It's been another busy weekend. I flew out to New York on Thursday to spend Halloween weekend with C. On the agenda: find matching outfits and go to a few halloween parties. We ended up going with a tried and true favorite. We bought our outfits at Halloween Adventure, a shop below Union Square. It was packed to the rafters with people looking for outfits on Friday. After mulling over girl scout uniforms and angel wings we picked a scandalous set of doctor and nurse outfits. Afterward we went window shopping in SoHo and but didn't manage to buy anything. We ended up going to dinner at L'impero that night before getting into character and trotting off to a party. Many drinks were consumed and we ended up taxi-ing it home and falling asleep quickly. Saturday was much the same except that C. needed to meet up with her group during the afternoon. We ended up in SoHo again, but didn't manage to buy anything that time out either. We did have some marvelous Aztec Hot Chocolate at MarieBelle. Afterward, we met up with K. and A. for some fabulous sushi at Matsuri in the Maritime Hotel. For some reason I can't quite fathom, sushi's even bigger in New York than in SF. Anyway, this is currently my number one pick for sushi in NY. We'll if we can't get a spot at Nobu Next Door for a little comparison. Later than evening we donned our outfits again and headed off to M's going away/halloween party. Once again, many drinks were had and we had to taxi it home again. Sunday came an hour late and we went in search of pho and boba. Somehow these two things have amazing restorative properties. We did some more shopping from there and worked our way up to Rockefeller Center to go ice skating. After about an hour of that, we did some more shopping with some success and then went back to the apartment for dinner and then off again to meet up with one of her friends. And it was only then, after three very full days of excitement that I realized something. I realized something very very important. My flight back wasn't on Monday.
And so it came to pass that I missed my flight. Not by a few minutes, not by an hour. But by three hours. Luckily I managed to get a flight this morning. But I have to say, I'll be double and triple checking my itinerary from now on.
One last note. Starting tomorrow I will be restarting my failed experiment as a writer. And as such, for the next month, nothing you read here will vaguely resemble my life.
Cal finally decided to come out and try to win one. Then half way through they changed their mind. And in the end they decided they really wanted to win the game. So we ended with a score of 42-38. I was fortunate enough to catch the end on the game, leaving a good friend's birthday party on Saturday. In other news, Stanfurd beat ASU, which is surprising to me since I thought Stanfurd was supposed to be awful this season and ASU was ranked earlier. Maybe I should get tickets to the big game; this could be closer than I thought.
On Sunday I drove down to South Bay and helped celebrate my brother's birthday/baby shower. I'm not sure that's the best way to describe it, but hopefully you get the point. Anyway, I don't see my family enough and I'm starting to wonder why that is. People who haven't seen me in a while undoubtedly ask me, what have you been up to. Usually I can't think of anything to say. This month I've been to New York once, been to swing class every Monday and the climbing gym every Wednesday. We've had a couple of Thursday poker nights and a scotch tasting night. I've driven into the city twice in October for haircuts and wine tasting and been to the symphony once. I've watched three anime movies and played probably more than two dozen hours of Gran Tursimo. I've seen many friends that I haven't seen in a while. I feel like I've been working alot and not getting much of anything done. And reading back on this banal list, I really don't feel like I've been "up to" much at all.
Lately, I've just been doing things that I want to do. Not important things, not things that I want to accomplish, just things that occur to me to do at the moment, like eat, or sleep, waste time surfing the web or playing sudoku. And somehow, doing the things that give me instant gratification, doesn't add up in the end. I'm not doing the things that I really want to do. Somehow, even though much of the time is my own, I'm not taking time for myself.
Lastly, I realized while updating this that someone dear to me has run away. Where did you go I wonder? How long did it take me to notice?
A friend of mine told me that this was a year of big spiders. I'm not sure if she was speaking of chinese astrology or just casual observation, but I'd have to agree, I've definitely seen more than my fair share of spiders lately. Perhaps it's because I've been neglecting my garden, but over the summer I've had to clear my backyard of quite a few fair sized spiders. Usually I try the catch and release method. In this case catching consists of getting the spider on the end of a broomstick and flinging it across the street to my neighbor's yard. Until recently the largest spider I'd seen was no larger than a half dollar with it's legs fully extended. But last Monday, while venturing into my much neglected backyard, I saw what was perhaps the largest spider I'd ever seen outside a classroom. I didn't get a close look at it since it scurried up it's web and because I jumped about two feet backwards. See, I don't care much for spiders. Which is to say, I'm deathly afraid of them. I know, it's not a very manly thing to say, but there you have it. I proceeded to get my garden hose and spray the roof eaves to flush the culprit out. As it fell to the ground I realized I hadn't planned far enough ahead: was I going to catch it? was I going to kill it? Without an exit plan I decided to continue to spray it. I judged it's body to be about the size of a quarter and with it's legs extended a bit larger than a half dollar. Eventually it disappeared underneath the rock wall in my garden. So I've been a little on edge this past week thinking I'll bump into it again.
Fast forward to this evening. I stepped outside into my garage and bent down to pick up my shoes when out of the corner of my eye I saw something scuttle under one of my cars. At first I thought it was a spider, but then I thought, no, much to large. So I went to get my broom and peering under my car I saw some distinctly arachnid shape. This, I thought, is a very large spider. I reached out with my broom and swatted at it. It scurried away and I heard it as it ran across the cardboard underneath my car. Yes, I heard it. I decided I wasn't going to leave it in my garage overnight, so I opened the garage door and moved my car outside. This spider was nice enough to stay in one place so that I could get a look at it. It was little larger than my cell phone, legs and all. This begs the question, how big is my cell phone? This is my cell phone. And the spider looked something like this So there I was, broom in hand, thinking, "Do I step on it? Do I sweep it away?" I stood there for maybe half a minute, weighing my options and the spider sat there very much resigned to its fate. I decided I couldn't kill it, considering how convenient it was to simply sweep it away. So with a wide arc of the broom, I swept the spider into the darkness. I only hope that, unlike Rebecca's frog, it doesn't decide on repeat visits.
I was over at a friend's house on Saturday watching Cal beat Arizona 28-0. My friends thought it interesting because they'd never seen me so actively interested in ... well, just about anything. I guess I'm pretty stoic normally. Anyway, during one of the commercials, while I'm grabbing something to eat I hear something that sticks in my head. You know, one of those hackneyed sports mottoes that you eventually start making fun of like, "Just Do It" or "Good Enough, Isn't." Why is it that the truth become passe? Anyway, it went like this, "The man who thinks he can and the man who thinks he can't are both right. Which one are you?"
Saw "Serenity" on Sunday. It was the best science fiction movie I've seen in awhile. A must see for scifi lovers and Buffy fans alike. Also watched "Voices from a Distant Star" on DVD. It was a pretty good anime. Short, but poignant. It was particular impressive since it was done by one person with a PowerMac. Makes all my achievements seem kinda lame. Installing a microhood is pretty much crap compared to doing that.
Started a new swing class on Monday. It's been awhile since I visited Berkeley on a regular basis. Makes me feel old.
