In Places Where Gnomes Live

A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!

Today we went on a hike up in the Clairmont Hills. Don’t ask me where in the hills because I have no idea. I simply followed the person in front of me.

By “we” I mean Mari (my sister), Drew (my friend) Lindsey (also my friend), and myself. We started the hike into what looked like an elaborate entrance to a backyard. Then before I knew it we were in the midst of the forest.

Left to right: Drew, Lindsey and Mari.

If gnomes exist this is where they live. It’s hard to explain this. It’s just as I walked around I kept thinking to myself “if I was a gnome, this is where I would live”. There may be some flaws in my logic.

this is after i beat up Drew.

The element that fascinated me the most was the constant changing scene of the environment. We started on a road, went to a small paved path, to the forest, back to a residential area, and back to a different forest.

beginning of hike

In what can only be called an episode of all cosmic greatness Drew and Lindsey had brought “The Chicken Sandwich From Betty’s”. This is the most awesome sandwich ever created in all of the universe. We ate that as we sat in the forest.

middle of hike

In a perfect world our lunch would have been peaceful and pleasant. But this is not a perfect world. As I whipped my torso to the left  to double check where my water was I clumsily dropped my remaining chicken sandwich to the dirt. An adult tempter tantrum would have been a totally acceptable response to this horribly tragic event.

Near end of hike

Luckily for me Drew and Lindsey communicated to me the exact words I needed to hear: “Dirt don’t hurt”. All I thought was lost had been saved. I picked up the sandwich, took my time removing the dirt, and finished it.

Super totally hecka totally not lying awesome hike!

Warriors Game + Contradictory Perspectives + Crazy Guy=Awesome!

Steph Curry

Tonight I went with my sis to the Warriors basketball game.  This was the first professional basketball game I have attended. How was it? A-W-E-S-O-M-E only begins to explain it. Basketball players are incredible athletes. They flow with such grace. They even “sit down” in a cool way.

Me and Ms. Mar

My sister is not near the basketball fan I am but she had a positive attitude and found entertainment in the atmosphere. Our dialogue probably would have been rather comical to an outsider.  She would point out her observations in all areas in the court except stuff going on in the court. I, being the complete contradiction, notice nothing in the environment and put all my focus on the court.

We both continually failed (though attempted) to welcome the other into each of our worlds. She attempted to point out things to me while I virtually at the same time explained what was happening on the court. The end results: I now know where a Budweiser sign is in the audience and my sister might know a few new names of some warriors players. All said and done I can confidently say we had a great time.

If you look closely you can see the warriors post game guys.

We sat right behind “super crazy coked out guy”. Let it be known that this is an observation that Mari made (as she was the “environment observer”). Also this is merely speculation. Here is what led us to this conclusion: 1) He got up to go to the bathroom at least 5 times. 2) When his partner was not present he spent the entire time standing (consequentially blocking our view), walking back and forth, and yelling at the players. 3) He got into an argument with the “It’s It” vendor about the price of the delectable desert. 4) He informed the small child sitting to my right that the “$5.50 you paid for that “It’s It” was a total rip-off”. 5) He later turned around to explain to the small child that the greatest combination in the universe is an “It’s It and coffee”. 6) He did not stop talking the entire game. If he wasn’t “coked out” then I would change his name to “Extremely Poor Boundaries Person”

As for the game, the warriors lost in overtime. All things considered “fun” would be an understatement of epic magnitudes. I think “total awesomeness” will suffice.

Nature our way: Golden Gate Park and a Windy Road

On our way across San Francisco I saw this cartoonish looking winding road. I asked Leanne, “What is that?”. She replied “Oh, that’s the curviest road in the world”… With an introduction like that we had to check it out.

Us driving down the curvy road.

Unfortunately, I was on the phone with my brother getting directions to our next location. I commited the cardinal sin. I was on the phone while seeing a sight for the first time. The thing is that my brother is a human GPS system for San Francisco. He had to get to class so if I didn’t get the directions at that exact time then I’d have been “F’ed”. When I say a human GPS I kid you not. He literally was able to pinpoint our exact point based on the street corners. He then proceeded to identify the upcoming streets by name. It was super duper awesome! I actually would have to say his incredible GPS-esque super human map skill was more impressive than the curvy road. 

Golden Gate Park was the opposite. I was able to give my full attention to it. The nature was a really nice break from the city. There also was a really cool white tower in the midst of the park.

A crazy looking tree in Golden Gate Park

Park’s in cities crack me up. Civillization has spent thousands of years to get out of nature. Now that we have accomplished leaving nature we now have developed nature with certain ramifications. Nature can be peaceful and relaxing. These are qualities we have decided to keep in our gated nature communities (also known as parks). But then Nature also has wild animals that can “F” your day up. This has conveniently been removed. Nature doesn’t have bathrooms or water fountains. We have decided to add these to our nature experiences. As humans we have managed to create a man made nature that incorporates all the good of nature, added in some good from society and then removed the bad of nature... This equals up to total awesomeness.

Leanne laughing about something funny

Coit Tower

Today I went to Coit Tower with my friend Leanne. I headed out via BART and got off at Embarcadero Station. From there Leanne picked me up and after a series of turns and the unavoidable dance with death that all drivers in san Francisco face, we made it to Coit Tower.

This is some of the art on the walls in Coit Tower.

On the outside it was really relaxing and nice. Since it was on the middle of a Friday there weren’t too many people there. Eventually we went inside. There was amazing art all over the walls inside on the bottom floor of the tower. The art portrayed life during this time frame (1933-1934). It was interesting to look at the details of some of the pictures and realize I have no idea what some of the major industries were during that time (even after seeing the art).

The Tower itself was finished around 1933. But some of the art was apparently controversial. Some believed that some of the art pieces inside conveyed communist support. Once these pieces were removed the Coit Tower was open to the public in 1934. 

The Piedmont "Rose" Gardens in Winter

Today I walked to the Piedmont Rose Gardens. It was very quiet and peaceful at the Rose Gardens. I feel like at this time of year calling it a “Rose Garden” could not be further from the truth as there are no roses in it. Looking at all of the Rose bushes without any roses gave an eerie horror movie feeling. 

I walked around for a while and took pictures. It was really quite beautiful. There were trees of many different types. The most common thing I noticed people doing while I was there: working out. People had their tight black spandex on, and they were running up and down the stairs, doing push-ups, and walking their dogs. 

Laying Low in Piedmont

Today, I walked around Piedmont. This is a small city in the Bay Area. It is a very peaceful community. The weather was cool but warm enough to walk around in a short sleeve. I felt real safe as I ventured around on Piedmont avenue (the main street in the area) and checked out the stores. 

It is incredibly green in this area. It is a city that is surprisingly relaxed considering how lively it feels. I enjoyed just walking around and exploring  the area.

I have been here many times before but I have never taken the time to walk around by myself. I was shocked to see the colors in the trees this time of year. The leaves showed fall reds but it is late January. 

While I was walking around  on Piedmont Avenue there was this crazy looking car. I don’t even think it could be called a car. It had written on it “Mog”. What is a Mog? Just look at the picture. However weird it looks it was way weirder in real life.