dracil

Mmm, so Friday after work BARTed and Amtraked to Davis. I was already on the BART when I realized I'd left my binocular in the office so I ran out and back to the office and then caught the next train. That was close. Interesting experience for the Amtrak. It's kinda like a cross between a plane and BART. Haven't been on a real train in quite a while. There was a point where I panicked for a bit when the conductor came and I couldn't find my ticket and I thought I'd dropped it when I got on board. But I managed to find it so it was ok.

Got picked up by Jenny there, where we had dinner at her place (she made Dijon Garlic Salmon) and some veggies + rice. Sorta watched Hitch on TV during the time. After that I let her play Brain Age 2 on the DS, and then we played a game of Ingenious Travel Edition where she beat me by 1 point. Oh yeah, air conditioning! Whee! (Davis is really hot =/)

After that, she went to her room while I napped while we waited for Eric to show up, who came around 1:30. He tried to play some Perfect Dark on their Nintendo 64 but gave up soon. Then we tried to sleep a little until 3AM. We went to UC Davis and we tried a very wet field first, but eventually left when it seemed like the automatic sprinklers were coming for a second pass. So we moved to some unmaintained field where we saw three or four rabbits who ran away. Then we camped there for a few more hours watching the meteor shower/random stargazing. Definitely better than the Perseids. Saw several large, slow meteors too. So finally saw Orion, which was never up when I was usually looking at the sky (it's higher up as we get closer to winter/stay up later). Also managed to see Sirius. Sirius is pretty. In addition, we saw Mars, Uranus, and Venus, in that order. We ate some puffs from Taiwan during that time too. We finally went back around 6AM and then just slept. I woke up at 7AM by my own alarm and then finally woke up for real and couldn't sleep again when Jenny's housemate came back at 10AM.

Jenny made some brunch (leftover salmon, rice, scrambled eggs, sausage, veggies) which we ate for a few hours. Had a root beer float too. Lent Jenny Brain Age 2 and Big Brain Academy. Finally left with Eric I think around 2PM and got back around 5:40. Saw a lot of people wearing Cal clothing at the BART so I think there was a football game around that time too. Just missed the bus which is why I had to wait an extra hour or I could've gotten back around 4:40.

Currently feeling happy

dracil

Wow, perfectly clear skies at night in SF.  First time I've seen it since I've started noting sky conditions.  I guess there's hope.  Now to find a decent spot around here...

So I moved today.  Took like 2 hours, a lot faster than expected.  Dropped my electric razor during the move and broke it.  Doh.

Had dumplings with my housemates for lunch while watching a Taiwanese TV show on Olivia's laptop.

So... the entire house is not grounded.  Or at least my surge protector's ground light does not light up no matter what outlet I plug it into.  Hmm... hope nothing bad happens to my electronics...

Internet here is relatively slow, I'm almost certain if they renewed their contract with the same company, they'd get faster speeds at a lower price (or even faster speeds at a slightly higher price).  I guess I'll talk to them about it.

Oh, and giveawayoftheday.com gave out Ingenious!  Woohoo!  I was waiting for that for a while!  No Internet play, but it can be simulated with its Lan plan + Hamachi.  Oh, and I guess I really do just suck at abstracts in general.  Three losses in a row against the easy computer.

In other news, Shubha's gone MIA.  Haven't been able to contact her at all since our birthday.  We were supposed to meet up.  =/

Currently feeling content

dracil

Took my housemates to Berkeley. Just showed them around and stuff. Was really empty. Like school hasn't started yet. Of course it's Labor Day weekend as well, but still...

Got them to buy games and stuff at Eudemonia and Games of Berkeley. Olivia bought Guillotine and Leqi bought some Pirates of the Caribbean keychains and some beach scene decoration. I bought the 1910 expansion for Ticket to Ride as well as Jambo and its expansion. We ate at Bongo Burger since Olivia had wanted to go to the one in Taiwan. Played both Guillotine and TTR: 1910 with Olivia. I won Guillotine 37-36, and lost TTR by a lot of points (because she ended the game 1 turn before I completed my last, big important route).

Hmm, it's nice to have housemates that play board games again.

Currently feeling content

dracil

Staff meeting = pizza
Birthdays in August = cake + pie
Celebration of a release = beer

In completely unrelated news, I should keep my mouth shut and stop sabotaging myself.
 

Currently feeling okay

dracil

Ok, pretty long day.

Left at 10:30 to go check out the UN for Taiwan rally with Olivia. Think we arrived a little late. Was able to get rally flags and some stickers, but no shirts. They had a large green Taiwan and mostly they shouted "UN for Taiwan" or "Taiwan GO GO GO." We didn't really shout but I did wave the flags a bit and we walked with the march. Ironically, the least politically green of BST (me) and Olivia (who's also more blue) were the ones who were there rather than the greener people.

We saw the food come in at 12:30, but by 12:45, we decided to just leave because we were afraid we couldn't make it. So we went over to Clement but it turns out Olivia had been there already. We had a full lunch at one of those Chinese fast food places and then bought Strawberry Cheesecake (for Olivia), Black Forest, Swedish Princess, and Tiramisu from Schubert's Bakery.

We went over to Ashby Bart, got picked up by Jenny, went to theater and met Joyce there. Transformers was really good. I liked it. The girls seemed less enthusiastic about it except Jenny (I guess we were the two who had really wanted to watch it I guess).

Then we went to the Elephant Bar (took a bit of searching). Olivia and Joyce had the lamb shanks (1), I had the Pork Ribs (full rack), and Jenny had the Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya. I thought my ribs were pretty good (tender), and so were the lamb shanks (they were large enough so that the regular 2 shanks would probably make me happy if I had ordered that) and Jambalaya was decent as well. Then we finally had the cake. I was *extremely* full after that, and we kinda just sat there and talked while we digested the food.

Went out around 11:15 since it seemed it was closing and just talked some more, about some BST traditions. So the girls hugged each other. So we talked about how BST guys don't hug, so I tried hugging Joyce. That didn't turn out well, haha. I got called creepy. Whatever, I think I'm gonna try to break this tradition/groupthink that BST guys aren't huggable. Yeah, I've been trying to change the image of the guys.

We also talked about dating a bit and basically the BST guys got called wimps by Jenny for not asking girls out. =/

Eh, I dunno. Well, in my life, I've basically asked 4 girls out. Three ended very disastrously and only one turned out with us still being on pretty good terms. And since I'm only interested in girls who are already friends, this tends to wreck havoc on the social circles as well, so that's why I'm generally reluctant about this issue. In fact, it seems BST people have only really gone out with outside people, never from within the circle, so the risk has always been a lot lower for them (ironically, the one couple who were more from within the group (well, one of them was kinda not really part of the group/was more new, at least from my perspective) ended up falling out of the group when they got together). I wonder if this is because they are also actually unwilling to take the risk, or if BST people just don't find other people in the circle attractive. But anyway, I guess the question for me on this is whether I'm willing to risk losing a lot of close friends to ask a girl out. Yeah, I'll probably end up making another bone-headed decision again when the time is right and be forced to move on again. At least I'll have proven that BST guys are (or were? as the case may be) not wimps, just stupid.

Hmm, if you're curious, I *may* be willing to talk about The Failures 1-on-1.

There was also some talk about whether or not we're introverts or extroverts based on this book Joyce is reading called the Introvert Advantage. I guess it's kinda inconclusive from the tidbits mentioned, since we kinda fit and don't fit different things. Will have to check that book out. I got called possibly lonely by Joyce. Eh, bad night I guess. Then again, I guess I'm hearing people's real perception of me...

Currently feeling exhausted yet hyper

dracil

Ok, Tabulas is *seriously* screwed up as soon as you edit any entries.

This is so I'll be able to recover the approximate, correct date/times:

UN for Taiwan, Transformers movie, Elephant Bar dinner - 9/9 - 2AM
Berkeley visit + game initiation - 9/4 1AM
Aurigids meteor shower - 9/1 11PM

 

Currently feeling not happy

dracil

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070903204845.htm

Well, it's not surprising. The men wanting to see 1/2 of the women while women only wanting to see 1/3 of the men shows the evolutionary history of humans of men being the ones seeking out women (and I think it's related to us not being true monogamous animals)

The first thought I actually had when I read the article in a newspaper was my housemates talking about arranged marriages in Taiwan about how guys supposedly flaunt making more than NT$1million/year overseas as a desirable trait on those shows, which translates to about US$30000/year. I said I make quite a bit more than that (but it's only about average in the US) and they said I could probably get a lot of interested women if I went on one of those shows. Eh... I said I didn't want gold diggers.

Currently feeling amused

dracil

So I bought and have been reading the book Joyce recommended to us. Mainly it's about how the world is mostly extroverted (3:1 ratio) and being introverted is not a bad thing.

The author likened extroverts to the warriors and introverts as advisors to them. But I actually disagree with that. Ever looked at power hierachies? The ratio is 1 leader to lots of advisors/followers. It's like a pyramid.

So I think the correct analogy, and the way the world SHOULD be run is the introverts at the top as the masterminds, and the extroverts as their minions. :3

Unfortunately, what we have now is a tyranny of the majority. Maybe that's why the world is so messed up. I mean, just look at George Bush.
Currently feeling thoughtful

dracil

Mmm, lots of sleeping today. Still sleepy but it's late now. Guess my body wants to recover some of that sleep debt. Or maybe it's this free drink I got yesterday that's supposed to help you sleep (it's just chocolate milk + something like 0.3mg melatonin really).

Oh yeah, yesterday while the landlady and her daughter was up here, she commented how our faces looked really alike. Eh...
Currently feeling okay

dracil

As the designated bathroom cleaner for the month, there's something I must say. Two girls can shed a heckuva lot of hair in the few hours they're in the bathroom per day.

'nuff said.


Currently feeling surprised

dracil

Aww, this is gonna suck for Wheel of Time readers. Ok, so many people thought the books just dragged and dragged, but there's still probably some fans out there.

I hope this doesn't happy to the Song of Ice and Fire series (which I read), because the author (George R. R. Martin) take so many years to come out with each book.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Ahoy there, mateys! It's Talk Like a Pirate Day! Don't be a landlubber, join in the fun! Why? 'cause You Are A Pirate! Yaargh! Arrgh! (Ok, I suck at this)

(And yes, that is a horrible Paint job. That's right, not even using Photoshop )

BTW, there's an official song for today as well. http://www.tomsmithonline.com/freestuff.htm (search for Talk Like a Pirate, there's two versions). More songs for today at http://talklikeapirate.com/songs1.html


Currently feeling piratey

dracil

So we were told yesterday that we were gonna have lunch together. So at 12:30 we all went to a place called Palamino. Based on the price of the wine list and appetizers, seemed fairly expensive ($157 bottles of wine?). Probably $10 more expensive than what I might eat with friends. But was pretty decent food I guess. At least I had a 2x longer lunch break.
Currently feeling content

dracil

Oh right, forgot to blog about it yesterday.

Went to Chinatown with Olivia for the Moon Festival there. Very very crowded. Very pushy old people with no shame at all. Tsk tsk.

Ate at Blondie's Pizza for lunch, then met up with Catherine and her friends. Managed to buy two boxes of mooncakes for $15 total which is a pretty good deal when most places were selling for $15-$25 per box. Then we had dinner at House of Nanking and I now realize I completely forgot to take pictures of the food. The owner/chef was like "First time here? Do you trust me [to decide the dishes for you]?" We decided to let him do it, and the choices were ok. Not sure it's worth the long line we usually see outside the place (we went early so no line).
Currently feeling okay

dracil

So... had lunch with Jenny. An hour later than originally expected but that was fine and fit more closely to my normal lunch break.

We got food at Oasis Grill and then sat on the steps at Embarcadero Plaza facing the Ferry building and just ate and talked. Got Blokus from her and my DS charger back. The food was definitely sauce drippy. And the pigeons ate whatever I accidentally dropped. It was close enough I could've probably caught it if I wanted to.

Eh, lunch break is too short and I had to get back to work. Jenny went on to tour SF.

I actually went back to the ferry building after work to buy bread from the Acme Bread Company. Got Green Onion Slab. Was very good. I began snacking on it before dinner and actually ended up eating like half of it. Was gonna get garlic, vinegar, parsley, and olive oil to make garlic relish using the recipe on Stinking Rose but wasn't sure what vinegar to buy (there was way too many kinds there, what's regular vinegar? Oh yeah, it's also like almost all sustainable/organic products there. AKA expensive but higher quality/more environmentally friendly (well the sustainable stuff, organic's not actually really better)

Reminder to self: Go see that Zen Garden thing at Union Square. Maybe also get dinner at this other place I wanted to try out.
Currently feeling okay

dracil

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! (passed now)

So I brought the mooncakes I bought on Saturday to work and shared them with people. I think people enjoyed it. Took one whole one for myself for breakfast. There was one piece left at the end of the day which I gave to the weekly Yoga teacher, who's name also happens to be Autumn. I think she was touched.

Didn't join in though, since I was busy working on stuff (stayed about 1.5 hours later than usual).

Had another green onion slab from the Acme Bread Company. Good stuff. Quite filling too. I should get something to go with it before I start getting tired of it though. The farmer's market was also out in full force today when I went there. I should try buying some of that stuff some time.
Currently feeling content

dracil

This reminded me of that hugging business that other day. Click for undeformed pics.





Currently feeling amused