Beloved (or Not)

Crimson Rose

So this morning I sent out my bombshell of an email announcing to my wider group and acquaintances that I would be departing and that Friday would be my last day. It was an interesting experiment because I can gauge the intimacy of the working relationship based on the response or lack thereof. Some responded with good wishes. Others were shocked and asked where I was going. There were no responses from someone whom I've known for over 7 years. How disappointing! Don't worry, I'm not stressing over that though. This is one way to figure out who your "friends" are. This week I'm going to try to meet up for a farewell lunch/coffee with those whom I click.

In the Studio

The Thing

This was my final class in Digital II at RayKo. It was fun being in a photography studio today. I felt like a pro playing with all the different lighting set ups.

The first set up I tested was the soft box. This photo below is a picture of one of the other students in the class. The benefit of the soft box is that it diffuses light nicely. The second set up we got to try was a hot light. The results of this were pretty poor so I will spare you the pictures. Finally I photographed an object (see purple blob like object at the top) using a table top set up with a seamless gray backdrop. I really liked this. Now I want my own equipment so that I can have a home studio. That would be superb. If I'm doing portraits I would also need a stool, but I'm not much of a portrait photographer. People are too temperamental.

Artist Date #1

Laffing Sal aka Laughing Sal

San Francisco used to have an institution named Playland where kiddies were brought to be amused by amusement type things like rollercoasters and fun houses. It closed during the 1970's so I have no recollection of this place. However, Musee Mecanique close to Pier 39 is still alive. Admission is free, but it generally costs 25 - 50 cents to make the various machines move. The photo booths cost $3 though.

I've always wanted to check it out because I've heard so much about the old figures that moved and were creepy. Stepping inside is like to traveling back to a simpler time when video games and the Internet never existed. Above you see a picture of Laffing Sal, a mechanized figure of a towering woman who will lean forward and break out in raucous laughter if you drop 50 cents into the slot. I have to admit, she is kinda scary.

There were a bunch of other cool machines there like a zoetrope with a crank that you have to turn in order to see an old fashioned car race. These machines are not politically correct, so don't be offended. For example, there is a gypsy (not Roma/Sinti) woman who tells fortunes. Also, there was an "Opium Den" machine that featured a Chinese figure and a machine that showed two buffaloes running over an "Indian".

About the Title: You may wonder what the title refers to. This is a term used in Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way". It essentially means treating yourself to an experience that would help you reconnect with your creativity.

Free as a Bird

About the Photo:
I was back to my wandering ways now that I'm almost a free agent. As I was walking along the Embarcadero, which I will sorely miss, I came upon this scene. I was struck my the wavy roof of this bus shelter. Also, I thought the people on the platform were also nicely arranged. The funny story behind this shot was that the guy on the right was aware that I was taking the picture. That's why he is striking a pose for the camera. Ha ha! This is hilarious!

About my Journey:
I think I'm gradually learning to enjoy this thing called free time. At first, the thought of all this free time scared me somewhat because I didn't know how to best use it, but this fear was only fleeting. No worries, I have plans. :-)

Today, however, was an exception. I just went with the flow because I didn't bring lunch or snacks. For lunch I had chicken udon and salmon sashimi on the side. It was a spur of the moment thing. Then for my afternoon snack I had a frozen yogurt with raspberries as a topping.

Transitions

Tabula rasa

I got some flak for yesterday's picture not matching the title of a new chapter, so here's the old college try. The picture represents a new start at a new place and hopefully a positive lifestyle change to one of more work-life balance.

I will hopefully have my weekends to myself now for the most part at least. We'll see how the new employer is. Unfortunately all these years in corporate America have made me very jaded. I cannot presume that they will be better than my current employer unless I see a lot of tangible evidence that I will have more control over my free time.

New Chapter

About the Picture: This is a photo of the gummi candies sent from Frankfurt. Thanks again, Herr Gummibaerchen! They are a nice treat. Plus, everyone who tries these gummi candies are just blown away by their taste because they are much better than the rubbery things they sell here in the States. I should open a Bears and Friends/Baeren Treff franchise here and introduce them to a wider American audience.

By the way, today I made a major decision to change employers. I feel lighter already and rid of a heavy burden. I believe this new chapter in my career is a step in the right direction because this change should give me more control over my schedule and my weekend. I am tired of having my work demands run roughshod over my personal plans. The last straw that broke the camel's back was when I had to miss a photography class and was not reimbursed for it. I truly hope I will now have more time to devote to my personal interests like photography and foreign languages! I am very excited about this change in my life.

Story Time

It's story time. For my Digital II photography course I am supposed to tell a story using pictures. The teacher so far has not even had time to look at our previous assignments, so really I don't even need to do it, but I figured I would try anyhow. Telling a story with pictures is difficult because I don't have models that I can work with for a more involved story. To compromise, I used stuffed monkeys as my models. They were cooperative enough and didn't talk back to me.

Click each picture to see the narrative. It's based on a real experience I had while riding the bus when I was in high school. There was a thug on the bus who was terrorizing students and stealing things from their backpacks. He even threatened me by approaching me and asking what I had in my coat pocket. I defended myself my yelling at the top of my lungs that he should stop bothering me. My yelling drew stares and the attention of other riders, which is what the thug wanted to avoid, so he said "D--n" under his breath and shuffled away from me. Good riddance to bad trash!

Experimenting

HDR

Why is it so hard to do something that would benefit yourself?
Today I took a day off to recover from the previous week of intense work that gave me a little health scare. So what did I end up achieving? Not much tangible. I just keep obsessively checking my BlackBerry when the red light flashes, visiting Facebook (bad, bad habit), checking my emails, reading New York Times and sfgate online, spent 30 minutes on the Wii.... Actually I want to draft a business plan. My ultimate dream would be to start my own successful business and be my own boss. No, I'm not going insane and am not planning to quit my day job. This dream will take time and discipline, but I'm determined to give it a try.

I'm sick and tired of seeing others who have an idea, just go ahead and pursue it and become well known. They may even have less talent or skill, but what they do have is courage. Courage to go out on a limb and believe in themselves.

Often when I'm toiling away in the office, I think to myself - why can't I work this hard for myself?

About the photos: The top picture shows my first experiment with High Definition Range photography. It's a photographic effect that combines photos with different exposures to make one photo with a wide range of light. It can create pretty surreal results, if that's the effect you're going for. In this case I took a photo of tools in three exposures and combined them in Photomatix. It's fun, but gimmicky.

It Isn't Easy Being Green

Parking Lot

Kermit the Frog famously said "It isn't easy being green," but this could also describe bus riders like me, who are acting "green" or are just too stingy to fork over big bucks for a car, depending on how you want to spin it. I don't own a car, so have to ride the bus whenever I want go downtown. The advantages of not owning a car are numerous. I save money. No need to pay for car insurance, parking, gas, etc.

However, you have to be able to put up with the limitations of public transportation and there are many of those too. The bus is often crowded, smells and there could be crazies, pick pockets and public nose pickers on the bus. Today as I was headed out for my photography class, I witnessed an elderly man who was digging into his nose very publicly. As my mother likes to say - he doesn't even know how to write the word shame! Then when I came back I saw a middle aged woman picking her nose too. That's just disgusting because when you think about it, these people then go and touch the same bars that all the other passengers hold to steady themselves if they are standing. This is the reason I disinfect myself after each bus ride.

If I eventually succumb and get a car, which I know I need to do sooner or later, I might want to get a Smart car or a Mini because these small cars would be easier to park than larger ones. I'm not very skilled at parking. On the other hand, fuel efficiency and cost may just nudge me into getting a Japanese car. Those things are so reliable!

About the Picture: I did this panorama in class today using Photoshop. It was so easy. You need to take several pictures in portrait orientation with about 10-20% overlap. The software then just stitches everything together. The subject of this panorama is pretty boring though I have to admit.

Splurge

Salon

I splurged and went to Oxenrose for a wash and haircut. It's been overdue because my hair started to grow out and it looked like I had a mullet. Now that's been taken care of. Oh, how relaxing the head massage was! The junior stylist who cut my hair was Anthony. He was ok, but not that talkative.

About the Photo: This shows the interior of the Oxenrose salon. I like the composition because the stairway and the lighting points up at the guy in the upper left who is looking suspiciously into the camera. If there were a cartoon bubble coming from his head it would say, "What the heck is she doing, taking a picture in here?"

Chatty Seatmate

Security Line at ORD

I had a pleasant trip back to SF and a chatty seat neighbor. I probably found out more about him during the 4 hours than I have about some people I've known for years. For example, his favorite vacation destination in Europe is Santorini in Greece and he also really likes Molokai island in Hawaii. In 2005 he was there and wrote "Molokai 2005" in the sand with his foot and photographed that. Plus, I know all about his all expenses paid weekend plans in wine country that's being paid for by a winery. He was a pretty talkative and said that he was glad to see that I was his seat neighbor because he didn't want to sit next to "large" people. Funny!

I guess it's good when someone's chatty because it helps pass the time when you're stuck on the plane. Might as well make the most of it if you have to sit for so long in close quarters. I would not classify myself as a talkative person, but I tend to get along with people who do more of the talking because then I can be lazy and just lean back, listen, be entertained and ask questions or interject my 2 cents when I feel like it.

Sleepy Head

We went to Uncle Julio's yesterday for a group dinner. See picture above. It's Mexican food. I'm not usually a fan of Mexican, so I just ordered a grilled salmon. Luckily the meal was paid for by the partner so I didn't have to fork over money for dinner.

Anyhow, project is over so I get to go home. Yay! A lesson I learned is that when a flight is over 1 hour or so, it's a good idea to pack a noise cancelling headphone and a lot of reading materials.

I've been watching a lot of TV from my hotel room. Entourage on HBO, the Office on NBC, 30 Rock, the Cleaner with Benjamin Bratt, and others. Reclining on a Heavenly bed just staring at the large screen is a huge luxury after a stressful day at work.

Apologies if I'm incoherent. I need some personal time away from work and my colleagues. We were sitting together in very tight quarters and got to know each other very well.

Countdown

I'm counting down to when this project is over. It's sucking the life out of me. I usually find some time to take a break and take pictures, but I'm just plain pooped. Plus, the client seems to be disrespecting our boss and our team in general, mumbling under their breath the whole day within earshot of my boss that we're working too slowly. We're all busting our butts already and they don't appear to appreciate our hard work.

Anyhow, I forced myself to blog at least if I can't take a picture per day. I'm sitting in the lobby of the Westin right now, next this very relaxing waterfall thingy. It looks like a wall of water. I could sit here and just watch the patterns of the water the whole night, but I'm not because I need to sleep.

Offline

Apologies for the silence and lack of daily photo starting Friday evening through yesterday. I've been deployed to a Chicago suburb on a project. We work 12 hours a day generally and the bad thing is that I don't have Internet in my room! I have to go down to the lobby to be able to access my emails. What a hassle! Anyway, it's 10 PM now and I still haven't eaten, so I'm very grouchy now. I'd better go before I starve myself and make myself more cranky than I already am. A boxed salad and a Westin Heavenly Bed are calling and I'm answering.

Sleeping Beauty

Trellis

About my Photographic Journey: The book "The Artist's Way" found its way to my local library, where I picked it up. I'm at the chapter where they discuss the basic tools of following the way. These basic tools are morning pages and artist dates. Morning pages are 3 pages of stream of conscious writing. It doesn't matter that it's sounds stupid, just do it! Apparently it is supposed to help you overcome your inner Censor, which stomps out all of your ideas. Then artist dates are 2 hours a week that you spend doing something that your artistic soul would enjoy. Don't bring anyone else on your artist date. The idea is that they would distract you from connecting with your inner artist. Essentially artist dates are probably intended to help you find inspiration. Now I just need to assemble a posse.

Dummies

About the Photo: NBC is filming a new show based in San Francisco called "Trauma" (working title), which will premier in this fall. Recently a crew has been filming in Justin Herman Plaza. I like the dummies in this picture. I was first drawn to the scene because I thought those were real people lying on the ground! When I went out to lunch, I knew something was going on because there were tons of gawkers and police tape directing pedestrians on where to walk. It's great that NBC is filming here because it creates jobs in our local community. Keep it coming!

Expert Witness

I had to stay 2 hours after work today to help lawyers prepare for a mock deposition tomorrow. I am playing the role of "expert witness" and will be deposed tomorrow. Ugh! I really should have found an excuse to back out of this commitment. The last thing I need is another reason to stay at work after hours! Plus, this extracurricular activity won't even help me at the end of the year for my annual review. The only thing that matters ultimately is the number of chargeable hours you booked. To prepare for the deposition, I worked with two female lawyers. One of them was nicer than the other, who was more assertive in her manner. Needless to say, I preferred working with the nicer lawyer. I need to take things less seriously. After all, I'm doing THEM a favor by being a mock expert witness. No need to stress and get myself bent out of shape.

Anyhow, onto a more pleasant topic . . . guess what I had for lunch today? A "North Beach" sandwich from Mastrelli's Delicatessen at the Ferry Building. The North Beach had prosciutto, sweet bell peppers, provolone and sun dried tomatoes in it. It was quite tasty although the prosciutto meat kept getting stuck between my teeth, which was molto annoying. My goal is to be able to express an informed opinion on most of the food establishments at the Ferry Building. So far I've fortunate enough to try a lot of different places at the Ferry Building. Here's a list:

1. Ciao Bella Gelato
2. Mastrelli's Delicatessen
3. Frog Hollow Farm
4. Acme Bread Co.
5. Slanted Door & Out the Door
6. Peet's
7. Blue Bottle Coffee
8. Taylor's Refresher
9. Organic Supermarket
10. Market Bar
11. Miette

Yin & Yang

This picture has potential to be a narrative. You have the man in white on the left. The woman in black on the right. What separates them however, is a gulf as symbolized by the four vertical bars of the public sculpture. What are they each thinking? You could read so much into this scene if you wanted to. That's what art students have to do when they analyze art - make up stories.

Indulgences

About the Photo: This is one of my worst food-related vices, potato chips. Actually this type pictured here was a huge disappointment. These are the rigdged chips purchased from Trader Joe's. Why don't I like them? They are hard, greasy and many of them are burnt. Is it any wonder? I've had better chips from Lay's. Still, I'm not one to waste food, so I'm eating them. The best chips I've had were from Miss Vickie's. They are thick, substantial, but not greasy.

About My Photographic Journey: I don't recommend taking Digital Photography 2. Personally, I haven't learned as much as I did from the City College course. For example, today we skimmed over the Raw Converter and Lightroom. I learned more about LR from my 2 day course than from him. The main problem with this course is that the sessions are too short. It's just from 9:30-12:00 PM with 5 sessions in total. I'm hoping that the lesson on how to do HDR photography will make up for this.

Bonus Song Recommendation: I've been enamored with this song from Jason Mraz featuring Colbie Caillet today. Check it out! They seem to have shot part of the video in Prague, yet another plus!

"Lucky" Official Video With Colbie Caillat

Portrait of My Father

I decided to take a landscape portrait of my father and turn it in as a part of my homework assignment tomorrow. I'm going to have to give my instructor some "constructive" feedback at the end of the course because he is definitely not doing his job as a teacher. I emailed him a question on Wednesday about the homework and he still has not responded! My evaluation of him = Does not meet expectations.

Going Home

Ferry

I had some time before I was to be picked up after work, so I headed to my favorite place to past the time - the Ferry Building of course! It smells so nice, especially around Peet's coffee and the Book Passage store. The coffee pairs well with the bookshop. I like spending time daydreaming in the travel section. Perhaps I will reward myself next week and get a risotto tartlet from Frog Hollow Farm or maybe a sandwich at the Italian delicatessen. I was very good this week and brought lunch from home everyday!

About the Photo: This is a photo of a commuter ferry (I think). It's bringing people back home after a week of work.

The Way

About my Photographic Journey: It's hard being a creative person because often it feels like you're working on your art alone. The process of creating art can be isolating, but I don't think it has to be. I just found a support group for artists in the East Bay based on Julia Cameron's book "The Artist's Way". While I don't think I'll be heading out to the East Bay for meetings, it's inspired me to look into the book and maybe try to look for a group here in SF. If it doesn't exist, it would be cool if I could form a group. That would be tres cool! Ueber cool! I'm energized about this idea. The only problem I anticipate is how I can find an artistic group of people because artists tend to be lone wolves.

About the Photo: The Golden Gate Bridge shrouded in fog as snapped from the vantage point of Crissy Field.

We All Scream

For Ice Cream

Ben & Jerry's was giving away free ice cream today at Justin Herman Plaza. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I joined the hungry masses to pick up a free little container of ice cream. The product is called Flipped Out. The flavor I had was vanilla ice cream mixed with chunks of brownie with a brownie base and chocolate fudge on top. While I liked the vanilla ice cream, the fudge on top was a bit much. My verdict: Thumbs down because it's so disgustingly sweet. I'll take gelato any day over this!

About the picture: Here you see happy kids and adults walking away with their free goodies (the ice cream).

California Dreamin' No More

More fun than a barrel full of monkeys

About my Photographic Journey: I'm just not feeling it. I'm not inspired by the photography homework about personifying an inanimate object. This picture is my attempt at brainstorming some brilliant ideas. Here you can see my monkey Fritz working away diligently at my laptop.

About the Wide Wide World: According to this NYT article, the California Dream is dead. My first reaction was - I don't go walking around thinking I'm living the dream. Am I taking life in California for granted? Or rather, I don't quite identify with California as much as I identify myself with the city of San Francisco. Yes, that's it!

Photographers I Admire

About the picture: This is Claude Lane, an alleyway in SF that is supposed to have a French flair to it.

About my Photographic Journey: I'm having a hard time coming up with a list of photographers I admire. Perhaps this means I haven't looked at enough pictures from other photographers. I like Ansel Adams for his nature shots, Henri Cartier-Bresson for his jumping man picture, August Sander for his simple, yet interesting portraits, but actually, I'm not a portrait person. I enjoy the travel photography genre much more. This guy David Muench has some good work, but he's actually still alive and probably not considered a fine art photographer like the others. I wonder how much of the coloring in his pictures are real and how much of it was due to post processing.

Self Portrait Part Deux

All Smiles

I'm taking Digital Photography 2 at RayKo right now. Class just started today.
One of our first assignments is taking three portraits: a) self portrait in portrait orientation b) portrait of someone else in landscape format c) personify an inanimate object.

Taking the self portrait above took forever because of focusing issues. Don't worry, the picture above is not the one I'm submitting for my assignment. Because I very particular about my image, I took almost 20 photos of myself before one came out that was even part way decent. It very difficult to take self portraits by yourself.

In My Dreams

Framed

Sneaking sideways glances at my framed photo.
How much more official it looks behind a mat and glass!
Next stop gallery walls! (In my dreams)

__________________________- frankfurtsanfrancisco

Weeding out the Bad

The Laborers

Today I spent my afternoon volunteering at Crissy Field in the Marina District near the Golden Gate Bridge. I got to be team lead for a group of 30 people from my work place. It was more work organizing this thing than I had anticipated and I get zero recognition. So why do I do this?

I asked myself this question as I was hustling around looking for T-shirts for everyone, gathering snacks and doing the grunt work in general. However, I know that afterwards I always am glad I did it. First of all, I can put it down as one of my year end accomplishments. Secondly, getting out of the office is a pretty nice perk too. Crissy Field is located in a very pretty part of San Francisco, so I don't mind being there. Getting out of the office helps me put things in perspective. There is a whole big wide world out there. It's hard to believe, but life does go on outside of the office.

Our job was to weed the field. If we saw a yellow flower representing a dandelion, we would feel down to the base of the plant and determine in which direction the roots are growing. Then if you do it right ... with one mighty whack of the weeding tool, the root is severed and you can pull out the dandelion root and all!!

After I got better at it, weeding was even satisfying when I saw that I was able to root it out.

Exhibitionism

Some people are just so comfortable with their bodies. I don't understand it. Check out this amateur exercise video below shot by me on the Embarcadero.

The Asian Disease

Chess

Caveat: I'm making a broad generalization about a large group of people that may or may not be applicable to every single member of that group. No offense is intended.

The Asian Disease is that Asians don't have much charisma. Take the UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon for example. He knows he has an "issue" with his public persona and even calls himself an invisible man. For the whole WSJ article, click here. That's sad because he has worked so hard to get to where he is. Like a classic Asian story, he was born into poverty, but through hard work he bettered himself and rose to a high position in society. Unfortunately in the Western world, traits like modesty and hard work don't carry as much weight as bravado, charisma and swagger. I admire him for what he has accomplished, but understand all too well what holds him back.

Mandarin Here I Come

This is going to be my key to becoming a Mandarin expert in no time! (I'm kidding)
It just came today from Amazon and is my textbook for the Chinese class "Mandarin for Speakers of Other Dialects", which I signed up for. It's going to start on 8/22. I really hope nothing (i.e. work) comes in between me and my class on Saturdays.

I do speak Cantonese, but not very fluently or politely. It's going to be challenging because I'm jumping into a book that is titled "Chinese 2" and is meant for people who have taken Chinese 1. I hope I can keep up with the rest of the students.

Hard Questions

Faux

We've all got to ask ourselves some hard questions these days. Do I stay or do I move on?
This article from Business Week provides some tips on how to approach this question.

On a separate note, one of my coworkers shared with me the saga of how his ex-fiancee broke up with him via a letter last year and how he's now demanding the engagement ring back from her via a letter. It amazes me how fast things can get nasty between two people who were supposed to spend the rest of their lives together happily ever after.

I think before you marry anyone, you need to conduct some serious due diligence. One of the questions you should ask a guy before you say yes is - Do you put the toilet seat down after going to the toilet. If yes, then he's well trained. ;-) There were some other questions, but I've forgotten them. Any suggestions for questions to ask that would ensure matrimonial bliss?

Simplicity

Just a flower. My fave is the one in the middle. Reminds me of those old pictures. I'm not feeling passionate about anything in particular today. I had a good walk in GGP though that helped me release some pent up monkey energy as I like to phrase it. Ha ha!

Escape!

Travel allows us to escape routine and dive into a world of adventure, new sights, smells, sounds and tastes. Travel inspires and broadens the mind.

However, in a weak economy, leisure travel tends to be the first luxury to be slashed from personal budgets. These days, more people are having "staycations" close to home.

San Francisco is a good city to have a staycation because it has so much to offer (museums, theater, shopping, restaurants, photogenic locales, etc). I often like to visit the touristy corners of San Francisco myself. This week I picked up one of those monthly Where publications that highlight all that the city has to offer in terms of entertainment, sightseeing and attractions.

I'm always amazed at how they can write new content on a monthly basis. The July issue of the Where magazine for San Francisco has the new King Tut exhibit at the De Young Museum as its cover story. I can imagine North Beach being a nice place to chill out. I could pretend to be a tourist, get a coffee at one of the many Italian cafe's in North Beach and just people watch or read a newspaper/book/magazine and while the hours away doing nothing. Ahh...

TGIF

TGIF - Thank Goodness It's Friday

I revisited one of my old haunts. I swear, the Embarcadero doesn't really get old for me regardless of how often I see it and walk along it. I just really enjoy the area and the calming presence of the water. Today I returned to one of my favorite nooks. It's a part of the waterfront that's tucked away from the crowds around the Ferry Building. There are office buildings and restaurants close by, but also quiet places to enjoy a meal with a waterfront view. The jewel colored flowers dangling from the flower baskets also create a nice atmosphere.

Summer

Fruits of Summer

Peaches are the quintessential fruits of summer. The yellow fleshed peaches are the sweetest. Some people associate watermelons with summer, but I don't really like the taste of them. These plump orbs of peachy perfection were being sold at the Farmers Market today near the Ferry Building. I didn't have a dime on me, so I had to satisfy myself with a mere picture.

Aside from indulging in peaches, summer is also the time to reconnect with people. Some of my classmates from middle school are reviving the idea of a reunion 15 years after graduation. Some of these people I really have not seen during the entire time. This reunion would be more meaningful for me than attending my high school reunion because I hardly kept in contact with anyone from my high school class, which had over 700 students in it. Way too impersonal.

Rediscovering My Roots

Pretty Patterns

There's not much to do at work these days. It's really "feast or famine" unfortunately. When I have work, it's really really busy, but when it's quiet, I'm just sitting.

Lately I've been thinking that I want to learn Mandarin because I see that the people in my group who speak Mandarin have more projects they can work on. I know that it will take many years before I can gain fluency, but I'm hopeful that I can still learn new things. It's never too late! I think it would be fun to learn how to write more Chinese characters. Chinese is a notoriously difficult language for foreigners to learn because it's a tonal language and there are so many characters to memorize!

Although I can't speak Mandarin now, I still don't regret studying German in high school and in college. It's opened so many new doors for me in my life and shown me new things. If a language can change someone's life, it's not exaggerating to say that this would apply to me.

After doing some research on Mandarin classes in San Francisco, I've noticed they are very expensive. At SFSU's College of Extended Learning, Mandarin 1 costs around $600! The price is similar for classes at UC Berkeley Extension. Only City College of San Francisco offers a good deal. I might go with them if I can find a Spanish class from another place. Currently I am enrolled in Elementary Spanish at City in preparation for a trip.

Jump on the Bandwagon!

Elysium

I'm jumping on the bandwagon. Today's topic is how I grew up on Michael Jackson's music. Just kidding! I wasn't a huge fan and won't claim to be.

My most vivid memory of his song "Heal the World" was when I was in grade school. My school forced us to only eat rice with water for lunch that day in order to show solidarity with the children in the world who suffer from hunger. We listened to the song and watched a video while eating the rice and water mix in the dimmed auditorium.

CNN is going on overload with the Michael Jackson memorial service coverage. I saw a snippet during lunch today when people were singing "Heal the World" on the stage. It was like deja vu, only this time I was eating noodles, rather than rice and water.

Existential Angst

Reeds

I'm getting a sense of angst from the people in my generation who are about to hit the three decade mark. They are evaluating where they are in relation to others. For example, people at this age are starting to get married, have kiddies and buy property. Does it mean you're a failure if you haven't reached any of these major life milestones? I don't think so, but often we're made to feel like we are.

Also, this is the time people are feeling that they are getting old. I've been noticing Facebook updates from a friend of mine who keeps saying things like she's feeling old, is over it and asking why she even bothers. When I see the new interns or the associates at work, I feel kinda old. These guys are in their early 20's! Wow, they are innocent "young 'uns" still unspoiled by Corporate America. In comparison, I am definitely older and more jaded, but if I'm wiser is debatable. Ha ha!

Bankrupt

The Modern Man

About the Picture: The picture depicts a hard to find species called the modern man. He takes responsibility for child care. I've even seen men who wear those baby carrier things. That's a step in the right direction in my opinion. Women should not be the only ones stuck with the burden of taking care of kids.

About Current Events: California is issuing IOU's now. The Golden State is now less golden. I bet some people are secretly or not so secretly reveling in this. I definitely see the effects of this. First of all, in San Francisco, adult fare on the MUNI has increased by 50 cents to $2 per ride! That is highway robbery! I would have less of a problem with the fare increase it was used to improve service, however, service and performance is as poor as before. On Saturday my MUNI bus broke down, so I had to reschedule an appointment and walk more than 6 blocks to my destination. Then today as I was walking in GGP I noticed that the free shuttle was replaced by a $2 shuttle service run by the sleek black Bauer shuttles. Nothing is for free these days.

Up The Movie (Warning spoiler)

Happy July 4th!

This afternoon I saw the Pixar movie "Up" for free because my sister won a free movie pass for being the worst bowler 3 years ago. We never could agree on a movie to watch because the Cinemark Theater only showed mainstream movies that did not appeal to me. Finally we decided on Up. Along with free movie passes, the gift certificate included 2 large drinks, 1 large tub of popcorn and 1 large candy. I don't know how people can consume so much! We ended up getting medium sized drinks and barely finished 1/3 of the tub of popcorn. The candy was saved for another day.

I haven't been to the movies in the U.S. in ages! The last movie I saw was in Frankfurt where you had seat assignments. That's why I thought it was strange that the theater today did not give us specific seat numbers. Maybe this is because Germans like things to be specific. Has the movie Up been released in Germany yet?

Anyhow, getting back to the movie, I liked it because it featured unlikely protagonists such as an old man and an Asian Boy Scout. Carl Fredericksen is the old man who is mourning for his beloved wife. They both shared a childhood dream of going on an adventure to South America. However, before they could realize this dream, she dies of old age. He leads a lonely life in the colorful home they used to share. His house is in the middle of a construction zone because he can't bear to move away from everything that reminded him of her. One day, an overeager Boy Scout named Russell knocks on his door and volunteers to assist Fredericksen with something so that he could earn an "Assisting the Elderly" badge. Due to certain circumstances, Fredericksen is inspired to fly away in his home to pursue his dream of going to South America. He flies away by tying many helium filled balloons to his home and floating away. Russell ends up tagging along because he stowed away on the porch. Ultimately, the two meet up with 2 other figures and of course they join forces to battle against a common villian. In the end, Fredericksen fulfills his dream and is able to let go of his old memories and baggage to move onto new adventures, as inspired by his wife's last message to him.

I liked it on many levels. First of all, it has an uplifting message. The message for me was that at some point you have to let go of whatever baggage is hindering you and move on with life to pursue new adventures.

According to the director, "Basically, the message of the film is that the real adventure of life is the relationship we have with other people, and it's so easy to lose sight of the things we have and the people that are around us until they're gone. More often than not I don't really realize how lucky I was to have known someone until they're either moved or passed away. So if you can kind of wake up a little bit and go, 'Wow, I've got some really cool stuff around me every day', then that's what the movie's about."

Also, I appreciated that the little Boy Scout character was Asian. He was even voiced by a Japanese American boy. That's pretty cool because it shows that Asians have come a long way. It's probably also due to the fact that Pixar is located in the Bay Area, Emeryville specifically and many of the animators are of Asian heritage themselves.

Facial Experience

The deed has finally been done. I feel better now that it's out of my system. :-)
This July 4th weekend I decided to splurge on a facial, which is an experience I've always wanted to get.

I went to Cinta Aveda Institute on Kearney St. at Bush for a Botanical Skin Resurfacing facial.
The aesthetician who worked with me wore all black and seemed to have pretty good skin. The first floor is a sales floor for selling the Aveda products they use on their customers. I was escorted up to the second floor and offered tea and water.

I had to turn off my cellphone so as not to disturb the quiet atmosphere they were trying to create for their guests. Then she led me to a partitioned off area for a brief foot soak and very brief foot massage. Afterwards she told me I had to remove my top and wear this terry cloth thing that had a velcro in front. It's like wearing a towel after you get out of a shower. I asked if I could keep my top on, but apparently you can't do that because they also massage your shoulder area. It was funny because I put that thing on wrong, so she had to remind me the velcro goes in front. Ha ha, what a provincial, she was probably thinking.

Anyhow, she took me on a "sensory journey", which sounded somewhat cheesy to me. The first part of the facial was the cleansing stage, then she applied a mask. In between all the applications of various products she sprayed a cooling mist and also massaged my shoulders and neck.

One thing that disturbed me was the background music. It was kind of loud and not that relaxing. There was this one violin piece that sounded so sad to me. Why are they playing that to their guests who are here to relax, not to feel sad.

The whole experience lasted about 1 hour and it cost me only $50 because the service was provided by students supervised by instructors. I'm not sure I would return, but at least I now know how facials work.

SoCal Lessons Learned

Keys to the Kingdom

My sojourn in Southern California has come to an end today. Thank goodness.

Although the work was somewhat mind-numbing, I still try to look on the bright side and identify key lessons learned.

First of all, downtown LA is lifeless. There is no need to go there if you are a tourist because there is nothing to see or do there. Apparently Santa Monica is a nice place to go. We went there for dinner one evening, but I did not get to see the pier. Then of course Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Pasadena are other spots to check out. I did not realize how huge LA is until I saw a map. LA is definitely NOT a walkable city.

Also, after you finish dropping off your rental car at the airport, the rental car shuttle driver will want to note the airline you are flying with because he needs to drop you off at the correct airline.

Our farewell SoCal dinner was at the Bonaventure Brewing Company. We actually were planning to go to Ciudad, but the kitchen was closed by the time we arrived.

Pooped!

Sorry no post Wednesday evening and it's already Thursday morning now! Too pooped! It was a stressful work day.