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. 

Sleeping Quarter and Rose Gardens in Oakland

So while I have been at Mari's place I have had an interesting sleeping arrangement. Let's just say that there are a variety of things placed in Mari's house that happen to take up quite a bit of space. I sleep in the living room on the floor. I design my own bed. This is how I do it. I take remove 3 couch cushions. This is my mat. I place them on the ground. I try to make them pretty snug. I then place a blanket over the cushions. I also tuck the blanket underneath the cushion. This keeps everything in place. I then put another blanket and grab some pillows from Mar and "voila!" I have a bed.

This morning I went with my sister to the Rose Gardens near her place. Mari lives in Piedmont. The Rose Gardens are about a 10 minute walk from her place. We both wanted to do some exercise. I did some push ups, abs stuff and took a run. Mari did the stairs. This is where she goes up and down these long stairs for like 35 minutes.

The rose gardens were cool. I think I was a little bit more focused on my run then on the rose bushes so I didn't completely take them in. But this is the beauty of pictures. Pictures allow me to partially remember the experience.

I ran up a really large hill because I knew that the view from the top was really cool. When I got to the top I was exhausted but it was worth it. The hill had a pretty steep gradient. This made the view that much nicer because I could see further into the community.

Alameda Park and Beach

Today my sister and I went to the Alameda Park. It was really green. I was shocked at how few people there were considering this is the Labor Day Weekend. Parking was really easy. While we were walking around there was enough people so we felt safe but not so many that we felt burdened or crowded.

At first we just walked around the park but then we eventually made our way to the beach. The beach kind of snuck up on us since it was blocked by a large structure that spread apart horizontally for a pretty good distance (I have no idea how far it was). Immediately after we crossed the structure we realized we were right next to the ocean. It dropped us about 25 yards from the ocean.

We walked along the coastline for a little bit. I enjoyed being near the ocean and feeling it's power. The ocean is crazy because there are so many wild crazy looking creatures inside of it. I love looking at the ocean but sometimes it scares me.

Good Friends that are Good People...

Tonight my sister and I went over to my good friends Drew and Lindsey's place. It is hard to provide textual characteristics to people like Drew and Lindsey. Both of them are extremely fun. They also are very ambitious but they are quiet about it. Only through questioning do either of them really go into detail about some of the great things they have done. Drew often enjoys informing people that he is quite "handsome" and is very willingly to openly discuss his journey to attain an 8-pack.

We went over to there place. They live in Rockridge. There place is really nice. I don't know how they keep it so clean. Every time I have been to Drew and Lindsey's place it is always super clean. I feel like it has been clean an improbable amount of times.

We hung out and Lindsey made dinner. The food was great. I wish I could remember what one things was called. I know that there was a large type of Macaroni with some cheese on it and some meat was in there too. Bottom-line is that all of the food was insanely awesome.

Lindsey made this really interesting appetizer that was white bean, garlic, and artichoke Bruschetta. It was super awesome.

Later on in the night we out to Ben and Nick's. We hung out and talked. I like hanging out with people like Drew and Lindsey because both of them are inspiring the way they live their lives. I have never meant anyone who is more efficient with his time then Drew. I will never forget when I walked out to the basketball court to see Drew. I sat down next to him. He had his computer open, he was keeping all 60 kids in check, he was writing up the unit plan and lesson plans for an upcoming unit, and talking to me about a paper that we had due in our Masters class. Lindsey is great because she is laid back and just has fun. Plus, she is very smart and she handles her sh&t!

I love being around good people because it makes me want to be a better person.

The Rose Bushes in Berkley

Today I went to the Rose bushes in Berkley with my sister. The rose bushes are very relaxing. It is much more than a few roses lined up. There are steps and steps filled with the Rose Gardens.

Walking around is really relaxing. There are families there, old friends, romantic couples, first dates, kids running around and many other types of people. It is an environment that is welcoming to everyone.

This is a shot of the hillside of the roses. Look at how the roses are placed on large steps.

Across the street from the Rose Garden is a really awesome park. The park has a basketball court right in the middle of it. I have never seeing a basketball court with so much green surrounding it. There also was a super large slide that kids grabbed pieces of cardboard to slide down on.

This is me and Mari.You can see the awesome slide in the background.

California Academy of Science at Golden Gate Park

Today Zach and I went to the California Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park. There were a variety of exhibits. There was a scientist created Garden at the top of the Academy. The garden was inspired by a draft design that had the Academy being developed underneath the hillside.

Inside the Academy are numerous exhibits. They have a rainforest biome, an Aquarium, a planetarium, an extreme mammal exhibit (no pictures allowed), an African animals exhibit, and many other smaller exhibits.

It is not very large but they manage to fit in a world of information within the Academy. There are also enough exhibits that I stayed entertained the entire day. We got there at about 11 am and left at about 430 pm.

There is such a mass of information at a place like this that it can be visited many times.

Fisherman's Wharf

Today I woke up around 1030 am. Both Zach and I were slow to get up. We left the house around 12 pm. We headed to Fisherman's wharf and walked around for a while. Fisherman's wharf is really cool because there are tons of little shops. But by far the coolest part of Fisherman's wharf are the people putting on entertainment shows on the side of the street. There are people developing art, people break dancing, people putting on talent shows, there are people pretending to be frozen. There was even a homeless guy that has a bunch of bushes that he holds with his hands to hide his face. When people pass by him he pushes the branches to the side and tries to scare him. It is hilarious.

 

One of the other really cool things about fisherman's wharf is that from the pier you can see Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge. San Francisco is a city with so many amazing views.

After this we walked through the financial district on our way to Nike town. It was interesting to experience the financial district though there really is no reason for me to go back there.

A Walk to the Golden Gate Bridge

I am currently staying in the Marina area with my friend Zach. I have known Zach since we were very small children (before preschool age).

Today we woke up around 930. We made a breakfast. We had scrambled eggs, sausages, baked potatoes seasoned with minced onions, garlic powder, olive oil, salt and pepper. We then decided to head out to the Golden Gate Bridge.

We walked all around the marina area near the ocean. It was windy but since Zach and I had awesome Northshore jackets we were not effected by the cold. As we walked through the Marina area we crossed through a park, walked right on the coast, up a hilly green region, and then across the bridge.

 

Walking across Golden Gate Bridge always has its moments when fear strikes. When I sit and look over the edge of the Golden Gate Bridge and look into the water I always get a slight tingle up my body. It is very powerful to be standing so high above such a powerful image. It is quite a postcard to look across the bridge to see San Francisco. It is quite shocking how much depth of the city can be seeing from the bridge.

On our way back to Zach's place we saw a small festival for children. Zach noticed from afar that there was a band playing. As we looked closer we realized they were a rock band of kids that could not have been older than 11. It was hilarious seeing some 11 year olds rock out to hardcore music. I had no idea what they were saying.

Zach and I then returned back to Zach's place in the Marina. We then created sandwiches . I had an oven roasted turkey sandwich with spicy mustard, spinach and tomato on sourdough bread.