Summer is quickly coming to a close, and just when things are starting to get good. For almost every day of the past week, I've spent the evening at Martin's house hangin out with various combinations of my high school friends. While Martin's knee surgery has kept us from going anywhere, we've had a great time just hangin out....like 'old' times. It's felt really good to be able to spend my evenings with such good company, making new memories instead of thinking about old ones.

I'm really glad summer is ending this way. If it had ended two weeks ago, it would have probably left me bitter and disappointed. But I feel like the cup of summer funness has quickly filled up the past week or so. I'm really happy and relieved that the ties to my oldest friends have been strengthened before another college year of being away from each other.

Today was also my last day working at the Stanford Theatre, as the pic above signifies. It seems like only yesterday that I was being trained to work there. What a big change for me this job has been. I did things I NEVER wanted or thought I would do, like cashier...but I did them anyway and overcame my fears. The job had its down sides, but they were FAR outweighed by the upsides. (I know my family certainly enjoyed the free passes & food) It was a good summer job and I met some nice people through the process.

Sadly, except for my arch buddy Phyllis, none of my friends made it to the theatre. But because I'm so nice, here's a picture I took tonight to give you an idea on what you missed (for free!) But hey, you might have another opportunity come next summer of maybe winter break...or I'll take anyone that wants to go (hint hint).

This is the theatre auditorium from the top of the second floor balcony:


This is the lobby from the balcony lounge, the snack counter I worked at is on the left


...and this is the auditorium from the stage!


....I'll miss workin in such a cool old place. But anyways....here's to the last week of summer!

A good mini-vacation to San Francisco over the past two days. Visited familiar and new places with both friends and family on two beautiful (fogless!) summer days in the city. And what a city it is. At times, it feels worlds away from the rest of the Bay Area.

There's just so much to do and see there...and a lot of it is free. First stop was Mission Dolores/San Francisco. Right there in the appropriately named Mission District. I've been to many missions with my family, San Juan Buatista, San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Juan Capistrano, San Luis Obispo, San Carlos/Carmel, Santa Clara, San Jose, San Miguel....and so on....but we have never gone to Mission Dolores. It's really neat, apparently the oldest intact mission c. 1791, (the older one's have been rebuilt) with a beautiful old cemetery next door.

After the mission we decided to drive through the Haight-Ashbury, which was bustling with neo-yuppie-hippies and tourists. Cooler than I thought it would be. Then we headed to Golden Gate Park, and wandered into a 1:00 concert by the Golden Gate Park Band in the parks' big promenade. We just relaxed for about an hour in the sun, eating popcorn, and listening to some good live music. Then we strolled over to the Botanical Gardens, which were a pretty fantastic site to see. Hard to believe we were in the middle of the city.

Then I met up with my high school friends for lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe, and spent the early evening in Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, and Ghiradelli Square with them. Family met up with me right after, and before we went back to our hotel, we stopped at Crissy Field where I took some twilight shots of the Golden Gate. That night we played a mean game of Scrabble....I won. Ha.

After a good brunch at the hotel, I explored the Financial District by foot with my dad. Walked to the c. 1909 Palace Hotel and saw it's pretty amazing interior courtyard atrium. Then we headed down Market to the newly restored and reopened Ferry Building at the Bay. I gotta say, it's now one of my favorite buildings in the Bay Area. Before the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate, it was our Grand Central Station, and it looks like its well on its way to once again being a must-see for visitors and locals alike.

Before leaving the city, we took a drive up to Twin Peaks to take in the fog-free view of the entire city. We then headed down the Peninsula and spent the rest of the day at the San Mateo County Fair. A nice throwback after witnessing the Santa Clara County Fair earlier this month, which has been reduced to a shell of its former hokey-yet-loveable-in a homey & nostalgic way-self. Sheep, pigs, cows, petting zoos, (and the smell that goes along with all those things).....weird gizmos to buy, bad food that tastes great, crazy collections of locals, displays of local goods, ranging from pies, to photos, to bonsai plants, and a performance by a hypnotist and an actress/singer from the Disney Channel.

Lot's of stuff for such a little trip huh? Felt like a week instead of two days. That's what summer's about.

Okay, so make it 10 days spent with my high school friends this summer. I would not allow myself to be stuck at home on one of my few friday nights off from the theatre. So I called Martin and ended up going to his house to see his new 2-month old puppie from the pound. Super cute lil dog she is. And Martin invited some of our other friends over. We were there till 12:30, just chillin, listening to music, watching TV, talking about stuff, and playing with the puppy.

So, my wish from last night's blog entry was filled! At least for tonight. I want to squeeze as much quality hang-out- time as I can out of what's left of the summer. Tomorrow I'll have another chance; I'll be in SF with my fam for the day, and hopefully with my friends at night. So, this weekend is shaping up to be pretty good.

Hi there. How are you? I'm okay. Doodeedoo. No I'm not drunk. I don't do that....not yet at least. I'm just in a funny post-work-wind-down mood.

So I had plans made with a friend and then canceled tonight. That's okay though, it was for a good reason. And...I think I'm getting used to it. I've had plans with friends canceled this summer as much the number of times I've hung out with friends. Well maybe not...but close, since I've only spent time with my high school friends 9 days out of the whole summer.

Why? Mostly my job I think. I work during prime hang-out-time. But also because my high school friends seem to be not doing much, and if they are doing something, they're too tired to still hang out by the time I get off work. Once upon a time, we'd hang out into the early hours of the morning...1am...2am...even 3am. I thought I'd be doing more of that as I entered my college years, not less. I guess I should just get used to it and stop complaining. But it's hard to give up on something that I miss so much.

But anyways, my co-workers invited me to dinner after work, which was cool. It felt good to be just hangin and talkin with people late on a warm summer night in a busy Downtown Palo Alto in a restaurant filled with lots of other people my age doing the same. Only wish I had more time to do that with my friends.