The weekend update

It’s been a wonderful if somewhat hectic weekend so far.

Got to go to San Diego for a couple days and see my dad. The interval between San Diego trips seems to be getting longer and longer. I feel like the bond is getting weaker over time as I stay in the bay area, so maybe I should start visiting more. It’s still the place I call home, even if my connection there does fade over time. Good to see my dad is alive and kicking.

It’s always nice to see friends down in San Diego. I know these guys visit the bay area a lot more than I go down to sd, so it feels good to go back to the local haunts. The down side is that one of them bought an Audi A5, and it’s a pretty sweet car. Now I kind of want to buy a car.

There was also a sd winter fog sighting! The fog is like the breath of the ocean that envelops my city. It’s such a comforting sort of fog that happens in the morning and after dark, and reliably burns off during the day. Actually, I think I really enjoy the winter fog because people start driving around the speed that I drive. And it’s not really scary driving in fog even when visibility is like 10 feet with headlights because there are still so many cars out on the freeway. Never thought I would ever miss fog, but there it is.

Also, it’s probably the harbinger to the apocalypse, but I bought a pair of jeans over the weekend. Still need to get it hemmed, but if it catches, it will be the first time I’ve worn jeans since I tried them for a week and hated them probably when I was around 10 years old.

Then had to fly back Saturday morning to catch rehearsal in the afternoon. Not being able to take morning class makes things bad enough, but also the fact that it was a big college football day made things even more anxious. It’s so sad that I’ve basically not been able attend or watch any of the Stanford football games because rehearsals last all afternoon every Saturday. The things we do for love…

On the other hand, it was nice to catch the second half of the Stanford-UCLA game. Just need to beat them again next week to make it to the Rose Bowl. (Although I wouldn’t be able to make it to the Rose Bowl because I’ll be out of the country during bowl season again… maybe I should stop scheduling these winter vacations? London and Wales will be pretty cold.)

Okay, as much as I think last year’s blue tutu costumes are much better for mirliton, the new pink ones are so freakin’ adorable. I know some of the adults don’t like them as much because they makes them look like 10 year olds, but they’re so cute. Seriously, like basket-full-of-kittens cute.

Oh, also just saw The Fantastic Mr. Fox on dvd. That was a good movie.

Time to read some more Updike. Only 60 more pages to go!

So many books

I wish I had more time to read so I can make a dent in my stockpile of books under my bed. But then I was talking to a friend who made an interesting point that, given the finite number of hours we have, is it worthwhile to spend the time reading alone rather than hanging out with friends and family, etc.? So I don’t know, maybe I should just slow down my rate of book purchases.

I do kind of miss those winter breaks where I would just go home to San Diego and just spend hours a day reading. It’s satisfying being able to knock off around 5 books within two weeks. Maybe I can finish a couple during Thanksgiving break.

In the queue (under my bed):
Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (currently reading — almost done with the series!)
How to Create a Mind, Ray Kurzweil
Pas de Deux: A Textbook on Partnering, Nikolai Serebrennikov (this does not seem to help any)
Pas de Deux: The Art of Partnering, Anton Dolin (ditto)
How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC, Paul Edwards
Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop, Adam Bradley
The Bible (TNIV edition — still have about half of the Old Testament to go through)
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
Three Kingdoms: A Historical Novel, Part 1, Luo Guanzhong, trans. Moss Roberts
Meditations, Marcus Aurelius, trans. Gregory Hays
The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham

There’s also a Kindle under there, as well as another one on my desk.