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November 1, 2009

Angel Island Hike

I've looked forward to visiting Angel Island since I took a class on Chinatowns in college and learned about the Chinese poetry carved into the walls of the detention hall at the US Immigration Station.  Finally, last weekend, we went in honor of Sushmita's birthday and it could not have been a more perfect day for the 5-mile, 3-hour hike up to the summit of Mt. Livermore.  Beautifully sunny and clear, except for a foggy portion of the ferry ride over.

The island has several microclimates ranging from what looks like rolling grassland to chaparral to dense forest.  When we turned the corner into the area where our ferry docked, it looked like something out of LOST, with the fog rolling up and over the mountain and dissipating into the bright October air, with greenery embracing the little jewel of a cove that housed several sailboats and a visitor center.
               
The hike itself wasn't too strenuous--Sushmita and I joke about how our style of hiking should really be called a "leisurely stroll through the woods," and we always take plenty of snacks and a picnic to have as a reward at the top.  Most of the trail led us through shaded forest on the east side of the island, and only the last bit took us to the area that suffered a fire not too long ago.

From the top, we could see a 360-degree view of the entire bay area, from the City, to the Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge, Marin headlands, Tiburon, Richmond, and all of the east bay.  We had turkey sandwiches, cherry tomatoes, two kinds of cheese, fruit, brownies and--the best part--apple juice in the same juice boxes we had as kids.

On the way down, I was very careful and picked my way around rocks and things to avoid having my knee sublux like it does every once in a while.  From the bottom of the mountain, it was still quite a ways to the immigration station, but it was worth it because I finally got my picture of the poetry in the walls, barely visible after years and layers of paint.  All in all, a great day.

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October 8, 2009

The Music of Braid: the Game

A few weeks ago, Garry, Mark, Sanny and I stayed up until the obscenely wee hours of the morning to play this fantastic and ingenious game called Braid, on the XBox 360.  The game is conceptually profound, created by indie game developer Jonathan Blow (no kidding!), with artwork by David Hellman.  It follows a protagonist, Tim, through various puzzles that explore the flow of time, in different worlds in which time behaves according to different rules:
  • Time and Forgiveness
  • Time and Mystery
  • Time and Place
  • Time and Decision
  • Hesitance
  • World 1
By the way, Braid is quite possibly the most depressing game ever--at least the overarching themes.  The look is a bit like Zelda or Super Mario Bros., but the mood and feel of the game are on a whole different plane, and I attribute that in part to its haunting, gorgeous soundtrack.  It's a bit Celtic or new-age in style, but not super cheesy like a lot of new-age-y music is.  And in the context of the game, it is simply otherworldly, mysterious, and multi-dimensional.  And it's especially bemusing juxtaposed against the relative simplicity of the graphics, yet totally befitting the complexity of the gameplay.

Here are a couple of my favorite tracks, but the whole list of songs from the Braid soundtrack can be found here.

Maenam by Jami Sieber  

Downstream by Shira Kammen  

       

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August 15, 2009

Happy Moving Company

I guess you could say I live in "the barrio" of MV (right next to the Burrito Triangle), but this truck definitely looks out of place.  Yes, the guys are Chinese and yes, they are careful, efficient and pleasant to work with.  I heard them speaking a dialect I couldn't recognize at all. Turns out they are from Hebei province!  Not something you come across every day.

It's only been an hour and they are nearly through with clearing out all the junk I have in my current apt.  $65/hour.  I better tip them well.

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August 11, 2009

Grab-Scrab Victory

This is my friend Grant's favoritest game.  He will play it with anyone at any time.  Because he's very very good at it.

Basically, people (at least two, but no real limit) take turns dealing Scrabble tiles out onto the table.  As you see words come up, you call them out and grab the tiles.  You can combine new letters with existing words to 'steal' words from other players.  You can play with a 3-letter or 4-letter minimum.  Whoever ends up with the most words after you run out of letters, wins.  Sometimes we add up the points attached to each letter to determine the winner.

I am not usually very good at this game because it requires too much of a certain kind of thinking, even though I was a Hist & Lit major in college.  But the other day I played with another friend, and won (for once).  I was so proud of my words that I took a picture.  Yes, I know, I had accidentally put away the F in 'adrift' before I remembered to take the picture.

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July 27, 2009

Arata Farm Straw Labyrinth

Garry and I were driving down PCH towards Pescadero yesterday when we saw this big handmade sign that announced, "Straw Maze."  We looked at each other and said, let's go!  We had no idea what to expect, but we weren't in a rush, so we thought we'd have a little adventure.

The Straw Maze turned out to be a labyrinth that is constructed every year by the men at Arata Pumpkin Farm in Half Moon Bay.  They start building it around March/April every year out of some 1500 bales of hay.  It takes 3-4 months to construct, and every year it is a different design.  They used to only have it up in time for Halloween, their busiest season, but these days they make sure it is ready to go by midsummer so tourists (even local ones like us) can stop by and get a little lost. 
               
 The owner got the idea because he was born on Crete and wanted to pay homage to his native culture (remember the myth of King Minos?).  We thought that was pretty cool.

Average time to solve the maze is about 30 mins, though we saw a couple that went before us who did it in about 12 min.  Garry and I didn't time ourselves because I actually wanted to explore every nook and cranny in the place, even if I knew it was the wrong way.  It turned out to be a lot of fun.

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July 23, 2009

Craziest thing I did all weekend (and in the last ten years maybe) - plus videos!

On Sunday, for a dear friend's bachelorette party, we went to Trapeze Arts in Oakland for some crazy good fun.

     

We started off harmlessly enough - a long round of stretches on the ground.  The instructors were very patient and moved us slowly but surely from one thing to another.  They had us first practice hanging from our knees on a stationary trapeze, very close to the ground.  Then, they had us practice our takeoffs, but on the ground.  Takeoff posture is very important to ensuring a good launch.

Then, the platform.  40 feet in the air!  This is where I got really nervous.  I don't know if you remember having to jump from the high dive during swimming lessons as a kid, but that terror--it was exactly the same. Even with the net, and the safety ropes, and the assurance that Jake would let us down easy if we landed incorrectly (which I did--multiple times) instead of letting us "eat it" facedown on the net.  We practiced swinging, bringing our legs up, hanging by our knees, arching our backs, and finally landing on our backs.

I sat out the second trick (simple backflip) - the first two runs really shook me up.  But I did the last trick, the "catch," where Hans, this beefy guy who has probably been trapezing for decades, swung on another trapeze and caught us as we arched our backs and held our hands outstretched.

If you're looking for a thrill but haven't quite worked up the nerve to go bungee jumping, sky-diving, or base-jumping...trapezing may be a fun and ALMOST TOTALLY SAFE alternative for you.

Below, there's 1) a video of the bachelorette backflipping like a pro, 2) Jake showing us how flying trapeze is really done, and 3), me doing the catch, though you have to fast-forward to 0:51 because there is a lot of downtime at the beginning of the vid.



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July 15, 2009

This weekend: 2nd Annual Renegade Craft Fair - SF

I missed it last year.  This year I'm definitely going!  How funny, it's sponsored by both Etsy.com and Venus Zine, two organizations I wholeheartedly support!

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June 16, 2009

June Day in Dolores + Bi-Rite of Passage

Just enjoying a beautiful day at the tippy top of Dolores Park, with a great view of downtown.  Followed by my very first taste of Bi-Rite Creamery.  It's just as good, if not better, than what I miss from the great ice cream places in Boston.  Salted Caramel FTW!

         

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June 2, 2009

Best of Portland

Some of the top images from the weekend.  I'd say they capture the spirit of the town.

                                                                           

Captions:

1. Hotel room at the Nines.
2. Bhumi and the funny four-way drinking fountains.
3. Prints at the Compound Gallery.
4. Woodblock prints at the Compound Gallery
5. "Drama" on the way to Powell's.
6. Bike stands in front of Powell's.
7. Powell's city of books.
8. Snack at Urban Fondue: white cheddar, gruyere, brie, caramelized onions, port.
9. Pink peonies at Sammy's Flowers.
10. Toga run on NW 23rd.
11. Desserts at Papa Hadyn.
12. Garry, Seth and Maureen at Papa Hadyn.
13. Seth's asparagus appetizer with poached egg on top.
14. My roasted chicken breast with mushroom-leek bread pudding.
15. Garry's croque monsieur.
16. The library at the Nines hotel.
17. Garry ordering a drink at Kelly's.
18. Random pants next to a dumpster.
19. Random gallery near Powell's.
20. T-shirt, as seen outside Byways Cafe.
21. Garry's OJ at Byways Cafe.
22. Amaretto french toast with pecan butter, bacon and over-easy egg at Byways Cafe.
23. Hallway at Kennedy School.
24. Garry and a drinking fountain at Kennedy School.
25. The gym at Kennedy School.
26. Detention Bar at Kennedy School.
27. Boiler Room Bar at Kennedy School.
28. Hockey masks at Local 35 on Hawthorne.
29. "Two heads tripping under one mushroom" at House of Vintage on Hawthorne.
30. Food cart on Hawthorne - CLOSED on Sundays =(.
31. Food carts on Hawthorne.
32. Garry and his spicy-grilled...corn on the cob.
33. Walking across Hawthorne Bridge.
34. Walking across Hawthorne Bridge.
35. Willamette River as seen off of Hawthorne Bridge.
36. "You're Cool" on Hawthorne Bridge.
37. Random park in downtown.
38. Sushi Land - conveyor belt sushi!

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June 2, 2009

In Portland...$0.75 buys you a rocket pop and a song.

We were walking near the waterfront on our way to Saturday market when this tattooed young woman pushing ice cream in a tricycle came pedaling down the street with a giant red clown 'fro.  Garry stopped her for a rocket pop (you know, the red/white/blue ones) and she goes, "it also comes with a song!"


The next day, we ran into the same girl in a completely different part of Portland, in a neighborhood grocery on Hawthorne.  Alas, she was not wearing her giant red clown 'fro.


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