Sustained Silent Reading

    Ladies.  Gentlemen.  I have finished all of the books in my house.  I finished reading the Harry Potter series about a month ago, so sadly, it’s not quite time to start re-reading it.  So I need some recommendations.  I’m not super into the extreme fantasy books with half-naked women swooning into the arms of a muscled youth waving a blazing sword at a looming dragon on the cover, nor am I into poetry at. all.  If it’s written in a weird format, (“Everything is Illuminated” or that weird book about the liver we read for C.I.C, with the George-Bush-in-the-TV-static), I’m not going to read it. I like books with a quick twist at the end that turns the whole book on its head.  If the book is about communicable diseases (i.e. “The Hot Zone”), so much the better.  But really, I’ll read almost anything.  For real.  When I was a kid, I read all of the home-restoration magazines in my house (over 100 issues) before I went to bed.  Twice.  Or maybe three times.  And all of the sewing magazines, at least twice.  And boxes of National Geographic magazines.  And when those all ran out, I used my mom’s library card to check out years of old Reader’s Digest magazines.  This was all in addition to having one book in my desk at school (for reading under my desk during the math lesson and spelling tests), one in the living room at home (for post-school, pre-supper reading), and another in my bookbag for the 45 minute bus ride. 

    So.  I need recommendations.  Please, nothing with vast amounts of symbolism.  I just don’t get it. 

Operation "Get Hot for Wedding"

    As part of Operation “Get Hot for Wedding” (hereafter referred to as Operation Hot), I joined a climbing gym.  I had already planned to join at some point, since I do enjoy climbing a lot, but now I have a legitimate excuse to spend money on a membership fee.  I wanted to be sure that I actually wanted to commit, so I tagged along with Greta from church when she went a couple of weeks ago.  That sealed the deal.  It was so awesome!!! 

    So this week, on Monday, instead of going to Supper Club, I went to the gym in downtown Oakland and got a membership from a long-haired climber-dude behind the counter.  He had the kind of biceps that bulge even when he’s just standing still.  Then on Tuesday, after grocery shopping, I biked down to the gym in Berkeley.  I checked at the front desk to see if I could do the “Intro to Climbing” class that started in 10 minutes, but I was by myself, and the girl at the counter said I should do it with a partner, so in the time between learning and practicing with someone, I don’t forget how to belay and end up killing my partner.  So I just bouldered instead.  Which is, in my opinion, really boring.  Basically it’s climbing without a rope, to a maximum height of about 10 feet.  Like I said, really boring.  And hell on the forearms. 

    So I just stood there and stared at the wall for awhile, then puttered around on some of the easier routes.  Evidently I was doing something BLATANTL Y wrong, because this dude came up and was like “Hey so….. you’re gonna want to do it this way……..”  and that was kind of embarrassing.  And then he insisted on sticking around while I heaved and huffed and puffed my way up one of the easiest routes on the wall.  I was like “um go away please.”  He was actually super nice and I’m sure he meant well.  I just don’t like it when people recognize that I’m obviously totally bad at something. 

    After my fingers got so cramped and tired that I couldn’t hang on to even the easiest holds, I decided to check out the weight room.  There were so many ambiguous-looking machines!  I haven’t been in a weight room since middle school, so I pretty much walked around like a creeper and watched all the other people so I’d know how to use the weights.  I did find a pull-up bar, and struggled my way through a grand total of …………….. 3 pull-ups.  I could do like 10 or 12 two summers ago!  Something to work on, I guess.  And then I found this other thing that you sit on and hook your feet under one part and grab onto another part with your hands and then pull your feet and your hands together.  Supposedly works your abs.  Well, I don’t know what I was doing wrong, I even set the weights to the lowest setting, but I heaved and yanked and couldn’t get the darn thing to move even a little bit! 

    And now, a day later, all of my muscles are like “WE HATES YOUUUUUU!!!!”  




   Edit: I was going to use Operation "Get Hott(-er) for Wedding" but I didn't want to sound vainglorious.  That's not true.  I've just always wanted to use "vainglorious" in a sentence. 

6 Blocks

    As most of you can see from my Facebook page, my parents visited me for the weekend.  They left super early Wednesday morning, taking the Amtrak from Hastings, NE and arrived in California around 4:30 on Thursday.  We had supper, I showed them their hotel, we sat around and talked for awhile, then turned in early.

    Friday was a lot busier.  We got up early, sat with the commuters on BART, and arrived in downtown San Francisco around 9am.  I took them to the piers at Embarcadero, then to Yerba Buena park (I told them it was the best park in SF and they said “………really…..?”).  Then we went to THE MOST FANTASTIC FABRIC STORE IN THE WORLD.  One of the Spanish interpreters at work told me about it.  FOUR FLOORS of fabric.  It was SO AWESOME.  I found some adorable fabric with matroyshka dolls on it (hello new dress!) and another chunk with pileated woodpeckers (hello new skirt!).  The fabric store was close to Chinatown, so that’s the next place we visited.  It was close to lunchtime, so we stopped at a restaurant off the beaten path, where our waitress knew next to no English.  The food was pretty good, but they got literally every part of our order wrong.  Oh well, I guess. 

    After lunch, we walked back down the hill and took a bus out to UCSF, where I work, then took a light-rail out to the ocean.  Mom and Dad had a pretty good time walking around in the water, and I had a great time keeping my feet dry and picking up about 50 sand dollars that were just laying around on the beach.  We also saw a dead sea lion.  Next on the schedule was Fisherman’s Wharf.  We wanted to take a bus, but for whatever reason, none came for 20 minutes, so we decided to just hoof it.  Good thing, too.  A bus never did show up.  Fisherman’s Wharf is kind of a giant tourist trap, so we just skimmed the surface, looked at things, and did manage to find some reasonably-priced clam chowder for supper, and a 3-way split of a Ghiardelli sundae, which was totally delicious. 

    On Saturday, Ben was available to drive us around, which he did with much good humor.  We got up early to go to Muir Woods (tip: if you get there before 9am, you get a good parking spot and you don’t have to pay the $7 admission fee!).  We took a 3 mile tour of the forest, admiring the redwoods, and trying to spot birds in the canopy, and then left just as hordes of people descended on the park.  Ben took us up the coast on Hwy 1, where we encountered a bike race.  Passing bikes on the wiggly Hwy 1 is a terrible idea, but driving behind bikes on Hwy 1 (or anywhere) is worse, so we risked life and limb and managed it. 

Mom wanted to see some shorebirds, so we tried to find some, but it was mostly a fail.  We saw a long-billed curlew, and she was pretty excited about that, but that was about it.  Stinson Beach was the next stop.  But it was cold and windy and kind of miserable.  The most interesting part of that stop was a big grey Suburban whose panic button kept going off.  Two ladies were desperately trying to get in, but each time they tried, the panic went off!  Turns out they had the wrong big grey Suburban!  Theirs was parked (exactly like the first) between a large white CRV-type car and a small black car.  It was easy to see how they’d be confused.  We laughed about that for a good long time.

    Then we drove back down the wiggly Hwy 1 to the Golden Gate Bridge.  Like every trip back from Muir Woods, I took a nap.  Idk what it is about that place, but I get sleepy just writing about it!  Mom and Dad decided to walk all the way across and back, just to say they did.  I said “well phooey with that!”  and sat with Ben in the shelter of one of the towers.  It was cold and windy and my feet were just about walked off. 

Sunday was church at FMCSF. Mom and Dad met all the Kansans there, of course, and Dad ended up having a 20 minute conversation about broken ankles with this guy from Moundridge.  Afterwards, we went to the dog park and tried to spot some Austalian Shepherds, but there weren’t many.  Dispirited, we climbed to Alamo Square to see the Victorian houses, walked through a farmer’s market, and then finally headed back to the East Bay.  We tried some more birding, with limited success, then walked around Lake Merritt a bit, saw where Ben worked, and crashed a mass at the Cathedral of Christ the Light.  We had more success at Fenton’s Creamery, however, where we ordered half burgers and GIANT AMAZING SUNDAES.  The one I split with Ben had chocolate in every ingredient.  Delicious.

    Ben had to work on Monday, so he couldn’t drive us around anymore.  So we walked.  And walked. And walked.  Through UC-Berkeley, down Telegraph Avenue (where we ate grilled cheese and tomato soup), to Berkeley Bowl (BEST PRODUCE EVERRRR).  After Berkeley Bowl, where I stocked up on “used” fruit, we had to make a stop by my house to sort it and freeze it.  Mom and I sorted through 4 clamshells of raspberries ($1.69 for the whole shebang!) and found maybe a pint’s worth of decent ones.  Not really worth the trouble.  The big gallon bag of strawberries was a significantly better investment.  So we cut those up and threw them in a few quart bags in the freezer.  Dad sacked out on my bed while Mom and I looked at wedding dress ideas on my Pinterest board and tried (and failed miserably) to find dress patterns.  Guess that means we’ll just wing it.  Surprise, surprise.

    Ben’s parents were unexpectedly delayed on their way back from China, so they ended up being in Berkeley at the same time as my parents, which, while unfortunate, was serendipitous in that we’d never had all of us together at the same time. So that was nice.  We met them for supper and milk tea in the Asian Ghetto near Telegraph.  It was a really good time. 

    So that’s about it.  My parents should have made it to Kansas by about now or so.  They took the train back (including navigating BART by themselves!). 

    I think this post is about long enough without adding photos to it.  You can look at my Facebook photos and kind of match things up, I guess. 

Engaged

Yep, that’s right.  Pretty straightforward, not too much to say on the matter.  

No, I’m kidding, of course you want to hear all the sordid details.  

So Ben has wanted to get engaged for like, EVER, but I’ve always been like “Eh, I don’t feel like it, it can wait.”  It was very frustrating for him, and annoying for me, because he talked about it a lot.  So I was like “Hey Ben, how about you just cede that responsibility over to me - then when I feel like I’m ready, I’ll ask you, and then you don’t have to put up with me saying no... over and over and over....”  So that’s what we did.  We had sort of been talking about getting married before we went to school next fall because logistics would be so much less complicated (and also because we love each other), but we just hadn’t made it official.  So it’s not like this was some spur-of-the-moment decision.  Ben continued to be his super considerate and kind self, and didn’t really push the matter too much.  Every so often he’d bring it up, but only about once every ten times that he thought about it (or so he says).  And every time, I thought “Eh, not today.”  I just didn’t feel it.  And every so often I’d think “Gosh, he is such a great person, how could I NOT want to marry him?” But then I’d chicken out and decide that it could wait.  

And then finally last week or so, I was like “Yeah, no, really.  How could I NOT?”  So when I went to the store on Tuesday for my weekly grocery run, I bought some ingredients for fish tacos (because somewhere down the line, I told him I’d make him fish tacos and propose to him) and cantaloupe (because he loves cantaloupe).  We usually cook together on Wednesday, so having him over for supper wouldn’t raise any suspicions.  And the next day, all the way home I was freaking out like “OMG HOW DOES ONE EVEN DO THIS TYPE OF THING?!”  So then an hour later, we had sweet corn, blackened (on purpose!) fish tacos, taco toppings, and cantaloupe on the table to eat.  

We started eating and I was like “Hey Ben, do you remember that one conversation we had about fish tacos?”

“Yeah, about how I had the BEST FISH TACOS EVER in Rockridge?!!?”  

“Um. No....... the other one....... nevermind...... do you want to get married?”  

“Like for real?  Are you asking for real?”

So then the poor guy was so excited that he couldn’t even finish the delicious fish tacos that I had made, let alone the cantaloupe!  And then we did the thing where you call your parents and text your best friends, and there was the predictable amount of “awwwww....” and “about time!” and “CONGRATULATIONS!!!!”  

Ben had to take a picture while I was calling my parents
and attempting to eat fish tacos at the same time

Oh, and I know you’re going to ask - I don’t have a ring.  Sorry!

So we’re engaged.  We don’t know much more than that, to be honest.  We’re going to probably get married sometime next June or July, before we start school.  

Cue planning madness.  My mod was like “OMG NOW YOU HAVE TO GET A PINTEREST!!!!!!”  Yuck.  Stayed tuned for lots of posts about which silverware I should use at the reception and whether I should have white or whole wheat zwiebach.

Oh, and in case you’re interested, here’s the fish tacos recipe I used.

Santa Cruz

       In the latest installment of my life, Ben had told me to pack a swimsuit and prepare for 60 degree weather for a surprise trip this weekend. Those things don't really go together, but I did it anyway. We ended up going about 80 miles south to Santa Cruz, which is right on the coast. We left at 7am for some reason, so it was a chilly morning, but we got a GREAT parking spot, which is really something to celebrate around here. 

The Santa Cruz boardwalk and amusement park is supposed to be the “World's Best Beach Boardwalk” or at least that's what all their banners say. It was pretty cool, but mostly empty, since it was by that time about 830 in the morning. 

 We waited until the park opened and then bought a fried Twinkie and a fried cheesecake, which we both wanted to try. They were really good! Then we went walking some more, to work it off.

Not healthy.

       We had dinner on a long pier. It was more fried things. Fish things. We also saw a sea lion super up close, which was exciting. He mostly just stared at us and barked a couple times. 

Faux hawk

 After dinner the sky cleared up a bit and it came up sunny, which was nice, because then it warmed up somewhat. We then walked over to a little green park on a cliff and took a nap in the grass. Neither of us had gotten much sleep in the last few days. Later, we got up and watched a bunch of little kid surfers. They were crazy. They were like 12, and they were surfing all over the place!

         After that, we visited a couple of beaches. One was sand – a pretty standard beach. As we were getting ready to leave, this big black Lab came up and just kind of sat down on Ben! His owner was like “Oh my gosh I'm so sorry, he just won't socialize with other dogs, just people!!” It was hilarious. Then we visited a rockier beach, which was basically a bunch of tide pools. It was SO COOL. It was like Cabo Blanco in Costa Rica, complete with sea anemones, starfish, and sea urchins! I poked the sea anemones and they felt really sticky. A quick Google search told me that they were trying to sting me. I also tried to pick up some starfish, but they were stuck tight to the rock. They were also super close to the wave zone. I wasn't watching very closely and ended up drenched to the knee. Oops. So I let them be.

       

 
It was a real winner of a day, that's for sure.  

Massage Chair Revolution

     For the first time in my employment history (I think), I had the 4th of July off!  I was so excited!  I think I freaked my boss out a little when I shrieked "WE GET THE 4TH OFF?!?!?!!?!?"

    After sleeping on a variety of futons and couches at the VS house, I headed back home on Wednesday evening.  BART still wasn't running, which made the trip about 3x longer than it should have been.  After I left the VS house with my big duffel bag, I took a bus downtown, then walked to the Transbay Terminal.  The next Transbay bus wasn't leaving for another 40 minutes (of course), so I decided to try my luck with the casual carpool section of the terminal.  People just stand by the road and wait for some strange person to pull up in their car and offer them a ride across the bay.  It's a win-win - the drivers can use the faster commute lane and the riders get a free ride over the bridge.  It sounds super sketchy, but doesn't seem to be dangerous.  I didn't see any white unmarked vans driven by creepy men with rat-tails, anyway... So I stood there for about 10 minutes and a lady pulled up and offered to take me across the bay.  People have been super nice about the whole "Oh, yeah, I see that you have no car and the unions are on strike and you need to get across the bay but BART isn't running because unions, so just hop in my car and I'll drive out of my way to get you where you need to go!"  So after taking 40 minutes to drive from the casual carpool to the on-ramp of the bay bridge (approximately 6 blocks, no kidding), and 20 minutes to drive across the bridge to a BART station (approximately 8 miles), Ben picked me up at the station and drove me home.  Total elapsed time - 2.5 hours.  It was kind of terrible.  

      Like I said before, I had off for the 4th, so Ben and I went into town at noon to go to the VSers potluck barbecue.  I was going to buy sweet corn at Safeway, but all they had were a few gap-toothed ears.  Disappointment.  There was a lot of food though, so it was ok.  And a lot of sun.  And the Madison VS unit!!!  The boy, Ted, knows Jonathan, and the girl, Taylor, went to Bethel and lived with Alyssa.  It was good to see another Bethel face.  We just sort of sat around and talked and got super sunburned (or maybe that was just me).  There were hamburgers and hot dogs and plenty of cider and plenty of no-bakes that slowly melted in the sun.  It was a great barbecue.  

Alyssa, Nora, Ted, Jonathan, Taylor

Alyssa, Ted, Jonathan, Taylor

No bakes!

Lemons don't grow in Madison backyards

   We left around 6 because we wanted to be across the bridge before all the festivities started in the city.  Festivities + no BART = traffic congestion like you wouldn't believe.  Around 9, we tried to go to the Berkeley Marina to watch the fireworks, but that was a no-go, so we headed up to a high place in Berkeley to watch instead.  It was thickly crusted with a solid layer of humanity, so it was less than ideal.  And the fireworks were 7 miles away in the city, so my pictures are terrible and I didn't keep any of them.  Disappointment.  That night, I got like zero hours of sleep because my neighbors were lighting firecrackers and I was freaking out about having to take the casual carpool on Friday to get to work because BART STILL wasn't running.  I woke up at 5:15 and gave myself 2 hours to get to work.  Guess what.  I didn't need it.  So I sat in the hospital cafeteria and read Harry Potter for an hour before work.  

    Work was crazy - all of my dispatchers were on vacation except for my director, so he and I ran the office.  And then two of our four Spanish interpreters called in sick, and somehow a really long Russian assignment was missed, and there wasn't enough coverage for any of the languages that we offer and all of the departments were frustrated with us because of it and it was just hectic all day.  After work, my director gave me a ride home, we talked about Mennonites and Guatemala on the way, and then I took myself out to eat because Ben wanted to go to a house party in the city but I thought I'd be pretty pooped if I tried to do that after getting zero hours of sleep.  So now I'm doing laundry and planning to go to bed early.  Cuz that's what the cool kids do in Berkeley on a Friday night. 

    I'm not sure what we're doing on Saturday - Ben emailed me and told me to pack a swimsuit and plan for 60 degree weather.  I don't think those two things go together.  Guess we'll find out.

Pride has the best signs

In the wake of the recent SCOTUS-overturning-DOMA party in San Francisco, the annual Pride parade also happened. Evidently it was the biggest parade in the history of the event, probably because DOMA was overturned three days before, and people were lined up outside of the courthouse to get married. There were SO MANY people with “just married” signs and stuff. It was the best. My favorite part was the opener, led by the Dykes on Bikes – a bunch of lesbian women with some seriously noisy Harleys. 

 Also Safety Kurt – the safety supervisor for the parade. He was a very enthusiastic dancer. 

 AND THEN NANCY PELOSI SHOWED UP AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! Evidently Michele Bachman said some sort of ridiculous thing about gay marriage, and when asked about it in front of the press, Pelosi was like “Eh, who cares?” which is pretty much the best response anyone could ever give to Michele Bachman.

 

In other news, BART workers are on strike. So I'm trespassing on the VSer's hospitality so that I can save a 2-hour one-way bus commute across the Bay to get to work. Hopefully both sides get things figured out soon, because it's really inconvenient.