the man of many turns
Ξ Sunday, 23 Nov 2008 at 23:44 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Normal |
it’s been an interesting week, with highs and lows just like every other week, but this one has been quite special. last year about this time we were in the midst of Disneyland, soaking up the sun and whittling away the hours in ataraxic bliss. it’s not quite the same this year, although I wish it were, but it’s been nice nonetheless. two very important events occurred this week, and I can add a third that was less important but also noteworthy.
the third was the “international fair” to which Nicole and I were bringing some food. she made an ancient Roman recipe, which ended up being a sort of “cheese cake” (not cheesecake, though, really) — almost like a cheese pancake. it was made with ricotta, egg, and flour, with some honey poured on top for good measure. I took it to the fair and sat there with Erin and Chris (Rex) and a number of others, and everyone seemed to love it. we had some cool food there, and I stayed from about 12 until it ended at 14.00. other than it being a bitch to carry the huge casserole dish containing the cakes, it was a fun time. the morning got off to somewhat of a rough start, but it was sorted as best as possible before I came to campus.
that was fun, and I also prepared another six or so page of my thesis for Friday when I was to meet with my advisor. He seemed to be impressed by it, but we talked further about my ideas and he gave me some ideas of other avenues to explore. I gave him my 30-page draft to look over, and I also was able to give a copy to my other two professors on my thesis committee as well. They were also happy to write me recommendation letters for my PhD apps; I’ll be working on those apps all week this week (Thanksgiving break). I need to get into a decent school this time, I need to get out of here and graduate already! I should have been done a year ago.
Friday was Nicole’s birthday! That was the most important thing, although I didn’t mention it first so as to talk about the fair on Wed — sounds strange, but yeah. She unfortunately had a Latin midterm that day, but Gill, the Latin professor, was sweet to her and printed her exam on pink paper just to make her feel better. Which it did, to a certain extent. I had my meeting with my advisors and my (ostensible) meetings with the other two professors, and that was about it that day. We went to a CSA meeting too, but it was rather uneventful and we left after an unfavourable outcome in terms of picking the topic for the lecture series. Nicole was also exhausted.
that night started a little rockily, sadly enough, on her birthday of all days, and I won’t go into it more since I feel bad about it. but we sorted things out somewhat, and I took her out to Indian food for dinner. we went to a little place to which we’ve been before, near Powell station, and we had a good time. originally she had wanted to watch Harry Potter movies that night since it was her birthday, but we didn’t do that ultimately… just hung out and such after dinner, and spent some quality time. I thought she was going to leave the next day to go see her family, but that didn’t end up panning out (so far at least).
after a nice night’s sleep, I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning. I’d been looking forward to Saturday as well, because my lovely friend Anna, all the way from Australia, was coming to visit me! Oscar, a mutual friend of ours, was driving her up here from LA (Palmdale, actually), and then we were going to hang out. She was ostensibly going to stay the night with us before she flew out the next morning, since we’re pretty close to SFO. I expected them about 11 or 12, since they were leaving about 5 or 6am and it takes about 5-6hrs to get up here from there.
Anna called me the night before to let me know things were on track, which was great, and she was super excited to see me. She also told me she realised that we’d known each other for 10 years but hadn’t met until now!! Ten fucking years. I was dumbstruck; I thought we’d known each other for 6-8 or so, but not ten. “We started talking when I was 17, and now I’m 27, so it’s been ten years!” she said. That’s a fuck of a long time… almost half my life! We’ve always been close friends, too… there’s been times we haven’t talked as much as others, but we’ve always kept in touch over the years.
it’s been a long road I’ve travelled with her as her friend, and it’s been a wonderful ten years. and now I finally got to meet her. she and Oscar arrived around eleven or so Saturday morning, and they also had Oscar’s younger sister and her boyfriend in tow (Michelle and Chad, if I remember correctly). They were all very cool, especially Anna, and she knocked on the door when she got to my flat, and nearly bowled me over with a hug when I opened the door. Before that, Nicole and I had gotten up and she had made a great breakfast of egg&cheese sandwiches, and we watched some TV before they got there. When they got there, Nicole went in her room to change and get dressed and such.
Anna gave me another big hug when she came in; they were outside smoking for a few minutes before she came into our flat. It was so wonderful to see her after so long, and I almost couldn’t believe it was happening. I’ve known Oscar for awhile too — a few years or so, but not nearly as long as I’ve known Anna. It was good to meet him as well. It was just fantastic, everything was, and I think that yesterday totally made my entire year.
A few minutes later Nicole came out and talked with us, and they all met her; Anna gave her a big hug too and was happy to meet her. Nicole liked everyone ultimately, which was great, since she’s generally skeptical of strangers. We all shot the shit for awhile, just making small talk and everything, which was cool. Oscar’s sister and her boyfriend seemed pretty cool as well, and they were fun too. You never know sometimes if you’ve got a lot of random people together if it’s going to be fun, but it really was.
We eventually left to go over to Fisherman’s Wharf, since Anna wanted to go there and see all the touristy stuff. Nicole didn’t go with us, since she was just going to chill out at home and such, and it was best she didn’t, since we had no room in the car when I was added to the mix. Oscar had a BMW and it barely fit the five of us in there; I was squeezed into the back with Anna and Michelle. We did fine though overall, and made it to the wharf eventually, talking and bullshitting the whole way. They wanted to find a restaurant where we could get clam chowder and all, and hence we parked and walked out to find a restaurant.
We ended up at a restaurant in a big row of restaurants, just sort of picking a seafood place at random, and we went inside to get a table. It was a strange place, because they had take-out counters outside, and a sit-down restaurant inside; fast-food and “fine dining” at the same time. Going inside was a mistake, though, as the waiters were rude and the atmosphere in there was shitty, so we decided to just go outside and order from the “fast-food” area instead. I ordered some shrimp and chips; I know I like fried shrimp! Anna ordered the same, and the others ordered fish and chips and chowder and such.
Afterwards, we walked down along Pier 39 and such to find a place to sit down and eat. We sat down near this railway arch that’s there, which apparently used to have freight trains going onto boats and such (I think?)… it was at pier 43. We ate our food, which was really fucking good — although apparently the fish and chips tasted like frozen fish sticks, some of the others said, and I’m glad I got the shrimp as a result. Anna didn’t like her “chips,” since they weren’t very crispy (I had the same complaint), so she put them down near the swarming seagulls. The seagulls ate up the fries in a couple of seconds flat, and she ran away from the tray, laughing.
Oscar did the same with his breadbowl when he was done with his chowder, although they couldn’t bite the hard bread and left most of it alone. We took a few pictures along the way, which I’ll link to a little later. I was so happy to get these pictures…
I was writing an email to a friend earlier, and enclosed one of the pictures in it to show her. In the email I was musing about pictures, and how much they mean to us, these images which can function as validating our very existence. Aristotle and Plato would really have a field day with these images, I wrote as well, given their views of ontology and nature and metaphysics. I know they talk of engraved/inscribed images — Plato does at least in his Phaedo when discussing recollection — but with photographic images I would think things would become more complicated philosophically.
Another interesting point is that the Greeks believed that “seeing is knowing” — in terms of epistemology, if you had seen something, you knew it. You would know it firsthand and empirically by seeing it, and that is one of the few ways you could truly “know” something. This is even reflected in the language itself. The verb for “to know” is οἶδα (oida), which is grammatically the perfect system of the verb ὁράω (horao), “to see.” So “having seen” is equivalent to “knowing.” What if you’ve only seen an image of something — you’ve “seen” it, but you’ve only really seen an image of it and haven’t witnessed it firsthand. I would think that the knowledge gleaned from an image or representation of something would be explained by using the verb γιγνώσκω (gignosko), “to recognise.” It’s knowledge, but it’s secondhand and you’re removed from it, whether by time or space or what, and firsthand knowledge is precluded.
my point is that I have photographic proof I’ve met Anna. These photos will hold so many memories, trigger them anew if they ever disappear (gods forbid!), and they are priceless to me. This has been a very significant event for me, because I’ve known her for so bloody long and finally got to meet her, and it was absolutely brilliant. So more of it then.
We walked around Pier 39 for awhile, looking at stuff, and we saw some of the sea lions laying about on the docks and such, which was funny. Anna loved walking around and had a lot of fun there, and it was great to hang out with her. We looked over at Alcatraz a bit, and she took pictures of it with her camera. I could post some of them maybe at another point if anyone would like, but I’ve just decided to post the pictures that I and others are in thus far. After awhile we got tired of walking around there, though, and Anna got a little bit cold standing in the shade, so we decided to go back to the car.
The next stop was to be the Golden Gate Bridge. Anna had never seen it, of course, and I don’t think many of the others had either, so we took a drive up there to look at it from the viewing area. It was going to be $5 to park there, but luckily someone who was leaving gave Oscar their parking permit, and we parked there for free as a result. We walked around there for awhile, stopping in the ‘cafe’ to get some drinks (coffee for most, in order to warm them up). We took some pictures in front of the statue of the chief engineer of the bridge, which was cool, and then we walked down the hill a little ways to another viewing area nearer the bottom of the bridge.
We looked out at the bridge and the ocean/bay from there, and there was a visitors’ area below, a former military fort, down the sheer cliff we stood upon; the cliff also had no guardrail, which was slightly alarming. we took some funny pics there, some looking like “emo” myspace pictures almost, but it was really beautiful scenery. eventually we went back up the hill, though, and looked around at the gift shop up there; it said “GIFUTO SHOPPU” in transliterated/translated Japanese or Chinese, which I found hilarious. I’d seen the sign before and wanted to take a picture for Anna — well she can see it now, further down.
We looked around in there for a little while, and I gave Anna a quarter so she could get one of those “squished pennies” with a design of the Golden Gate on it. She loved it, thought it was really cool, and I’m glad she was able to get one. She didn’t get any souvenirs there, but we were just looking around for fun anyways, so it was alright. Outside the shop I took a lovely picture of her with the bridge in the background, and we also took a final pic together. I wish we’d taken more pics almost, but we got some great ones together, so I’m happy with them.
not long afterwards, we left the viewing area and got back into the car, heading ostensibly back towards my place. And we did actually go back to my place, and hung out for a bit. Anna off-loaded most of her photos onto my computer, which worked surprisingly well with the camera — thanks Ubuntu! So I have a lot of them to show you guys below; I will get to them, I promise. I also hooked up a portable hard drive she brought — 250Gb! She wanted some music from me, and I asked what she wanted; she in turn asked me how much music I had. I told her I had 60Gb, and she said “hey, why not, just throw it all on, I’ve plenty of time to sort through it.” I was surprised, and I said sure, sounds good! I copied it all over, everything I had, and it took about 30min to copy everything, even at 32Mb/sec.
In the meantime, we went to the pizza place nearby, and we got some dinner there. They were more than happy to see us five there, and we ordered a pitcher of beer to go with the food as well. We just chilled out and shot the shit in there, and had a nice dinner. I had ravioli with meatballs, and two others got that as well. Anna had never had spaghetti and meatballs together (!!), so she ordered that, and I think she liked it. The meatballs are a little bland, I’ll agree, but they’re good overall. We had a great dinner though for the most part.
When we got back, Nicole was back home too; she had gone out for an early dinner at the Thai noodle place with Jenn. We were trying to decide what they wanted to do for sleeping arrangements though, since I had offered to let Oscar and Anna stay with us, of course. Ultimately they decided to both stay, and since Oscar’s sister and her boyfriend had a place to stay in Santa Rosa lined up, Oscar said he would take them up there, come back, and stay here with Anna. They took a couple hours to get there and back, but they came back at close to midnight.
In the meantime, Nicole and I watched TV and chilled out. We were both pretty tired, and Nicole went to bed not too long before they got back. When they came back, they were both absolutely exhausted, and wanted to crash pretty soon. I’d gotten everything copied from my computer to her hard drive, so she put that away and all, and I got their sleeping quarters set up. I offered her my bed, but she said no, the couch would be fine, and Oscar offered to sleep on the floor. I got him my inflatable mattress pad to make it a bit more comfortable, and gave them both blankets. Anna slept in my “SF” hoodie to keep warm, since she was pretty cold, and I think it kept her warm throughout the night from what she said.
I bade them a good night, and slept soon after myself, wanting to wake up at 06.15 or so to see them off before they left. and surely enough, my alarm went off and I woke up properly, and I went out to wake them up. they had set alarms as well, but I just wanted to make sure they were up. they got ready and packed everything up, and I turned on our little space heater so Anna wouldn’t freeze in the cold morning air (even in here). they got ready in record time, and were ready to roll out the door by about 06.40.
Anna gave me a big hug before they left, and I was really sad to see her go, but I’m so glad she was able to come. Said goodbye to Oscar as well, and thanked them for coming. It was a great time overall, but really sort of a blur — it went all too fast. Nicole got up just before they left and said goodbye to them as well, and Anna gave her a hug as well. It was a fitting end, but I miss her already. I watched them drive away, then I went back to bed and slept for another hour. Anna called me from the airport to let me know she got there alright, and I talked with her for a bit before she got onto the plane to Cleveland, which was nice.
I slept like a baby (for the most part) until about noon, when I got up, and had a pizza and watched some TV with Nicole. I thanked her for being cool about them staying; she was really sweet about it, and a very good hostess of course. Just chilled out for the most part today, since I was kind of tired from the day before, and especially waking up early like that. Anna called me about 15.00, and let me know she got into Cleveland just fine, but that it was terribly cold there. I told her she ought to bundle up and get some more rest, and she said she’d try. I’m sure I’ll be talking to her more, since she’s got a US number for the next month or so and it’ll be easy to call her. We talked for a few and then she got off the phone… I’m just glad she made it there alright!
Didn’t do a whole lot more for the rest of the evening. We caught up on some DVR, and I sought out some music online. Also talked to Vanessa and some others, and Vanessa thought the pics of us were really cute, and she was happy I had a great time.
it’s almost midnight, and I don’t know where the time’s gone. Well, I do, but it’s gone too fast. So I’m going to end with pictures, and hopefully captions will show up properly for them so you know what they are (or where they are, at least). It’s been a great time, and I hope you enjoy these pics.
Hope you enjoyed all the pics!! I’m out for now. Been a wonderful weekend overall — although I hope we get to go visit Nicole’s family at some point. It sort of fell through for today, but we’ll see about Wed or something before Thanksgiving rolls around. Take care, all of you out there, and have a good week. I’ll be around though.
on June 10th, 2009 at 01.11
i love you! reading this made it feel like it was just yesterday that i saw u… and with the way im feeling today, this cheered me right up.
i really do love you so much and im very very thankful for your friendship after all this time. i know we will be friends for a lifetime. u are such a wonderful person… i cant even begin to decribe how truely great you are and how much you me to me.
you deserve the best that life has to offer, you are truely an angel… an angel who’s into morbid things, haha… but an angel all the same
xoxox