Home again

This is something very strange indeed. I'm not (and rarely have ever been) a breakfast person. I don't even drink coffee most of the time! Since moving back to Somerville, though, I've awakened with a slightly rumbly stomach and- been able to take down food. My brain's food-enjoyment-receptors aren't typically working until 10am on any given day. Must be something in the air.

Several incredible things are present in my life.

1. iYo.

Frozen yogurt, self-serve, with unusual flavors and exotic toppings... just like Yogurtland but HERE! Not 3000 miles away! Yes, I had made a similar find last year with Mixx over in Allston, but coming from this end of Somerville, that seems oh-so-far away.. and not easily accessed by T. Now I've got my OWN lovely shop right here in Davis. The interior of the place is impressive- what used to be an ordinary, slightly dingy convenience store has been revamped into a much more fitting (Davis is no place for "dingy" or "ordinary"), industrial-style, open space. I can see myself becoming a regular. The only complaint I have is the price- where Yogurtland (my first experience with these types of establishments) charges 30 cents/ounce, and Mixx charges 42 cents/ounce, iYo charges 49 cents/ounce. Yowch. That cup (less than halfway full) cost over $4. But to be fair, what's in the cup? Small amounts of sea salted caramel pretzel yogurt, cake batter yogurt, and espresso yogurt with toppings like mochi, cherry and blueberry juice poppers, and oreo. I'm pretty frugal, but this treat will be MINE at least weekly. Also available- make your own waffles, and coffee/pastry fare.

2. Reality.

I guess I need to snap a pic or two of the Villa Victoria now that it's been revamped into Reality. The building is awesome, and the people I've met thus far are pretty rad. I'm excited for my first time at Reality's prayer group tomorrow. I went out with new friends on Monday. The lot of them strike me as glamourous people, at least compared to the typical brother/sister in Christ that you meet around the Boston area. Maybe it'll rub off on me.. I could use a step or two up in my fashion game :)

3. Grandma.

4. BOSTON!

Simply so very thankful that I am here. That I have the ability to get back here and adapt and still be able to pay the bills while God works something new in my life.

What's not so great? The Red Sox. Thank goodness that this is the last day of the regular season. Go home, boys. Go home, relax for a few months, and please come back next season ready to win some games.

Also worth noting- I have largely skirted around sci-fi shows. I watched Buffy but that was bigger than sci-fi, had a much wider appeal, so I could hide behind that reasoning. Well, no longer. I love Doctor Who. I LOVE Doctor Who! It's cheesy-ness is endearing. It's characters find various avenues into your heart.. and then they leave, making you realize all the more how darn attached you had become to them. David Tennant- who I despised and was essentially repulsed by in Harry Potter- has become the most lovely face and voice to me. And watching Doctor Who got me turned onto the band Chameleon Circuit, which plays "Trock" or Time Lord Rock. Yes, the geekiness continues. They're pretty good.

And now I'm off to find something great to fill today with. It's rainy/overcast. And quiet.

Titles dont always come so easily

Of course, on the one day I would be waiting by my phone, it runs out of juice. That's ok. By the time it went dead, it was already late by EST standards. It may come tomorrow, then, and if/when the call does come... oh how I wish that they'll say yes to me.

I had the chance to see 20 year old Tyler Chatwood pitch for the Quakes. Solid, though he threw a lot of pitches. I'm surprised that they didnt yank him earlier than they did, but he hurled 105 pitches before leaving the game. The kid is sort of like a nearly-grown puppy. Still gets emotional, excited with every strikeout and devastated with every walk that he issues. I dont know if I've ever noticed another pitcher being so reactionary on the mound. But especially for his size- not a tall guy by any means- he has a lot of power and a couple "plus" (really good) pitches. I read a scouting report on him before seeing him play, and can vouch for his curveball and his fastball- which sits between 92-94, has reached 97 but I only saw up to 95 today. He reminds me of Michael Bowden in one way- he relies heavily on his upper body, and I imagine it would only improve his effectiveness if he used his legs more. Going along with that, he has an over-the-top armslot, and though I've heard that Bowden has significantly altered his mechanics this season, I can only remember him with that unique, extreme up-and-over winging motion.
Anyhow, he didnt let up any runs, only allowed 3 hits, issued 4 walks but struck out 6. I'm excited to meet him. I could have by now but the rules are different here.. I dont know if he's allowed to talk to me during the game when he's in the stands. Also, I'm not entirely clear on exactly when he is in the stands. They have three guys charting instead of 2. The rule of the 2 charters is that it'll be the guy who just had a start, and the guy who's start is the next game. The rule of the 3 charters remains unknown- Tyler pitched today, but was in the stands on Saturday. (??)




Alright, now that I've lost 90% of my readers...
I dont know, it's sort of hard to tell, but I'm thinking that I'm tan. I dont even have to try. I havent gotten a painful burn thus far and I'm not sure why- the sun is more powerful than I'm used to.

GUESS WHAT! Sorry, back to the baseball for just a sec... I only have room for one more game in my scorebook!! I need to get another one. For some reason, this feels like an accomplishment. It's exciting to me.

I have a lot of frozen shrimp. I need some ideas here... what do i do with all this shrimp? Monday nights are unsettling. It's generally free and I'm never quite sure what to do with myself. I often cook, but I did some cooking this past weekend and have two different left over meals to take care of first. LOST isnt for another 24+ hours. I'm not going to another movie until Robin Hood hits the big screen this coming Friday. I've taken care of all of my chores, and am still unsure of what the immediate future holds- so I cant even go much further than I have in looking for accommodations. I guess I'll write, and watch some Red Sox baseball, and think about the rest of the week. On Thursday I'll head to Temecula to meet the new pastor/his wife of my parents' church... and The Wrecking is in Temecula that night so I'll swing by their show as well.

I received a letter from my Grandma a couple days ago, and it made my heart sing. It was very descriptive of the events of her day and it was just perfect. Today, incoming from none other than Mr Howard W Merrill! I kid you not. It cracked me up:

If any of you want to help me translate some of this letter... by all means, please do. :)

Busy weekend

(Pictures ahead. Click on 'em for full size.)
So much for the weekend being a time set aside for relaxation and recharging.

The last time I really posted was Wednesday... which feels like eons ago. I went out with Emily on Friday night, and we got comically lost on Robertson St. Either we have very similar luck with directions or I jinxed her, because we really did manage to spend 30 minutes looking for a particular place to eat on one street. In the process I was able to ask a Red Sox fan for help with directions, so it was definitely eventful. Emily and I get along really well. And the kicker of our game of hide and seek with Thai Boom, the restaurant we were headed for, was that once we finally found it, the place was a tiny hole-in-the-wall. She had seen that it had high ratings on Yelp.com ,  and I had mentioned Thai earlier in the day as well, so that's what we had settled on, to try Thai Boom, but as the place turned out to be about the size of Nadine's living room, we opted for another Thai place that just happened to be across the street. I think it was something like Nathalie's. Not sure. Very cool place though. I got Naked Shrimp- 6 shrimp served in individual little square-shaped cups, each cup filled with fish sauce, cilantro, chilis, garlic, and probably some other stuff. Mmmm. Afterwards, we went to Yogurtland. I already talked about that a bit so I'll spare you. But it calls for another MMMMMMMM. So good, so close, so cheap. Westwood Village is a great area, right by UCLA, lots of stuff to do.

Wow, just realized I didnt write about my dinner out with Jess, who is a friend of Gussy's, who is a friend of Robin's! Yes, friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend. That's what this town's all about, after all! Jess works at Dreamworks as an animator. Pretty cool right? I definitely think so. Everyone I've had the chance to spend time with has been incredible. Very interesting people, all of them. Easy conversationalists. Good stories. Good advice. We tried a new restaurant (the name of which neither of us caught, shoot!) in her area of Los Feliz. Another example of how easy it is to drive around here- I would have been hopelessly lost several times on the way there if LA's roads didnt make so much sense. I dont know why but sometimes I decide to deviate from the directions that googlemaps has given me. LA's roads are so formulaically laid out, for the most part, that it was easy to set myself back on track once I realized that my plan wasnt quite right. The restaurant had very slow service but the vibe was ... just lovely. We were all seated outside, and each table was sort of its own island. There were leafless tree-like saplings, one by each table more or less, and so the whole space was broken up nicely this way. Each table had votive candles, a wine bottle of water, and around the space were different very fragrant, subtle-but-beautiful flowers scaling intermittently placed trellises. I'll definitely go back- the minestrone soup was much different than I've ever had, with large chunks of vegetables and no beans or pasta. Yum.

Ok, what's next?
As of Friday, I started working from home. It's lovely so far. I love having lunch at home. I love dressing down. I love having the flexibility to get other things done. Tomorrow I'll be able to go to the DMV in the morning to finalize the registration process, as I had my car smog checked on Thursday and the DMV was closed on Friday. It'll be nice to have the door closed on that for a while. Got my insurance cards in the mail today too... the logistics are pretty much taken care of. Also got to talk to my Grandma for a long time. A bubbly 45 minute conversation, at the end of which I still had plenty more to say and I'm sure she had more to tell. But I needed to get back to work.

Friday night went on for too long... I stayed up till about 1AM, only to have to get up at 5:30AM for the 5K that I ran at Dodger Stadium. I didnt know what to expect, with regards to the course as well as to what my own performance level would be- but two things that I definitely did NOT expect:

4 Hill/Incline spots in 5K (exact hills not pictured)

Yep. Had to walk a couple times. Which is why I was also not expecting:

Less than 10 minute miles! I havent run since I was on the East Coast, and for anyone who's counting, that's been over a month now. Again, I walked  for a couple brief periods, so I was pleasantly surprised at my time.

I was planning to run with my friend Roxy, who also signed up, but we never met up. There were so many people there! The race was supposed to start at 8 but was delayed until about 8:30... terrible, terrible. See, on the morning of a race, people have routines. For instance, if you drink enough water to keep you "running" for about 30 minutes of a race, you drink it at a certain point not too far out from the start of the run so that you wont have to go to the bathroom before you're finished. The delay of the race by half an hour nearly proved to be a disaster for me!! At 8 I was already starting to think that I wished there was a nearby portapotty, but I knew I'd make it through just fine regardless... then they delayed the start by a few minutes every few minutes, and by the time I was climbing the last hill I was concentrating on just holding on for a few more minutes. Let me tell you, it was a close call. And I know for a fact that I was not the only on in this boat! It turned out fine, though, and after the race I hung around till about 1pm. There was a lot to do- so much free energy-this and protein-that. I have a backpack full of STUFF that I still havent really gone through. The LA Marathon was the next day (today, Sunday) so there was a whole Marathon expo happening. And the stadium was open! So of course I spent a lot of time exploring. I wandered into the luxury suites part of the park and talked my way into one of the suites (different rooms were rented out by various charities for post-race unwinding). Nice view!

 

Then I went up to the Top Deck area behind home plate and spent a good long while sitting in the sun. (Met an Aussie! He knew his baseball, I was impressed.)

..And other exploration pics..

And that's the race. I got home around 1:30pm or 2pm and started the resting process. I cleaned my room and watched LOST... man was I tired, but I couldnt make myself take a nap. Roxy texted later on and we went out to walk along the 3rd Street Promenade. Fun, busy street that's closed off to cars/only for pedestrian traffic. Lots of stores. We relived our respective race day moments of trial and triumph. Then we both went back to our homes and crashed! ZZZZZ

Today was all about the LA Marathon. The majority of the course ran down Santa Monica Blvd, and the entire west-bound side was shut down for the runners. I live off of a side street that connects to Santa Monica Blvd so I walked out to watch for about an hour. Races are really fun events. Inspiring. I saw children runners, runners that must have been in their mid 70's, blind runners, runners with only one leg, overweight runners, very athletic runners, average-looking runners. The whole time I was thinking about how great it would be to run a marathon. I was standing by the Mile 18 marker, and saw maybe 10 people out of the thousands I watched run past who looked like they were laboring, out of breath, red in the face. I guess it's all about pacing, walking when you need to. Lots of people were walking at that point. I was standing on an incline spot so I would imagine that by Mile 18 you're feeling any even slight upward slant in the road as if it's a mountain. Walked up the street a bit to where it was a downhill slant, and ended up talking with a guy and his family who were visiting from Lowell MA. He was sporting a Boston team print button-up so I had to chat with him! And actually, as I was running my 5K, I got about 10 GO RED SOX cheers from people in the crowd as well as people I passed/who passed me. I was wearing my Pedroia shirt, of course :) People dont wear sports shirts out here- that I've noticed, at least. And I really do look out for that. I talk to any Red Sox fan I stumble upon.

When I was tired of standing, I walked back across the street to the Century City Mall and sat in the food court area (it's outside, and a great place to hang out). Wrote some letters, listened to the live entertainment. They have live music there every weekend.

Since then, I've cooked myself some dinner (chicken, spinach, corn, garlic, lemon juice over pasta), watched some LOST. My body is saying, it's time to sleep. My mind and my will might just give in tonight. I have to be up early to get in line at the DMV, take care of this car stuff once and for all.

Long entry. I deserve to be able to end it abruptly. Have a great night everyone. Happy birthday, Grandpa. We all still think of you often. Miss you very, very much.

Far away, this ship is taking me far away/ far away from the memories, of the people who care if I live or die..

HOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLD you here in my arms..

I just wanted to HOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLD you here in myyyyyy arms..


The janitor at work has squeaky sneakers. Made me think of Grandma today :)

Yesterday's LOST paled in comparison to last week's episode. And I have a feeling it wont have been better than next week's either, because next week we get the inside scoop on Richard!! We've all waited years for this.

When I lived on the East Coast, Springtime daylight savings held significance for me because there was more light in the sky when I got up every morning. Here, it means that it's a lot warmer when I get out of work! I love this. I wouldnt have made the connection myself- but I saw a friend's post on facebook regarding this fact the day after we set our clocks forward. Sure enough, I had experienced a blissful rush of joy that evening when I exited the office building out into the fading day only to find that it was very much warmer outside than it had been inside. That kind of warmth where the air is still and soft and somehow billowy. I love driving home from work between the mountains. Everyone drives so fast here... but my car doesnt easily agree with speeds over 75mph, so  I dont worry about it. I enjoy the ride, leaving my sunroof open whenever possible and cranking the tunes.

I'm lovin Hysteria by Muse right now. Especially the instrumental bridge bit.

This morning I went to John O'Groats for breakfast with Joanna and Andrew. I enjoyed applesauce pancakes (wow, huge pancakes... I could only deal with 1 1/2 of them) and some chicken apple sausage minus all the oil that usually comes with breakfast sausages (which meant that I actually rather enjoyed it). We  chatted like we'd known each other for any amount of time which gives me great faith that they'll be good friends of mine in the months and years to come. Andrew works at MPower Pictures, and Joanna used to as well but now works at a clinic that provides options alternatives to abortions to pregnant women. Joanna is going to give me a makeup consultation (happy, mom?)... which i'm thrilled about, honestly. Anyway, they were encouraging and I came away with a renewed sense of purpose in my being here in LA. Cant wait to find my way into foley.

This time last year I was working in Boston listening to spring training games with Bill every day. The announcers were pretty bad. We listened to Sox games but if they didnt happen to be on, it didnt matter who was playing... as long as it was baseball. I miss that. I need to start working from home soon so that I can listen in.

I went to Reality LA this Sunday and was blown away. I absolutely loved it. The worship was especially impressive... 30 min of worship, and hour long sermon, and 30 more min of worship. House and stage lights are down during worship which is something I had appreciated about Catacombs worship at my college, but which I'd never seen at a church before. In a place where everyone looked like they had been up for 3 hours getting ready (everyone looked perfect and beautiful.. that part was a little unnerving for me) the lights being down did a great job of reminding that the time wasnt about seeing who was wearing or doing what. The message was one of the most powerful messages I've heard in my life. The pastor was actually the pastor of a different Reality church- Reality LA was a one that he had planted. Good solid mix of scripture and life application.. not too heavy on one side or the other. I'm excited to hear from Reality LA's pastor, who I hear is a pretty intellectual speaker (though he looks like a 30-something hipster! these LA people...)

Grandma- after you're done reading this, go on facebook and ACCEPT MY FRIEND REQUEST! If you see red flags/boxes toward the top left of your facebook page, click them!

Shower time in California. The big LA Marathon is this Sunday... i run a 5K at Dodger Stadium this Saturday. Also draft my first fantasy team of the season on Saturday, cant wait to see who I wind up with!
I've been sick for a few days, with symptoms ranging from long-lasting headaches to sore throats to sneezing and a few coughs here and there. I guess nausea must be next.

PS

Oh. Before I forget...

Living with Nadine, I'm finding that she holds some similarities to my own Grandma in terms of her thought process especially. But one thing that they DO NOT have in common... Nadine will open the fridge door, take what she needs, and leave it open for the next 4 minutes as she walks across the kitchen and prepares her food. It makes me chuckle every time. I can hear my Grandpa hollering at me to close the door for her. And though my Grandma never gets on my case about it, it's just an unwritten rule that you dont keep the refrigerator door open!

(Also, I saw a cornflower blue newer model Outback on the 101 two days ago. It was so beautiful. I miss my Subaru! But my Civic is treating me very well.)