Tonight I felt like,

I am not as fun as a cornfield in Hollister.

Whice may be true.

But...I feel slighted, almost insulted.
Not so much because old plans were broken,
(I'm used to that)
But because I was left out of the new ones.
And I wonder if they ever planned on telling me.
Or if I would have been left hanging come next Friday.

Few actions can hurt me more than being left out.

So, yes. I went to LA this past weekend. I guess a good way to describe the trip is laid back and low key. Some good conversations, some good food, and a lot of hours spent in a car on the freeway or in LA traffic.

Highlight was Eric's mom's cooking, especially the homemade lumpia.

Almost-highlight was almost seeing Cal beat UCLA in overtime at the Rose Bowl. But that didn't happen, so it kinda ended up being a low-light, which sucks because it was the whole point of the trip, at least for me.

The weather didn't help either. Candice and I (even the SoCal guys at times) longed for the crisp cool October weather of the Bay Area. ("Where's the fog!") The middle of October and it's pushing 100 in LA.....It's just not right! I refused to pay $3.50 for a medium coke at the Rose Bowl, the result was I was thirsty for the rest of the day. No sunburn though. Woohoo.

Also, went to Hollywood on Friday night. Didn't see any movie stars. Almost saw a movie at the Chinese Theatre, but didn't. Someday.

~~~

On a completely different note, the CED almost screwed me again on Friday. Sending me back and forth like a retarded pinball between the City Planning and Architecture offices trying to figure out whether Astronomy counted for one of my graduation requirements the day before the drop deadline. The beaurocracy of the college is something else, a major pain in the ass, but luckily things ended up Ok this time around.

Also, I've done really well on all midterms (except Astro..pass/no pass..so..eh). If I manage to write good research papers, this semester could really pay off.

Also, I'm entering a Disney Imagineering design competition with Leo. It should be fun. Top-secret conceptual design phase right now, so I won't say more than that. Don't want you stealing our great ideas. Ya... you. You stealer you. But, it feels really good to be designing again. This semester, I've realized I can't spent my whole life just writing and researching. I need to have another outlet, I like drawing, making models, and the creativity involved in addressing design problems too much to drop it completely. So, urban design/architecture is now back in the picture some way or another.

That's all for now.

Back when things made sense...the last true Mtn. View v. Los Altos football game - 1981

I finally went to a Mountain View v. Los Altos football game tonight. As I always predicted, my parents stood in the end zone, extremely confused about which school to root for.

You'd think rooting for Mountain View would be a no-brainer for me and my family...welll...this is a bit confusing but let me try to explain...

Once upon a time (when my parents went to high school) there were three high schools in the Mtn. View-Los Altos Union High School District. They went to Mountain View, the district's oldest and most diverse high school (almost 50% minority students) located right in downtown. Then there was Los Altos High, home to mostly wealthy, White students from Los Altos. Finally, Awalt High, located in South Mountain View, with students from the more wealthy part of Mountain View and southern Los Altos.

In 1982, Mountain View High was closed as a cost cutting measure and a way to conform to state mandated racial integration of the district. Each school in a district needs to reflect the district-wide racial composition....this is a problem since Los Altos is a predominantly White and much of Mountain View is around 50% minorities, and we're lumped in the same district together.

Los Altos High and Awalt were integrated by splitting Mountain View's student body amongst the two schools. To help Mountain View cope with the loss of its school, Los Altos lost its old mascot, the Knight, and got Mountain View's colors and mascot, the Eagle. Awalt lost its name and became Mountain View High School, but kept its old colors and mascot, the Spartan. A line goes right down the middle of Mtn. View and Los Altos now, dividing the two cities in half so that each high school is about 50/50 from each city.

So, even though I live in the heart of MV, I would have went to Los Altos. Bleh.

For my parents and other relatives, this is all a very big deal. You have to remember that they came from an era when high school pride and pageantry was a much bigger deal then it is now. And...my dad was a football player and my Mom was in the school's drill team. The racial and class divisions between Mtn. View and Los Altos added fuel to the rivalry. Think of Mountain View as Cal, and Los Altos as Stanford, and you get the picture. They did NOT like Los Altos, and the feeling was mutual. The annual football game between the two schools,was thus, THE event of the year, and held at Foothill College at night.

So, for my parents and their fellow alumni, going to a MV v. LA game now is very confusing. The game is still at Foothill College at night, but everything else is all switched around. Do they root for their former arch-rival Los Altos, since it has their school's colors and mascot and represents our half of MV? Or do they root for their school's namesake, even though it has their other old rival's colors and mascot? Kinda hard to root for either school, since half of each student body is from Los Altos, and the rivarly between the two cities still kinda exists. They found some peace of mind by thinking how ticked off former LAHS Knights must be that Mtn. View kids have now invaded their alma mater.

All in all....the whole situation is absurd. Mountain View residents cheering for Los Altos High, Los Altos residents cheering for Mountain View High, alumni cheering for their old rival's mascots, and half of each crowd cheering against their own hometowns. So, unsure where to sit, we stood in the end zone and just watched the two crowds scream at each other from across the field. A Los Altos High School girl to her friend while walking by us: "I HATE Mountain View (referring to the high school)...but wait...what am I saying...I live there!"

While watching the game, we talked about how maybe the schools should be renamed...but decided that would just result in even more confusion for a new generation. Or, the district should be split by city boundaries so Mountain View students wouldn't need to be used to integrate Los Altos' high school, and each city could have a school of its own again. Fat chance that will ever happen.

But, I guess that in the end, everything worked out tonight. My parents' school's name, mascot, and colors did not loose.

...in other words...the game was a tie.

PPiplani: I agree.
Auto response from Nap98: Since most people in NorCal and the Bay Area did not support the recall, I say we split from SoCal and let them have their Governor Arnold all to themselves.

SarahElizabeth44: im with you nick
Auto response from Nap98: Since most people in NorCal and the Bay Area did not support the recall, I say we split from SoCal and let them have their Governor Arnold all to themselves.

Auto responce from Wahine50: "Nap98: Since most people in NorCal and the Bay Area did not support the recall, I say we split from SoCal and let them have their Governor Arnold all to themselves."

lbthekiller: hey hey...NORCAL is the one that sucks, not beloved socal
Auto response from Nap98: Since most people in NorCal and the Bay Area did not support the recall, I say we split from SoCal and let them have their Governor Arnold all to themselves.
lbthekiller: boo to you for that
lbthekiller: you think youre too good
lbthekiller: you are just blinded by the fact that NORCAL SUCKS

Looks like your out-voted Lesley.

"If it were up to the Bay Area, then Gray Davis would remain in the governor's mansion, early election returns showed.

The recall was losing by wide margins in eight of nine Bay Area counties. Local voters also favored Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante over Arnold Schwarzenegger as the best person to succeed Davis."

Bay Area doesn't follow the state trend / Recall of governor losing by wide margin as 8 of 9 counties vote to keep Davis
-San Francisco Chronicle


NorCal pride! Free NorCal from Conan the Barbarian.

Kimmybob1313: Californians have gone Mad

SarahElizabeth44: I hate arnold

Avengelyne01: save me

Wahine50: California has been terminated

Dotts123: i have never been so disgusted! eewww! I can never again feel proud to be a resident of california. Arnold???? REALLY PEOPLE???????? it is official then- you all are crazy!!! eewwww!

Nap98: movin to New Mexico

...Some away messages as word about the results of the recall sunk in.

Sadly folks, it looks like it'll be Governor Schwarzenegger signing our college diplomas.

But hey, Prop 54 didn't pass. Woohoo!

Also, who else hates that the news calls the election with only 4% of precincts reporting?!

Bleh.

Nap98: sarah, i hate to break it to you, but my architecture friends beat you to getting me drunk
SarahElizabeth44: NOOOO
Nap98: haha
SarahElizabeth44: damn it to hell
Nap98: yeah
SarahElizabeth44: well shit
Nap98: not very drunk though
Nap98: maybe your new goal is to get me smashed
SarahElizabeth44: ah ha!
SarahElizabeth44: i have a chance
Nap98: lol
SarahElizabeth44: that was always my goal

~

SarahElizabeth44: i cant understand wanting to stay in the same place all the time
Nap98: yeah i know
Nap98: even I get tired of mtn. view
Nap98: and thats sayin something
SarahElizabeth44: theres a million things i want to see and davis isnt cutting it
SarahElizabeth44: whoa
SarahElizabeth44: back up the train
Nap98: haha
SarahElizabeth44: i think theres a pig flying outside my window

...it's fun to catch up with old friends. And it's weird to think of Sarah as an old friend now. But hey, time flies by doesn't it?

On a similar note, Lauren P's birthday party was fun tonight. It was great to catch up with Hanah and meet her bf Andrew. Congrats to them on their one month, so glad they could both make it tonight.

...and to connect these two topics further, before I forget, Hanah if you're reading this, Sarah wanted me to tell you she says "hi and that she misses you."

Here's to rebuilding old bridges.

Go to Point Reyes with Lauren and Leo, or the Cal homecoming game? That was the decision of the day. And a tough one for me. But I made the right one, cause the trip to Pt. Reyes was awesome, and Cal ended up loosing.

While Leo and Lauren did a site analysis for their architecture project, I walked down 300 steps to the Point Reyes lighthouse. While goin down the really steep steps, I actually walked out of the fog that was rolling in and on to the edge huge cliff jutting out to the Pacific. There, you feel like your at the end of the world, must have been quite an expirience to live in that lighthouse when it was built in the 1870s. I talked to an older lady visiting from Norway as we made the long climb up to the top of the cliff. She was stunned that we had seals in the Pacific ocean. I like how people are so friendly out on the trails.

After that I convinced Leo and Lauren to go to the Tule Elk Reserve on the other side of the park because I read a whiteboard at the visitor center that said it was "rutting" season for the elk. (Which I guess is when the males fight each other with their antlers.) The prospect of elk locking horns was enough to get Leo and lauren to want to go. We took the 45 minute drive to get to that side of the park, and as soon as we entered the reserve we saw elk. No rutting, but that didn't matter, elk are cool.

At the reserve, we took a long run down to a large beach, there were like two other people there. It is one of the most stunning beaches I've ever been too. Huge rocky crags jutting out into the sea, a wide strech of sand, grayish blue water, surrounded by tall orange cliffs. Awesome. We climbed around the rocks for a while, relaxed, ran around, and just had a great time.

We left the beach after the sun had set, and by the time we got to the car it was dark and the fog had rolled in. As we were driving back to civilization, it was like we were on a safarri, we saw silouttes of lots of deer, owls flying along side the car, a rabbitt cross the street, and lots and lots of cows.

All in all, it was a great escape from Berkeley, I am so glad I went. Yeah.

I voted today!

...and I have the feeling I'm bound to be disappointed come next Wednesday.

grrr.

I'll summarize the amazing expirience of seeing Cal beat U$C as freakin awesome. Wow.

Celebrating my dad's birthday by eating Zachary's Pizza for dinner and Fenton's for lunch the next day....Once again, Wow. Yum.

Today is the first day of October. I've survived September as well as the first flurry of midterms. Now things will slow down a little, but the work will not stop. Three research projects, yeesh. We'll see how that goes.

Halloween's coming up and my family's haunted house tradition may end this year since Saint Francis' homecoming game is on Halloween night, meaning my brother and his friends won't be available to help out. Which means a Halloween in Berkeley?...ehhh. I do not take the death of a tradition lightly.

I have not been home in three weeks. Quite a strech for me. And it looks like I won't be home next weekend because it's Cal's homecoming, and the next weekend because I need to go to an Astronomy symposium for my Astro class, or the next weekend because we're planning on going to UCLA.

Wow. Huh.... That just isn't going to work. I'll get back to Mtn. View sooner. Or else my grandma will start calling and giving me guilt trips.