[berkeley]

Me Voy
for real. Theresa (my partner in crime for Brazil) bought tickets last night. We depart on May 27, 2003. Five days after I walk.
Below is a quick peek at what the month of June will be like for me:



I always joke about diamond shoes...
but Voodoo found some for real for real. She says they're going for 1 million pounds (US$1.59 Million).



And toni Tony, my birthday's in November, so you can start saving...now.

[berkeley]

¡Baila Baila!
We celebrated Winita's birthday yesterday with dinner and salsa dancing. I'd never salsa'd before, but I had a great time. It was so fun dancing with guys who wanted to dance...I don't encounter that often in my life. There were some super good dancers. I danced with one older guy (whose name I learned was Ricky) a handful of times. The first couple times, I felt like I was hanging on for dear life :: he liked spinning the girl for the full length of the song.

But by the end of the evening, and after getting lots more practice with other partners, I felt like I could hang with Ricky somewhat better. olé.

¡Me voy!
Complications began to arise with planning a trip to Europe. I was looking for a partner in crime since the boys i'd been planning to go with suggested i find a 4th person because it's easier to travel in even numbers. Well, my search for a partner to go sightseeing in Europe resulted in a partner with whom to go salsa dancing, cartwheeling in the sand, and beach laying in Brazil.

There are only minor complications with this. I need to get my passport expedited, but I already turned it in for renewal. Not sure what's going to happen to travel plans if i can't get my passport in time.

Y en otras notícias
and in other news
Hay solamente cuatro semanas antes de mi graduación. ¡Olé!
Only 4 weeks before I graduate.

[berkeley]

I Happened to
surf into a random blog. In it I found a wonderful quote. Definitely one to keep in my pocket.

From Peter's blog:
'Just want to pass on a piece of advice that my mother gave to me...A piece of advice that's beautiful in its simplicity and simple in its beauty.

"Cheer up, love - it might never happen." '

I do believe that one just made my day.

[berkeley]

Happy Birthday Blog!
This day marks the second birthday of my web journal. Two years documented, many more to go.

Today I had 2"x2" picture taken and turned in an application for my US Passport. Imagine that. Joanie might be doing Europe soon and very soon.

[berkeley]

>>Maybe its me but I'm sick of wasting energy. Maybe if I look in my heart, I can find a back a door.<< Incubus' Privilege

I'm famished
Today is a new day. I could talk about what i've been doing, and my total amount of sleep from Thursday night to Monday morning amounts to about 20 hours. And i thank God that my lack of sleep is because I was busy having tons of fun.

This weekend I went home to Concord. My parents came to see my exhibit. There was a drum circle playing in Lower Sproul and I threw down salsa moves peppered with pilipino folk around my dad (now thoroughly embarassed). I was shameless. whee =D

Their reaction to my Ducati dream was surprisingly warm. go figure.

sigh

[berkeley]

>>Cuz all I ever had...<< Bob Marley's Redemption Song

Oops I
did it again. I stayed up all night and just got home about 10 minutes before the time of this post, and I had an hour of sleep. When life sends me fabulous opportunities, I can't help but leave sleep behind, just for a little while. Rather than sleep, I read a little more of Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, talked to some peeps on the phone, planned the rest of my weekend.


and then Andre called. Why do my friends have to be so good to me? He and I (makes we) were jonesin' for some Wayne's World. We hit up Blockbuster and found two other gems: The Professional and Drumline. Drumline was so good. so very good. What can I say, it spoke to the band-nerd in me. Amazing stick work, musicianship, and plot. And you know what else? That 7-UP spokesperson has some aces up his sleeve. Yes, you too can make Drumline yours. really.

Afterwards, Wayne's World was just what I needed. party time! bonus! The night was great. We even got a giant Hershey's Almond Chocolate bar, giant Kit-Kat, and a tub of popcorn for three dollars and some change. Like kids in a candy store, we ate it up like it was about to go out of style. And you're about to see the evidence. Dre and I took care to record the chocolate festival on digital film. Chocolate was so good that I didn't even take time to adjust my crooked glasses--Hershey's Hershey's, la la la.

[berkeley]

"it's on like donkey kong"
were Victor's words when I said I was up (or down) for clubbing at Il Pirata. Fabulous times, the DJ was good. So good it hurt to listen. So good I had to squint, shake my head, and throw a hand down to the beat. Victor and Co. consisted of Andre, Allyson, Roselli, and me. The place had a great vibe, the people were there to dance and enjoy themselves. No games to be played, no eagle eyes, no hoochies, no thank you.

Waking up and dancing to Justin Timberlake or The Roots (yes, there is such a juxtaposition in my world at 8:30am) got me craving for a dance floor. Thanks to Roselli and my five dollars, i got my wish.

and after The Pirate
the five of us needed sustenance. Time for Nation's, wherever it was. There's just nothing quite like pancakes and hash browns after dancing, biking, and rolling down hills all day.

but before that
was a busy day. A week of studying and a marathon 5 hour study session Wednesday night ended with the last midterm/quiz of my college career at 10am this morning. Afterwards, I went on a 1 hour and 20 minute bike ride, read a little bit from Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" (so shoot me, i'm a FoodTV addict), and then got some emails from Andre. He came over to see my exhibit and we walked around campus, shared some trail mix, and got grass stains rolling down hills on campus.

andre didn't bring
his Canon Elph, so he made up for it with a few hand drawn renderings of the evening's highlights:

[berkeley]

teehee
I was browsing The Onion and found the cartoon below.
If you want to see more of their stuff you can go here, but beware, some of their stuff isn't appropriate to look at while at work...

[berkeley]

phew
two hours and 10 minutes on the bike. I actually rode to Moraga and Orinda today. it was hard. I am amazed at how far our minds can push our bodies.

I called victor and andre after finishing a physics problem. They were coming from the Cheeseboard Collective and Victor suggested I ride my bike out to meet them. After getting my helmet and lights, I saw my skateboard and decided it was a great night to skate.

It was a beautiful spring evening. Not cold, not hot. It's the kind of weather perfect for crossing the street multiple times waving yellow flags like it's nobody's business but our own. The type of weather in which you're perfectly content to sit in a public plaza with two friends, dancing or skating. People should play more games. like wall ball. inside the BART station with $0.50 bouncy balls that match yellow safety flags. The attendant in the Information booth told us we were not in a playground. I think we should have bought her a bouncy ball too.

[berkeley]

and then?
Another week is well on its way. Time is flying, and before I know it, it'll be time to do my very last march to Pomp and Circumstance. No grad school in sight for me, I'm a little tired of the "homework, midterms, homework, midterms, midterms, finals" routine and I'm ready to try my hand at something new.

[berkeley]

>>Darling, give me your absence tonight...<< Fiona Apple's "The Child is Gone"

Distraught Duo dash desperation at Denny's Diner. And then some.
This blog is the end of a very long Friday night :: i just got home, and it's 8:48am. But I'll talk about the beginning ... now.

The epic Friday night began with two kids on a Ducati Monster with energy and gasoline to burn. The opening lines to this story? "Santa Cruz is a little far, but...fuck it, let's go." vroom vroom

So at 11pm, Andre and I were off to the beach to take a walk in the sand and to let the ocean touch our toes. That was the plan anyway. I didn't dress too warmly, but being the little diesel truck that BernDiesel taught me to be, I decided i was tough enough to handle wind chill factor and frostbite should those two come to face me.

After a couple stops to stretch and warm-up, the two of us were getting beat down by the cold about an hour into the trip. It was colder than Andre had expected and I was getting a little worried. First of all, I like all 10 of my toes and I couldn't feel them anymore. I know there are those of you out there who like some toes more than the others, but yo, when push comes to shove, i really don't find any of my digits expendable.

Neither of us were sure about where exactly Santa Cruz was. We had gone through Highway 17's mountain pass and didn't know if we'd overshot our exit or if we hadn't gone far enough. But how much further? How much further before something froze? We decided to flip a u-turn and head to Denny's for some eats at 2am and figure out the game plan from there.

My Original Grand Slam was good eats, and why are their hashbrowns so good to me?! Andre had the grilled chicken sandwich and he had hashbrowns too. After an hour at Denny's and trying to raise our core temperatures, I was still shivering and unhappy about being in very cold weather. Happy to be out with Friend and Monster, but not so happy about the impending frostbite. We considered sleeping in a Motel 6 and facing the road the next day (Today), but Andre had to be back in Oakland before 9am. We either faced the cold now or faced it in the morning with frost on the road. So we sucked it up and headed home at 3am.

I speak of agony and unpleasant riding conditions, but have no doubt that I was having a blast. I was happy to be doing something completely unexpected and I was happy to have had my pancake, two egg, two sausage, two bacon breakfast. I was happy to be out with Andre taming and being tamed by the road.

Angel gets her wings
It was 3:47am and we stopped again to stretch and commiserate. There was no one in San Leandro except for some police cars and the two of us. We were doing our all too familiar by now "stretch, shadow box, and shiver" routine. A woman in her late 40's walked up to us with a dollar bill in hand asking us for change to make a call, she was Latina and seemed in a slight state of desperation and panic. Neither of us had change, but i had my cell phone. I let her use mine. Turns out her car broke down and she had no way of reaching her husband. We waited with her until he arrived. She said we were her angels.

Last year Victor named our road bike The Cosmic. I liked his belief that every bike should have a name. A meaningful one. Andre's Ducati was a few years old and remained nameless. But we call it The Angel now.

Finally, after saving someone's day, we were back on the road. We reached Oakland at 4:45am. Andre showed me some of the beats he'd sewn together, and when we looked out the window the sun was up. Naturally, it was time for a trip to Indian Rock. We brought a sleeping bag from last Saturday's dumpster diving exploits.

I didn't find a marble this time, but Andre found a spelunking headlamp at I-Rock and The Angel got its wings. not so bad for a Friday night.

the evidence
Lookin' supah fine after a night of no sleep...




But at least the view was fabulous.

[berkeley]

the best things
aren't quite free. My May 2003 issue of Bicycling magazine tells me that my road bike habit will cost me $7/day until I'm 75 years old. This cost accounts for tubes, clothes (spandex, oh how i love that spandex), energy food, wheels, shoes, tires, pumps, pedals, socks, and bikes. Yes, bikes. I thought i only needed one for the rest of my life, but apparently i'll be buying a new one every 4 years. Well, being the resourceful little filipina that Lola taught me to be, i can stretch my bike to 8 years i bet.

But i was talking about the best things in life. I just got home from a ride up into the Berkeley Hills. I got a workout, saw the sun shine down onto the golden gate (and emeryville, the Oakland docks, San Francisco's skyline, etc.), felt the wind on my back, got a bird's eye view of little cars zooming up and down Berkeley city streets, and best of all, i think i saw time stand still.

It was beginning to rain, but the sun was at an angle low enough so that it illuminated everything in sight. Instead of being overcast as it would have been earlier in the day, it was even brighter outside than usual. Raindrops became diamonds. for $7. I'll take two.