sup SAN FRAN CISCO

Observation number one: It is surprisingly easy to get from Oakland airport to the Haight-Ashbury district. Yes, I went from bus to train to another bus and walked a total of about 2 miles but it was ridiculously easy to do so. I didn't realize public transportation could be so available, useful, and tourist-friendly. Weird.

Observation number two (brought to you by Mr. Timothy Faust, Master Fusion Food Finder): You can shove literally anything into a flour tortilla and call it a burrito. Don't think I'm complaining about these flexible semantics though, I'm devouring them. We started with a spicy Korean bbq kimchi&pork burrito and ended the night with a Curry Up Now Green Monster delight. MulticultralWIN.

Observation number three: This has absolutely nothing to do with San Francisco and everything to do with what goes through my head when I'm alone for too long. So let's just say, studying for the GRESubject psych test has left a fair amount of buzzwords swirling around my working memory. I first noticed this when I brought up Kandel's experiments on the sea-slug aplysia in the middle of a conversation because I genuinely thought it was relevant. It wasn't. But anyhow, as I sit here sippin' my second cafe au lait of the day, I'm imagining what a coffeeshop conversation with John B. Watson would be like were he around. He'd probably point out that drinking coffee is part of a multi-reinforcement model with both primary positive (the energy, euphoria and overall warm tastiness) and primary negative (the headaches, ohtheheadaches!) reinforcement. Add in the common traits of free wifi and a chill place to sit around and you've even got some variable-schedule secondary positive reinforcements. Word. And now you know! (and knowing is half the battle)

Observation number four: Wandering around alone outside is officially my most favorite pastime ever. But who am I kidding, we all already knew this. There's just something so awesomely meaningful about journeys powered solely by your rhythmic footfalls- uphills, downhills, aroundabaout hills, through parks, under trees. Suddenly everything becomes a great purposeful metaphor for life in general and as Mr. Tom Wolfe would say "it's phony goddamnit it... but mysto..."

Observation number five: It is fucking GORGEOUS outside. And that's all I've got, folks.

Now back to working on my grad school apps. Spoiler alert: Berkeley's statement of purpose begins: "I would like to be a part of your program so that please don't make me ever leave here ever"

Napa Valley!

DAY FIVE

Today my grandma and I drove out to Napa Valley to go winery-hopping. We only hit two, Artesa and Larson Family, but I think that was enough to get a good touristy feel of things.
I've never been too big a fan of wine (I only drink grain alcohol and rainwater, remember?) but I think this experience has changed my mind for the better. Unless this tingly feeling of general well being is just a side effect of multiple wine tastings... nah! It was great because the guy serving neither asked me for my age or the nominal wine tasting fee. I guess he knew that in the end I would buy out his nice little shop... No matter! First, we tried a soft white Gerwurztraminer and then a fruity Pinot Noir Rosé (deceitfully tasting of strawberries. Pictured right.) This was followed by a crisp Meritage and their award-winning deep, dark Cabarnet Sauvignon. This is the one I ended up buying- something about the varietal aromas married with the vanilla and spice of the barrels gives it a distinctive Cabernet flavor full of currant and dark cherry fruit that you can't help but roll around in your mouth. Yeah, so I didn't really write that myself- it's on their website. In the end, it was good and I was buzzed. Yay wine!

Now it's time for THE MOAR YOU KNOW: Wine Edition.
DID YOU KNOW THAT...

• The name "Meritage" is a sign of quality, caliber, and how much you are willing to pay for the naming license.
  
• I found the acidity of the Cabarnet Sauvignon on their website: 0.428 to 0.458 g/100mL, with a pH of 3.69 to 3.81.
• There are two methods for getting the juice out of the grapes- beating/pummeling them, or pressing them (I bet they still step on them sometimes just for fun...) The beating is usually more for the red grapes and the pressing is more for the white.
• Red wine is dark because the skin is left on during fermentation. whites, in turn, do not. Rosés are somewhere in the middle. Welcome back to kindergarten kids, that's how hues work.
  
• The juice is first put in the vats to ferment and then the barrels to age. Somehow I managed to get a good shot of both when I took a picture of a cute employee. Imagine that.
• They leave glass stoppers in the barrels so they can see the when the bubbles of CO2 (produced by the yeast breaking down the sugar) stop and the wine is ready to be set in a barn somewhere to age.
• Wine is delicious. Yum.
  

NOW YOU KNOW!

On top of the Cab, I also bought tiny bottles of Rose, Merlot, and Pinot Noir. Translation: I can either host a nice wine-tasting in my room when I come back, or revel in the fact that I have the proper ammunition to get myself shit-faced drunk alone on some weeknight. Win-win!

I almost feel bad about enjoying my day so much when duty calls me to go into a seven-month mourning period. Crushingly disappointing as it was, I'm proud of you boys for making it that far. Hope you're ready for next year, because we're going to kick some serious ass!Want MOAR wine-day pictures?

Aerobics and Tissue Engineering in a Coast Guard Hangar... Hiking with Cows... Oysters!... Accepting Official Shiny Happy Status.

DAY THREE

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Today started bright and early. Even though I woke up cursing my Office-Themed ringtone alarm, something about the California sunlight streaming in through my window didn't let me stay angry long (I bet you thought those raisins were just on crazy drugs. It's the sun, I tell you, the sun!) But waking up ridiculously early was most definitely worth it- I got to go to a Sunday morning aerobics class with my older cousin. What makes this class so amazing you ask? Let me count the ways: First off, the YMCA is located at his workplace, which, if you remember, is actually just a redecorated World War II hangar (saweeeet!) This means I got to pretend that I was training to be an secret agent sniper marine pilot as I liquefied my major muscle groups (double saweeeet!). Secondly, my 24 yr old cousin and I were the only people under the age of 50. It was almost surreal, as if I was acting out some cheesy movie scene: punch-jab-hook-ing invisible assailants while completely surrounded by little old asian ladies.
Oh, but then it gets better!

After the class, my cousin took me on a tour of his office. In case I haven't mentioned it yet, he works for a tissue engineering company that focuses on making blood vessels. As a mechie, his job is to build the reactors that hold media for the growing the tissues (triple saweeeet!) I got to see his cubicle, the labs where they work with the tissues and the fridges that hold the cultures. Surreal moment of the day #2: the overwhelming sense that I was walking through a Michael Crichton novel (I can die happy now.) I wanted to take more pictures, but a man in a nice pressed suit stepped out of the shadows and informed me it was against company policy. Too bad. But no matter, I was soon hit with yet another wowmylifeisamovie moment when I saw that the glass walls of his boss's office were covered complicated dry erase markings- equations, notes, diagrams etc. (Ok, it's official. This whole thing is a sham. The office is too desperately modeling the stereotypical bioengineering lab, I don't buy it. I wonder how long they spent trying to make the dry erase markings on the glass walls of his boss's office look sincere... Seriously guys, you're not fooling anyone.)
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All memories of events that followed the return to cousin's apartment have been repressed for my own sanity's sake. Wait... I think it might be coming back to me.... something about how I will always love my Rice Baseball team even if they lose 17-5 to Fresno State and I drink myself into a stupor to numb the pain... No, that can't be right. I probably just fell asleep or something.

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Next on the itinerary was a quaint little hike through a cow pasture. Don't worry, it was a real and intentional tourist site, we didn't just hope a barbed wire fence and wander around on someone's private land (*cough*.) The weather was thisclose to being perfect, but the wind had the terrible tendency of blowing away all of the warm sun rays. Blast you, wind! (I think I have to give in and buy a pair of pants. To wear. During the summer. Yuck.) Something interesting about hanging out with my grandma & cousins the past few days: now that we're all adults it's a completely different dynamic. It's very.... comfortable. I like it.
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After our little bonding-wandering session, we set up a little picnic by the bay. We bought 50 oysters, 1lb of clams and 1lb of mussels to grill. I've never been a big fan of shellfish, but I have to say, I'm a convert. Maybe it's because everything was so fresh, or because we grilled it ourselves. No matter. It was quite the experience.
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Seriously?
Did this day really happen?
An aerobics class, hiking in happy cow pastures, and the grilling oysters on the bay? This has been the most stereotypically authentic California experience ever. (Tomorrow I'm getting a nose-job and overdosing on my inattentive mother's antidepressants!)
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Actually, I have a confession to make.
Try as I might, lately it's been hard to be cynical. No matter how much I want to write scathingly critical posts revealing the shallow wasteland that is Ellis' California, I can't help but just sit back and just enjoy its shiny happy surface (It's the sun, I tell you, the sun!). This trip has been nothing but wonderful so far. I guess even my inner nihilist is taking a temporary vacay. And I can't blame all negativity on Houston's heat, humidity, pollution, traffic, or mosquitos, because I know that this is what vacations are for, right? Throwing obligations and responsibilities to the wind and existing for awhile. As gorgeous/friendly/organic as California is, I don't think it's actually the catalyst in temporarily melting my cold heart (besides, it's fucking freezing here. 60 degrees is NOT okay for June). It's just summertime in general. *happy sigh* I'm lovin' it.

To add to the cheesy perfection of it all, we listened to Beck's "Mutations" in the car ride to the hike and bay. If you ignore the tone of the lyrics for a moment and just appreciate the mellow flow of music, it fits perfectly. (AH! LAME LIFE METAPHOR, you should have known you couldn't hide for long!) Anyway, the true essence of the day (and light) is captured by this song:

Intro... AIRPLANE!... Campus Tour... Strobe lights, Samurai Swords, Alcoholic Piñatas... and assorted asides

DAY ONE

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So I know you've been wondering why.
Why California? Why now? Oh dear god, why has she left me for so long, WHY?!
Background info: my grandma likes to travel in the summer, and she was just lonely enough to ask me to come with her this year. Originally she wanted to go to Mexico or Spain, but unfortunately, the (people we were staying with realized that I would be coming along and) plans fell through. California was the next best choice because we have family out here: the 2nd daughter of five lives in Bakersfield and her two children, my cousins, live in Novato (near-ish Berkeley or Oakland).
But I actually left just because I hate you. Yes, you.

And this is where my photo-blog of a journey begins.
[WARNING: I'm going to list out the things I do each day as if I were some attention starved blogger addict (as if!), so for those of that you don't actually care about what I do, don't waste your time reading. Scan the titles and pictures and you'll be good to go. I tend to get obnoxiously meticulous when I document my life, which is why I don't usually make the posts public. But enough about me. Back to me.]

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I was super excited for the plane ride since I haven't flown anywhere since I was a rising senior in high school. (Wow. Please ignore the extent to which saying that makes me sound like a spoiled brat.) I love plane rides, especially really long ones. It's a freebie break from life to just sit, chill, readabook, stare at clouds, gain two hours of life, and accept free drinks from strangers. Really, my idea of the perfect outing. Oh yea, and the best part about airplane rides is when you get off the plane you ARE VERY FAR AWAY FROM HOME. That's always pretty cool. Did I mention that airports/planes are also perfect people-watching terrain? Mostly because everyone too preoccupied wandering around trying to find where they are supposed to be to notice some passersby happen to be staring at them and jotting down detailed notes about their various facial expressions. Though I also mean it in the warm&fuzzy sense. Maybe.

Landed. Drove home. Passed the fuck out.

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GOOD MORNING, California!
Started the day off by driving my older cousin to work at Hamilton Field so that I could steal his car for the day. Bought some 4.50$/gal gas and then set off for UCBerkeley, where my younger cousin is a student. I got a nice tour of the university and took some pretty brochure-worthy pictures, if I may say so myself. (This is the part where I off-handedly mention that I've decided to drop out of Rice and move to California. There are so many trees here. I am powerless to their call!) After exploring the surrounding area a bit, we went out for Thai food, (I think I ruptured my stomach. It was so worth it) and then we drove home and made dinner. Huzzah (If anything binds the family together, it's gotta be our joint obsession with food. Mmmm fooooood.)
And that was my DAY. (And that is my mango ice cream from the restaurant. It's so much more satisfying to see your food smile at you before I eat it... Take that as you will. )

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As for my NIGHT...
I went out with my older cousin to a friend of a friend's birthday party. It was a pretty cute get-together slightly reminiscent of our first-semester-freshman-year-parties, back when alcohol abuse was a novelty. At the same time, the party seemed to be a premonition of future parties to come: a group of young adults meeting up at a friend's house to escape the drudgery of their jobs and desperately cling onto the last remnants of the "college experience" still acceptable for their age group. There were some sloppy (aka n00b) games of beer pong, a vodka-watermelon (which was DISGUSTING, by the way. I recommended next time they try oranges ), and a pirate ship piñata. This was the BEST PART. Get this- to open the piñata, the birthday boy turned on a strobe light and sliced it open with a samurai sword (I assure you, it was a real fucking sword.) It was the classiest and most responsible thing that I have ever seen (to top it off, the piñata was filled with an assortment of tiny liqueurs, condoms, and fake mustaches.) Moral of the story: people never grow up. Thank god.

(The fire pic was from grillin' dinner. Not that I needed an excuse. Fires are kickass.)

[Guilty. A lot of this post is a redux copypasta of messages I send people. This is because I'm a lazy piece of shit. And really, there's only so much you can say about what you did in a day. So anyway, to those people, if you even read this: I'm going to continue to be a lazy piece of shit and recycle messages here as the days go by. It's also because I care about the environment, okay? California does that to you.]

List of things to do before I die.

At the end of the summer.
...and then I burst in flames and am reborn from my own ashes!
I decided that if I formally list everything out here, there is a slightly better chance that I will hold myself accountable and actually do some of them. That, or that the list will just remain a constant, public reminder of what a failure I am . I figure this will build character.

- Six Flags

- Menil Collection

- Beach (Galveston counts, just this once)

- reread MOAR Crichton

- Miller Outdoor Theater

- Live music

- Lolololapallooza (maybe? plz?)

- Kemah Boardwalk

- Little Sister's Swimming meet

- The Dark Knight

- California

- Pick a water park, any water park

I know that some of these are pretty given, but it makes me feel good about myself to cross things off on a list irregardless of how silly the item might be.
LET ME HAVE MY FUN.

If we still find ourselves too bored, there's always Social Rule b.99.1.
Or we could start using made up words like IRREGARDLESS and see how many people still take us seriously.

Day off = QUESTS!

First, I walked to Target to get groceries and a delicious sandwich. That is 40 minutes each direction, by the way. But it was so nice outside, I couldn't resist! It may or may not have been 96 degrees at the time. It may or may not have been midday. (My glory is exceeded only by my foolishness.) I don't know, something about walking places makes me feel more productive. Maybe because it just takes longer. Or maybe getting sweaty has become intricately associated with accomplishing things. Either way- now I have groceries and a tank tan. w00t.
The second quest of the day is going to sound a little more lame, since it was an internet quest. However, I was just as excited about the end result. This commercial has been eluding my feverish search for quite some time (translation: 2 days) and I finally FOUND IT. The only clues I had to go off of were that it was a Justice song and that there were people in masks dancing to it. It's amusing how I have come to expect every clip I have ever seen IRL to be on Youtube. Oh well, we'll ponder the repercussions of that later. For now, victory is mine!

Who knew?

On principle, I utterly despise the Brochstein Pavilion. It stole precious minutes off of our walks to class everyday for being so goddamned in the way of everything for months. It steals business from the student-run coffee house. I bet it plans on stealing something else we hold dear just because it can. What a corporate whore. Don't get too cocky yet, Mr. Pavilion, we can see straight through your nefarious plans (badumCHING). The only reason I sit outside at the tables every morning is because it's the midpoint between my dorm and work (I measured it). Not because I enjoy the peaceful environment created around its perimeter. I don't even like the mock shade they offer under the charming futuristic awning. I definitely don't like cute little grove or the accompanying mysterious fountains. If anyone sees me sitting there sipping a cool drink (which I bought somewhere else of course) enjoying the weather and reading a book, I hope you will have the decency to come over save me from the torture of being in that horrid pavilion's presence.

Genius thought of the day: someone should invent waterproof books so you can read outside when it's raining and not worry about damaging them. Genius afterthought of the day: there are many glaring reasons why I should never go into business marketing.

Funny story. There was a possum waddling around the pavilion today. It did approxiamately two laps to the amusement/shock/horror of those inside before disappearing off into nearby hedges. It was really eerie to see a possum so oblivious to people and daylight. The only possible explanation: it was a mutant. Probably sent by the government.


Currently listening to: Time to Pretend- MGMT