My favorite local musician is releasing his second album

SD, AFT: part 3

On my final day in San Diego I met up with E, C and A. E drove down from Walnut and while C and A, who were driving up (west?) from El Centro, got a flat tire, E and I caught up. We commiserated about moving back home and dealing with parents on a daily basis for the first time in four years.

The four of us headed to Old Town and got lunch at this great Mexican place. I had a burrito bigger than my head, C got some green flautas, and A was chastised by the waiter for drinking too much water. Our bellies full, we went for a walk around this mission-type place to burn a few of the many thousands of calories we'd ingested. As we were looking around an old stable, we were suddenly hit with a conundrum. It was an age old question that had confounded Americans for generations. What was the capital of Kentucky? Seriously, we discussed this for a while, ignoring the lovely exhibits and wax horses and instead racking our geeky brains for the answer. After a little while we came to the consensus that the answer was Louisville. A quick iPhone check told us we were wrong.

It was a perfect day, not too hot, not too cool, and a light breeze ushered us along.

Next we headed to the beach for a stroll (in reality it wasn't so much a stroll as an epic trek that spanned hours and culminated in a much needed IHOP pit stop for various types of lemonade and more water for A). As the four of us walked along the soft sandy beach, we giggled. It was just one of those days. But before long we realized that it was getting very difficult to lift our feet in the sand. It was a workout and although the sidewalk was just feet away, we had an unspoken agreement that the four of us would make it to the other end of the beach in the sand. We did come across an astonishing sand castle, which was a nice distraction, but by the time we reached the end we were exhausted, sweaty, and in need of the aforementioned lemonades (in case you're wondering, I had a cherry lemonade, E had an Arnold Palmer, and C insisted that she have a strawberry lemonade even though IHOP doesn't technically have strawberry lemonades (apparently they put the strawberry goo from the Rooty Tooty Fresh N' Fruity in a regular lemonade which sounds questionable to me, but that's what she wanted and, frankly, what are you gonna do?)). While we sat at our table, giggling, discussing what "guay" meant in Uruguay and Paraguay, and alerting each other of our demises (E "accidentally" said I had died), we also cleaned out our shoes on the floor. And so we left a little part of ourselves as we walked out the door, four small sand mounds just under the table.

In need of caffeine and something chocolatey we decided we'd head to a patisserie or chocolaterie. Indeed. I remembered that N had mentioned a fantastic dessert place called Extraordinary Desserts so a quick Yelp check later and we had an address. We got there and couldn't believe our eyes. I decided right there on the spot that "extraordinary" was apt for once. First of all, the front door was huge and it was a little spectacle watching C march right up and open it by herself. Inside, the most wonderful array of sugary, chocolatey, fruity delights awaited us. It was a sit-down dessert restaurant, I'll have you know, complete with a waitress and beverages. I had the cafe viennese while I marveled at their sugar (crystalline, rather than granular). The four of us shared two pricey slices of cake. They were both chocolate but that didn't bother any of us. We dug in and had no mercy; two empty plates, four empty mugs, and the show was done.

Goodbyes are weird so I'll just say that it was nice to see E, C, and A again, and even nicer to finally visit N in her San Diego. One citrus mint hookah and a Japanese beer later, and I was back in San Jose, where the past three days felt like nothing more than a passing dream.

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.

Sometimes people ask me which Korea I'm going to...

...so I decided to make a compare/contrast list to help distinguish the two.

Technology

South Korea: Dubbed "the most wired country in the world" South Koreans enjoy their internet at four times the speed than that of the United States.

North Korea: Unlike other oppressive regimes which ban certain websites they don't approve of (I'm looking at you, China), North Korea simply doesn't get internet. According to the New York Times North Korea's domain suffix .kp remains unused.

Electricity

The top half of this picture is North Korea at night, the bottom half is South Korea.

Communication

South Korea: 90% of South Koreans own a cell phone, which they use to watch TV, buy stuff, and play those nerdy online videogames. South Korean companies Samsung and LG are two of three largest cell phone companies in the world.

North Korea: Cell phone were banned in North Korea until 2004. In 2008 a mobile phone service was launched but hardly anyone in North Korea can afford a cell phone anyway.

Transportation

South Korea: A fast, efficient subway system in each major city transports the busy population around; the Seoul Metropolitan Subway is one of the most used subway systems in the world. Signs in the cosmopolitan SK subways are written in Korea, English and sometimes Chinese. South Korea is the world's fifth largest automotive manufacture.

North Korea: Cars are a luxury in North Korea, with only around 20,000 cars in the entire country (less than 1 per 1,000 people). In fact, bikes are luxury in North Korea.

Government

South Korea: Full democracy with three branches of government not unlike our own.

North Korea: Oh boy. Officially led by the "Korean Worker's Party," North Korea is actually run by (Dear Leader) Kim Jong-il, son of the Eternal President Kim Il-sung. He can apparently control the weather with his mood.

 

Tourism

South Korea: With the best airport in the world just outside capital city Seoul, South Korea welcomes around six million tourists a year. Popular spots include historic Geongju,

tropical Jeju Island

and urban Seoul.

North Korea: The North Korean government recently imprisoned journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee for accidentally crossing the border into the country. Tours are available for people who want to visit North Korea, excluding South Koreans. This is actually a really interesting firsthand experience of the guided tour at the DMZ (demilitarized zone).

Stuff they have in common:

They both speak Korean (albeit very different dialects).

They both qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

So in summary: South Korea is a technologically advanced, first-world nation which welcomes tourists and has a healthy relationship not only with fellow Asian countries, but with the UN and the Western World alike. North Korea is a totalitarian regime that imprisons people in labor camps who happen to step across its border.

Can you guess which Korea I'll be going to?

Beach Day Haiku

Warm day on the beach.
Can this be San Francisco?
I guess summer's here.

A towel, a sandwich,
And I brought a big dog too.
Well, I got a bite.

A dead pelican.
People wonder how it died.
But I think something:

Death, here by the sea,
With these waves as one’s last sight,
Doesn’t seem so bad.