NaNoWriMo

Partly because I've got writer's block and partly because it's time to pay credit where it's due, I thought I'd explain where "NovNov" came from. It's based on a 30-day writing event called National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) where people all over the world write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. The Office of Letters and Light, the non-profit organization that puts it on, is not and has no affiliation with a publisher, so these NaNo novels are purely for the entertainment of their writers.

There are many reasons why NaNoWriMo is cool, but I think the most important is that it brings people together to do what is almost always a solitary activity. They are an extraordinarily motivated and optimistic people who spend at least 3 hours a day for 30 straight days to accomplish something that really has no prize except a feeling of accomplishment.

[In order to "win" NaNoWriMo, you must write 50,000 words of original fiction. As a 4-time participant (2-time loser, 2-time winner), I can tell you that it's a fantastic use of one's time for a month, winner or not. ]

SD, AFT: part 2

The next day we dragged ourselves out of bed by noon and headed to this lighthouse/tidepool preserve somewhere in or around San Diego (I wasn't fully awake by that point). It was another lovely clear day and the ocean was miraculously blue.

We got pretty lost but made our way down this winding road to some tidepools. The rocks had been worn down in interesting ways by the waves. It was awesome and my friend pointed out that it would have been very romantic to be there with someone other than me.

We hadn't given up on looking for the lighthouse so we drove back up that winding road and followed some other cars to a large parking lot. We still couldn't find the large white house sitting on top of a hill with a huge light on top despite the fact that there were dozens of people heading up that way so we wandered around the visitor's center a bit.

Finally, we followed the multitudes of people and found the lighthouse. Apparently Mr. and Mrs. Lighthouse (err...I can't remember their names) and their three children had lived inside it. It was so narrow and tiny and the rooms so short I was feeling a bit claustrophobic just thinking about anyone actually living there.

Next we headed back to PB, the Berkeley-esque place, for some sushi. I ordered the "PB sushi" and my friend got this deep-fried spicy mess. Next headed over to Trader Joe's for some mochi and peach Lambic and then went back to N's for a nap.

Later that evening, we went over to N's friends' (J and K) apartment to play some Rockband. J and K, being the college dudes that they were, had set up a projector and the video game took up the whole living room wall. We played for a while and at some point they mentioned this Mexican place J loved called Cotixan (I believe pronounced "koh-dee-kan"). I got a huge taco and three of us split a plate of nachos. J was also kind enough to let me mess with his guitar, which he tried unsuccessfully to teach me how to play.

We got home around 0200 again and this time I fell asleep with an enormously distended tummy. Another good day.

San Diego, a foodie tour: part 1

I made a trip down to San Diego to visit my friend N who goes to UCSD, and my friends E and C who each live about an hour and a half outside the city. N was nice enough to host me at her swanky apartment in UTC (University Town Center, I think), which is where all the UCSD students who aren't in the dorms live.

N picked me up from the airport at around 1400 and we went for a drive. We crossed this enormous bridge where water surrounded us on both sides and then my friend got lost and we ended up on a naval base somewhere. I didn't mind though, it was really nice to see clear, blue water everywhere I looked.

After turning around and getting off the base, we went to UCSD for a quick campus tour. I'd been there four years ago when I was looking at colleges, but all I could remember was a UFO, talking trees, and something about a beans-for-notes exchange.

The first thing that stood out to me about the campus was how different it was from Cal. It's absolutely sprawling, with a large vet hospital on campus, numerous small dorms, and what seems like endless space between buildings. Shuttles carry the students around campus, and those who don't live in the dorms need cars to get to school. Fortunately, there was ample parking.

My friend showed me the "dungeons" which are the computer labs where she often spends entire days. It looked miserable. She also took me to the quad, which was pretty damn sweet. I often forget that other schools have chain restaurants, cafes and other cool stuff to make campus convenient and whatnot. There was a huge sushi place with a pool hall in the back, an actual movie theater, and countless lounges. We went to the top of the UFO-looking library named for Dr. Seuss (how awesome is that) and saw a view of San Diego that convinced me that no one studying up there could ever get any work done.

I was starting to get hungry and N had told me about this amazing burger place called Big Kahuna's so we headed out to PB (Pacific Beach, perhaps), which is the less trendy, more grungy part of town, or as my friend described it, the "Berkeley" of San Diego.

She was right about the burger, it was huge and delicious and we also had this appetizer called Big Kahuna's Balls that were pretty amazing.

We waddled back to the car and my friend drove to the top of some hill that reminded me a lot of Grizzly Peak and we had a lovely view of San Diego by night.

After the pleasant drive, we went back to her apartment, a huge, new, clean, two-bedroom, two-bathroom place with a balcony and an elevator in the building that she shared with one other person. College living? I don't think so. My friend and I got dressed up, I borrowed some shoes and then headed to the Gaslamp part of downtown San Diego.

I have to admit, I never knew SD was so happening. The Gaslamp was a four-block by two-block area of clubs, bars, pubs, and great restaurants. It was a Saturday night and it was packed. As N circled the area looking for parking, I people-watched in amazement. There was the 21+ crowd dressed up for a night of clubbing, but also numerous families, perhaps just leaving after dinner at one of the amazing eateries. There were rickshaws carrying high-heeled customers from wherever they parked their cars to their place of choice, and plenty of very nice-looking cars, limos included.

We finally found a parking lot and headed to a pool hall we'd found on Yelp. After playing for a couple of hours, we went to an Irish bar called Patrick's II (what happened to Patrick's I, I didn't ask) where there was a live blues band playing. It was an odd joint but we enjoyed the atmosphere. A rather large saxophone player jumped off the stage and wandered around the pub playing for tips. Later, an older German gentleman offered us some of his nuts. Peanuts are supposed to bring out the flavor of beer, he said.

We were home by 0200 and finally got to bed by 0300. I sank into N's very comfortable leather couch and fell into a deep sleep.