, raymond is in charge of strippers, i’m bringing alcohol, kristine is choosing the venue, and mike is bringing the midgets. it’s gonna be awesome.

with a renewed need for a new crowd, the next night i helped dave and his oregon duck friends secure a table at R-Bar for the Oregon vs. Oregon State matchup, with the winner going to the Rose Bowl. this being my first Oregon game at an Oregon bar, i came to one conclusion: Oregon fans are nuts.

at some point it was impossible to move due to the crowds. scott armstrong showed up to start his birthday celebration, but the majority of the night was spent drinking bud light out of readily available tall cans and emulating the sound and the fury of Autzen stadium as best we could.

we closed out the night at the bars on Polk, and i pulled away before they headed to Kozy Kar, enjoying the company, the manhattans, and the thai fried rice. these were awesome people.

i caught my fourth movie of 2009 that friday when we watched “Up in the Air” at the sf center. it’s good to see movies where a character has such a parallel to your own life, especially when it’s done well, and even more so when it contains the eventual transformation. go see it. dooo eeet.

that weekend was victor’s birthday, so i met him and the girls at Swig. even though their initial request, upon my arrival, was “where else can we go so the guys can meet more drunk bitches?” we ended up sticking around until they kicked everyone out, including Mr. Carreon.

i’d recommend against going to Lori’s Diner under all circumstances, however, since it’s overpriced even compared to Mel’s. we might as well have gone to lucky chances!

i didn’t have huge expectations for that night, given that the last time i partied on nob hill was the “we will party proper, there will be many bitches” incident from 2007 which followed a daft punk concert. but it was a good time.

the workweek seemed to fly by, with a visit to trivia tuesday and an interview in campbell on friday.sudden hunger at 8pm landed me at sam wo, and we ended up in the marina for dessert. let’s just say we couldn’t quite agree on what the ideal of “the one” versus “the best one at the time” really was. you know what i’m talking about. yeah you do.

things were looking up for the weekend, which started with jacinda’s birthday party in menlo park. though an important piece was missing again, the old crew was back and the newbies kept it interesting.

and yesterday i dropped by the tail-end of the dragonboat team’s fundraiser at sports basement [bought some running gloves] and then headed to tanforan for christopher’s birthday. one thing remains clear: i don’t hang out with my filipinos often enough.

fortunately, most of my november and december didn’t require consolation or validation after said events, but sometimes you need it in one form or another. i used to turn to video games, now i turn to ‘my peeps.’

what do you do?

things have come to a head recently because i had to travel to LA for a dragonboat [...]]]> it’s no mystery that i tend to keep very busy weekends. i often stretch myself way too thin just trying to keep up with all the birthdays and dinners and everything that’s already on top of work and practice.

things have come to a head recently because i had to travel to LA for a dragonboat race with the team, and i decided to shoehorn in a kind of mini-vacation while i was at it. but i think it went well enough.

shall we?

without any preparation, recovering from running the marathon wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to do, but i managed. the very next day i hobbled over to Fishbowl to get a firsthand look at Scott’s new homegrown trivia night and partake in some delicious bar food with jim and joe. later in the week i took my old prom date to a restaurant in the mission, after our attempts to get into ‘mission street food’ failed miserably.

my foot was in generally okay shape by then, so i had no qualms as i stepped onto the plane for LA.

i flew into LAX on the last day in july, a late flight. they probably though it would be funny to stick me in the back of a plane, next to the bathroom and seated near a man loudly humming indian chants for the duration of the flight. but i made it.

they must have also thought it would be funny to fuck with me even more by giving me a PT cruiser as a rental, whose floor, i would later discover, was infested with ants. but i’ll get to that in a minute. in any case, i could have made a sturdier car out of legos.

i got to the hotel in long beach and festivities began. as soon as i became acclimated to the weather, the races went well, the food was great, the company even better. a churascarria and navy hooker dive bar  in sunset beach followed day one, a drunken beach party and a luxury boat-jacking on the long beach lagoon [with Dragon Warriors] followed day two.

the team won four medals, we ruled the awards ceremony, and i got to catch up with those guys in blue [our sister team Space Dragons] who i met at treasure island last year. it was… pleasant. while i had no intention of participating in the dunkings and eye-hickeys, they were pretty fun to watch.

i spent the remainder of my stay in LA having some korean food not too far from orangethorpe, followed by picking up francois in the inland empire and going to a dodgers game. is it just me or does the entire facility seem like a really clean park/rec bathroom? and the dodgers lost, too, which made it even better.

also, if you have fastrak, bring it, it’s pretty damn useful on the 91. toll might be $4-5, but it’s worth it when you can yell “aaaaaaahahahaha, bitches!!!” at everyone else in bumper-to-bumper traffic while you’re going 70.

unfortunately i wasn’t able to spend as much time in san diego as i would’ve liked- by the time i got there i only had about 6 hours before my flight, and even less considering all the driving that needed to be done. but i saw my cousins, had some pretty good fish tacos, and enjoyed the world famous chula vista and la jolla.

i got out of there and took a very interesting virgin america flight back. i do have to say that $8 in-flight wi-fi was actually worth the novelty.

the week wore on and just when i thought i could be athletic again, i couldn’t. i ran the lake and the foot hurt like hell again [though slightly less], and practice was canceled due to a volunteer day at the sf food bank.

the preceding dimsum was actually pretty good, and at the food bank this year there weren’t any greasy chicken pieces to pack, just cans to clean and bag and box. it felt, though, like all we were doing was spreading our germs unnecessarily, but it counts.

later that night i went to palo alto to celebrate emily’s belated-ass birthday at the capoeira house and catch up with some people. though there was a lot of good to be found there, let’s just say that i’m not very compatible with some silicon valley engineers. at times it felt like an episode of the big bang theory, but instead of laughing i wanted to crush his windpipe with a thrust of my forefingers.

afterward i came back up to the city to celebrate angelo’s birthday at Encore karaoke, but our stay was short. there ended up being another party, thown by someone none of us knew [big surprise, huh?], just down the street. it worked, i guess. we ended up having a great discussion at vcaf afterward, but the damage had been done.

to my surprise, an elementary school reunion barbecue for the next day was turned into a “let’s meet at BJ’s brewery at tanforan and watch a movie after” event. thing is, we regularly hung out in the area back in elementary school, doing the exact same thing, so it felt like being 11 again. even after 13 years, though, the epiphany school class of 1996 hasn’t changed a damn bit.

afterward i stopped by the dragonboat booth at the nihonmachi street fair and passed by pistahan, but was overwhelmed by the filipino-ness of it all and had to get the fuck out. great day, but, jesus christ, it felt like daly city extended itself into yerba buena gardens, horrible accents and fashion sense and all.

my efforts to concentrate since then had been shot, so here i am. it just might be another long week.

so what constitutes [...]]]> a lot of people don’t understand why i label a lot of things as “epic.” epic fried chicken, epic evening, epic story, you name it. it’s a gaming term i extracted from playing World of Warcraft, where the absolute best weapons and equipment were referred to as “epics,” and often bastardized as “epicz.”

so what constitutes an “epic weekend?” despite its subjective nature, it must have a measure of success. in my case, finishing chapters in a book. getting a birthday celebrant drunk. having more than 6 cups of coffee in one sitting. getting a number. having a steak. running a marathon.

you heard me.

i’ll start a couple weeks back. “aqua lad” dave had a birthday celebration at bruno’s, which for one reason or another has become a popular party destination for the ripple effect dragon boat team. it got… raucous at times. with the right people, though, i’ll gladly dip back into that “azn clubbing” mode, if only for a night.

the next day i visited my old prom date’s booth at the renegade craft fair. it was an interesting hand-made world, where everyone wears stockings despite the hot weather, everyone charges $8 for a greeting card and you will be torn asunder if you mention the word “Hallmark” at any point. there was some really cool stuff, i’ll admit, but maybe there was just way too much of it for me to absorb.

we had a new toy for my niece claire that week, so we dropped by and she had her first exposure to a jack-in-the-box. while she wasn’t exactly scared shitless, she was visibly surprised. but just because you know what’s coming doesn’t make it any less terrifying. kind of like eating balut.

later in the week, my brother brian and his coworkers, along with some high school friends and some truly disposable friends of theirs, made their way to EZ5 for his last happy hour before he heads to grad school. i got to know the people of his office, catch up with a few old friends, get in the usual ribbing and assert myself, once again, as something besides “brian’s brother.”

we followed it up at RN74 the next day, after which i picked up two Cthulhu mythos books and the latest in the Bourne Identity series, of which I intended to start that weekend.

and then came the big surprise. my sister-in-law signed me up for the san francisco marathon. apparently her friend, the venerable Tim, had to drop out at the last minute. had i been training? no. was i ready? who knows. was i gonna do it? you fucking bet.

my reasons for coming to this decision were as follows: i wanted to get back into running eventually, as i had been prior to my participation in the 2007 Bay to Breakers. i wanted to gain some more respect from my more athletic friends who are a little bit elitist when it comes to exercise and amateur sports. and, of course, i wanted another great story to tell.

you know me. yeah you do.

we went to the expo to pick up our race kits, saw a bunch of weird crap, from awkwardly named clothing to crying simulations, then there i was, before sunrise the next day.

my wave departed at 6:17am, and off i went. since i hadn’t run in a while, i didn’t think i’d last long. but the first mile came, then the next, and the next, and soon i was crossing the golden gate bridge into marin county. going back across, i ran into a few friends of mine, and i began to believe.

i ran into some technical difficulties immediately after the half, i blame my damned flat feet, but some candy-flavored Advil made it better eventually. On and on it went, despite the slow pace, and eventually I made it back, though too late to actually register a time since they were breaking it all down.

hell, I don’t think 26.2 miles in 6.6 hours is bad for someone that hasn’t run more than a mile in over two years.

but i’ll take it. just another epic weekend.

but [...]]]> it’s july, so is the year really more than half over? where the hell did it go? our goals and dreams for 2009 had to have come to fruition by now, at least a little. got that new job? buy all that crap you wanted and take that trip to hawaii? of course you did.

but for me it’s just been family, work, dragonboat and the homies. simple enough, right?

i had a really quiet fourth of july, spent with family down on the peninsula. there was lots of good food, and fireworks could be seen from the balcony. since my niece was born, however, every family occasion just becomes another session of “everyone look at the baby.”

paddling has been keeping in me in relatively okay shape- practices are three times a week, usually out in the cold. they encourage working out when you’re not on the water, but if i liked regular exercise, then why would i be doing this?

we had a race in Fremont last weekend, and after getting up at the asscrack of dawn to pick up big fish and dave, and getting burned to all hell because i forgot to reapply sunblock, we took home a plaque for a third place finish. even with a camp site at the far end of the lake, can’t complain.

and red robin afterward was fine, but who puts a well-done steak slab on sliders?

there hasn’t been any “lol azn clubbing” this month, not like last time, but i’ve been trying to spread it out more among the different groups of homies. i’ve been going back to tuesday trivia nights at the bitter end, having some beer, maybe getting to know some people from fresno. and a bartender. can’t complain.

i even got to see the old east bay crew, starting on the night of the giants’ no-hitter, though my late arrival didn’t lead to much more entertainment in downtown san francisco at 1am. preeti also had a potluck at her apartment, but unfortunately i felt the curry the very next day at the race.  jimmy dean also took a trip up to finish celebrating his dirty 30, so i joined him and tina and their friends at bubble lounge.

as for the relationships, i decided to not spend any more time or money where it isn’t due, even if the years prior were good to me. you can dwell on the past, but i don’t get paid enough to be able to wait.

but otherwise it’s been a normal july, another identical chapter in the post-grad experience. looking back, maybe 2009 has been a wash, but at the halfway point it’s too early to tell. we did fine.

i mean, it isn’t so much of a downer story, just [...]]]> sometimes you come to the [often horrible] realization that you’re not as good as you think you are, or that you’re no longer capable of something you once were. other times you realize that point a little too late. i’m having one of those months.

i mean, it isn’t so much of a downer story, just that i’m used to making it to every single social event, every practice, and meeting every deadline, without any concessions.

[and put up the pictures on facebook. and flickr. and then write about it. right here.]

it would all be nice and doable if i had the powers of my favorite late marvel superhero, multiple-man [though an impact-resistant suit would be necessary], but i don’t. this is the downside to knowing so many people who are worth acknowledging- you can’t acknowledge them all when the screaming begins.

with dragonboat practice three times a week, ‘free time’ has been hard to come by. we have another race in about two weeks, but i don’t think it’s anything the team can’t handle, even if recruitment is still a bit down from a year ago. at least the drama’s been kept to a minimum, though it’s definitely there.

i, on the other hand, am starting to get more fatigued as the team tries to get more and more competitive. higher stroke rates, for what? we don’t get paid enough [or at all] to risk so much exhaustion and bodily injury. i’m trying my best, and don’t often prefer being the whipping boy on the b-boat, but at least i can more capably contribute in other ways.

so with all that time during the week dedicated to the stanky waters of lake merced, and most of the rest of it spent at the computer and on the phone dealing with clients, the ‘me time’ hasn’t been in as much supply as i would have hoped by this age.

the weekends seem to get more and more packed, and my willingness to stretch myself so thin has started to take its toll. the june weekends have been alternately lethargic and frenetic. and this is without the dating- i’ll save that story for next week.

city hiking and coffee and cthulhu [i've been reading HP lovecraft work in earnest lately, though slowly] give way to mad dashes across the bay area to go to practice, weddings, fundraisers, street festivals, barbecues, birthdays, “azn clubbing” and poker nights.

at least the north beach festival was good, even if it did involve a round trip up and over telegraph hill. carlos’ club on the peninsula for the dieselfish fundraiser was, oddly enough, a pretty happening place. the wedding in livermore was alright, if only i didn’t have a migraine.

and there were plenty of birthdays, of which i considered participation in festivities to be compulsory. brad’s birthday at sutra was alright, though i saw a few displeasing things and ended up calling it early. fannie/katherine/anthony’s birthdays on twin peaks had some good food and a bunch of people i haven’t seen in a while, but i was only able to stay an hour. kristine’s birthday at dna lounge… let’s just say that gay pride weekend in san francisco isn’t exactly a time for your average straight metropolitan asian male to be at a divey club. but it did have its moments, even if my arm did receive a glancing blow from a recklessly speeding car as we crossed the street.

the family had a lot of things to celebrate as well, from mike’s 32nd birthday to father’s day and gerald & alnette’s engagement happy hour. my niece’s first birthday, fortunately, turned out not being as ickysticky as i thought it was gonna be.

though celebrations with my immediate family always tend to be small and reflect the tight-knit nature of the clan, claire’s birthday was a gigantic multi-family affair, replete with mandatory sesame street tshirts. and american-gladiators-like padded obstacle courses.

maybe it’s the way i deal with peer pressure, or my habit of always trying to make an impression. i can’t meet everyone’s demands or make every event, though i try to. there’s so much to do, and everyone’s important. ii’m just learning how not to get myself sick in the process.

but even if i’m there for 10 minutes or so, i hope i made an impression.

let me start [...]]]> i guess it’s best to take it one day at a time. changing the site was supposed to make it easier to update, but i guess i’ll always be a man of long stories rather than shorts. but to commemorate the new Conan show, i’ll change my format a week after this post.

let me start with what most people are interested in anyway- it’s been interesting to move on from the last girl i was regularly seeing. but if someone that matters that much to you decides that your patience and gentlemanliness [10 years of it, actually] isn’t worth much, then what’s the use?

[maybe i was just chasing a dream. seeing that she moved on to a sewer rat kind of took the edge off of it, though.]

even with work, the time on the water has pretty much kept me grounded in reality for the past year. being around people i like [rather than people i loathe] definitely helps.

long days at the computer can be remedied with a good workout, of which there’s plenty. this’ll be the only practice set i’ll post since you probably know  how it goes already. and now we’re doing it three times a week. oof.

let’s start at the end of april. god damn, it’s been that long?

dave hosted another night in oakland chinatown spent with beer and chicken and waffles and stories whose humorous conclusions usually involved pretending to hump stationary objects.

the next week the team had its first big race of the season in redwood city, and what i continue to like about the team is well we perform even though we act pretty casually. who needs an A-division finish when you get the same damned prize for C or D? we don’t get paid enough [or at all] for that to matter.