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.

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.

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.