i <3 ely guerra!! :D thank you for introducing me to her music LYNN!!!! i absolutely luvs "quireme mucho" so when i saw her flyer for a one-nite acoustic performance in sf, i thought it'd be kuL to check out. ano's also down with the artsy-fartsy stuff so we got tix and headed out to the mission last night. we hit up a divey bar called pop's before the show & it had the COOLEST bathroom :D. fishies and water everywhere! (see below) damn. i should've checked the guys' bathroom to see what they had. ehehe, next time. they also had a lil candy machine on the way out and one of them was filled with doggy treats, for their doggy patrons. the dood to our right brought his chihuaha/chowchow mix puppy to drink with him. ^^;;

newayz, the show turned out to be mind blowing. ely was SO captivating. even though the majority of it was in spanish, this was WAY better than my mexican charlie chaplin experience x). her voice transcended the language barrier, the physical distance of the theatre, and time. she can sing a sweet angelic pitch, an angry cry, playful "doodoos," and intimate acappellas (usually within the same song). her guitar skills are off the hook and she was so real. lost all track of time from song to song, and then she came out for an encore, with some of her best material of the nite. :D SO memorable.

my main motivation to move to the city was to focus on studying, volunteering, and expanding my future career options, and i've gotta admit that my days aren't the most exciting up here. nonstop studying and lots of missing L and my sister. but in the context of SF, it's so full i can't help but luv it all. :D i get to wake up to the crispness offered by the coastal waters and jog around a sparkling lake covered in morning mist, feast my eyes on art and natural beauty to my heart's content, and experience the best of what the artsy-fartsy world has to offer. :D i'm in my metropolitan haven. this city is all about carpe-diem and "burn, burn, burning."

last but not least--actually, these post backwards, so i guess first and foremost :D ely guerra <3<3<3 this is my amateur attempt of taking a pic w/ my ancient camera. compare with ano's pro version (above). 

one of the many eye-filling murals in the mission district. i thought they were birds from far away. but they're not. they're corns! :D the white flecks are rain, not snow, btw. it doesn't snow in sf, altho w/ the freezing ass weather, i'm surprised it doesn't.

wat an f-ing tite ass bathroom. i was peeing in the yellow sea! 

joann & katie in front of the same jap tower, but it looks so much more stately with them ^__________^ 

UPDATE :D

yaY~ i have discoveries to write about (and i REALLY REALLY need a break). :D friday nite grabbed dinner with ano at TOMMY's on russian hill (which is not really a hill btw). that place is jus bursting with ppol wanting to eat their authentic mex food (and not really russian either i guess). we munched on fresh tortilla chips at the bar while waiting for our table (which took an hour!), and checked out the place.

wat is it w/ frisco latin eateries and funky ass decor? for instance, cha cha cha and their weird collages of holy mary figurines and garage sale junk? similar thing goin on at tommy's. they had some neat stuff tho. if you ever go there, check out their tequilla display. it is what they're known for--tequilla. personally, i'm not a fan of pickled larvae or worms or whatever insect is at the bottom of that bottle, but it's neat to see how many kinds they have. they have bottles with holes cut into the glass shelves right above them so the top of the bottle goes thru the shelf. nice detail. :D

so we finally sit down and we end up next to this group of visiting brits. they ask the waiter for the best tequilla of the house (i guess they're REALLY known for their tequilla, or it's listed in lonely planet) and the doOd spits out a tequilla that's 300 bucks a shot. ((o___o)) craaazie. we stuck w/ our margarita and wine. newayz, they have yummy food and a great authentic vibe. recommend for a fun, casual meal surrounded by lots of sf locals, and some really loaded lonely planet readers :P.

saturday i finally caught up w/ miss katie chun (and her friend joann, far rite) in j-town. that place is bustling on sat nite--with lots of visiting fobs and white ppol. ehehe. we grabbed food at mifune which is always solid, and went to some underground k-bar across the street. it was 80% old white men and 15% old korean fob girls slutted out, and 5% us. they put nelly on the jukebox and one of the old white men in a suit started jiggling to it. xD entertainin to say the least. tourist-y pix w/ jtown tower in the background:



there's more but blogger is not workin with me at the moment. i'll edit later.

wat else? found a really sweet cafe on balboa and 38th called the zephyr. part art gallery, part study area, part cafe w/ yummy cafe mocha; it's a great place to crack open the books and study gchem to soothing instrumentals. :)

next exploration: brava theatre (for lesbian arts O__o) to see ely guerra! yaY :D i posted the lyrics to one of her songs in a past entry -- "quireme mucho." i'm excited. :D i'll sneak my camera in and try to take pix for yur viewing pleasure. back to the books!

the promised pix of my hood :D accomplished on a lovely walk to albertson's for toilet paper:

point a, right after the first corner turn off of my street. the picture doesn't do justice to the expansive you feel when you look out to the west from here. the sky is so open and blue. and the flora has that marine feel but in a unique way, posing as residential greenery. :D 

and right around the bend in the road... the sparkling waters of lake merced (and beyond that, the pac. <3<3<3 

a lil further down the road... lake merced and its lovely verdant backdrop (provided by the local golf course).

walkin back. the cluster of buildings that comprise the university north apts. mines the faaar rite one. shrubbery, house covered hill, high rises = so pretty!

comin back around full circle, my bldg. ooh.

and finally, my lil corner in sf. i just realized how girly it looks. damn. it's my desk! when i bought it, they were out of the white and grey ones and ever since then, my rooms have always had red & white themes. i need a new desk.

so i've been carrying around my clunky ass (and heavy) camera for the past 3 days to take pictures of my new hood and housing (as requested by L) but i never actually get to the point where i'm pulling it out of my purse. could it be because my days are largely spent at the nearby borders studying gchem? yes, that could be it...

plus i'm holding out on the room pictures until i get my painting here :D. it's gi-normous and i think the oil paint is still drying so i haven't been able to bring it over. but i will take some of those people-less scenery pix lynn luvs so much b/c there are so many beautiful opportunities for those here.

so to continue my update... let's see........

oh! so on new year's day, while the guys were engrossed in their poker/pai-gow/blackjack games, my cuz and i were idling by a slot machine. she says to try it out so i pull the 7 bucks cash i have and hit the max bet button (3 bucks). nothing. down to 4 bucks, but hit max bet again, and ..... 7.......7......7!!! with 1 dollar left. COOL HUH? :D ehehe... the jackpot was kinda dinky ($300) but from 7 bucks that's not too shabby eh. and it gave me a way to help pay for the trip since it was "winnings" and the guys wouldn't take my money otherwise. altho i had to argue considerably even for that one. still not used to having someone pay for everything.... in fact, still question the implications of that practice (to be continued another day).

SO after new year's, i got my shit together and moved up HEA. :D and like my last post said, the first 3 were spent... blahblahblah. so my first friday here, i caught up with anobel. REMEMBER HIM? i bumped into him at patrick hammon's bday thing and it turns out he's a student at UCSF MED. me being aspiring med student and all (i can't even say aspiring doctor anymore :T) talked it up with him at the party and we exchanged contact info. so i send him a HELLO NEIGHBOR-ish text after i get here, and we meet up.

you know that feeling when you're in the presence of great people and you feel this big? that's how i felt talking to ano the whole nite. ANOBEL! my high school memories of him consist of dirty jokes and humorous (somewhat uncomfortable) come-ons. 5 years later, he's published a paper on some ancient assyrian architecture, read 3 full shelves of quality literature (that's all i saw anyway, i'm sure there's more), started a program for high school retention, travelled around the US, become a skilled photographer, and is a med student at UCSF. and something about him, his endless energy and passion for learning, and how he lives big and follows through on his ideas..........wHOOOSh. that's the sound of greatness blowing me away.

i am in awe of people like him. there were a couple of those in college, a black med student named jesse and our aussie pledge class president, harold. people who live life largely and follow-thru. you kno how you can tell if someone's achieved something noteworthy? GOOGLE them. google anobel. he has AT LEAST a page of results. google me. nada. i meant that to be kind of humorous, but actually, that's really sad........

OK, enough gushing about how hot intelligence is (b/c it IS hAWT).

{1 hr typing pause}

YAY. i'm so happy :D. i jus talked to lynn and i missed her SOOOOOO much. miss her SOOOOOO much. i really need to figure out how to call korea from here. no land line and cell phone costs BANK. it was so nice talking to someone, for a brief moment, who understands how my brain works and relates, and vice versa. other than my sister, it's been a while since i've felt that kind of connection. YAY for childhood butt buddies. :D

newayz, i have pretty much killed tonite in terms of studying. i started this entry 4 hours ago, meaning i stopped studying 4 hours ago. :P but i needed a break. all this brain activity is making me a lil weird O___o (weirder than usual). something i've learned about myself, these past few days... when i'm in study mode (ie. non-brainless play mode), the best brain food and motivation is MORE information. more as in different, interesting, pertaining to life kind of information. for a while, i was a little worried i had A.d.d. because i couldn't sit thru a movie or finish a book. but i realized it was because i felt like the stuff wasn't teaching me anything. same old u kno? i'm so scared of life at 80 when EVERYTHING will seem like same old, but that's a whole other can of worms....

i NEED GOOD BOOKS. recommendations are VERY welcome. :))) books that teach me something. not just pretty or engaging or told well. BRAIN FOOD. if it doesn't teach me something, i won't get past the first chapter. as for movies.... i'm not sure if i've found a solution yet. there are movies i like okay, but i could equally walk out and be fine. give me a good, glue-my-ass-to-the-seat-and-won't-budge-even-when-my-bladder-is-screaming-and-won't-allow-me-to-stop-thinking-about-it-after-it's-over movie. gyeah :D.

i <3 sf. i <3 lynn. i <3 <3<3!

and lookie wat i stumbled upon. a mass of heath ledger pix from my infatuation back in the days. he's still pretty cute eh... :P and now i have respect for him for doing brokeback mountain. yay for nonconformity. 

remember this picture??? downtown palo alto before limelight :D. wouldn't this picture look GROOOOVY in black and white?? i will play with it and post it up again another day. :D 

i thought i would have more pix to post from the holidays, but i searched and i just ended up browsing thru some OLD ass pix. have u seen this pic lynn??? me with dreads and nose ring.... crazY. O____o 

buddha john, moi, ken, mel 

PIX from xmas in the park, courtesy of... who else?? the lovely lady to my right here. ^^ 

it's frosty! :D we stopped to get snow chains off the i-twenty-something, and the hill to our left was covered with sledders and this cheery gentleman. BEST shot of the reno trip. unfortunately, it's also one of the ONLY shots from the reno trip cuz i was camera lazy :P. 

goOood morning world! (namely, lynn & daisy ;) today is my 7th official day as a san francisco resident, and wat a beautifully dreary and overcast saturday morning it is. still, it's sf in all of its colorful and compact glory. i have to admit, my first week has been a little disorienting, with the new hood and faces, but i'm hoping that sentiment will melt away with a little time.

my week thus far: the first 3 were spent accoutering my room (my fave new piece of furniture: a $35 futon from ikea of simple wooden slats and ingeniously efficient design; perfect for playing a little sudoku before bedtime. que?: www.sudokuweb.com), the next 3 diligently starting my study regime, and the last 24 hours, taking a much needed cerebral break (tg for f's!)(haha, f as in fridays!).

so far i like 2006 much better than 2005, but i only have 2 weeks to compare to 52 so no conclusions yet. still, it's been a great beginning, starting with snowboarding at northstar with the cuz, her hubby, and his buddies. i was so set on skiing b/c my last snowboarding experience was ever so painful and tortuously unending (it took me a good hour+ to get down the bunny slope), but my cuz-in-law (peter) being the persuasive business man he is, convinced me to go snowboarding with the rest of the pack.

first run, we go up a gondola, a ski lift, another ski lift, and TWO more to get to the PEAK. wtf. it's raining and snowstorms are looming. and still we proceed. the first 50 feet down the hill, i fall every 5 feet. that's 10 falls for u lazy 'uns. but really 20 because as soon as i would get up, i'd fall back down in the other direction. 50 more feet and 19 more falls later, i'm still on the first slope, of ten. the guys are patiently waiting for me and watching every fall, with amusement i'm sure.

it actually looks pretty funny. when the front of the snowboard gets caught in the ice, it stops you dead in your tracks. by the 50th fall, i was so exhausted i would just fall on my knees and go flat, face first. then i'd push myself up with all the energy i had left, using muscles that had atrophied over the months of inactivity. as peter (the man with the great ideas) described it, "it looked like you'd gotten shot, HAHA. i could hear 'eye of the tiger' playing each time u were pushing yourself up." O_______o

so where does the "great start to o6" begin? after snowboarding. ehehe, jk. i actually luv it now. i almost went again last saturday! picked it up after my 1000th fall and started enjoying the riiide. actually, technically, this is before NY day but it's part and parcel of the whole NYE experience. the next 2 days were spent in reeno, eating, betting, drinking, dancing, etc... NYE is a bluuurrr. all i kno is, advil (for the post-snowboarding aches) and grey goose do not mix well, and good, trustworthy company makes all the difference.

my sister is her to study with me (yes, i had her come all the way up here to keep me company) (and bring me food) so updates are to be continued at a later date. :) and i'll get pix up later. :))