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.

So when I get a call from people I haven’t seen in a while, I go. College friends, people [...]]]> It’s hard to maintain friendships with those you barely see. There really aren’t very many people who you can lose touch with for long periods of time and then suddenly pick up right where you left off.

So when I get a call from people I haven’t seen in a while, I go. College friends, people I could’ve known in high school, people from the east bay, old paddlers, I try to keep everyone relevant.

[These were all kind of a while ago, I'll admit, but a lot happens in a month.]

Pretty much every time you see these kinds of people it goes like “how have you been, it’s been hella long!” So you dig deep to remember everyone’s names, the enormity of the epic adventures you all had previously and whatever you’d recently heard about them on facebook. You string all that into some type of narrative to get past those awkward few minutes of catching up, and then you play it by ear.

When the catching up is officially done, you’re in the present and officially free to act like you’d never parted in the first place. Then you repeat the process when you see them again, months or years later.

And as much as I’d like to see everyone again, it remains impossible, what with budgets and schedules and workloads and babies and stuff. We’ve all grown up and apart, and those of us with the cameras are the only ones observant enough to take notice.

But if you don’t want to lose these people forever, you have to try.

but these are all good people. i met them in school, through friends of friends,  at sporting events, and they all have their stories, equally legitimate, which makes them all worth acknowledging, and which [...]]]> i have a habit of making too many friends. so much so that it makes me occasionally seem like a fraud. really.

but these are all good people. i met them in school, through friends of friends,  at sporting events, and they all have their stories, equally legitimate, which makes them all worth acknowledging, and which keeps me on my feet.

for one, there’s rob- who i hadn’t seen from 1995-2004, yet we picked up right where we left off when he traveled back west following college. it’s always a kind of special duty to entertain the “accidental president” (don’t ask) because he had such a big role in introducing me to half the groups i’d hung out with up until the present day.

so, winning enough for 3am prime rib breakfasts, visiting the world famous Tu Lan, fried chicken during the Mayweather fight and confronting a very militant staff at zeitgeist were all a part of this particular tour of duty before he returned to med school.

family’s always given, but with all the attention still being lavished on the behemoth of a niece i have, an in-law’s 92nd birthday and even my own family’s mother’s day celebration never fail to have a common theme. i’m sure the process will repeat itself with the next kid, and so on.

and of course there are the dragonboaters. while my own personal struggles as a paddler and team member are well-chronicled on ripplesf.com, off the water this group has continued to be a bedrock of entertaining and mostly wholesome stories. there was keg party or ropes course or two (where rope burn was imminent).

and a dinner party. and a karaoke. and a trip to the academy of sciences. god, i see these people too much…

somewhere in the mix, still, are my regular visits to the Bitter End bar for trivia, which had Thin Tim hosting or Erin celebrating her birthday on 4/20, with the requisite singalongs and whiskey & beer, but, again, nothing all that out-of-the-ordinary for the average san francisco male.

[even if i do like to think i round out the bell curve]

jury duty is one of those events. i got called in during april fools’ day, which had [...]]]> sometimes you think you’re getting it all right. and then something happens to really put you in your place, or make you see it, and you have to take it from there. a new role. get used to it.

jury duty is one of those events. i got called in during april fools’ day, which had to have been some cruel joke, and had to endure two days of loaded questions over some drunk driver’s Uncle-Sam-given right to a fair trial. i have better things to do. but of course they don’t see it that way. i’m an american citizen, you know, doing my duty.

fortunately, when it came time to speak to the litigators I gave a very intelligent and honest answer. no, i won’t be fair. no, you won’t guilt me into saying that i will be. i don’t see the value in debating the pros and cons of a breathalyzer test.

i’m still an american citizen, and it’s my right not to participate in the process. so, off i went.

easter, and for that matter any holiday significant to children, is another experience that really lets you know your role. for the baby it went great, and it was actually a fun experience seeing it all unfold for this little girl, from the elaborate mass to the organized easter egg “hunt” to the meal and egg-painting.

but you realize that such holidays aren’t for you anymore. they’re for the wee ones. instead of enjoying the hunt for the golden egg, it’s now your job to to set it up, and to document the endeavor, which indeed it turned out to be at certain points, like when said toddler ran into the middle of the fray without exactly knowing what to do once there.

[fortunately my cousin came to break up the baby-focused monotony. and i decided to pick up a few crayons and decorate an egg on my own. i was so proud.]

the time trial on lake merced provided another sense of measure. in my three months of trying to perfect my form on the dragonboat (after two years of apparently just flailing about) and hold on to a tenuous spot on the competitive crew, i thought i was beginning to get it right.

let’s just say it wasn’t good enough this day, not even close, and my frustration built up to a magnificent, roaring crescendo of an expletive before we reached the dock.

i didn’t let the experience get to me, adjusting as i always do and enjoying the barbecue afterward, though i know that more discipline will be necessary to get past this. i may just turn down my volume until i get that validation.

fortunately, i did find a way to get past all the cloaked cynicism and self-loathing. I headed to Eve for Sharon’s birthday, 83 Proof for Geo’s birthday, and Chug Pub for Davin’s. i always tend to stretch myself thin when it comes to celebrating birthdays, but only because, really, you should be fortunate to have friends, and they’re all worth acknowledging.

i used to be a “party guy,” but i don’t really think that ‘nightlife’ is all it’s cracked up to be anymore. my self-consciousness about being on a dance floor has only barely moved towards anything resembling comfort since the first experience at a 7th-grade dance. at this point i think i’m good.

i’d rather be at home catching up on my shows (currently Human Target and The Pacific). it’s like i’m back in high school, staying in and watching TGIF instead of being out on a Friday night.

[or watching movies and making sushi, perhaps, like on Saturday.]

Sunday also remained very Japan-focused, with a quick trip to the  Cherry Blossom Festival and an officers’ meeting featuring mochi muffins. i’m sparing you the picture of the 350lb sailor moon, but i think we’re all aware that some people are built for cosplay. some people are not.

and otherwise, it’s back to reading in my own private corner of the 24hr filipino starbucks, ha. feel free to stop by and be contemplative. cheers.

it’s a lot of work, [...]]]> a lot of what i do is, technically, damage control, from making sure clients don’t freak out to keeping random birthday celebrants well-fed/drank to ensuring my family remembers exactly what happened on any given day that we’re together [even though all we really do is pay attention to the bigass baby].

it’s a lot of work, with the result looking like fun. the rest of the time i’ll spend in random coffee shops trying to further myself with works of western literature, occasionally lending a pen to a hobo so she can complete her crossword. but i digress.

so anyway, before it’s April first and no one takes anything seriously, here we go.

a lot happens in nine days, especially in my life. and even apart from dragonboat.

my tuesdays are usually pretty interesting, but with some University of California students up here on spring break, last week even more so.

whenever my brother brian is in town, we go to snobby coffee shops. maybe to try their bacon doughnuts. maybe their coffee. maybe just to see if the yelp reviews and food network mentions are really a load of crap. but we go.

last week we tried Philz Coffee, the original location in Potrero. let’s just say that it takes the dirty hipster coffee experience to an entirely new level, plaid-draped clientele and grimy craigslisted furniture and all.

i had the day off due to the recent and very untimely death [so to speak] of a client, so jess took me to see the king tut exhibit at the de young museum.

the title of the exhibit, “Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” is misleading because the bastard himself isn’t actually there. it should be called something more like “King Tut’s Stuff.” still, there were a lot of interesting things in there, and you can plainly see where writers get their stereotypes about ancient Egypt. or Ahn’Qiraj. whatever.

the observation tower was also kind of cool. we finished off the day looking at considerably more modern things in japantown.

when thursday rolled around, it was time again to continue the bay area’s celebration of my brother, this time with his old coworkers, all architecture-heads.

i still think i do a good job pretending to be an architect, so i was able to keep up,  though i definitely started to fade when pete showed us the kickass view from his civic center pad.

the next morning we decided to try out Dynamo Coffee, apparently the original purveyor of the bacon doughnut, but we ate more of the spiced whatever and sticky rolls, which were $3 apiece all around and, honestly, a bit ridiculous.

the night that followed was a happy hour for the dragonboat team, and the unlimited sake definitely shoved some inhibitions aside. it didn’t get too messy, though. we had practice the next day, after all.

and following the next morning’s practice [which involved the usual struggle to try out for the A-Boat, chronicled here, though a boat flip did make things interesting for the newbies], we finally got to celebrate brian’s 29th birthday with the family.

even though every family event revolves around the baby now, none of us seemed to mind, though a few minutes to peacefully drink my coffee would’ve been greatly appreciated.

on this particular monday and tuesday i got to catch up with some people i haven’t seen in a while, making a last-minute trip to berkeley for coffee [where, thankfully, cafe milano wasn't blasting bhangra at maximum volume again] and to Samovar in the castro for tea, which turned into dinner, which thankfully didn’t turn into anything else because the conversation began to repeat itself, though the food was actually pretty good. Darjeeling ain’t no joke, either.

and so it goes. i run around. i take time to acknowledge people beyond their facebook walls. i give my creative and athletic efforts to a dragonboat team that gives me so much more in return.

everybody’s happy.

“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?

so, shall we?

most people know [...]]]> alright, let’ get to the details, it’s been a busy month. and as much as i say that i intend to update this thing more often, i keep getting dragged back into the void. i’m not even going to worry about specific chronological order this time, but you’ll get the idea.

so, shall we?

most people know that i do freelance work, which doesn’t exactly keep me chained to a desk from 9-5. i’ve always been into print and web advertising, and eventually wanted to get into making commercials. i started to take a community college class in broadcast engineering, and fortunately the program has the best equipment in the bay area.

as expected, the class is pretty motley, all ages and backgrounds, but they’ve come together and we seem to be learning a lot. lighting, camera operation, audio, the whole damn deal. twice a week isn’t too much to sacrifice for some kind of self-enrichment.

[either way i hope this class will make me more useful on a set than the last time, where i just kind of stood there like a bumbling idiot.]

a few weeks ago brenda finally had a goodbye / heave-ho party for her trip to thailand. though she won’t be gone quite for good [to be honest i already thought she left and came back], i don’t see her and the crew often enough anymore. let’s just say that there’s no party quite like an inner-sunset party.

with some kind of urgency, we immediately followed the sunset and blackthorn gatherings with a trip to north beach. when things started to drag,  i ran into some teammates for tiffany’s visit back to the city, though her pending friend request likely means she was too inebriated to remember me. the basement of bubble lounge was also, really, really sweaty.

either way, my network kind of assures me that if things start to suck, i’m just one “hey charles what are you doing here?” from turning things completely around. the receipt of drunken texts also helps to lighten the mood.

we also resumed the elementary school reunions. it was interesting to see everyone after 13 years ago, but this time all the petty differences were forgotten and we were just a bunch of adults having a great conversation. though i’ll admit, these conversations usually went “so what happened to so-and-so?” followed by either “doing well” or “had a kid” [or in one case "is incarcerated"].

it was a great time, and good to see how they were all doing. well, except maybe one. i mean, the purpose of a reunion is to reunite, right? you can silently stick to a corner at home!

i did catch one last giants game before their season ended, the series opener with the chicago cubs, caught, of course, with my chicago homies. we made a few friends in the stands and had a lot of pretty good beer, even if the game didn’t exactly turn out as planned for the locals.

if you’re not on a date, i’d suggest sitting in the bleacher seats, as adventures (and beer) abound.

the biggest deal in the past month, though, was the treasure island dragonboat race. a whole weekend of nothing but saltwater racing in san francisco bay. it started with a party at b-bar at yerba buena, which wouldn’t have been a bad venue if the weather was, you know, hot. but it wasn’t. we made do.

i ran into a lot of old friends, made some new ones, and had a great time. the pictures were incredible as well. and my boat eventually got a gold medal. no complaints. even my niece got a present!

[and the food was pretty good, even though i was unnecessarily tagged on 54 'replay all' emails during its planning process. ugh.]