Last Day of Summer

Technically, today is the last day of summer, the equinox being tomorrow and all. However, yesterday was my last day of summer. Classes began today. More on that later.

Late in the afternoon I decided that the last day of summer should, in some way, be commemorated. It was easy enough to decide on how this might be done.

This summer I spent the majority of time in Irvine, working near anonymously from my apartment, trying my best to reconcile the numerous changes taking place in my life. When work was done and my apartment became too suffocatingly hot, I would walk around the surrounding neighborhoods to cool my head.

Yesterday it seemed approapriate that I do the same and I set off toward the peak of the housing develipment directly west of my apartment. The development is called University Hills and is properly equiped with well lighted walk ways, playgrounds, dog parks, people parks and all the amenities you would expect from the ideal Orange County development.

University Hills, unfamiliar as it is with crime, petty theft and the like, has at least two grassy knolls equipped with two Adirondack Chairs. One I discovered on a previous suburban hike and the other I discovered last night. I can only assume the existence of others. It was the former I set out to find with the thought that I might sit upon that suburban throne, gaze into the oblivion of Orange County and  sort through the different pieces of my life.

However, as Tolkein would have it, it is a dangerous thing stepping out one's front door. I ended up talking to Eric Conwell, about change, relationships, developments, career growth and the difficulties of being part of the elite (iPad owners). Before I knew it I was at my destination and had yet to figure anything out.

As I sat there and watched dusk creep over the eastern horizon, a three-legged dog hopped up to me. "Don't worry she is a friendly three-legged dog." The woman was middle-aged and very kind. Apparently, I was in the dog's spot. They came there every evening.

The dog's name was Gracie and she lost her leg last May. Cancer. She was going through Chemo at the moment in the form of two pills twice a day. She was ten years old, a black lab, and the woman had got her as a puppy. All things considered, Gracie was doing pretty well and managed her handicap rather - this is terrible, but I can't think of another word - gracefully.

The conversation was wrapping up and I was struggling with what parting phrase I should use. "Nice to meet you" was wrong. We never introduced ourselves. "See you later" was inappropriate. Then, as I reached for a third possibility the woman said "Come on, Gracie," and to me, "Good evening." And it was.

Big Freaking News

Guess who is getting all of his textbooks electronically!?!?!?

It was not the best day of my life. But it was close.

A Brief Look Into My Apartment

Right now, at least it is clean. I have been living here almost four months and am just getting moved in.

It is very functional.

 

The apartment is technically unfurnished but the tables, chairs and sofa don't belong to anyone currently living here. I don't know how they got here or who they belong to but I can guess why they were left.

This is Rafa's plant. It is the one decoration he has in the common spaces of the apartment. He left for two months and asked me to water it occasionally. I told him I was not the best care giver for his plant but he said it would be ok. I took this yesterday so I guess it worked out. When he came back he told me why it is growing  up like that. No room for roots. I didn't know what to say so we just stood there together and looked down at the plant.

Down the hallway to the right is the bathroom and to the left is my room.

25 and Still Alive!

My Birthday was last Wednesday. I turned 25. This is how I chose to celebrate:

Normally, I do not like to make a big deal of my birthday. I always feel like I am demanding attention and that makes me uncomfortable. However, 25 felt special and since Evan was flying in the day after my birthday for Matt and Alice's San Diego Wedding Reception (they actually got married in Zambia), I decided to draw out the celebration.

Unfortunately I do not have pictures from the first few days but this is how the beginning of my weekend looked:

Wednesday: I turn 25! Then I work for 10 hours. I had come out to Loma Linda the day before so as soon as Kari gets released from the hospital she joins up with me for the last hour and half of work, assembling proposals at Fedex Kinko's. We then go to Eureka! in Redlands for burgers and a beer.

Thursday: Wake-up at 5:00AM, Kari leaves for the hospital and I leave for Irvine. I get to Irvine, finish up the proposals, stop at Fedex for some more copies and head to Mission Viejo City Hall to drop the proposals off. Head from Mission Viejo to Carlsbad, pick up Evan, go to El Cajon. We stopped by the house, talked to my dad for a bit, then went to Starbucks so I could work some more. Once finished Evan and I go back for a swim. That night Mom, Dad, Evan and I go to Fleming's Steakhouse and Wine Bar in La Jolla. My dad does the taxes for the manager there. For dessert they brought out a platter with cheesecake, molten chocolate cake, fresh whipped cream and crème brûlée. It was heavenly.

Friday: More swimming and reading, go downtown, wander the Gaslamp looking for food, settle on the Whiskey Girl for appetizer's and beer, meet Matt and Alice and company at Padre's game.

Saturday: Hike Torrey Pines with Matt and Alice and company, go to Trader Joe's, more swimming, lounging and reading, go to reception at Matt's house in Solana Beach, return to Irvine.

Sunday: Sunday is the day actually devoted to my birthday. Kari arrives - about the time Evan and I are waking up - we go to Panera for coffee and cinnamon crunch bagels and then more bagels.

Ryan arrives and we go for a walk to scope out the park where we will picnic

We laugh and play in the sand and Ryan chases a swan.

We return to University Center where we meet Joe, Becca, Eric and Arisa. Everyone disperses to find lunch to-go. Kari and I go to the Veggie Grill.

We return to the park for a picnic.

There was lot of good food to go around.

 

This is part birthday and part reunion but I liked it that way.

Next to our picnic table was the easiest climbing tree I have ever seen. Branches went all the way like rungs on a ladder.

It was a perfect day.

We then went to see The Gaurd at the University Center. I loved it and had been wanting to go to that theatre for a while.

The next event was supposed to be a ride in a giant balloon at the Orange County Great Park but it turns out it fills up pretty quickly. Instead we just hung out in the park, a eerily beautiful park, recently constructed on an old Marine base.

I was being indecisive about dinner plans but really I just wanted someone else to pick for me. Kari picked up on this and so I told her my only requirement was beer on tap.

She picked the Yardhouse. They have close to a hundred beers on tap.

The next day Kari, Ryan, Evan and I went to coffee before going our separate ways.

We went to Paradise Perks which has a wonderful selection of nerdy board games. We chose to learn and play the Carcasonne Card game.

Overall it was the perfect weekend.

Palo Verde Maintenance

These past two weeks have been very busy, one reason being our apartment is in a bit of transition. Shaowei and his wife moved out a week and a half ago and our new roommate is moving in on Sunday. In the meantime it is just Rafa and I and we have set about cleaning the apartment. Cleaning the scum off the kitchen was a bit of a nightmare but once it was finished it was not difficult to maintain, Rafa and I being very neat guys.

Yesterday a few painters came by to patch up the vacant room and today the Palo Verde maintenance crew showed up on my doorstep to do a deeper clean. All together there were three men and one woman. The man to ring the doorbell was obviously the crew leader. He was about six feet tall, tan skin with apple cheeks and round eyes. He spoke with an indistinguishable accent and apologized for the inconvenience. I told him I work from home and there was no better time.

The crew brought all their equipment in, a huge zamboni-like carpet cleaner, and headed to the back room. I stayed in the kitchen to get something to drink, some Trader Joe's Iced Tea. A few seconds later the leader comes back, wearing a ridiculously large smile and continues with this grin while he tells me about how I have no idea how many apartments they see where the resident has not cleaned for four years and how yesterday (yesterday when it was 98 degrees in Irvine) they were in one apartment for four hours. That is why he is so happy when he comes to an apartment like ours and he was so happy that he wanted to hug me, but he was not going to, instead he asked to shake my hand.

So we shook hands and when they left they had cleaned the carpets of the bedroom, the hallway and the living room, even though they were only supposed to do the one bedroom.

Tea Tree Treatment

I got my hair cut yesterday.

It is tradition for me to, as I am driving, deliberate over whether or not to get it washed.

It is an extra six or seven dollars.

These past years I've been making between thirteen and negative ___ dollars an hour.

Six or seven dollars is a lot for shampoo and conditioner.

Especially because it is something I can do myself,

and do

every day.

I always decide to get it washed.

I never regret it.

Yesterday they had a special:

Tea Tree Treatment and scalp massage,

five extra dollars.

"What is included in, er, that?"

"A scalp massage, a hot towel over your face,

and you sit in a massage chair."

Five dollars and I got to live like a king

if only for a moment,

at the Supercuts off East Yale Loop. 

I Climb Some Fire Stairs

I have not been doing a very good job keeping up this blog. Now that I spend most my day on this computer I don't find myself particularly willing to get back on at night. Instead I go for walks around my neighborhood. I imagine my future, I enjoy the slant of the suns rays, the perfect (seriously perfect) outside temperature of dusk, I read, I indulge in dreams of creative projects I will never complete.

Then the weekend comes and I am off to see Kari. We spend three weekends out of four together and alternate who has to drive. If we are in Loma Linda we cook meals together, read and watch TV under the breeze of the ceiling fan. If we are in Irvine, we indulge in cheap meals out and explore the variety of destinations in Orange County (as opposed to the lacking variety of destinations in San Bernardino County).

We also try to plan a wedding. Right now we are in the middle of hunting for a venue and we use the free time of our weekends to visit various wedding sites. Some are comically corny. For example, Lake Fire Fountain is a venue we found in Temecula whose whole business is weddings. The ceremony takes place on a small peninsula into a small man-made lake. The lake is dyed blue and has fountains that light on fire at night. The bride is delivered to the site by horse drawn carriage and if you like, you can rent out the honeymoon suite, also on site, complete with jacuzzi. (Lake Fire Fountain is not the real name)

Some are more likable. Also while in Temecula we visited a few wineries and there was on in particular that was situated at the crest of a hill and had a beautiful, newly constructed courtyard with inset lighting, beautiful trees and impressive steel trellises.

However, we had not had much luck finding a place that felt like us until last weekend when we visited several parks run my the Santa Monica Mountain Conservation Group, at least I think that was their name. We do not know what it will take to plan a wedding in a park but there were a couple of locations that just seemed ideal. They were quiet, removed from the hustle and buzz of the Los Angeles basin. They were large enough to accommodate a wedding but small enough to ensure there will not be many (or any) onlookers.

This week I need to get in touch with the group that runs the parks. I know that they allow weddings at the two parks we are looking at but need to see what kind of limitations there are. However, this week I also have the Final Exam for my summer course in addition to finishing up two proposals for work: one for a multi-use (housing and retail) development in St. Helena and one for affordable housing development in Mission Viejo. 

Running Commentary of Three Old Men

Three old men are sitting next to me in a coffee shop discussing life, politics and faith. One looks like my grandad in a crazy print hawaiian shirt and has an second generation ipad. One looks like Benjamin Button when he was born and is reading Zombie Economics. One is wearing a nice Ralph Lauren button-up with a aged baseball cap and has an old IBM laptop.

Benjamin Button just told the other two that if he was Catholic he would still be saying Hail Marys for voting for George Bush in 2004.

Baseball Cap just completed a monologue about Speaker Boehner, every time mispronouncing his name as "Boner."

Granddad just gestured towards Benjamin Button, "You know this guy has been drinking by himself. I worry about about people drinking by themselves, at home..." but before he could finish Benjamin Button jumps in, "Not at home, I go to Panera. I like the stuff they brew there."

Santa Barbara Solstice

A few weeks ago I spent my final weekend in Santa Barbara. I went up there to move the rest of my stuff out of my old apartment, help the guys clean, hopefully get the better portion of our security deposit back, and, in general, say goodbye. It just so happened that the weekend of our departure from Santa Barbara was the weekend of the Summer Solstice Parade.

The parade is in many ways, underwhelming. All of the floats are homemade. About an eighth of the parade is made up of groups with choreographed performances. The rest are a hodgepodge of people who just thought it would be cool to dress up and be in a parade, many of whom, we suspected, were hippies who live in the hills and have tons of spare strips of fabric.

This guy (above) is a great example of the home-made costume. He is a jellyfish, or more accurately, the tentacles of a jellyfish. He achieved this taping a couple hundred fake flowers to his body. The problem came when he was making the body of the jellyfish, which is a giant net filled with balloons attached to a hula hoop. He got halfway done filling up balloons with helium and thought "Forget it, I hate balloons now and am going to use trash bags."

The parade organizers (kind of like the IOC of Santa Barbara) tried to give this year's parade some type of cohesiveness with a theme. We couldn't quite figure what that theme was but my best guess is "Late 18th Century Jungle Where White People of Confused Religious Background Celebrate the Sun." 

It is by far the most pagan thing I have ever seen.

Giant half-a-watermelon float. Why not? Seriously though.

This guy. THIS GUY. He kept poking people with his giant stick and as if that were not enough, as if the green horns and orange feathers are not enough, those furry purple pants...

are not pants but ass-less chaps. He and his girlfriend had on purple fur ass-less chaps.

It ended with a giant inflatable watermelon with spikes, a tail and baby watermelon nipples. Inside were two aerial dancers who were dying of heat stroke and instead of dancing on the ropes, were just lying on the floor as two dozen people pushed this monster up State Street.

What a great afternoon.

GTBKOC: Henry Samueli School of Engineering

I am taking one course right now, CEE 150 Mechanics of Materials. It meets twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday between 5pm and 7pm. From my front door takes me about sixteen minutes to walk to class but I can cut that down to six minutes on my skateboard. Above is the "Engineering Gateway." Behind that is Engineering Quad, arguably one of the nicest sections of campus, albeit not one of coolest.

Donald Bren Hall is where my summer course meets and is my final destination. It is going fairly well too. With my new job I can only devote so much time to the class but I do seem to be keeping up.