Category: San Francisco Life (2002-2005)

Naisho says hello.

Yet another Christmas has passed. It’s strange to not really have a winter…even though it’s kinda chilly outside, it’s still not so cold. I went down to visit my friend Todd’s family in Santa Cruz for Christmas. He was gracious enough to let me join in the festivities. I had a lot of fun meeting his friends and such, and I really enjoyed this year’s Christmas. It was very nice to be in a home. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, and I hope to hear from you soon :) Merry Christmas 2004!

Macy’s in San Francisco always does this nice showcase of window holiday cheer with animated characters, little buildings, and all things Christmasy. This year however, has been such a fun thing to watch. The set is a little train, each with its own theme with miniature furniture and the works. What’s extremely fun about this is, that they have kittens in each little train car, and they’re playing around in the window looking at the people, and playing in their miniature homes. Walking past this to and from work always brings a smile to my face as I watch other lone walkers move towards the window–there’s not one who doesn’t leave with a smile on their face. That’s what I like to see during Christmas.

So, the finale of the Apprentice was on last night, and I could not believe what an event it has become. Last year, I thought it was pretty big being a 2-hour show. But, last night’s was a 3-hour show! The first hour was showing the last job, but then the rest was just drawn out for so long. I can’t believe how rude reality TV has become. Jennifer, who I thought did a great job all along, was completely battered at this finale show with people standing up for Kelly, who I didn’t think was stellar at all. The speaker that I thought was the worst, was that man that stood up and said, I just don’t like Jennifer, but then, got so tripped up, nothing else could come out, and he had to sit down. Now who looks silly? I’m so glad Jonathan actually spoke up for her, because it was getting a bit ridiculous. These shows have become not as fun, but almost plain brutal.

Well, I’m back home in San Francisco, and I’ve uploaded all the images from my trip. Take a peek at Fiji and Australia! I’ll update the travel section to include all the journal entries I made during my travels tomorrow.

Tonight, Mathias, Andrew, Yoshi and I all went to the Castro Theater for the South East Asian Film Festival for India’s Production of Main Hoon Na. At first, we were about 10 minutes late, and I felt like I had walked into the wrong movie. Everyone was laughing at things that made completely no sense to me, so I started getting frustrated thinking that I’ve missed some crutial part. So, I was about ready to leave, because the movie was 3 hours long. Mathias wanted to stay, so I was heading out when I needed my ticket, and when I went back in, the movie had changed from a military-type bad acting ridicule of the Matrix, to the colorful, fun style of indian dancing and singing that I was looking for. So, I ended up staying with Mathias, and boy am I glad that I did. I enjoyed the movie so much! The whole thing really re-sparked my interest in India again as I had as a child with learning about my friends who were Gujarati. I don’t know what it is about other cultures, but I simply become mesmorized in learning about them. Now, I’m looking to find out where the local Indian Cultural Center is!

Whew! So today, I got a call in the morning from my landlord saying they were coming into change a light fixture I had asked to be changed. However, when I asked it to be changed, I was told by the nice super that he would let the electrician in. Well, the landlord (mean) said he was going to be the one to let him in. So panic set in as I tried to devise a plan on what to do with Naisho. (If you don’t know who Naisho is, search for his mention in my blog by using the search tool up there.) Since I couldn’t get in touch with Andrew and Matthias had an exam, I was left with thinking that I would have to leave work to come home and find a place to put him. As I went down to the garden, I let him out and he disappeared, so I thought, whew, great. Then, the super came down and said that the landlord checks the garden to make sure everything is ok, so I shouldn’t have him down there. Of course, I couldn’t control when Naisho would hop out of the bushes and dart across the garden. So, I was at a loss. What was I going to do?? It was almost time for the landlord to arrive, and then Mike called.

Mike said, ‘You won’t believe how close I just came to not being able to go to Australia.’ Well, the Passport agency sent his passport to his parents, and not him, and his parents don’t know his departure date, so they went to the post office and sent it certified mail. Which takes 7-10 days from Canada. As soon as he heard the message from his mom, he called the post office, and spoke to the person who did the certified mail, and through supervisor through supervisor, got them to change it from certified to over night. Also, they close at 5, so it was like 10 minutes to closing when he called them. Fortunately, he was able to pursuade them to send it overnight and it’s done now. But just think, had he just waited til tomorrow, he wouldn’t have gotten it in time!

Back to Naisho, after speaking with Mike, I asked him what to do, and he remembered that Naisho liked sitting in the refrigerator, so he suggested that. As crazy as it sounds, when the landlord knocked, I snatched Naisho up and threw him in the fridge. All his goodies were in the shower behind the shower curtain (food, water, litter, etc). So, about 3/4 the way through the lighting exchange, I heard a crash. Naisho and pushed open the fridge and came out. I ran to the fridge to put him back in, but he’d had enough, and started to meow. So I started coughing and turned on the sink and threw dishes in there to clank around while he was meowing. (Don’t worry, before you call the human society on me, my refrigerator is practically used for storage, and it’s barely even cold–I only have a brita water filter in there, and chocolate.) Finally, I heard them finish, and he left, and I let Naisho out. All was good, and now he’s sitting in the window, warm in the sun watching the birds :)

Welcome to the new design of globetrotter.us, v 7.0! After a couple of months, I have finally completed the site with a new color scheme, directory architecture, and Moveable Type 3.11. I also used a little bit of flash for some animation to give the site a little more energy, and updated my galleries and travel logues. This site is the most dynamic one I’ve had as many files are driven by PHP includes. Please let me know any comments if any on the new site, and again, thanks for visiting!

So this morning, I went down to the little french church to vote. Upon arrival, I was handed a huge envelope with 4 sheets of ballots worth of referendums and such. I wanted to just focus on a few topics, so it didn’t take me too long. When I started to make my vote, there was an arrow and another end of an arrow that you have to connect with a black marker. It was really bizarre, given the fact I’m in a) California and b) one of the most cosmopolitan areas in the US. Why wouldn’t we have electronic ballots?? Anyhow, I hope to see an amazing turnout of voters this year–get out and do your duty!