October 2003 Archives

While in Seattle, I went to a pumpkin carving party. Earlier in the day, we had attended a race that was giving away free pumpkins, so we grabbed a few.

I was feeling very unprepared. It's been twenty years since I last carved one. Armed with a ball-point pen, small knife and ice cream scooper, I went to work. It was like a horrible pumpkin version of Extreme Makeover.

I was about halfway through mutilating my poor pumpkin, when somebody mentioned there would be a contest. We would vote for the best, most original, scariest and worst.

The previously pictured pumpkin won for the scariest. Unfortunately, I can't take credit for it. The dimly lit specimen seen here is mine. Had I known about the worst category, I might have changed my carving strategy.

Sadly, I couldn't take it home with me, so my pumpkin and I said our good-byes and parted ways later that night. Thankfully, it now has a happy home with a loving family in Kirkland.

Happy Halloween!

This week's Theme Thursday challenge is Scary.

On Tuesday, I watched Under The Tuscan Sun, which is the third movie I've seen off my list. It's a predictable, but enjoyable story. Diane Lane and Sandra Oh were excellent.

I easily fall for storylines where the main character attempts to start over in a little town or returns home to begin again. Shows like Everwood and Ed are good examples. To ensure I'm completely hooked, just add Italian landscapes and home repair.

The scene that really struck a chord with me was when Frances (Lane) expresses her doubts about buying Bramasole, her Tuscan villa. She worries that she owns a house for a life she doesn't even have. Every now and then, I worry about the same thing. I have to believe that as long as I don't give up, my life will grow into what I've put in place.

Preparing for joy before it exists is foolish only if one quits seeking it.

I know what you're thinking. What can be so fascinating about car mileage? Not much, I suppose, unless you're me, somebody enthralled with statistics and trends. This may explain why baseball holds a special place in my heart.

About eight months ago, my car passed the 20,000-mile mark. It had taken nearly four years to reach that milestone. About two weeks ago, my odometer read 30,000 miles. I don't know if I should be proud or ashamed of this fact. I'm travelling more, but also polluting more. I can only imagine the mileage my car would rack up if I drove to work everyday.

And just to satisfy my inner statistician: If I maintain my current pace, this car will reach 40,000 miles on April 1, 2004.

I had a wonderful weekend in Washington (specifically Seattle). Spending time with T and exploring the city gave me such a high. But yesterday, as the plane landed in San Jose, I was already crashing. I exaggerate, but it's difficult to explain this emotion any other way. I didn't want to come down.

I don't know when I'll get a chance to sort through my photos or share some funny stories from my trip (there are plenty of both). I want to get to them while they are still fresh, but I'm playing catch up on many fronts and feeling a bit overwhelmed. Procrastination is the culprit.

Some days my life feels like a runaway train and I'm just trying to jump aboard.

I don't wanna come back down from this cloud
It's taken me all this time to find out what I need

To help keep this journal moving, I've assembled a patchwork of minutiae to substitute for entries that remain in a permanent state of "draft".

There is a great resource that lists all types of Bay Area Hawaiian events. A couple of them look pretty cool.

San Jose's Hukilau will be having a Beach Block Party on November 1st, after the football game between San Jose State and the University of Hawai'i. There will be food, crafts and live music. One Groove, Pupule' Boyz and Mana will be performing.

Na Leo is coming to Cupertino on December 4th as part of The Sounds of Hawai'i Holiday Tour. If the production quality is similar to the last concert I attended, it should be a good show.

I had been looking forward to getting a drink from Cafe Matisse after work. Things looked fine from a distance, but as I got closer, I noticed the windows had been covered. The door was open, so I peeked inside. The usually eclectic assortment of mismatched tables and couches were gone. Rather boring table-and-chair ensembles had replaced them. The place was being renovated. The sign on the door informed me that the Hookahs Nite Cafe would be coming soon. My shoulders slumped and I let out a sigh.

During the commercials of a Bob-related reality show, I saw the dramatic ending of Game 4. The World Series is all tied up again at two games apiece. If the Marlins win this thing, they aren't going to do it the easy way.

When our family went on vacations, my mom was the one who packed for everybody. She would stay up so late the night before, she'd only get an hour of sleep before we had to be heading to the airport. I couldn't sleep last night, so I got up and packed until 4:30 this morning (with a brief pause to post). The consequences of my insomnia should be catching up with me momentarily. I want to blame it on the anticipation of travelling, but I suspect that I'm slowly adopting my mom's packing habits.

This week's Theme Thursday was a difficult scavenger hunt that I almost skipped, but I think it's somewhat therapeutic to follow through with it. You see, I dislike having my photo taken and taking photos of myself. Out of over 1,600 I've shot, there are around 16 of me. I like two of them, one of my silhouette and this one.

I'm probably breaking my own unwritten rule to never post a self-portrait, but that's fine because it's a policy driven more by phobia than principle. Having said that, I feel the rising need to write as much as possible to push this entry into the depths of the archives.

I saw Once Upon A Time In Mexico last night. There was quite a bit of cringe-inducing violence, which I don't particularly like, but for what it's worth, it was stylized violence. The movie adeptly mixed music with action and I loved the James Bondesque guitars and cases. I usually have trouble with anything involving Enrique Iglesias, but Johnny Depp more than made up for him.

While watching, I had a sense that Robert Rodriguez, the writer and director, just had fun making the film. There was joy in the creation and I enjoyed the movie more because of it. It felt less like a story and more like a montage of scenes that savor and sometimes laugh at themselves. Now I'm curious to see El Mariachi and Desperado.

Let me tell the story this way, with what I know of that night and the names changed to amuse myself. This is the brief and uneventful tale of Joe and May. Consider it a two-minute mystery.

May is a waitress at a billiards club. Joe is a guy from out of town. He and a group of friends enter the club to shoot some pool.

Joe goes up to May to reserve a table. She asks for his name and says she will call him when the next one is available.

A few minutes later, she sets them up at a table by the DJ near the front door. The group plays for a couple of hours and when they finish, Joe and two others go to the register to pay.

As May hands back his driver's license, she smiles and says, "Thank you, Joe." The other two guys give him a look. Joe shrugs and mouths, "What?"

Back around the table, the group hangs out a few minutes longer. May passes by one last time and when Joe spots her, she smiles. The others rib him on and tell him that she is sending him signals. He replies that she is only being friendly and nothing more.

They try coaxing him into talking with her, but Joe doesn't believe them and dismisses the notion. With the hour growing late, the group finally leaves the club.

Who read the signals correctly, Joe or his friends? Was Joe being realistic or a clueless shmoe? More importantly, can anyone really tell anything from a two-hundred word story?

On Saturday, we went to Bonfante Gardens, which is located on the outskirts of Gilroy, an area notorious for being warm and growing too much garlic . Fortunately, the trees and awnings provide plenty of shade to keep cool and the plants really mask any outside odors.

The park has developed so much since it first opened a year or two ago. It's not Disneyland, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your opinion of the Mouse, but I got some great landscaping ideas. I just have to figure out how to get a circus tree in my backyard.

Their target audience is definitely young families and older folks. There are merry-go-rounds, lush gardens and rides so slow that any self-respecting teenager would yawn. My favorite part of the park was Claudia's Garden, a sunken garden with paths that meander around sculpted junipers and tiered waterfalls.

If the park is still open next year, it would be cool to revisit and see how its gardens have grown.

While I avoid writing a weekend update or thinking about certain people and issues, let's talk baseball.

I have the bad and unfulfilling habit of rooting for the underdogs. I can identify with them way too easily. Chicago and Boston are historical underdogs, but I have other reasons for liking them.

My dad's side of the family is from Illinois, which makes the Cubs a geographical favorite. Plus, I can't get enough of Wrigley Field, the second oldest stadium in the league. I guess that makes them an architectural favorite.

As for Boston, I've been there twice. I was there for a NACA convention way back in college and returned two years ago on a family vacation. I fell in love with the town immediately and that is why the Red Sox are a sentimental favorite.

The World Series is all tied up between the Yankees and Marlins, but I'm rooting for Florida, the undeniable underdogs. The "experts" say they can't win, but that won't stop me from hoping they show the same scrappiness and never-say-die spirit they displayed against San Francisco and Chicago. I'd be disappointed if New York won it all. Again.

I like things that are so good.
You are so, so good.
I like you.
But I am the underdog,
I am the last in line.

Some of the South Bay bloggers gathered at the Mission City Coffee Roasting Company on Wednesday night. Most of the regulars showed up, but a couple were missing in action. If enough of us follow Courtney's lead and call it the Bloggers Meet n' Greet, does that make the name official?

With the exceptions of the open mic Beatles-fest and Jonas fighting punks off from his car, it was a decent venue. At least it was better than anything offered by the establishment. I must confess that I'm a little partial to that cafe. It's only a couple of blocks from my old university and was one of my favorite places to get coffee and cram for classes. Over the last week, I've been getting nostalgic about my college days, but that is worthy of a separate post.

1. Rich now has a photo of Antwon that made his camera investment all worthwhile.
2. I should really consider trying NaNoWriMo.
3. Besides being very bloody, Kill Bill incorporates at least 5 different movie genres and includes references to matadors, Nietzsche and Sun Tzu.
4. I feel awfully low-tech when three people pull out their Powerbooks and all I have is a mocha.
5. We all dressed way too casually compared to Mark.

For the last couple of months, I've been thinking how fun it would be to enter races while I'm on vacation. They are often part of festivals or for good causes and offer a different way of seeing the city. It's a good source of motivation to exercise, doesn't require much additional packing and there is usually a souvenir t-shirt at the end of it.

Before visiting Hawaii, I should have checked for races. That missed opportunity means an extra reason to return to the islands soon, right? Maybe not for the Ironman Triathlon (which is this weekend!), but something more my speed.

I will get a chance to race in Seattle next week. They are having the Pumpkin Push, which includes an eight-kilometer run through Sand Point Magnuson Park, along Lake Washington. The event benefits the Puget Sound Neighborhood Health Centers. From last year's photos, race day conditions were cool and cloudy, my favorite running weather.

It's like watching a bad sleight of hand magician. You can see where he hides the coins or how he deals two cards instead of one. Nobody at the table is fooled, but we all play along and applaud every mishandled trick. The magician is so bad that he fails to see he is failing.

I cringe inside, wishing he would stop, but he goes on. He may be unfazed, but I feel enough humiliation for the both of us. I want to tell him the truth, save him from future embarrassment, but who am I to tell him such things? If I were in his place, I would want someone to be honest, open my eyes and give me a clue.

Could I be that someone for somebody else? Should I be?

This week's Theme Thursday challenge is Windows.

Typically, Tuesdays are one of my most productive days, but today feels like a Monday. My fingers move across this keyboard like they're typing underwater. Here is a short recap of a long weekend.

1. Saw Intolerable Cruelty and Lost In Translation. If you only see one, see the latter.
2. "The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you."
3. Learned new facts about coffee.
4. Hiked along the coast in Point Reyes on Saturday.
5. Our table had eight loaves of bread while eating dinner at the Buckeye Roadhouse.
6. Watched Germany take down Sweden in the Women's World Cup. Darn it!
7. The third-place U.S. team looked to Emerson for motivation, "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
8. Got muddy while playing volleyball on the Marina Green on Sunday.
9. Paused to see the Blue Angels fly overhead for Fleet Week.
10. Had dinner at Pizza Orgasmica and saw the 49ers lose to the Seahawks.
11. Reconfirmed that backyard landscaping will be a costly investment.
12. Missed the Game 3 fiasco, but saw Boston tie the series up with New York. Go Red Sox!

This journal has been around for a year now. It's amazing how fast time went by since the first entry. It's difficult to tell if my writing has changed over the life of this journal, but it's easy to see that my life has changed since I began writing.

When I first started, I thought I would have this very outgoing and bold online personality. It would be like playing a character on television. Online David would be a cool, clever and charismatic guy, the antithesis of who I am or perceive myself to be in real life.

But there was no sudden or dramatic transformation. When I wrote, no great poet or author emerged. My writing is common and workmanlike at best. The character I drew was not a superhero by any stretch of the imagination. I may be Clark Kent, but I'm no Superman.

I'm glad it happened that way. It made me realize things about myself, like the extent of my shyness. I learned my anxiety isn't infinite, but has limits, which means I can deal with it. I'm not as quiet or mild as I often believe, but I still need to speak up more. I've never been as hopeless or helpless as I sometimes envision myself.

This has been a diary, a scrapbook, a private pep talk and a chronicle of my amusements. It has been a way to share and hide my thoughts, a way to reach out and retreat, a source of motivation and regret.

I have come across so many kind and cool people because of this journal. Some I've met in real life and some I've only contacted online, but hope to meet someday. Reading their journals has inspired me and exposed me to so many new and diverse perspectives and interests. I want to thank them for sharing and I want to thank you, dear readers, both known and anonymous, for visiting and skimming these words.

Because twelve months have nearly passed, this domain will soon be expiring. I've been slowly migrating the archives to a new domain with a name that isn't so mine (thank goodness), but more web-appropriate. When the new place is running, you’ll be the first to know. I just wanted to give everybody a heads up.

Since I seem to be suffering from a brain drain today, let's do the Friday Five...

1. Do you watch sports? If so, which ones?
Primarily baseball, but I also watch hockey, soccer and figure skating (shh.). I began watching beach volleyball and curling this year, since NBC has no other real sports coverage. I'll watch football and basketball, but only if there is absolutely nothing else on.

2. What/who are your favorite sports teams and/or favorite athletes?
If I had to narrow it down to one, the San Francisco Giants are my favorite team. Some of my favorite athletes include Craig Counsell, Greg Maddux, Will Clark, Elvis Stojko and Michelle Kwan (shh!).

3. Are there any sports you hate?
My least favorite sports are race car driving and boxing. While I appreciate the effort and skill required for both, I just can't watch them.

4. Have you ever been to a sports event?
Mainly baseball (Giants and Athletics) and hockey (Sharks) games. I would love to attend an All-Star game, a World Series game and the Olympic Games at least once in my lifetime.

5. Do/did you play any sports (in school or other)? How long did you play?
In college, I played a little intramural softball and some sloshball (that's a sport, right?). In a few more months, I can probably add volleyball to the list.

Song on my mind... "Another Postcard" by Barenaked Ladies

You can't imagine so many monkeys in the daily mail
All of them coming anonymously so they leave no trail
I never thought I'd have an admirer from overseas
But someone is sending me stationary filled with chimpanzees.

Another postcard with chimpanzees
And every one is addressed to me.

Whenever I find too many songs on the radio beginning to sound alike, I can always count on BNL to sing something unique, rapid-fire and off-the-wall. They have way too much fun with music.

"He got it! He got it! He got all of it!"

The baseball commentator was ecstatic as Chicago's Sammy Sosa tied the game with a two-out, two-run blast out of Wrigley Field in the bottom of the ninth. Mike Lowell would later homer in the 11th inning to help Florida win the first game. The Cubs need to get one back tonight, before the Marlins run away with it.

"We have shock and disbelief. Sorrow and depression."

The morning DJ attempted to summarize caller reaction to the election results. The Bay Area was the only region in the state to reject the recall, which is an interesting, but unsurprising bit of trivia. If Schwarzenegger fails, I wonder if we can be held blameless.

Over the weekend, we went hiking in the Pinnacles National Monument. We reached the park's Chaparral Ranger Station around midmorning. It was sunny and warm, but stretches of the trail were shaded. The planned hike was an eight-mile loop. We decided to tackle the harder portion first and headed up the Juniper Canyon Trail.

A couple of miles into the trip, after reaching the end of the Tunnel Trail, we mistakenly took a wrong turn at the High Peaks Trail. We chose the portion marked steep and narrow, which gave us some amazing views, but also took us further south than we wanted.

Instead of backtracking, we continued towards the Bear Gulch Visitor Center, passing a group of climbers along the way. Our detour tacked on an extra two miles, but we were soon back on the right path and following the dry Chalone Creek. We trekked along the flat canyon floor and eventually reached the Balconies Caves, a cool segment that required a flashlight and a little agility to explore.

Our journey ended late in the afternoon. It was a good hike, but my legs definitely wanted rest. I had just enough energy to eat dinner before sleep overtook me. The recovery time carried into yesterday, but I'm ready and looking forward to the next hike.

Don't mind me as I ramble on about baseball. I love the sport more than any other and thought I'd jot down a few things.

It was disappointing to see Florida eliminate San Francisco on Saturday. I'm beginning to wonder if the Giants will ever win the World Series in my lifetime.

While I'm a New York Mets fan, I can't stand the Yankees. They always strike me as corporate bullies that need to be humbled by teams with smaller payrolls, like Boston or Oakland.

I'm overjoyed that Chicago beat Atlanta. I can only take so much of the tomahawk chop and their first baseman who shows his temper on the field.

It would be great to see Chicago and Boston in the end, with the Cubbies taking it all. The championship would be between two teams, from historic baseball towns, who haven't won in at least 85 years.

I need a weekend recovery day. No amount of coaxing by my alarm clock could move me from the bed. As I lay there, I considered stressing out about being late, but decided being behind was only a state of mind. Instead, I shifted my frame of reference by thirty minutes. Late magically became early. Unfortunately, it's still Monday and all the denial in the world won't change that fact.

I played open gym volleyball on Wednesday night in Milpitas. It was much more my speed. Happily, my face didn't make contact with any volleyballs, which was a marked improvement over the previous outing.

My mom is the only person I know who will leave a voice mail to strategize which shows to tape. "I can tape Ed on one VCR and Enterprise on the other. I need you to tape Smallville because we'll be watching My Wife and Kids and It's All Relative. But if you plan to watch Smallville..."

I've lost five pounds over the last two months because I haven't been paying attention to my diet. The goal was to gain or maintain. I need to make a concerted effort to sit down and eat something.

Last night, I attended the grand opening of the Westfield Shoppingtown Oakridge with my parents and sister. The expanded mall will have 70 new retailers and restaurants. It will also bring more than a thousand new jobs to south San Jose. We got a chance to watch a free movie at the new twenty-theater multiplex. There was a choice between Seabiscuit and Good Boy!. To my family, an inspirational story starring Tobey Maguire can't compete with a talking dog movie.

I hope everybody has a great weekend.

This week's Photo Friday challenge is Interior.

During our last full day on Oahu, we visited the Byodo-In Temple, a beautiful replica of Buddhist temple found in Kyoto, Japan. I loved the tranquility that surrounded me.

If things go as planned, I will be a houseguest in about four weeks, when I visit T in Seattle. He and I went to college together and we both majored in civil engineering. Like the rest of my university friends, instead of staying in the Bay Area, he returned home after graduation.

Over the years, we've had lunch two or three times, mainly when business brought him through town. It's been a while since I last saw him, so I'm looking forward to hanging out and visiting his neck of the woods.

If things go as planned, I will have a houseguest during the middle of November. My mom's friend from New Hampshire will be staying for about a week. She'll be my first official guest, so now there is a good reason to fix up the spare bedroom and bathroom.

The whole thing makes me a bit nervous. I’m not used to having people staying over. Growing up, my parents had two whole houseguests. One was my paternal grandmother and the other was Mrs. M, my mom's sixth grade teacher. Both visits were so long ago, I don't remember much and even if I did, I wasn't old enough to care.

I figure, for now, I'll find out what she likes to eat and stock up on food, linens and bath supplies. As her arrival approaches, my fits of housecleaning will probably intensify and if my worrying increases enough, I may even experience bouts of interior decorating. Everything will probably turn out fine, but it's always the anticipation that gets me.

Let's move on to something happier. I purchased Dido's new album last night. After the first listening, "Life For Rent" became my new favorite song and it quickly found itself on track repeat.

I've always thought that I would love to live by the sea
to travel the world alone and live more simply
I have no idea what's happened to that dream
cos there's really nothing left here to stop me
it's just a thought, only a thought

but if my life is for rent and I don't learn to buy
well I deserve nothing more than I get
cos nothing I have is truly mine