[concord]

just guess
Guess what i'm getting at work.



i'll whisper in your ear :: carpal tunnel.
My new quest is to get a natural/contour keyboard on my desk sometime before i lose feeling in my fingertips.

Run Forrest Run
I was planning to go jogging today on Iron Horse Trail (thanks nico), but it was way windy by the end of my shift. (I'm using factory worker talk). It's all good though, I rode my bike to the gym and ran 3.5 miles in 30 minutes and then rode home.

C.S. Lewis
I'm reading 'Mere Christianity' by said author, and it's turning out to be philosophical in tone. I'm used to Hermann Hesse's more aesthetic style, so i'm still adjusting to Lewis' style. Good stuff. He doesn't mean to define a specific denomination of Christianity, only to give the common foundation amongst all branches.

I'm at the 4th chapter and he hasn't gotten to the God part yet. He's only talked about the Law of (Human) Nature. It is the only law amongst the other natural laws in the world such as gravity, Physics (holla!), etc. that one can choose not to follow.

Regardless of the differences between cultures, however, all of them follow the Law of Nature. All cultures believe that man should put others before himself, however, who the "others" are differs by culture whether it's family, country, or both.

Well i can't even begin to convey all that Lewis wrote, but so far it seems like a good read (thanks alex). It'll be nice to become more knowledgeable about my faith.

[san ramon]

>>

commentary
I've never written such long entries in the whole history of my blogging. I try to refrain from doing so because I always feel a little overwhelmed when people write 10 page posts in their blogs...oops.

I want to add more commentary...so i guess this entry is the meat of the two preceding posts.

firm handshake
When I first met Mike, the guy who sold Victor his motorcycle jacket, helmet and gloves, I judged him by his long hair, unshaven spotty beard and the fact that he greeted us in his socks. He ended up being a really great guy with rich experiences overseas and who used to race motorcycles. Way cooler than a lot of the clean cut Joes we see on the street.

I learned a lot about myself from Mike. I'm judgmental.

Well, granted, i was open to his story and what he had to share, but he had to prove his coolness to me. I wasn't accepting from square one.

more later if i have time.

Trail
It turns out there's a trail behind my building that runs from San Ramon to Concord. I think i just might bike to work one day and see what it's like. It's crazy talk, but shoots, more dimension for me.

[concord]

>>[RP playing the drums in the background]<<

first off
Ms Luzon: I know I mentioned you...I was linking your page and tagged "ms luzon" incorrectly by missing a quotation mark. It's fixed now, but just for good measure ...
ms luzon :: ms luzon :: ms luzon

Saturday continued from my 1:08 pm post earlier today
Victor got to David's before me and was ready to go to San Jose to check out a motorcycle jacket from craigslist.

We got to Mike's apartment around 8:45pm. He introduced us to his wife and gave Victor a blue and black "Joe Rocket" jacket to try on.

Mike is an unshaven long-haired guy who turned out to be very awesome. Served in the Marine Corps and was therefore well travelled, had raced speedbikes for a while and was now into building computers for the fun of it. He also had the most amazing cat ever. I never wanted a pet until Saturday night. But we're not allowed to have cats in our apartment and I think i might be allergic to them. Mike was a good guy, and we hung out with him until about 10:30pm. Victor walked away with a jacket, helmet and gloves for $150. right on.

After Mike's, we stopped by a movie theatre in Santa Clara so we could sneak into Lilo & Stitch (ssssh). Unfortunately, the next showing wasn't until midnight, so we ditched that idea and headed for Santa Cruz to take an evening walk on the beach and to visit Yosh's friend Julia.

Julia's a future Senior like me and is an art major. She was pretty dope. She rides a Schwinn beach cruiser, waitresses at a restaurant on the pier, and decorates her apartment with B&W's she's taken as well as metalwork she's created.

The Beach
was amazing. I haven't been to the ocean in a long time and I'd forgotten how soothing it was to be there.

Sunday
We got home from Santa Cruz around 3am and called it a night.

Victor woke me up at 10:00 am by poking my face and laughing. He and I lounged for a few hours waiting for Yosh to run some errands.

I started my bike ride at 1:00pm. I was back at Yosh's by 3pm and asked Victor to come with me to buy apricots, corn, fuji apples, and roasted peanuts at a fruit stand I had passed on my ride.

I finally headed home at 4:30pm and, not knowing how my dad does that shortcut through 280N around the traffic at 101N near the bridge, I got stuck in traffic for a little while before realizing I knew how to use SF's side streets to get around. Yay for being a native!

Speeding home to get to church at 6pm, I didn't change out of my shorts and tank. I figured i'd change into my better clothes in the church bathroom. I pulled into the church parking lot at 6:05pm and stuck my keys in my bag of clothes and jumped out of the car and locked the door.

Oops. Bag is still in locked car.

Eep. I look like trash. I broke the law to get here late. Keys locked in car. So i sat shamefully through mass in crap clothing, while my keys + Urban Outfitters tee and pants sat in my locked car. I spent most of mass thinking that maybe I got locked out of the car because God wanted to remind me that it didn't matter what i was wearing. Nevertheless, i was humbled.

I noticed my family sitting in another section, but i was too embarassed to cross the church in my sweats to sit by them. I waited til after mass when my dad gave me his set of keys for the truck.

It was now 7pm and even after passing Daly City 3 hours earlier and thinking "hmm, Bev, Bern and Gary live there. Too bad i don't know where they live. Too bad I don't have a cell phone so i can call and visit" I didn't remember that I had set up a dinner date with them at 5pm.

I gassed up the car and headed to my grandma's for dinner (a Sunday tradition).

Got home at 9:30pm and only then did i realize I had forgotten about Jon Sims studio at 5pm.

I'm giving in. I'm getting a cell soon.

[san ramon - lunchtime]

>>

friday
In the afternoon, I set up a dinner date with ms luzon, Bern, and gary plus nico for Sunday at 5pm. I spent the rest of the evening relaxing in Concord.

Saturday
Aerobics in the morning, a few chores, and then at 1:30pm, a mad rush to Berkeley to make it to a 2:15pm showing of Minority Report in Century Theatres Pinole. I was with some of the boys from Apt. 4 including Alex.

I didn't think we'd make it in time for the show, but at the time I was planning to meet Victor at the Civic Center bart station at 5:30pm and head over to Woodside (near Palo Alto) to hang out with Yosh. So I needed to go to the early showing.

We survived University Ave with about 15 minutes to spare, but as we got onto the 80E on ramp, we saw a very congested freeway. Time: 2:05pm...No dice, we'd have to go to the 3:30pm show.

Yay for being natives, we got off the freeway and went around the traffic using Berkeley side streets. On the way there, I borrowed Alex's celli and gave Victor a heads up.

By the way, I'm working on getting a cell, another experience this weekend would serve to provide another reason to get one.

We found the theater and had a little time for Subway sandwiches before the movie would start, where I would then enjoy 2.5 hours of Tom Cruise (haaay!).

Minority Report was the bomb. Some thought it was overrated, but I totally loved the setting of the film, the plot, and the technology they showed. Sure, some of it was farflung (i.e. red and brown wooden spheres), but I took it for what it was.

That evening I drove all the way to Woodside (near Palo Alto) to meet up with Victor and his friend David (Yoshizawa) aka Yosh.

It was a breathtaking drive. Initially, I was reluctant to take such a long drive by myself, but a view of the coast and Half Moon Bay was well worth it. Yosh gave me directions and they entailed taking a few switchbacks up private roads. I asked him in jest "Do you have a mansion Yosh?" He laughed in reply. Although he didn't have a mansion, his place was pretty amazing surrounded by woods and a view of the hills. Maybe he has oil wells :o)

...lunch break's over i'll finish the story in a bit.

[concord]

>> ... << John Coltrane's "I Think"

alright already
So so so. I've been blessed with the return of my blogging Muse. She came to me when BernDiesel told me today that she believed I was working in San Francisco for the past 2 weeks. I immediately realized it was time to talk a little about 'work'.

Accenture is my employer.
San Ramon is my location.
Cell #10-3 is my cubicle.
Nine-West is the brand of my shoes.
40-45-50 is the number of hours I work per week.

No joking around this summer. The whole 9-10 hours at the Cube are spent producing MR's (maintenance requests) and spreadsheets for our "clients"--e.g. the California Government. My project maintains the electronic billing system for the telephone service for every government agency in the state--DMV, UC Berkeley, elementary schools-- you name it, we monitor the local/long distance bills for that agency.

Work is awesome. It makes me use my analytical skills and my mind is stimulated. It's just like school in that I'm doing problems all day and my mind's engaged, except that I get paid.

Well there are drawbacks. Less variety at work. Not a new adventure every day. But last summer taught me not to expect that. So i'm not so upset that my life is somewhat less exciting than it is during the semester.

I saw Victor on Sunday for the first time in about 3 weeks. It was good to see him. It also made me realize, however, the big changes that have taken place in my life as a result of the start of my internship. Victor, as always, had the same great stories to tell. Ex: Leading a team building session of some people in high places so that they might fund a chat room on the United Nations website whose purpose is to empower young girls. Dope huh? yeah that's victor everyday.

I used to have stories like that. "I went to a photographer's house today...I went on a bike ride through the Haight...I found a U-Lock...I read Siddhartha...I read Demian..."
I can't share as many stories with Victor anymore, and that makes me a little disappointed in myself. But i'm not unhappy or frustrated with the fact that my internship is taking so much of my time. I do what i can.

[concord]

hey all
Okay, I haven't blogged in a long while, and I know this entry is going to be brief.

Work is great, i'm working with brilliant people and even though i'm putting in long hours (today: 8:30-6:30, lunch at desk) i still like what i do. I've gotten over the fact that i'm working for the man, because i can't do anything about that for now. I think what's most important is that I don't lose myself in my work. Victor and I once talked about how easily people get sidetracked--getting from point A to point B by first stopping at points C, D, and M.

The best i can do is constantly remind myself of who I want to be. I'm taking a detour right now. Don't really know where the destination is, but corporate America is definitely just a checkpoint.

[concord]

sing sing sing
I spent Saturday at an Advanced Printing Techniques darkroom workshop. Saturday evening was spent at the Metronome Ballroom learning to swing dance with some Physics peeps.

photo revisited
After visiting Pavlina and learning more about the various perils of the photo business, I see the art in a less dreamlike state. I'm thankful she snapped me out of it.

After that sobering meeting, I don't know what I want with photo. I don't know what satisfaction it brings me, nor its purpose. Art is strange in that way. Barely tangible utility, yet so very necessary all the same.

work was dope
I don't think i'll have much downtime to blog and chat though. Looks like the project will be keeping me fairly busy.

[concord]

it begins
Well well well. 20 hours until the beginning of my summer internship. At 8:30 am tomorrow morning I'll be checking in for orientation in the San Francisco office.
It'll be nice to have an income again.

now
My daily mission to make every day meaningful is proving to be a difficult undertaking. I am completely responsible for making sure I don't waste my summer vacation.

Here and now are the moments I'd been wishing and hoping for when I was studying for midterms and finals or doing 12-hour problem sets. It would be a travesty not to take advantage of my free time to explore, grow, and learn about myself.

summarizing Monday
Thankfully, Monday was meaningful. I visited the photographer that I met at the Seder (passover dinner) a month ago. Their Victorian in Potrero Hill challenges the Painted Ladies I saw on Sunday. A maid even opened the door. Anywho, Pavlina told me how difficult the photography business is, but that if it's something I was in love with, then I'd have to do it, regardless of how difficult it is. She added, "just as you can't choose who you fall in love with." She was awesome, very pragmatic. I wonder how she makes her money if it's not through photography...maybe she owns oil wells, haha.

Today so far
Today I found Luna bars for 89 cents each. I bought 30 of them, haha.

This morning Isabella asked me what life was.

I am eternally working and re-working my definition of it.

[berkeley]

consumer me
Went to REI today and got a $225 jacket for $40.

*Note that I basically don't buy any clothing unless it's at an insanely amazing bargain such as the one i found. Furthermore, note that this is part of the reason why I don't have many new things. *sigh* College student economics.

furthermore
I've been trying to make the most of my time all week. I know that as soon as I start my internship, I'll be wishing I had more time to do A, B, and C. As such, i'm trying to go on as many adventures as possible before this Wednesday.

I went bicycling in the city on Friday and saw the famous "Painted Ladies" -- six beautifully restored Victorians on Scott and Folsom in the Western Addition.

I think i'll go ride somewhere in Concord. They say there are some really great rides near Mt. Diablo. More later.

oh, and Go Kings!!!. In other words, go anybody who's playing the Lakers. haha.