Daily Journal #4 08/29/16

Dear Journal,

Well this is awkward. I haven’t written in several days but I think the sum of my experiences make up for it. I had probably one of the most enjoyable weekends of this summer that was fun, calming, and active.

On Saturday I did an early morning conditioning routine at Lake Chabot for an hour with a football coach, strength coach, and flexibility coach. Two days later, every time I walk I can feel it in my quads. Haven’t sprinted that aggressively since high school and it felt good to be active again.

Afterwards, I took a short nap and embarked for San Francisco. Gorgeous day with clear blue skies, summer sunshine, gentle breeze, making what to come even more picturesque. Swapped my old HTC One M9 for a Nexus 6P in five minutes while in San Francisco and hopped onto my Lyft drive. After a nice long chat with my Lyft driver and driving through the Presidio, I arrived at my destination — Crissy Fields.

I arrived early and boy was I in for a treat. The scenery was unbelievable. Clouds seemed to be plucked from a Michelangelo painting. Blue skies with the radiant Golden Gate Bridge as the backdrop on the pier. Kevin, this is a good spot to take a girl on perhaps your third or fourth date ;)

Afterwards, I met up with my meetup group and met Vlad the organizer of the group. Tall-Ukranian Software Engineer working at Google from Duke. Really chill dude that I’d like to hang out more. We went through the Land’s End trail meet two girls named Stephanie and Amara? New graduates from UC Davis and UC Irvine. They had to leave early once we hiked to the Legion of Honors because Amara’s back hurt too much. We then hiked down to Ocean Beach to roast some s’mores and went to a nice restaurant afterwards. It was a fantastic night and I drifted off to sleep content.

The following morning, I woke up around 9:00 AM and headed to my first Yoga class near Crissy Fields and the Palace of Fine Arts. I went in expecting it to be a zenful, rejuvenating, calming experience. It was in a store called the Sports Basement not too far from Crissy Field. After stepping in a large store full of sports equipments I was directed to the “Big Room” where the Yoga lesson held. Surely, the name was meant ironically, as it was small but well-ventilated and had AirBnB-like lighting. It was a small Yoga group but while I struggled at times, I really enjoyed the lesson.

Afterwards, after chugging a blueberry protein shake that was a bit funky, I headed to Crissy Fields to reap the rewards of my Yoga excursion. Sitting on the beach, I meditated briefly listening to the waves move towards me and back. Another picturesque day in San Francisco and I was content with my morning.

Heading home, I was feeling tired and took a nap. I had plans of going to another meetup in San Leandro at the Clubhouse, but wasn’t sure if my well-being was well enough to go. After oversleeping an hour, I headed to the Club House not expecting much with my chess board. I hadn’t play live chess with a real person in what feels like ages.

At first the meetup was a bit awkward as I didn’t know anyone and everyone seemed to be your typical otaku and introvert. Eventually I got to talk to a guy name Duy who I eventually befriended and got him to play two rounds of chess with. Afterwards I joined the conversation of otakus talking about and reminiscing on current and favorite animes. It’s been a long time since I’ve bene able to really open up and share my passion about anime and I had a great time connecting with the other meetup members.

Eventually, I played a middle-eastern chess player and had an older man spectate and provide hints to the game. The older man seemed really good, but the middle-eastern player was below average at best. After defeating the former twice, I headed over to the corner where a group of meetup members were watching a favorite anime of mine from 2014, Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun. After watching episode 4 and laughing our ass off, we introduced ourselves. This honestly was the highlight of the night. The person showing the anime was Albert. He was tall, thin, smart, funny and I saw a lot of myself in him. Definitely someone who I think I can become good friends with. The other two memorable members were Charles and Stephanie. Charles works for Xoom which was acquired by Paypal and is a data Scientist. Stephanie is a Ph.D. student at UCSF studying Biochemistry. Both really chill and likable people I’d like to chat with more.

As for today, well I was feeling good and summoned the courage to chat with Norah, after not talking to her for a week. It appears she’s free next weekend and we’ll be taking a walk around Lake Merritt, eating at the hip pizza/beer place, and watching From Up On Poppy Hill this Saturday. Look forward to it! Not sure if she’s a romantic partner or a friend-type yet, but I think I’ll stick with the latter for now to play it safe. Looks like I’ll be seeing her tomorrow as well for dinner with my coworkers. Fun times.

I’m content for now. Adieu.

Cheers,
Kevin