Life is Good

Finally, my former boss called today and told me they are going to cut me a final check – the one from my old job. They messed it up last month and I have been trying to get my money from them. After almost a month of waiting, I finally heard a word from them. Well, I don’t have the check yet but at least I got his word so that’s good enough, for now.

I just got back from playing tennis. It’s been sometime since I played tennis and instead of being rusty, I actually did well. I had to call it a game around 9:15 coz I was beginning to get exhausted. It was fun though. I should do that more often.

Well, it was another good day at work today. I am almost ready to hit the sack but I am trying to find more information for a weekend hike my friends and I are planning to take. We’re thinking of going to Cathedral Lakes in Yosemite which is a 6-hour hike (I think) or maybe do Desolation Wilderness. I’m not sure yet which one we’d pick.

I guess that’s about it for today. I gotta get back on my hiking trail research. Can’t wait to get out in the wilderness again.

Life is great!

Principles for Life

#1: One thing I've learned in life is the fact that promises are shit. They're not worth anything. Not even promises written in blood. Promises don't guarantee anything.

So I decided to live my life without promises - I'm not making them and no, I am not asking for them. I think what we should do is to just do the best we can when we could. And never expect anything back.

Life should be easier that way. Life without promises means less hassle and less trouble.

#2: Uncertainty is necessary. Wouldn't it be a boring life if I already know what tomorrow holds? It would suck to know the future. And life wouldn't be as fun anymore. Who knows, I could even get into an accident and die later on my way to the gas station to fill up my car before I go to bed. Who knows? And sometimes, when I talk about dying, people around me seem to be terrified. They react like death should be some forbidden topic.

But I guess it's natural for people to fear the unknown. Death is an unknown, it's a mystery. But isn't it true that young as I am, I could still possibly die tomorrow or next week or I could die in my sleep tonight. No one knows.

And yet I choose to live my life to the fullest. Taking more time to appreciate the heat of the sun on my skin, the rustling of tree branches outside my window, just little things that make life more colorful and beautiful. One thing I've already learned from my job is to not sweat the small stuff. And I found out how life can be so much easier if you don't sweat the small stuff.

So Wave's life's principle # 1: No promises. Hell no.
and life's principle # 2 : Embrace uncertainty.

I'm sure more learnings will come. But for now, I will stick to these two principles as I continue to live this wonderful, crazy and exciting journey called life.

It's Not Fair!

David Gray is coming to San Francisco 10 days before my birthday! But tickets are sold out already. It's not fair! :( I've always wanted to watch him perform.

All the tickets available online are way above the face value and no way I will pay that price.

Hmmm, maybe I would get lucky on Craigslist. Or probably get unlucky and pay for a fake concert ticket.

It's not fair! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Anybody out there wanna sell me a David Gray ticket at the Fillmore Theater in San Francisco? I'm willing to pay $60 for it. That's almost double the face value. Please.......

Random Thought

Why does a piece of paper, like an 8" x 11" feel lighter when it is unfolded than when it's crumpled. E.g., try throwing a piece of paper in a trash bin froma distance. It won't make it if it's not crumpled. You have to crumple it in order for that piece of paper to make it to the trash bin.

I know, it's probably just simple physics but I was just amused by the thought. I was also thinking how it relates to life. You don't go through life unscathed. In order for you to make it somewhere, you have to be crumpled and wrinkled and pressed. Coz if you're like a piece of flat paper, the wind will just playfully toss you around.

But of course I don't wanna end up getting thrown in the trash bin. Know what I'm sayin?

2nd Day of An Aimless Roadtrip

We left Rosburg about 7:30 this morning. Man, I tell you, the drive from there was so beautiful. We we're on I-5 the entire time but it was so beautiful. I used to visualize a flat, boring drive when I hear I-5. Today's drive totally changed that.

There were pine trees and evergreens everywhere. We went up hills and mountains and down to the valleys. Even the rest stops are beautiful! They look like they were nestled in the middle of a forest!

We stopped by Portland, Oregon's biggest city. We crossed one of their many bridges into downtown and parked right by their World Trade Center. From there, we walked to the water front and enjoyed the scenery. It was drizzling when we got there but it wasn't too bad. After our quick jaunt to Portland, we hit I-5 again and kept on driving North.

I wasn't really that impressed with Portland. Well, I don't think I can judge a city by the little tiny bit that I saw but I just didn't fall in love with it. It was just – blah. I'm sorry if someone from Portland is reading my blog.

But when we finally arrive in the Seattle area, damn, I wanted to stop right there and explore the city. I fell in love with Seattle the moment I saw its Skyline. I didn't have that "blah" feeling that I felt in Portland. We didn't stop though. We drove past Seattle thinking we might be able to get to Vancouver, Canada later this afternoon. But right after we got to Everett, traffic was so heavy and I thought maybe the wait at the US-Canada border will be too long. So instead of sitting in traffic, we decided to make a U-turn and headed back to Seattle.

Everett is only about 20 miles away so it wasn't really that bad. We stopped by a gas station to grab a Travel Discount Hotel Coupon Guide. I called a few places until I I found a reasonable rate that was right there at the Seattle City Center.

We stayed at the Travelodge right by the Space Needle! Okay, the place was blah. It has a bed, lamp, shower, AC – just the basics. But it was right there, close to everything. We even have a Space Needle View right at our door.

Since Space Needle was right there, we explored it first. Then we took the Monorail and walked about 4 blocks to Seattle's famous Public Market. This Public Market is the oldest Public Market in the US. Trust me, this place, is something you don't wanna miss when you go to Seattle.

Everything is so affordable. They were selling beautiful bouquets of flowers for $10! These bouquets are probably worth $30 in flower shops. This is also where you will find the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market. They do salmon throwing here which was fun to see. If you buy fish, lobster, crab etc. here, they can pack it for you – safe enough to go on a plane ride with ya. Is that cool or what?

We walked down into the second level of the Public Market and there it was – the restaurant where Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan shot one of their scenes in Sleepless in Seattle!!!!!! That was really cool. We then head to a Russian shop and had a Piroshki and something else – can't remember what the name was – but it was like a Piroski with cream and cherries. That was good. The piroshkis were big enough to get us by until dinner.

We headed back to the Monorail but we got sidetracked at the underground Bus line. The place was deserted. Apparently, they no longer operate on the weekends. It was cool though, walking through the deserted platform. Empty. Even the escalators were empty, though they were running. It was sort of eerie, kinda like a movie scene.

We got back on the Monorail and headed back to the foot of the Space Needle. We were gonna eat dinner at the Revolving Restaurant on top of the Space Needle but I thought it was very expensive for an aimless trip like this. 45 bucks was the cheapest for the main course. So we decided to check out China Town for a cheaper deal.

Seattle's China Town wasn't that impressive. And we didn't stop there for dinner. Iwas reading a tourist map when I came across a restaurant called "Typhoon." It's a Thai restaurant and it has been recommended by Bon Appetit, America's Food and Entertaining magazine as the best Thai restaurant in the US.

Didn't even think twice about it. I love Thai food. So we decided to check it out. The ambiance was nice. I loved it! The food was indeed very good. I've been to so many Thai restaurants but I have to say that yes, I agree with Bon Appetit. Best Thai Food so far. We ordered Crab Pad Thai, Grilled Trout and Pineapple Fried Rice. We also had Iced Tea. Trust me, everything was cooked to perfection! The only thing I didn't like was the absence of Thai servers. All their servers were either blonde haired women or some other nationality other than Thai. But the food was good. So no complaints here.

Then we drove around Seattle, exploring its different neighborhoods. We found one of the best view of the Seattle Skyline on 5th Ave. and hmm, I forgot the cross street but I wrote it down somewhere. It was just beautiful during sunset. Though I'm sure the skyline looks more beautiful on a boat but we didn't have enough time to catch one.

We drove around Seattle City Center one more time then we headed back to our lodging. Gotta get enough sleep for a long day tomorrow. We'll try to cross the border to Canada and explore Vancouver. This one should be exciting.

Ciao.

First Leg of An Aimless Roadtrip

I was chatting with Bing last night as I was getting my clothes ready for an aimless roadtrip. And so I asked her where should we head to and she suggested North. So North it is.

We started our trip around 6 p.m., Friday, expecting heavy bottlenecks along the way but we were so lucky . There was NO traffic anywhere. Not even on freeways going out of the Bay Area. After 6 hours we finally crossed the border into Oregon.

Luckily, we found a vacancy in 10 minutes in a little town called Roseburg. The price was kinda steep but I thought, well, it's July 4th weekend. So I kinda expected this aimless roadtrip to be somewhat expensive.

It's about 1 a.m. now. And gotta get as much rest as I can for the next leg of our trip tomorrow. Where to? I don't know.

I won't know. Not yet. Not until the tires stop spinning. But we're headed North, that's for sure.

*this was written at Windmill Inn in Roseburg, Oregon where we spent the first night of this 3-day weekend.