Best Day in a Damn Long Time

So, Courtney and I had a record-length day date yesterday. It was based around the premise of our seeing Rent on stage (as in the musical, made obscenely famous by the release of the film version and it's astonishing popularity on Broadway). That was amazing, infinitely better than the movie, simply because so much more was explained, and it was much more interesting to see how things played out on stage as opposed to in film, where backgrounds actually are Santa Fe or New York City, instead of a stage resembling an abandoned and graffitied warehouse with people dancing in amazingly choreographed numbers. I don't know, somehow when everythings not spelled out for you in hyperreal, two-dimensional picture form and you have to use your imagination it's just infinitely more engaging. Go figure!

That said, following the musical and our mutual 4th weekends in a row in the city (yeah, we decided we've really become more San Franciscan than Stanfordian on weekends), we came home and ate at Janta (a.k.a. best restuarant in Palo Alto) and watched Imagine Me & You, Courtney's current favorite movie (in case you haven't heard). That was enjoyable, and got the Turtles stuck in our heads for awhile (as if we didn't already have the songs from Rent running through our heads). It also got me thinking about the characters I tend to identify with in movies, which is naturally a reflection of my character. But then, a movie about discovering lesbianism is always going to be entertaining. Especially if one of the girls has a hot and exceedingly sensative husband.

Following this film, we went to see...you guessed it! Another movie! Hehe, it was amazing! It was Scoop! It was Woody Allen! So yeah, if you haven't thought about seeing it, first off - where have you been? - and second - it should be your highest priority next movie to see! It's a hilarious movie, with Scarlett Johanssen and Hugh Jackman (who, without the Wolverine hair, actually has a surprisingly small head). Ms. Johanssen is amazing, as always, as an awkward American journalism student. I mean, need I say more? It's Scarlett Johanssen for "Bob's" sake!

So, what can I say to summarize this amazing day, except that it was amazing in every way! I haven't had a day so fun in awhile, which is proof yet again that Courtney is leading a double life as Courtney Hill by day and Batman (woman) by night. Now it's time for me to spend a day vegging, in order to recover from, well, you know...

Time

It's 83 degrees at 9:53 PM.

That's just crazy. So crazy I can't even think to write anything.

I think I'll just go lie in my bed, and never fall asleep.


PART II:

It's now 11:11 PM the next day, and we've just broken the sixties people! 69 degrees! Let's have a party!

Make a wish before it's 11:12.

Life as a Tourist

So Nick and Jon came up this weekend. It was good times, we went to the city for a night, hung out with a friend of Nick's, did some toursity things. We saw North Beach, and I was really excited to go to City Lights! We also walked our asses off, Jon and Nick more than me, but still. It's kind of strange, I mean, being a tourist but not really being one. It's like hypocritical. I felt like I was a tourist in the city, but at the same time I feel like a local resident. I wonder if that ever goes away. Maybe if I actually lived in the city it would be different. We'll see if that ever happens.

Right. Well, I don't have much to say. All I can really say is that it's really good to know you have some good friends, friends who just seem like the type you could never get tired of, the type that you can have a good time with no matter where you are. I dunno, I mean, it's like, the three of us - in fact, the majority of my Orange County friends - grew up together and, well, now we just know so much about each other and are so much a staple in each others' lives that we have no where to grow but closer. Now I'm being all sappy and weird, so I'm gonna stop. But, well, Nick I know you can see this, and Jon, if you read it, I'm glad to have spent this weekend with you guys. It was a great time. Makes me realize how much I miss Orange County - or, well, the people there.

Alright, well, here's looking forward to being a tourist over again and going to Paris! In all truth, though, you have to get the toursity things out of the way before you can really come to know a city. It's all about the discovery; and alot of the time that's the best part. So, while I utterly detest the sight of toursity-types fumbling with their maps and questioning the MUNI driver as to how to pay the fare and what the transfer does and whether they should go to Pier 39 or to Ghirardelli Square or to Alcatraz, well, I realize I did that at one point not to long ago myself. Only after you've done all those things can you discover the real special parts of a city, and, this weekend, I guess the lesson for me is to let the tourists do their thing, since, well, they just want to learn. Something we all do.

Je suis en train d'ecriver sur mon blog...

This is, I think, the first time I've written on a weekend. I don't know. It's Saturday right now, and I'm currently in the process of writing this entry, while simultaneously watching Mao play Tetris thingamagig on the SNES and waiting for John to finish dinner (emphasis added). In case you are wondering, the title of this post means, "I am in the middle of writing on my blog." Yep.

So, the rundown: let's see, since last time, I have gone to work three days. Lately (well, since I started working) I've been going in mostly in the mornings, then getting to leave in the afternoon since there's not much for me to do. There are two possible explanations for this: one, I'm just lazy and don't want to take on other things, or two, I work much more efficiently than either of my employers had expected. I think it's really some combination of the two, about equally split both ways.

In any case, yesterday (a.k.a. Friday) I got out of work around noon. I had to give a presentation to one of the senior groups in Millbrae in the morning, which went well...the group seemed to enjoy it and they gave me free eclairs! They were so good. The pastries in France will really be the death of me when I get there. But let's deal with that later. Alright, so after work, came home, sat around for a few hours, then Mirrielees went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I just had to type the whole title, for the effect of it. In any case, it was an interesting movie; entertaining, in any case. Good? Well, I can't really say. So much of it was just hilariously absurd that I ended up having a good time. Which, when you come down to it, is the point of seeing a movie, is it not? Too often I feel people go to the movies looking to learn something new or to gain some new insight through the movie, but when it comes down to it, movies are about entertainment. They're about escapism and whatever emotion you want to feel when you see a movie. Last night for me that emotion or experience or whatever was just to have a good time, and Pirates did that for me. So, yes, I enjoyed it. (Though, on a side note, I do love it when a movie has some deep and insightful message, even if I don't agree with that message or idea. Sometimes I feel like insight, sometimes I lean more towards escapism. Blah.)

So, dear friends, we now find ourselves on today. Today, I got up at like 10:30, then had to take my car in to Pep Boys because, well, I discovered, driving to AMC Mercado last night, that I only had one functional headlight! Fortunately, I wasn't pulled over. But, I did have to go through the ordeal of driving to San Jose to find the nearest Pep Boys and waiting "2" (it turned out to only take about 1, but John, Adrian & I had walked to Santana Row, so we didn't want to go back right away) hours for my car. In any case, got some new threads from Urban Outfitters (I feel they are fitting of the description threads) and am now, post-nap, sitting, typing this blog. Yep. It's been an exciting week, as you can tell. Just another episode in the extremely normal life of Reo. Alors, j'ai fini!

So Orange County...

So I went home for the weekend. It was, essentially, amazing. You never realize how much you miss a place, how much that place defines you, how much you want to go back to it and feel safe and at home every day. I already miss Orange County, which is really hard to explain, especially since Orange County (some of you may know it as the OC, an objectionable name) is basically the center of all things horrible. I felt so out of place, being the NorCal-ian that I have become over this past year. But still, it's home. It's the place where I can drive around freeways and feel like I can actually drive, the place where I can go to the beach because it's only 15 minutes away, and, most importantly, the place where the friends I grew up with are, the friends who mean so much to me I would go home just to see them, even if I never saw the rest of the county.

In any case, on Sunday the amigos and I had a bonfire at Huntington Beach, which, as always, was good times. Bonfires are like the culmination of everything in me that is Orange County. This one was special, though, because, well, all of us have just grown up so much. It was fun to chill and smoke a cigar in the twilight and lit by the reddish-glow of a burning blaze, to be offered a hookah by some nearby fire-admirers, and to go down to the ocean late at night to see the glow of the moon or to, well, be one with the ocean...if that makes any sense. I stayed up sunday night until like 4AM, as I had Saturday night, just for the heck of it, just 'cause Vincent and Jason and I are basically inseperable when you get us together.

So yeah, I had a great time. Got to relieve a little bit of the longing that I was having to get back home. You know, it's strange how many times home can redefine itself in your lifetime. Maybe not redefine, so much as add more locations that you can call home. For me, home is Orange County, home is Stanford, home is the L.A. Basin, home is the Bay Area - and, in a few months, I'm hoping home will also be Paris. I carry a little piece of each everywhere I go, and that's why each one is home. That's why I am so Orange County, whether or not I want to be.

(This post is dedicated to Hannah, who is rediscovering her home in Latin America, and who insists that I update. Hehe.)