Moments of a Lifetime

Went and play volleyball last Friday. Had a great warm up, good pass around, then ran out of breath …. ok … what happened??

The game started, and in the middle of the game, my friend gave me a beautiful set that I just had to hit as hard as I can, and so I did ….. and it hit the net, my legs were shaking and it took everything that I got to jump …. uh oh …..

I’ve been doing nothing but eating and sleeping in the last few months, I guess …. ugghh …. wanted to blame those holidays at the end of the year, but I guess I’ve been stacking some additional weights. Ugghh …. no wonder it’s getting hard to move around …. huhueuhauhauhauhaua ……

Time to hit those machines again …. HARD …… :p
Oh dear …..

It was Wednesday night before thanksgiving day; the weather was very nice, mid 60s degrees with no wind. I went to my best friend’s apartment, watched a few episodes of heroes, had some conversation here and there, waiting for my volleyball game. My best friend had promised to come and watch my game, it was a first in lots of ways; a first for her to come to my game, and the first time somebody I know watched my game. I had to keep reminding myself about the game time, cause I almost always lost track of time when I’m with her ^_^

I drove to the game with her with me in the car. We talked along the way, then I got lost as always. I don’t remember how many times I got lost when she’s with me in the car. Perhaps I forgot where I’m going when we’re in conversation, perhaps it’s just my horrendous sense of direction, or perhaps it’s all just a big coincidence. But anyway after a short phone call to my teammate, I found the correct way ^_^

We arrived at the gym right on time. The 2 ladies in our team couldn’t make it that day and we had 2 substitutes. They’re mother and daughter. The daughter is probably in high school right now, and she is good, very solid and quick on her feet. That night everything went right for us. We just clicked. The team work was very harmonic, everybody was playing real tough, and we didn’t make any mistakes in our end. It’s as if we’ve been playing together forever. It was perfect. The play was perfect, the team work was perfect, the effort was perfect, and most importantly, my best friend was there. Can’t ask anything better than that ^_^

In the middle of the game, my best friend said "You’re good, better than I expected" …. OK, what does that mean, huh??? C’mon, have a little more faith in me …. (though she happened to watch the right game at the right time … ^,^).
Perhaps we just need someone to cheer us up so we’ll win more games …. or perhaps we just need to play harder and better ….. who knows …. ^,^

So we won all three sets. After the game, I took her back to her apartment, and talked with her and stayed there for a while. I lost track of time again, until I saw her yawning. It was time for me to go, so I did. The drive was quiet, long, but smooth. It was a great night; Wish I will have lots more of that.

PS: My dear friend (you know who you are), If you’re reading this, thanks for the support. I hope I entertained you at least a bit. Come again next time, and join me

More scalability in the class …. I should be very familiar with this stuff, but …. well …. we’ll see ^_^

Had California chicken salad for lunch, one among 6 items available in the hotel. We’ve been having the same menu items for the last 4 days now, and I’ve tried different ones. I wish they would change them to something more "flavory", though it’s not that bad. Anyway, class was prety exciting. The room was freezing as always. The guys sitting next to the thermostat likes to keep the room at 60 degrees where the rest of us would prefer the room to be around 70 degrees ….. oh my ……

I checked my work mail to make sure everything great and I don’t have to do anything, and I don’t. That means I can go out for tonight ….. ^_^

So, for the last night, had to make some decision. Don’t want to go outdoor sightseeing, cause it’s dark so I won’t be able to see anything anyway. Browse through the list of items to see in SF, and decided to go to the Civic Center, where the local government buildings are located, along with some Asian art exhibition and very unique architecture. So, I took BART once again, ariving at the Civic Center at around 7:15 pm. The buildings were amazing, but there were no sign that it was open, though I only glance from afar. So …. change of plan, decided to go to the Japan Center once again, since I know it’s supposed to be close by. So I SMS Google to look for the addresses, then sent another SMS to google for directions. And so I got one. 1.8 miles, can’t be too bad, right ^_^

I started walking and got a chance to look around along the way. Half way through, the neighborhood changed. It’s getting very creepy, if I may use that word. Not that I intend to offend anybody, but it’s getting very dark, almost no cars are passing by, there were several stores in the corner with those iron bars in the doors and windows, and I really felt out of place. Let’s just say if I were there with a lady friend, I would turn back immediately. To make the long story short, I walked the last mile of that journey questioning my safety …. huehuehuhauhahau ….. I tried to walk as fast as I can, but it was going uphill, so that’s quite hard to do ….. huehuehue ….. I think there were some group of people calling out to me (more like yelling out) during my walk, and I pretended not to know they were talking to me and keep on going ….. huehuehuehue …… Then suddenly I saw the place, the street has changed, and so does the neighborhood ….. phew ….. I can breath freely again :p
It took me about 45 minutes to get there, not bad at all, except the fact that the palces along the way were a bit …. errr … let’s just say questionable ….. ^_^

I went in to find most of the stores were already closed for the day ….. arghh ….. But the restaurant I wanted to try on Sunday was still open. So I went there. The name of the restaurant is Maki. I sat down, opened the menu, and I was shocked. It was sooo expensive ….. oh well …. since I’m here, I might just try them out. So …. ordered one of their combo menu, which is among the cheapest ones there and it still sound very good and delicious. The food came out a while after, and it was actually far more delicious than my expectation, and the portion was quite large as well. I can’t really justify it to the price, but it’s very good.

During the meal, I SMS-ed google again, hoping I would get a different route for my way back, and I did ….. phew …. or well …. at least I kinda hope it won’t be the same experience. So, walked down the new route, and most of the way there was okay. There are still parts that were …. err … "questionable" …. huheuheuheuhauah …… but it’s pretty okay for the most part. Along the way, I noticed different types of apartments that I’ve only seen on TV all this time, so it’s actually pretty cool to see those. And this time, most of the walk is either flat or downhill, so that helps even more ….. hahahaha …… and I arrived safely at the BART station.

And to top off the journey for the night, during my wait for the train, a girl walk down the stairs to wait for the train as well ….. Oh WOW …. she’s probably the most elegant girl that I’ve seen in person so far. I was mesmerized for a while, and I can’t help looking at her. I’m guessing she’s about 5′ 7", long black hair, wearing black long pants, dark brown boots, black turtleneck with black overcoat. She had that very cold, beautiful look, and a set of very beautiful eyes ….. Oh WOW, I can’t describer it better than that cause I was lost for words.

But anyway, back to reality, huehuehuahuahahuahu …… went to the train, drove back to the hotel, took a shower, and getting ready for bed …. Tomorrow will be the last day of the class, then I’d have to go to the Oakland airport to fly back to Columbus, and things will go back to the usual ^_^

It was a good walk, I got a chance to see different parts of San Francisco … got a chance to walk around places I wouldn’t have normaly walk into, and ate one of the best Japanese food I’ve had so far. And to top them off, I was stunt in the train station ^_^
Certainly a night I won’t forget, a walk I’ll remember, and I am so thankful of all the blessings that were given to me. It’s a wonderful night, as all the ones before …. ^_^

Hmm …. kinda expecting this day to come, though I was hoping it won’t ^_^

There was an urgency in getting some analysis done to the project I am on. It’s part of the work that I did yesterday. So no far away traveling today, got to get this done ASAP.

Logged in to my work PC first thing in the morning, set a few more things up, took a shower, then continue to work on it. Luckily I got all that I need to set up before class, though barely made it ….. huheuheuahhah …..

Today’s topic of the class: Scalability …. whoaa … right on. This should apply to me especially. But hold on …. I’m confused, all of them were too theoritical, hmmm …. that won’t work easily, but I got the concept, or at least I think I did …. huehuahuahua …. we’ll see in the next few weeks. That cookie we had during break was very good … I want more ….. I’ve been eating and eating and eating this entire training session ….. huheuheuhauha ….. got to hit the gym when I get back …. HARD ….. huheuheuhauahuauh ……

Anyway, looked at the list of retaurants within 10 miles from the hotel, and thai poped out, so I went to Thai restaurant in downtown Pleasanton. Downtown was pretty good …. very short, but pretty good, better than I expected … The restaurant was a bit out of place IMO, I wonder how they survived to be honest … a bit hard to find, but the food was soooo gooood ….. I want more ….
The lady in the cashier (well, she’s the only one there other than the ones in the kitchen …. ^_^) has a very nice smile, very refreshing and she always smile. I like that, refreshes me just to see a nice smile, that I forgot about work for a while ^_^
So I asked her about what to do around Pleasanton, and as I expected, she said …. pretty much nothing ….. huehuahuheuhauahua ………. oh well, I tried …..

Anyway, hopped back to my rental car, and headed back to the hotel. Logged in to my laptop, turn on WinAmp for some music, and writing this blog …. still miss some people, some a lot more than others, as always …..

Got to work now …… I hope I’ll get all done today so I can get more sleep tonight ….. huehuehuehuaha …… hmm …. I wonder what’s next tomorrow ……

Off to work ….

Queuing theory ….. it’s been years since I’ve got one. Today the topic of the class was queuing theory …. oh my gosh …. I forgot just about all of it. It’s been so long, I should have known this by heart, it should be part of my job. So why am I drawing blank … hmmm ….. beats me …. huehuhauehuahueahaua …..

So today I decided to move forward with my plan. Class ended 10 after 5. Grabbed my jacket upstairs and "fly" to the car. Drove to the BART station, and this time I use local routes. Wow …. only took me 20 minutes to get there, compared that to 1 1/2 hours yesterday when I tried to use the highway huh  ……… can’t believe traffic in California is that bad ….

So, anyway, bought my first BART ticket, not as hard as I thought. Not as intuitive at first, but once you do it, it’s pretty easy. Hop on to BART, destination San Francisco, and off I go …. Wait a sec …. I then realized I don’t know where to get off …. huheuhauhuahauha …… So …. I was busy calling my friends trying to know where to get off. Finally one of them told me to get off at Powell St, then asked around to get to Chinatown …. cool …. shouldn’t be that hard then. After about 50 minutes, the train arrived at Powell St.

Got off at Powell St. as told … started to look around, paused in awe for a while looking at how busy the San Francisco downtown was. It was so alive, so amazing, but at the same time, I’m quite surprised by the number of homeless people around the street. That’s a lot of people to not having a home …. I feel so sorry for them, and grateful at the same time of the things that I have.
Anyway, the adventure continues. Finding Chinatown can’t be that hard, right? So I asked around …. man … every person that I asked gave a different direction …. So I ended up walking wondering around searching for different locations. Finally, someone got it right. Thank goodness, I was getting tired walking around for 1 1/2 hours not finding Chinatown …. huheuhauheuhaahua …. Although … the surrounding was actually pretty good. I kinda enjoyed looking at the stores, the activities, the streets …. pretty cool …..

So finally arrived at Chinatown. I was hungry, so first things first, get food ….. :p Walked around looking for food, at the same time disappointed cause a lot of the stores other than restaurants were closed already ….. So even when I got food later on, I may not have much to look for in Chinatown afterwards ….. Hmm …. kinda felt disappointed. But, that’s okay. I got food, which was pretty good, then walked around some stores. I’ve seen most of the stuff in the stores, but they’re still amazes me, especially the hand crafted stuff …. those are pretty amazing, arent’ they ….

So, it’s 9:00 pm already, I was getting tired. I decided not to even try to find Italian town, although I might have already passed them when I was lost earlier …. huehuehueheuhahau ….. so many italian restaurants on my way there …… ^_^
So, I asked people around the way to BART station. This time, the first person I asked got it right, so I got to the BART station at 9:30 pm. Walking my way back to the BART station, I learned the correct way to Chinatown from the station, huheuahuaha …. so next time I know where to go ^_^
Well … at least I learned something :p

Catched the train, went back to Pleasanton, drove back to the hotel, and took a shower. Checked my office mail, and there it is, an emergency work request from some of the people I worked with for this high priority project that we’re doing. Uh oh …. I’m the only one that can do that right now, and I haven’t checked my mail since morning cause I was in the class. So I set those up for them, took me about 2 hours to complete those, and now I am beat …. and ready to get some rest ….. so … the journey continues tomorrow ….. :p

When I first heard I’m going to California for a class, the only word that came through my mind was "AWESOME". I’ve never really been traveling anywhere in California except a few days in LA, joining a tour. I thought this would be awesome, I’ll be able to travel around California … wouldn’t that be cool ^_^

Soon I found out I was going to Pleasanton. Where the heck is Pleasanton? Searched google earth, and there it is, in the middle of nowhere, east of San Francisco. Ugghhhh ….. okay ….. Maybe it’s not too bad after all …. So I searched wikitravel, google search, yahoo search, and none, I came up with nothing interesting to see in Pleasanton ….. uh oh ….

Arrived in Oakland on Sunday. I decided to rent a car, so I can at least go somewhere myself. With my disturbingly horrible sense of direction, it’s only natural to look for a car with navigation system. OMG, it’s so expensive …
Anyway, drove from Oakland to Pleasanton, took about 30 mins to get there. I arrived at the hotel at around 3:30 pm, checked in, and asked the receptionists for places to hang out, to have fun around here …. All three of them looked at each other staring blank …. ah darn it …. that can’t be good …..
The first sentence that they said was "San Jose is fun …" …. yes, thank you guys …. ughhh ….. I was right, this really is in the middle of nowhere …. hahahahahahahaha ……

So, I put all my stuff in the hotel, decided to drove to San Francisco. Did I already say I got navigation system in the car? It’s a big help. I punched in places of interest, and decided to go to Japan Center. I know SF is pretty famous for it’s Chinatown, but I’ve been to several Chinatown. I’ve never actually been to a Japan cultured places, so that’s my first target. Hmm … turned out my screwed up sense of direction is much worse that even with a GPS, I still managed to get myself lost ^_^

Anyway, arrived at the Japan center …. sooo cooolll ….. but some of them are closed already … bummer …. Oh well …. Then my stomach reminded me that I haven’t really gotten any meal for the whole day except for some chocollates I brought for "emergency" that I’ve been munching a lot at the airport waiting for my flights :p

There’s this one restaurant in Japan Center that is fairly small, but I noticed that all of the people there are japanese. So I thought … this must be good … But the owner said that she does not have any more table …. argghhh …. so I have to find another place. So I went to a different place, peeked through the windows, picked the one with lots of Asian in it. I went in, as soon as I sat down, I realized …. wait a second, these are not Japanese, they all speak Chinese …. arggghhhh …. But the food was pretty good, so it wasn’t a total mistake …. huheuhauhahuahauhaua ….. hmmm … I still want to go back and try that first place …. maybe next time …..

Then I called a friend of mine who lived close by. Went to her place, and ended up talking to her and her roommates until 10:15-ish. We had a very good conversation, and it was really good seeing her. Then I went back home. Guess what …. I got lost … again …. huehuahuehuahauau ….. had to really pay attention to where I’m going …. hahahaahahahah ………. I got back to the hotel at around 11:30, took a shower and I was so tired. I guess the 7 hours of sleep total in the last the days before started to get to me, plus the 3 hours time difference. It’s already 3:00 am in Cols, no wonder I feel so tired. So I went to bed.

The next day, I amazingly woke up at 3:30 AM local time, which is about 7:30 AM in Columbus, my regular time to wake up ….. man …. I tried to get back to sleep with very little luck, but at least I was able to get some.

So today the class begin, the room was very small, it was so cramped. I didn’t expect it to be that small …. The instructor still has his thick Australian accent, took me a while to understand him, though I am still missing a few words here and there ^_^
The course was exciting and boring at the same time. There are some that are great, some are just dead boring …. hahahaha ….. I was counting the time when the class is over.

So at 5, class is over, I went out, looking for BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to go to downtown SF. Highway was jammed, can’t even get there in 1 hour, though it’s only about 4 miles away. I should have looked for local route. During my search, I stopped by a Japanese supermarket wanted to ask for direction, but I saw Pocky Pocky on display ….. and the next thing I knew I bought a couple of those ….. oh my …….
So I finally got my direction, and looked for BART and found it, but decided it’s not worth to go to SF today, since it’s pretty late already …. but at least I know where it is now, and I’ve found some local routes by driving around the areas, so I’m going there tomorrow, go to downtown SF, then I am planning on going to Chinatown, Italian town and the Fisherman’s Wharf, which I was told is pretty good ….. we’ll see ^_^

So today, I ended up traveling looking around local area, found a Japanese restaurant that attracted my attention. So I stopped by, ordered a grilled Tuna teriyaki. The owner is an American, his wife is Korean, the chefs and the waitres are Japanese, and I see some Mexican as well …. what a blend of people ^_^
The food was really good BTW, I want more but my stomach cannot handle more  ….. ^_^

Went back to my hotel, ended up working a bit cause I got a project that’s pretty high in priority and it’s way behind right now. And now writing my blog :p
I miss a few people, some a lot more than others, especially the ones that I always have a blast talking with …. they’re pretty busy, so I don’t really want to bother them right now. Hope they’re all doing good, get all of those done and get some free time to relax. Wherever you all are, I miss all of you ….

Oh dear, I’m tired again, maybe it’s time to catch up on those sleeps …. ^_^
So … good night all …. (3 more nights in Pleasanton ^_^)

We had a game today, competitive co-ed quad volleyball, and we lost all three sets. Whoaaa …. talk about being crushed. Our team was just not in sync, at least for now. But considering we only play 3 times together, that’s probably quite understandable.

All of my hits were off target today, my passes were off, and so were my sets … and for some reason people weren’t moving the way they usually do. All of us were pretty slow getting to the ball today, and were lack on hussling …. I can’t remember the last time I dove for balls so many times in hard court. Arrgghhh … I hope I did not add more damage to my already damaged knees …. oh gosh …. sometimes I wish I would think before I instinctively throw myself on the floor to get those balls. But if I didn’t, I will have this pain in my heart when I know I didn’t do my best.

I can accept defeat, I can accept failures, but only if I’ve given it all that I got …. and perhaps that’s just the way I choose to life my life with ^o^

My dear body, please don’t fall apart on me with all of the "abuse" …. ^o^

Uh oh, my knees are going to hurt tomorrow ….

OK! This is starting to get really old. I somehow managed to cut myself again without me realizing it, again … It’s a minor cut, as usual, so no worries … but it still bothers me. It’s like I am an accident prone person. I’ve lost count on how many times I accidentally cut myself, and not even knowing about it. There are times when I know about it, especially when I tinkered with computer hardware. I don’t recall any time where I had to open computers’ cases up to work on them and not get some sort of scratch or cut at all. I will at least scratch some skin in my hand or my fingers in the process …. beats me. There is this one time where I tried to pull a network card, and somehow I grabbed onto the pins that sits in the card, and thats just like sticking needles directly to my index finger …. There are times when I was putting a screw in, and somehow the screwdriver bounced and hit my hand … oh my ….

But there are times when I just didn’t realize that I got hurt … Sometimes I would be typing and saw blood in my finger, sometimes I would be washing my hands and then I feel that cut, sometimes I see small traces of blood in my clothes or my pants, then realize that I’ve managed to hurt myself again … Just like today, I was putting the trash out, and the next thing I know, I fresh cut wound in my finger with some blood starting to come out of it …. What is it about this, kinda weird …. sigh … I guess I really need to be careful … but then again .. from what? Oh dear …

And there he goes. My youngest brother has just arrived
in China,
leaving home and my parents to continue his study. He acquired his general
practitioner degree in Indonesia
and now he is going to study to become a cardiologist. I wasn’t even there to
watch him leave, I couldn’t. It’s the same when my sister left to Australia for
her master degree, I couldn’t be there to see her off.

Seems now each of my vacations become a lot more
important, cause I know it’s going to be very hard for all of us to meet as
family from here on. My parents are in Indonesia, and so is one of my
brothers. My sister is in Australia,
and here I am in the US.
Hahaha …. Who would have thought that we will be all around the world as we
grow up? I still remember the doubts whether my parents can support me or not
to go to the US.
I still remember the same doubts when my sister’s leaving to pursue her master
in Australia.
And yet now we’re all over the place, in 3 different continents of the world.
Not too shabby at all …..

I can’t imagine how my parents felt sending all of us
spread far away, but they did it anyway, with a smile believing that the
journey will bring us good, and with tears for the uncertainty of the next
opportunity to meet. For now, I can only wish that my brother will have a
wonderful journey, that my parents will be comforted once again, and that we
will have plenty of opportunity to meet for the years ahead.

"The loneliest place in this world is next to the one you love the most and being ignored at the same time"