To the East My Brother

Well, it's time for me to pack up and head home. In about 3.5 hours I will board a plane back to DC by way of Chicago. Hopefully the storms will hold off and I will be able to make it safely with minimal (ie none) turbulence.

From there i have a hair appointment, a few clothes to wash, some last minute packing, a little bit of cooking, some ice buying, a perscription pick up and hopefully a few hours of sleep and then we're on the road.

As much as i hate to leave this city, the fact that i will be back shortly makes it a little less difficult...

and now an open letter to the folks in the hotel room next to mine:

Please stop. I don't want to hear that anymore. Please

Thanks

Bye, San Francisco... See ya again on Saturday!

This could be the best summer ever

I spent the day yesterday with one of my favorite couples here in San Fran. Imagine if you will, two foodies who enjoy being outside and laffing and having a couple of drinks... like they could be my bestest friends ever!

We ate at Sunflower, a Vietnamese restaurant near 16th and Valencia and the food was great. It was my first time eating Vietnamese food, but i gave it a try and was rewarded. We left there and went to Pride of the Mediterranean on Fillmore for hookah. Another first for me. I took a few pulls and enjoyed the strawberriness (not a word, i know). It was really smooth and i liked that. The highlight for me was the Arabic Tea (which we had two pots of).

From there we went to the Cliff House o lok at the Ocean (and freeze our asses off). Next was a couple of drinks followed by dinner at La Traviata in the Mission. After that I was BEYOND tired. I think i got into the bed at 9:50 and slept the night away.

Today should be a pretty busy day between Fan Fest and the XM Futures Game. I plan to pretty much be on the go from start to finish. Tomorrow is also going t be a long one with an early morning broadcast from the suite here at the hotel to Fan Fest to the HomeRun Derby. There's even rumors of trying to get into the Jay-Z/Barry Bonds party at Roe on Monday night.

Needless to say my flight leaves at 6am on Tuesday so I will be doing my best to just stay awake thru the night so i can sleep the whole way home.

Sweet Jesus! I forgot how much I love this place!

So after a rather uneventful flight, my coworkers and I landed in Oakland and drove to San Francisco yesterday. The air was crisp, the fog was rolling in and I immediately felt like i was home. As i tuned out all of the "it's cold" nonsense, I looked out the window and enjoyed the sights/sounds of my favorite city.

For the next few days I'll be a part of the madness that is All Star Weekend. A few of my coworkers have already done several things to give me pause, but i just remind myself that as of 6am tuesday, they aren't my problem for the next 7 weeks.

This little business trip has me so amped for the "real" trip in a few days. For now though I'm gonna enjoy this nice ass hotel and the expensive ass food that my company will have to reimburse me for. I just wish BJ was here to enjoy it all with me. (that was ghey)

What a Beautiful Weekend

The weather this weekend was amazing. It's almost like the weather is trying to convince me that DC isn't as bad as i make it out to be. At any rate we got a lot accomplished this weekend. We cleaned the apt some more and even went to work on the car. I have about 3 more days in the office and then it's time for a much deserved vacation. Yes, I will be working a few days for All Star Week but that really doesn't count. Right now I'm trying to focus on washing clothes, cleaning up and getting ready to get outta here.

The plan is to continue blogging here and on the trip blog (www.bayandback.blogspot.com) hopefully we'll have lots of pics and interesting stories along the way.

On Saturday me, leena, kayla and bj all headed over to my parents' house for Googie's bday celebration. I can honestly say that Kayla stole the show. She played with everyone, laffed, smiled and had a great time. I love how outgoing she is. She's an amazing little girl and i'm so happy for leena and dennis. I can't wait to see what the next two babies will be like!

**random**
I didn't know Beyonce was in the "Happily Ever After" video.

Ok, bye.

FCUK!!!!

So in ONE WEEK I leave... like i bounce and I won't be back for a minute. Well that's not true... I leave on Friday, come back on Tuesday and leave again on Wednesday. Anticipation is turning to nervousness. What if something happens while i'm gone? I've got a sick dad and a pregnant best friend on this coast. I'm trying to stay positive but i'm definitely making sure I have enough money for an emergency flight home.

Speaking of my dad, he's so damned adorable. He calls my mom "kitty" and we don't know why... i mean we *know* why (*insert shudder here*) but it's a recent development. I went to visit last weekend and told him about my trip out west. He asked if there was anywhere i hadn't been yet and I told him there were plenty of places... he laffed and asked me if i'd ever be done with school. I told him i had two more years and he smiled. He's proud of me and that feels good. It's funny that no matter how old and "independent" i get, i still look to my parents for their approval of most of what I do. To a certain degree i shouldn't, but when their reaction is positive, i guess it isn't so bad.

The 5am Monday Morning Panic Attack

This morning i woke up out of a sound sleep with my heart beating loudly and gasping for air.
Today is June 18th... I leave for San Fran on July 6th.... *insert scream here*

I.am.not.ready. Point blank... I'm just not. I need to get my ass in gear ASAP because shit isn't gonna work like this.

Wish me luck!

10 19 46 51

10: The number of days until I see an old friend again. That's like the official kickoff to my summer of greatness. After I hug her to death I plan to spend the rest of the weekend laffing like a fool and relaxing

19: The number of days until we leave for Jamaica. Man... if ever i needed a vacation... I hope to spend the majority of that trip laying next to someone's beach, sipping some sort of alcoholic beverage and relaxing.

46: The number of days until my trip to the MLB All Star week festivities. Never been to something like this and i'm really looking forward to it. Although I try to hide my baseball enthusiast side, I'm extremely excited to be going to this event. Hopefully i'll get to meet some folks and finally enjoy some perks of the job.

51: That's the number of days until my leave of absence and subsequent cross-country drive. I have like a MILLION things to do before then so I really need to focus. I think that by the end of this week I'm going to do one last budget and then start tying up the loose ends... new tires, dentist appointment, Fishbone's trip to the vet, etc. I have a lot to do and it's about to get real hectic. I need to get on the ball before I find myself completely out of time.

It's nice to be this happy and excited after being so unhappy for so long.

4 down, 4 to go

I took my last exam of the semester last night. I am officially finished with my second year of Law School. I am now officially half way there (i'm a part time student). As gueling as this process is, it isn't as bad as i expected. Well it kinda is... but I'm not suicidal.

I remember when it all started... i didn't know what in the hell to expect. That seems like so damned long ago. I was thinking back to a surprise party that my friends threw for me to celebrate my nerdy accomplishment... the people that were there... I don't talk to more than half of them now. If someone would have told me on that day to look around the table and pick the 4 people i thought i would be cool with three years later, i'm not sure whether i would have guessed correctly. Throughout my life I've been a bit of a friend collector. I liked having lots of "friends" and knowing people. It kinda made me feel important to be able to go somewhere and always see a "friend." Over the last few years though, I've started to move away from that. It's kinda nice to go somewhere and not recognize folks. There's a certain comfort in anonymity... But yeah, here i am three years later. I am a completely different person, and i like it.

So with year #2 behind me I can officially switch gears to my summer plans... getting to catch up with a friend i haven't seen in over a year, going to Jamaica with someone I love dearly, travelling across country on a 6 week adventure... there's just so much for me to look forward to and quite honestly, I deserve every bit of it.

Man oh Man...

I never thought i'd say it but thank God the weekend is over. I've got a ton of work i need to do on myself. Coming so close to losing something so important taught me a lot about the person i am and the person i want to be. Although i know there will be some issues with readjusting, I'm glad that things are back on track. No more secrets... ever.

On a completely unrelated note, today is my last final as a 2L... yay, bitch. I'm ready for this semester to be OVER. All in all i think i did ok this semester. School is starting to come to me a little bit easier. The goal this summer is to learn all about Admin Law and pick a topic for my paper. Hopefully i'll find something interesting.

I've also decided that after this trip to SF this summer I'm gonna put my hopes of moving out that way on hold for awhile. I think for next summer i'm going to focus my job search on the NY and DC areas only and see where that leads. I'll also be taking the bar in NY... ummm yeah.

Either way, life is ok today. I'm smiling and that's all that matters to me right now.

Dreams

In a little over 3 months I leave for San Francisco. For a month we'll see what it's like to live out west and possibly see what it will take to make a move out there.
If you would have told me a year and a half ago that I would be doing this, I would have laffed in your face... hard. But things are falling into place and this extended vacation/trial run is in the very near future.

We've also decided to drive (as long as gas prices don't go too far over $3.50). I can't wait to get on the road and just start the journey. So many journeys that I'd like to take never get started but thanks to my favorite partner in crime, things are a reality. --Mittens