San Francisco - The After Thoughts!

So if you didn't know, maybe because we aren't facebook friends or because you live in a ditch, I went to San Francisco, California for a total of 3 days and 4 nights! Ah yes, San Francisco, the city by the bay! Anyway, here's really quick run-down of what exactly happened (with amazing photos of course!). And also please note that while this post will detail everything I can remember, it doesn't detail everything that actually happened. Finally, I'll finish up with some after thoughts on the whole thing.

Arrival Day - The Flight in and Arrival

I think it's important for me to note that before I even was on my way to San Francisco, my dad was finding the best ways to annoy me in the car. First he quizzed me on how to use an airport (I know, get through security, cause problems, then they'll never notice the amount of liquids you bring on the plane). Obviously I passed that. Next he of course had to play the song "San Francisco" by Scott McKenzie. I'd like to note that I never wore flowers in my hair!

A view out of the Plane, it was all Clouds that Day!

So I flew Frontier down to the bay and after a beautiful hour delay, I was in the air and then I was there. It actually kind of worked out, the way that my plane got delayed and what not, because my friends were late and so it gave them the perfect amount of time to get down to the San Francisco International Airport (abbreviated SFO for god knows what reason). They picked me up with much crying and hugging and then some more crying (it was the reunion of the century), but I am disappointed at the lack of french bread when I arrived. I was promised some french bread and so I have to state that clearly.

Anyway, next thing I knew we were off and it was time for dinner at the most sketch Mexican restaurant this side of the Pacific. It actually was some of the best, random Mexican food I've ever had. I also ended up meeting some of Vicki's family there as well, and they are great people of course! Then they drove me to their apartment in Walnut Creek where I was crashing for the time! Well, that's it for my epic arrival day.

Day 1 - The Official First Day

Now I got up at the crack of dawn after that flight and I was promised rain, but because I am like the best travel buddy that anyone could ever have I ended up missing out on the rain and just getting some clouds. So Wyatt ditched us for his job, and I still hate him for ditching me; his lover, his husband, his best friend; to go to work, but that's okay I guess. SO I spent the day with my wife, Vicki!

First we hit up the Bart and took it straight into the city. From there I took about a million pictures, I guess I turned a little bit Asian for the day but that's alright considering it was a great trip. Anway, we started off the day just right by taking a quick tour of the financial district. I loved it! I can't tell people how hard it is to see sky scrapers here in Colorado, but there it is the norm and for a structural engineer who loves architecture it was magnificent! So we walked around the buildings, Vicki giving me all the facts and tour details as we went (including how the homeless bathe in this one really awesome sculpture/fountain... which is disappointing considering how awesome that sculpture/fountain was) until we hit the ocean. I love the ocean and with how little I get to see it, it was beautiful even on a cloudy day! From just this one dock (or whatever) I took a bunch of photos and strung them all together to get this picture of the Oakland Bridge going to Treasure Island (any and all facts might be wrong in this).

A view of the Oakland Bridge on a Sunny Morning

Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista Cafe

From there we were off, following the coast line until we reached Fisherman's Wharf. I got my In-N-Out burger from there and that was good (though I'm not positive what the rave is about, but I'm happy I know what it is now) and then we decided to head uphill a little ways to get some an Irish Coffee from the first place in America to serve it! Now, I have to give a bit of a back-story here when I tell that Vicki would have no Alcohol while I was there (a disappointment, but I lived happily with a glass in my hand) so she got a version that just isn't quite the same but close enough. It was AMAZING! I honestly do believe that was both the best coffee I've had before noon and the best Irish coffee I've ever had. The secret is they pre-warm the glass with hot water, add the coffee and then the whiskey, and then to really make it sweet they add exactly one sugar cube. And if you didn't pick up on it, Irish coffee has whiskey in it that really gives it a kick. Glad we added that to the list at the last minute.

Chocolate, Yum!

The Infamous Pterodactyl Face!

Next we hit up Ghirardelli Square for some quick ice cream at the Ghirardelli factory (along with some chocolate). I've been here before, but I just had to go again while I was out in San Fran! If there's one thing I love in this world, its got to be chocolate! I also decided to throw in the picture of Vicki totally Pterodactyl facing (that's what she calls it, not me) a small chocolate replica of the Golden Gate Bridge. Its all good laughs and it was an excellent stop, but who can complain when chocolate is all that's on the menu? So we did that for a little bit, taking a break for the long walk around town before leaving again and hiking it up one of the many San Francisco hills!

Lombard Street in the Background

 So next was the infamous Lombard Street (which although I've already seen, I felt it was necessary to go to as well). We hiked all the way up this road and arrived perfectly right next to Lombard, watching as a slew of cars went down the curvy road. I took some pictures from the top, pictures of the trolly going by, and then we walked down the stairs! The whole way, Vicki and I planned how we would one day own a house on that street to say we lived on Lombard Street. We also talked about how the kids could never go outside because they'd get hit by a car (at least I remember this conversation). After that I took the best picture I think I got of the both of us together. Once we reached the bottom, we decided to make it a photo-moment and so I pulled out the old iPhone and got a snapshot off. I took the picture at a crooked angle on purpose too, because I really wanted to get the street in the background and it came out exactly how I wanted it. I might even get a couple copies printed, I love this picture that much. So that's the great Lombard Street!

Wine and Friends

The next few moments all kind of flew by in a rush. So first we went to a bookstore that was famous (and kind of reminds me of the Boulder Bookstore, like a bunch of floors with stairs going every which direction) and then afterwards I took that picture of the ground! It's one of Vicki's favorites and I agree that it was pretty awesome. Next, we hit up another square (not sure which one), the Gold Dust lounge, and then went to the top of the Marriot hotel to sit and act like billionaires in the View lounge. If I could sum up what I saw in one word, spectacular! I could see the skyscrapers from above all the way over to the ocean. And since the day was clear enough, I could even see the old Golden Gate in the far distance! So we sat up there, taking in the sites and loving the feeling of being young and acting rich. Some day, it would be nice to be rich enough to stop playing rich though!

The City View from the View Lounge

After such a tiring day, and also very little sleep the night before, I was ready to just pass out. That's when Wyatt commandeered my iPhone and started taking pictures of me to edit. Although I'm not particularly happy with what came out of that, I thought I might as well as throw it up here. You can't really see it in that photo, but Wyatt had his super goofy face on the whole time. Also, that's Vicki and Wyatt's apartment in the background! Vicki, the place looks great!

Day 2 - A Day on the Job

The second day I was in San Francisco I have almost no picture of, go figure. That's probably because for the first quarter of my day I was home with Vicki, talking and just enjoying her company (something I've missed for a while). At about 11 am though, I was dressed and out the door to go to Wyatt's work. So I got all button-shirt and sexy black pants and a diamond watch on, you know, the way that movie stars do when they want to make a good impression, and was out the door. 

I rode the Bart back into San Fran where Wyatt met me and we walked to his job. When we got there he got all excited to show me around and I met all his fun work buddies before he took me over to the structure department. They were so impressed with my attire alone that I was offered a job right on the spot, but I of course put up my hand, said thank you, and then denied the offer. God knows I can only do so much engineering with part of a master's degree, so I just couldn't accept it yet. Anyway, the structures department seemed a bit detached from me being there after I denied their offer and only spent about an hour or so telling me about their current jobs and a few of their past jobs. That's of course not to say that they weren't nice, the people were great and I'd love to work there. Then they got back to work, I got to go get some Chinese food for first lunch, and then I left Wyatt for the day.

So I left my husband with his work and went off into the big city by myself... sort of. About ten minute later I met up with my good buddy Nate and he took me on the Bart to a different part of the city I had never seen before. It was great, we had second lunch (or at least second lunch for me) and he told me about why he took me there and what certain places meant to him and his family. Like I remember him telling me that his mom went to one of the high school's we passed, which is really cool to learn information like that about someone. And I'd also like to make a small note that we sat on a stump and ate lunch in a park. It was great. 

Then he took me to this ice cream shop (I know, I ate a lot while I was there.... Vicki called it the food tour de San Fran) that was one of his favorites. That was actually really cool too, which is why I warranted the ice cream shop it's own paragraph. Basically the reason this place stood out was that the owners had some of the most unique flavors I've ever seen. I of course got some, I can't resist ice cream, and it was so different. I got two flavors; one was salted caramel and the other was cinnamon almond I think (can't be too sure on the second flavor, but the first was definitely the caramel). Then it was a walk back to the Bart where I went back to Walnut Creek!

Day 3 - Perfect Panda Picture Parade!

Vicki's birthday! Happy 25th Vicki and glad I was there for it! So I call this day perfect panda picture parade because we went to the San Francisco zoo, which is a very cool, small zoo, and that's how we celebrated her birthday! I can't really say much on the zoo, but it was fun and I'm more happy that I got to spend my friend's birthday with her!

And so after the zoo we finished up with one final place on my tour of San Francisco, which was a view from the beach of the Ocean. The reason this all worked out the way it did was because the San Francisco Zoo is literally right next to the ocean. I took a few photos and Wyatt used my phone to take a few photos too. The clouds were amazing for it and the ocean was roaring!

Oh yea, and insert something about Berkeley and the Berkeley Bowl in here. Basically, Berkeley is a hippie town (or so I'm told, we didn't get to see the school) and the Berkeley Bowl is like Sprouts or Trader Joes on super crack. Literally 9 types of mushrooms, 20 types of apples, 8 types of bananas, 10 types of oranges, etc...

Departure - A Broken Plane

So this chapter is short, but the next day I had a flight that was at the crack of dawn. Turns out I didn't have to really get up early though, because the plane was broken and they didn't get it fixed for 4 hours. Thanks Frontier! :(

Final Notes

So finally, I'd like to give a summary of things I wish I had done. I think its important to make these lists, because it means next time I'll remember exactly what I didn't do or wish I would have done this time around. Here's a list of things I wish I would have done:

• Met Vicki at the airport, but with some French Bread in her hands.
• Alcatraz. I'm sad I was so close and yet never got a tour. 
• Spent more time with Nate. We only had a few hours to catch up on a years time.
• San Francisco at night. I got a glimpse of the city lights one night, but I didn't get to go into any clubs or places to see what the nightlife was all about.
• Wine country. I feel like not getting to drive up north for some wine tastings was a miss this trip, though that's fine.

Anyway, loved the trip. Special thanks again to Vicki and Wyatt for letting my crash at their place and giving me a great few days and special thanks to Nate for getting time to come see me as well!

3 Months in 1 Blog

So let me just start by saying that I am currently waiting for both Coffee and my computer to restart. With that out of the way, let me also just add that I haven't really written anything in the story since then. Is it out of my mind. Not really. I've just been either stressed, busy, or just not in the mood to write. Worse yet is that I kind of feel like putting down that book and going back to my previous one, RED, and restarting it. Why? Because I have all these ideas on how to do it better and more correctly than before that will allow me to not get stuck and actually finish it.

On that note let me describe how RED current was working out to be. There was a main character who had an interesting (no, really!) past and for some reason decided to spend his life as a detective. He gets a call out from the middle of nowhere and they ask him to find their daughter. Blah blah blah blah, more characters, and next thing you know I was in a hole.

Another important part to RED was that all the characters were based around two scenarios. The first one was that they would all be considered a "color" and as such that would turn into both their name and a bit of their personality. T he second personality was based around a dance of some sort (very subtle in the story, but one could notice it if they were looking). Although I liked the characters that this created, it did not create any seen friction that could continue into a full blown story of amazing proportions. That is a skill that I can only think I have currently been able to develop. And yes, Plots are hard to make and even more complicated to make great.

So what do I want to do to RED that changes it completely and makes it possible to complete? Well, for starters, I want to base characters and the scenes they are in off of colors. In this way I can get a much more dramatic scene (as will be seen in the re-write) as well as a possible self style to the story. I'm even considering taking it to the next level and using it in the text a bit (though most likely I wont on the first version) just to really have some fun with it. The second thing I want to do is add a little bit of LA Noir. Okay, enough of RED, that's actually not even started and I just wanted to give my friends who had read what was written an idea of why I might want to restart. Trust me, its better.

Now back to the update of my life. Lets see, went back to school for my Masters of Science in Civil Engineering and a focus in Structural Engineering. I couldn't get a job without a masters because of the economy, so I went back as I promised my parents. Had my birthday back in January, it wasn't very good. Did not do much but study and work for more of February. Had a lousy Valentines Day (expected). March came around and things finally started to get better. I got out and got to hike, which caused sore legs for a few days but I think was more than worth it. I finally got a "haircut." I put that in quotes because I donated every last inch of it. 10 inches went to Locks of Love and then what remained was shaved off for St Baldrick's Day. If you'd like to see a few of the pictures or donate towards my cause, you can find them here on the St Baldrick's Day website. I'll be adding more soon. Also, the total length was 10.5 inches and I'm glad to be rid of it. It was too long.

And finally on my update, yesterday I got stood up by all of my friends to go drinking (except Wyatt, who I accidentally stood up because I was so tired I passed out, sorry!). Today I got stood up to go hiking. Sad end of the first half of the school year, but it happens. Now on to Spring Break and then to finish up my first semester as a grad student. Never thought I'd go through so much school (cause I hate it...).

December...

The final month of the year and I have several important announcements to start it.

First, I finally bought Microsoft Word 2010 and will now be able to actually write something more. I tried using 2003 and the Mac version of 2008 and 2011, but those versions all altered the text and got me off task. So really I needed to get 2010 just to keep writing and not get stuck on details like all the text being screwed up after I specifically worked on it a certain way. So there’s a plus towards me finishing it.

Second, I feel the need to write! I have ideas flowing through me again and I get up right before I’m asleep to jot down little things I’m afraid I might forget. This is a wonderful piece of news, which basically means I’m once again thinking and ready to make more ideas. So there is another plus...

...except I’ve been quickly jotting down ideas not on the story I’ve been working on, but another one from the past. I suddenly had this brainstorm about the other book my friend said she would kill me if I didn’t finish it and so now I really want to start rewriting it. That’s right happy campers (who aren’t actually that happy), I’ve been thinking about R.E.D. again and I’ve been coming up with a plot-line for the entire thing to include what I want. Amazingly, the plot is really twisted and good and the descriptions I would be heading for would be easy to do because of how well I can envision each scene. So this is kind of a plus and a minus.

Now I just need to refocus all my energy into writing again and then write. I think if I can pull myself out of this rut, finish the book, and move on to redoing R.E.D., well then most of my readers who follow this will actually be very much pleased. To them, sorry I didn’t actually get anywhere with R.E.D. or continue it for something of like 5 years now...

Off to think of working!

On another note, before I go that is, My granddad fell down again and I’ve been having serious insomnia. Woohoo!

Haven't Been Feeling Good

Just a quick little update. I didn't complete last month because I was upset for the entire last week. Short explanation, my Grandma has added stress to my life. Had that same stress all of the first week of this month and it has kind of carried over and just lasted the past few days.

On the other side of the stress that never ends (mainly because there are more stressful people than just my Grandma in my life), I start to get into art. So my output has been to the facebook App Graffiti. I'll post a few of them below so everyone has an idea of what I spend maybe two or three hours on in any given day.

Twilight Woods

Tree in the Blue

Radiance

As You can see, I've had a bit of time to make things like these. I like how these three have come out and all of them were started with the colors I chose in mind, but with the scene out of hand. What I mean to say is that I didn't know what I was going to draw, just that I wanted to draw something. One thing led to another and I had vibrant reds coming down from the clouds and blues lighting up the background. It's stress relieving to just start using Graffiti on facebook.

As far as writing goes, I do plan to finish the book I started (since I am SO freakin close to finishing it). I am, however, in no current rush at this point because I don't have the creativity in me to write. Some would call this writers block, but it's not really a block since I know what I want to write. I just am missing that passion I had when I started writing. I will make this promise though, I'll have that book done before the end of this year. If I don't, it'll become lost in the void of my thoughts for a very long time, and feeling so close to finishing it, I really don't want that to happen.

If I make any more graffiti artwork, I'll try to remember to do a large post here with a lot of it. Until next time (and there will be a next time :D)

Distractions

Short update: I'm too easily distracted. That's about all I have to say.

Okay, if you are really curious then I guess I can say that I've been playing a game online with one of my old roommates. It's just the beta for the game, but the real thing comes out in less than ten days. I'm trying not to play it too much though, cause I do take this task seriously.

Yet somehow I managed to not writing as much as I had intended last night...

Words for the Month: 16,648 / 40,000
Total Words: 16,648