Welcomed to the Castle of Ha

Ha getting ready to eat all of the food in one bite

I got to Ha’s place around 7 pm. I hung out with Ha’s roommate Jen for a little while. We chatted for a while and soon I was blessed with the presence of my lovely and always engaging host: Ms. Ha Nguyen.

Me circled by all of Ha's food.

Ha entered the home with a “I’m HOOOOME!”. When she entered the apartment I couldn’t see her face. Why? Well, apparently Ha went to an event where the host announced “there is leftover food. Anyone can take it”. It appeared that when he said “anyone can take it” Ha must have heard “Ha can take it”. Because Ha rolled in with food stacked passed her head. Of course all of us were thrilled.

Ha's masterful pizza

Once we settled down Ha got to making a mean pizza. It had mozzarella, tomatoes, other really good stuff, and more good stuff. Let’s just say it tasted super good and nothing need more be said. 

New York City!

I got to the airport around 715 am. I dropped off my bag, was slightly invaded at the security checkpoint, and eventually made it on the plane. I was welcomed to my seat by a mid 20 something latino male with a wink and a smile. There I was stuck in the socially awkward situation of “how do I respond to a wink?” I only know one other person in my life who routinely winks and I know that person well enough to make fun of them.

Here I was being winked at by a total stranger. It takes a rare human to wink with grace. I am not that human. When I attempt a wink I look like there is a malfunction in my eye blinking system where one eye just happened to stop working. I clumsily made it pass the inappropriate winker. Eventually I got to my seat where I stared out the window and avoided all potential eye contact for the remainder of the flight.

I arrived in New York city in the early evening around 5 pm (eastern time).  With little confusion I was able to find my way to the subway and begin my adventure to my friends house.

As I stood in the subway I found myself staring at everyone. Generally when I first get to a city I face the struggle of trying to “fit in” while also trying to “take it all in”. As I stood in the subway I looked at everyone. I almost chimed in my own commentary to the conversation happening to my left but realized that would make it way too obvious I was eavesdropping. I tried to stare at everyone and everything while simultaneously attempting to appear that I was not in fact staring.

At one point the subway became overwhelmingly crowded when half of Michigan University arrived in our subway. I knew this because they were loud, annoying, made numerous comments about Michigan University, and wore Michigan University gear. A girl sat next to me and noticed the book I was reading. She looked at it and said “Lord of the Rings. Yeah?” I had the urge to respond with a “Yes siree Captain obvious!” But I instead opted for the more socially appropriate “Yeah, it’s a great book”. She nodded and our conversation was done. Eventually the Michigan group left and there was some breathing room on the subway once more.

I had to make a transfer at the following station. It was so busy when I tried to get on that I literally could not fit on the subway. I tried door after door and each was filled to the brim. I waited for the next line and was able to get on safely.

Eventually I made it to my good friend Ha’s House and this began my journey in New York. 

What is this Disc Golf you speak of?

My disc and shirt match!

How does one go about explaining disc golf? Well, it is like golf except it lacks the etiquette and “prestige” of regular golf. But do not become alarmed, as these characteristics have been replaced by more pleasurable characteristics. For one, rather than feeling constantly on edge of breaking some rule the disc golfer will find himself sharing pleasant conversations with other disc golfers whom he has never met. These conversations range from “how you shooting?” to “what’s your dog’s name?” (yes you can bring dogs) to even the occasional “Want a beer?”

bunch of dudes playing some disc golf.

It is impossible to explain disc golf without comparing it to golf. There similarities are as a like as there differences are different. For one, both games use the “par” system where a player is trying to get it into a hole within a certain amount of shots. But with disc golf a disc is used while with golf a ball is used. In Golf the players attempt to get the ball in a hole in the ground while in disc golf the player attempts to get the disc into a chained basket that is above ground. In Golf, silence is more important than breathing. In Disc golf massive amounts of silence would just make for unnecessary awkward silence.

There is a constant tension and frustration I feel when I play golf. There is a constant relaxation and an “oh well” type of attitude when I play disc golf. For me, golf is perpetually painful. Even, when I make a great shot I am still stuck with the ever present anxiety of “I still have another shot” yet with disc golf there is the ever present excitement of “Can I do something awesome with this shot?”

Me next to the basket that you have to make the disc in.

When I make a lousy shot in disc golf I simply shrug my shoulders and move forward. When I make a lousy shot in golf I must listen to my peers explain the miniscule details which lead to the massive error in my shot.

Though both games could be simply summed up with “put that thing in there” I find one incredibly enjoyable while the other flat out painful.

We all define “making it” in life in a different way. The day I hold my first “business meeting” on the disc golf course I will “have made it”…

Let me sum it up with this simple analogy. If Golf were a woman I would go against all the lessons I have learned in my life. I would go ahead with my impulse and kick it really hard in the shin! If Disc Golf were a woman I would take it on a date and even pay for her when she ordered the expensive salmon on the menu!

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.