Another Christmas, come and gone. My 21st Christmas. Jeesh. Does the 1st one really count? I was less than two months old. Guess so.

It was a nice Christmas. I got to spend some real quality time with my friends during the week before. Kim, Matt, Martin, Josh, lil bro Chris, and I had a fun dinner at Taxi's in Palo Alto on Saturday. Then we all packed into Matt's car to see Christmas lights in Monte Sereno (crazy house there) and Willow Glen. Then Jamie dropped by and we all had a nice get together at my house, played yet another version of Uno and then a great game of Cranium.

Sunday was a false tamale day. No one showed up so we moved it to Monday. Had a birthday dinner for my aunty Cheri. At night, my family and grandparents went to see Christmas lights in Monte Sereno (that crazy house again) and in Vasona Park. After complaining about a guy honking at us on the way there because we were all stuck in a traffic jam......dad goes ahead and accidently sets of the honking siren alarm of my grandpa's van secons after entering the park to see the light displays. That kept us laughing for a good five minutes.

Monday was tamale day. Made tamales. Monday night, Jen rounded me, Martin, and Jamie up....Chris tagged along again too. We had a fun time at Christmas in the Park in Downtown SJ. Then we met up with Josh at Jamie's house to decorate (and eat) Jamie's mom's great Gingerbread cookies. Jamie refused to allow Chris's "evil nick" gingerbread man to remain in her house.....i still don't think he's been eaten yet.

Christmas Eve was different this year because my cousin Jason and his wife Liz were in Oregon with their baby for the first year. We missed having them here. Another break from tradition was a visit my uncle's godparents house. They're really nice people with heavy Italian accents and great senses of humor. When my grandpa Perry was alive, they were best friends with my grandparents. Their house has been completely unchanged since the 1960s.....so cool.....especialy since everything looks new even though it has to be 40+ years old. It was seriously like stepping into a photo from the 60s and sitting down in it for half an hour.

Christmas Day....was something different. All the normal traditions, a tamale dinner, a few games of Santa bingo, a brutal (but fun) game of spoons and uno, pictures on the staircase, video games with my cousins and brother, presents. But thoughts of certain people that were not there put an unexpected damper on the early evening, and thoughts of people that might not be there in the coming years put what many felt was an inappropriate and untimely cloud over the end of what otherwise was a fun family celebration.

Ah well. Nothing is ever perfect, especially in a big family. At least for me, the good outweighed the bad. So much to be thankful for on this Christmas, for my family, my friends, and the great memories we can share from the past few days. (A lot of nice presents too.) Plus, I have more than a month of beautiful beautiful break ahead of me!

So...that's it. A Merry Christmas to All, and to all, a Good Night.

Back in Berkeley for one more day this semester. I don't feel like studying for my city planning final. But, I know if I don't I'm bound to get screwed over and loose my chance to truly dominate this class. Huh. So this will be a short entry.

Monday night went out with Matt, Kim, Martin, and Julia. Tried to go to San Jose's Cheesecake factory...too crowded....ended up at Chevy's (blah). Saw "Anaylze That" fun movie, more fun just to hang out with some of the group again. Looks like a repeat of summer though, Sarah's off to Colorado, Rachel is out in Auburn, Jen is going to be busy or in San Diego. Hopefully those of us that are still in the Valley of Heart's Delight will be able to have a lot of good times over the next month.

Tuesday....didn't do much, went to Shoreline with my grandpa, just walked around to enjoy the brief but beautiful gaps of sunlight between this on-going series of storms. Apparently there's snow on Mt. Hamilton today...and of course I'm in Berkeley. I hope it stays through tomorrow so I can see it....(and maybe try to go up to it).

Sleigh bells ring....are you listening? In the lane...snow is glistening.

Well....the sleigh bells are actually Snicker's new dog collar(it has chili peppers on it! ha!) and ID tag cling-clanging against each other....and the lane is indeed glistening....but from the sea of water that has fallen here since Friday. This storm has been crazy, 50-60mph winds, thunder, lightening, trees are falling everywhere, one of my grandpa's 30 year old rose bushes snapped over, and the power went out most of Saturday evening. But it came back on that night, thank you PG&E. Ah....but it is wonderful to be home.

All the things that I longed for a week ago in this blog have happened in the last two days. I'm typing this in the living room, surrounded by all the decorations and lights that make my house so special during this time of the year. My dad made hot chocolate for my family, we watched a Muppet Christmas Carol (we swear by this version of the classic)....we even braved the rain and went cruising for holiday lights as we waited for our Round Table Pizza to be done. Yum. That was all just yesterday.

Today we've all been working on putting up the Nacimiento next door at my grandparent's house, a family tradition for over 50 years. The Nacimiento is something that my parents, brother and I put up. My grandma used to put it up, but before that my great-grandma put it up. Basically, the nacimiento is a nativity scene. But it's the Mexican version of a nativity scene.....and we go all out. The thing is three tiers of heirloom figures. On the top tier are my great-grandma's manger figures and dozens of "sparkle town" houses she bought in the 1940s...and that we now find out are now valuable collectibles. Perhaps the most impressive feature is the cloth that drapes the entire scene, which we hang hundreds of glass ornaments from. Apparently my great-grandma started doing this, the ornaments represented stars. My dad pointed out today how cool it was that we were hanging up the exact same ornaments my great-grandma hung up so many years ago. It is very cool.

The nacimiento is a lot of work, especially for my mom, who does most of the work. The rest of us have tried to help out a lot more over the past few years so things are a little balanced now. We started it last night and have been working on it all day today....and it's only about half way done. Sometimes people don't realize how much work and time it takes. I remember a few years ago my parents actually considered not putting the Nacimiento up. Too much work, and it seemed like no one else in the family cared about it. But we decided that if anything, it was a really important tradition for us and my grandparents, even if the rest of the Sias bunch took it for granted. And sometimes it feels like they do, and that still dissapoints us.

Yesterday, one of my aunts made a slightly upsetting remark about why we even bother putting it up if its so much work. She probably wasn't entirely serious...but it's still bugs. The Nacimiento is about our culture, and putting it up is a way to honor our culture and our family's past. I'm sure if we didn't put it up, most everyone would miss it and complain that it wasn't there come Tamale Day...(if they even show up on Tamale day). If only they could be a little more appreciative and a little more helpful without us having to take it away. This really should be a thing that the whole family is a part of and trys to take some ownership of. So cousins, if you are reading this....the Nacimiento isn't just my family's tradition, its yours too.

Friday the 13th is over. I survived. My grades? Completely up in the air. But it's over....can't do anything about them now. My fate is sealed. So....although I'd rather try to not remember the beginning of the day...the end of the day is something I do not want to ever forget.

I did end up going to San Francisco for dinner tonight with some of my closest friends from studio. We went to celebrate our collective survival, and for me, it was a closing to my architecture studio career here at Berkeley. A bittersweet occassion. Went to Cheesecake factory, Lauren ended up driving some of us. The rain even died down, and the city was all lit up...which was so nice to see (despite the new neon wreaths that replaced the old real one's in Macy's windows on Union Square..Lauren and Leo know how I feel about that.....hehe) We had a really nice, laid back time. I even got my "tons o' fun burger" before the semester ended. We talked and talked about everything and anything, and when the convo died....I'd bring up some random subject like how i'm wearing mismatched socks today....and things would start back up again.

Funny how suddenly friends that were new last year, are good ol' friends at the end of this semester. Leo, Lauren and I, the studio triad (a Celtic thing according to Rory), go waaaaaay back (to CalSo....Cal Student Orientation). Funny how these people that I randomly met ended up being two of my closest friends at Cal. If you two happen to read this....I really appreciate you guys and the times we've spent together. And the people I've met this semester from my studio are just awesome. Lot's of funny and fun memories I'll never forget. Heck, they even dubbed me with a completely random nickname which I shall not utter here cause I know some of my other friends will adopt it to annoy me. Heck, Flavia and Rory even made up a song. It's sad that I won't have studio or perhaps even classes with many of them again....I really hope we are able to stay close.

The get together at Lauren's house after was also fun in a quirky way. Flavia's instinence that I tell my ghost stories, after I claimed that I tell good ghost stories, completely changed the tone of the evening, and I think most of us that were awake when we started talking about that subject are thoroughly freaked out tonight. But that's always a fun conversation to have....or at least exciting. I'm thankful Erik hasn't gone home yet because I wouldn't do so well being in the room alone right now. I hope Lauren sleeps well in her old somewhat haunted looking house, Flavia too. On the ride home, everything was "creepy" or "freaking us out." Hehe. Good times.

It's almost four o' clock am. I'm going back to Mountain View in the morning.and staying there until at most Tuesday (last final on Wed.) I'm starting to get tired just now. Today has been a very long day. But no matter what happens with my finals, it will be a good long day to remember thanks to the people that helped get me through some of the hardest work I've ever done. Thanks guys. Goodnight.

Ya, I'm in a strange mood. I'm easily irretable and agitated. I find myself both tired and awake, bored and overwhelmed at the same time. Studio is over and this is the aftermath of working non stop for the past month. I feel slightly disconnected from my non-studio friends here, and I really don't have the time to reconnect because the gigantic dark cloud of Friday the 13th, the day of my stats and music final, looms ahead.

The fact that all my grades (except city planning....A+ baby) are entirely up in the air right now has me very nervous. I've worked so damn hard in stats and studio, and to be unsure what my grades are this late is tough. And my music class was a joke, I felt like I wasted units taking that class. Now I have to force myself to care about it for the sake of my GPA. These two finals are very important, and they both are on the same day. I'm having a tough time figuring out how to balance the study load.

And of course there's this weird feeling of being homesick from studio......you spend so much time with one group of people, and even though it can unbelievably hardwork, you still miss their company. It's like coming home from war. What I really need is a break between now and finals to readjust, but I won't get that. Gotta shift gears and jump right from the studio to the study wagon.

And ...being in Berkeley during the month of Decemeber is painfull. It just does not feel like Christmas here, especially in the dorms. There are no Christmas lights except on Telegraph Avenue (which smells like shit when it rains....which it is). TV Christmas specials, movies, and songs seem hallow when your watching or listening to them by yourself in your dorm room instead of with family and surrounded by the warmth of home.

And there's so many little things at home that I miss. My mom does a fantastic job of decorating the house despite her tough work schedule, and I miss seeing that when I wake up in the morning. I'd like to help set up the Nacimiento. I'd like to have my dad make hot chocolate in the evening and watch Christmas movies with my whole family. I'd like to go outside and stand in front of our house and admire the lights and explore other neighborhoods to see how they've decorated for the holidays. Heck, I even have a hankering to go to church. And most importantly, I'd like to be there for my grandparents, especially my grandpa, during this tough week for him. Time is precious, especially time with my grandparents.

So I'm anxious to go home. Even more anxious to get these finals over with. Come Friday some huge weights will be lifted off my shoulders, and if things go as planned I might go to SF with my studio section to celebrate our collective survival and the holidays. Maybe then it'll start to feel a little more like Christmas here in Berkeley.

EricE823: haha nick
Auto response from Nap98: how's this for jargon:

I'm up at the sleep deprivation chamber (aka wuster) deconstructing my final model because the tectonics of my material selection was not architectonic enough. My selection of tan museum board for ground treatment clouded the original poetics of my parti and I need to build a new one out of brown chip board with acetone transfer on my old topo.

whoopa.
EricE823: your away message is hilarious, although i feel for you
EricE823: : what the hell are u talking about?
EricE823: : crazy architecture jargon

For those of you that were curious, the acetone transfer was a bust and I just decided to use the back of my biggie jumbo as the ground cover for my model.

(And before any of you dirty dirty people say anything, a biggie jumbo is a large drawing pad.)

Final project status:
Site Plan - done
Cross Section - done
Longitudal Section - done
Final model - far frome done.
Presentation board - what presentation board?
Presentation Outline - I have to say something?

The pendulem swings again. I either hate studio or I sorta like it. Right now I sorta like it. I still have four days to finish my final project so things aren't as rushed as usual. One of the four things I have due, a section, was completed and to my amazement....given the thumbs up by my section leader.

I enjoy spending time with my studio friends. We can talk about anything and everything....even our projects and architecture sometimes. I'll miss them a lot. It's weird that this is my last week.

I told my grandpa about studio, he said it sounds a lot like going to war. I agree! My studio section is my platoon. We go through hell together. My section leader, our my sergeant. We love to hate him, but in reality he's a good guy who wants to guide us and help us out. Our mission in this war....finish our final projects before Sunday. Hopefully I can yell mission accomplished before Saturday night.

So the weekend was good, but....it sorta had a bittersweet feeling to it. First of all....it just plain sucks that I have to be in Berkeley at all during the month of December, I do not want to be here/studio. And on another level.....either I'm paying more attention, or life in my family is moving more quickly. Traditions are changing, lives are shifting. It's tough to deal with, because I grew up for so long thinking that my family was something that would never change. I was lucky enough to never have that illusion broken by something like divorce or tragedy.

But the years are going by....no one can stop or deny the changes they bring. I see my grandparent's getting older. My grandma more forgetful, my grandpa not as strong as he used to be...and what's harder is that now they're both admitting and realizing it. Thanksgiving was moved to my oldest (or longest loved) aunt's house. It was nice, my aunt, uncle, and cousins did a good job setting the place up. But Thanksgiving was the last major holiday at my house/grandparents house. Until last year, our compound used to be the hub of our family's life throughout the year. Birthday parties, random get togethers and the two biggies, Easter and Thanksgiving. It was great to have everyone there, to have both houses and yards filled with family and friends. I think we're going to work on getting either Thanksgiving or Easter back there.

Regardless of where these celebrations are, I try to remind myself how great it is that we have them at all. It's wonderful that the 30+ members of my family and our close friends still live close enough, and get along well enough, to come together throughout the year and cram ourselves into some relative's house for a day. Except for one of my cousin's and her new husband, every member of my mom's family made an appereance at Thanksgiving this year. The location might change, but what really matters is that we stick together and work to keep our traditions going in some shape or form. Sappy yes. But also very true.

So anyways...all this talk about family and the holidays has me thinking about a song from my favorite Christmas movie, A Muppet Christmas Carol. (If you haven't seen this movie.....I have the DVD and I plan on watching it some time this week or next to cheer me up after studio has knocked me to the ground and grinded my face against the floor littered with the scraps of my original "too Cancun-resort like" model.)

So here are the wise words right from Kermit's mouth:

Life is full of sweet surprises, everday's a gift.
The sun comes up and I can feel it lift my spirit.
It fills me up with laughter, fills me up with song,
I look into the eyes of love and know where I belong.

Bless us all, who gather here
The loving family I hold dear
No place on Earth, compares with home,
And every path will bring me back from where I roam.

Bless us all, that as we live.
We always comfort and forgive.
We have so much, that we can share.
With those in need we see around us everywhere.

Let us always love each other,
Lead us towards the light.
Let us hear the voice of reason,
Singing in the night.

Let us run from anger
And catch us when we fall.
Teach us in our dreams and please, yes, please,
Bless us one and all.

Bless us all, with playful years.
With noisy games and joyous tears,
We reach for you, and we stand tall
And in our prayers and dreams we ask you bless us all."

Even the wind was against us. It came through a crack in the window and stole Phyllis's plan from her desk. Lifted it up in the air and out the window and into the night. I didn't get any work done tonight. I tried...but things just didn't work out.

I'll probably be in studio from 12pm to 12am tomorrow. Argh. I want to go home.

This comes to you courtesy of my friend Allison's profile (who happens to be in the Cal band):

OK, this comes from stanfurd's student newspaper:
"We see a rivalry, that pits … an elite institution populated by erudite, sophisticated, not to mention well-groomed, students against a dirty, overcrowded lot of neo-hippies."
And this is what we have to say :
"So they hate us because we're poor and, reading between the lines, probably not white. . .But I can't hate them because they're Banana Republic-wearing country clubbers that need two maids and a butler to make sure they hit the urinal. . . .Congratulations on winning the rich daddy lottery; my admiration knows no bounds."

Hehe. Still living yesterday up today. After the game we chowed down on pizza and hit the Southside to grab some dessert and see the remains of the goal posts. Went to bed around 1ish...earlier than usual, all that cheering had me tired and my voice is still a little hoarse over 24 hours later.

Had to go to studio today and do fun things like paper mache a model of a mountain. I was literaly banging my head on my desk, half asleep....by 5:00. Luckily, Candice planned a dinner excursion to the City. I was whisked away from the grey monster that is Wurster Hall, and taken across the bay where it seems Christmas comes early. The Embarcadero Center was all lit up, the Pyramid had its green top on, and Pier 39 had its "raver" Christmas tree up.....(it had strobe lights in it). I now have a case of pre-Thanksgiving Christmas Spirit. Oh well, Let the Season Take Wing! (Happy Thanksgiving?)

We had a nice dinner at Bubba Gumps, and played an awesome game on the car ride back. The game was quite simple, taught to me by my cousins Tiffany and Jason during our Oregon trip this summer. Name a vegetable without the letter C in it. Everyone takes their turn, and is eliminated when they are stumped or utter a vegetable that starts with C. Go fig..that in a moment of pressure I say Chili....which probably isn't even a vegetable anyways.

We added the extra element of being forced to grab one of Lauren's gross flavored Berttie-Bott/Harry Potter jelly beans when we were eliminated. Candice's friend, Andy, got something foul that was eventually spit out the window. I got ear wax. Salty. Kay got vomit (spit out the window.) Yum. No one got Sardine or Grass..lucky for us.

Candice took me back to Wurster where I finished up my drawings and talked to my Professor who had come in to check on us. He seems to like what I'm doing and gave me a pat on the back. Phew. (He made someone else cry.) Came home at midnight...and that was my day.

This weekend feels like it was a week long....and yet it came and went so fast. A good..full....weekend....an extreemly Berkeley weekend that surpassed all my expectations from last week. Now all I got is this week to get through before a much needed Thanksgiving break and extended weekend at home in good ol' Mountain View.

WE WON! We got the axe! The loosing streak is over. It's done....Stanfurd has been defeated, their fickle fans have all returned to Shallow Alto. Those pompous SOBs finally got what was coming to them. (see previous entry about Lesley's Field Hockey Game.) "Accepted..Rejected" my ass. I never applied to your country club.

The Cal fans were pumped from the get go. The crowd was a roaring sea of blue. From the star spangled banner ("Oh say can UC!") to the roaring "Ohhhhhhhhhs" to the awesome card stunts... we were into it. An amazing wave was performed that went around the entire stadium more than a dozen times and was properly booed when it reached a certain section. The "Hey Alumni...Go! (Bears!)" chant rocked Memorial every time. And the Cal band ...the Cal Band was GREAT...once again they showed the farm what a REAL college band looks like. The team heard us all...and played their hardest... 30-7. They ended something that had gone on for way too long....a seven year loosing streak over.

The field was rushed by what must have been over 10,000 Cal fans...I was one of them. Both of the goal posts were toppeled and carried out of the stadium with dozens of people on them, down Bancroft, and on to Sproul Plaza. The fans cheered louder than they ever have before..."You know it...You know the story...You tell the whole DAMN world this BEAR TERRITORY."

We got the Axe. Why? Because we wanted it more.

Go Bears!

Today (yesterday now....but you get the idea) was interesting...very Berkeley for some reason. Things started out great with stats lecture getting out 15 minutes early. I spent the extra time sitting at my favorite spot under the Redwoods and Oaks along a quiet strech of Strawberry Creek reading the Heuristic Squelch. It was a beautiful day and it was nice to finally have some time to enjoy it.

After that I went to Music lecture which was actually entertaining today (what a change). We had a special performance by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players who performed a brand new piece for the first time by an emerging Chinese-American composer Zhao Long. We were the first audience to ever hear it performed...and that's cool...very Berkeley.

Right after that I grabbed myself some lunch from the GBC (Golden Bear Cafe for those not in the know) and sat on one of the terraced seating areas over lower Sproul Plaza. The normal sounds of protest emanating from the steps of Sproul Hall (today's was for increasing minority enrollment..very Berkeley) were drowned out by the soothing sounds of the Berkeley Jazz Group playing down in lower Sproul...also very Berkeley. It was a pleasant lunch and I took my time.

So then it was off to studio. Bah. Things took a lot longer than I thought.....I had a war with my cardboard topographic model. I just started cutting it up until it finally looked good. I also saw the last few seconds of Phyllis' fall to the ground after she fell asleep standing up. No joke. She blacked out and crashed into the chairs. Loud enough for me to hear while listening to Santana on my headphones. Aye...what studio does to us! Lauren brought Leo, Jacqueline, and I dinner from Gypsies....really nice of her. We ate in the seminar room and fantasized about going to Europe together over the summer. If only. Then it was back to work for another hour or so.

Got home in time for Buffy and Smallville....the two only shows in prime-time I ever make sure I'm home to watch. Spent the rest of the night struggling with the Stats homework I just didn't have the drive to do after working so much over the past few days. I'm spent. And I still have a long way to go with studio.

Erik asked me yesterday how I've managed to maintain my sanity with so many hours clocked on the 8th floor of Wurster since Saturday. I guess it's a gigantic balancing act..I'm tired...but I think I've been able to work in some R&R into these increasingly busy days. And I remind myself that this is an experience I won't have again....in the end I feel like I'll the hard work will have been well worth it...if not in the actual design skills I'm supposed to be learning, but at least in the memories and friendships I've been able to form.

I was in studio from 10:30 to 1:10 today....well yesterday now. I wasn't really joking when I said "see ya tomorrow" to Erik as I walked out the door in the morning. My away message for the entire day explained it all:

something about a funnel. pools inside the walls of the funnel. maybe having some pools outside the funnel? folding people in and bringing them back out. parti. meaning. poetics. tectonics. cardboard. sobo. zap-a -gap (aka cancer in a bottle). hours of time in the same place. cutting. pasting. missing my grandma's 75th birthday party. pounding my head on my desk.

bull shit.
(studio)

But it's all good.....I got everything I needed done...and I'm pretty happy with what I did. And there are still about 30 people working there now....so I don't feel so bad. Had lunch out Blondies....dinner...hot chocolate and a morning bun. I'm tired and hungry. Too tired to go to bed...too late to eat. Need to unwind somehow....hence the blog entry.

Friday was nice. Although, Mel's was a little strange...the food tasted bland and the milkshakes were scary. New management I guess. Harry Potter was a fun movie. Perhaps better than the first. I've never seen so many commercials before a movie. It took about 20 minutes (including previews) before the movie actually started.

Saturday's game was awful. The crowd was out of it, the band was out of it, and the team was waaaay out of it. But...the Big Game is only bigger now. Had dinner at the Spaghetti Factory in Jack London Square with my bro Chris and my Dad. That was really nice. Took us forever to get there though, traffic and a reallly really long freight train. Got to listen to Stanfurd loose their game and the oh-so-depressed post-game show while we were driving there. That made up for it. Hehe.

Ok. Sleep time.

Well, I'd say it was a great weekend. Warning: This is a long entry....and I'm writing it more for my own purposes of remembering this weekend rather then to entertain you...whoever you are. But it's here to read if you want to...so here I go.

The weekend kicked off on Thursday with a surprisingly well attended Centennial Celebration for Mountain View at the new Centennial Plaza and train depot. To my surprise, hundreds of people braved the pouring rain to stand outside or in tents to celebrate Mountain View's 100th. The rain certaintly made the event memorable....people were in good spirits and managed to make the best of it.

The plaza looks great, it's cool to see all the hard work that the committee put into this come together. The inscribed bricks were a great idea. I've got a picture of my family's and my grandparent's on the wall here in Berkeley. A lot of the ideas I came up with two years ago became realities. The plaque about the train depot's history was my idea, I even helped write it, and now its there on the train depot. The archway that was cut from the budget and which I asked the committee to bring back using alternative funding is there, and it looks awesome. To some extent, the name of the plaza, "Centennial Plaza" was my idea, although others probably thought of it as well.

I also suggested that grammar school kids write about what they think MV will be like in 2052, and there they were, on fancy display boards for everyone to read during the event. Funny thing was.....except for references to cell-phones, the essays could have been written by kids in the 1950s....with visions of skyscrapers, hoover cars, and robots that will do everything for us. Every once and a while there was an essay that seemed to hit the nail on the head. My favorite line....."And Mountain View will NEVER be renamed Mountain Dew." Phew...I was worried about that.

After the plaza dedication I got to go to a special reception, which was also a nice event.Saw lots of familiar faces from the city and from the Youth Advisory Group. Friday was a lot more laid back. I took a nice long walk in the rain along the Stevens Creek trail. The creek was full and the trees were turning colors. Took some nice pictures and really got into the spirit of fall. Went to lunch with my mom at Marie Calender's right after. Got so full, that when I went to dinner with Matt and Kim at Chili's all I wanted was a cup of clam chowder. But...CHILI's doesn't serve Clam Chowder. Boo to them. We went and saw the Santa Clause II after that. It's a nice Christmas movie, just as good, if not better, than the original.

Saturday was my birthday. Went to breakfast at the Los Altos Coffee Shop with my parents. Then went on a drive with my dad around Downtown San Jose and up Mount Hamilton Road to see the valley. Got a hot dog at Mark's Hot Dog's on Alum Rock. Jeesh, those are good hot dogs....and the fact that the hot dog stand is a giant orange built in the 1930s only makes the expirience better. My b-day dinner at the Spaghetti Factory was a lot of fun, and it was great to see so many of us together at one table (26 to be exact). Everyone had a really fun time.

Sunday my parents and I visited Santana Row in San Jose. Well....I was scepticle at first, but Santana Row is really nice. Santana Row is basically a mini-city within a city, with a hotel, open space, a movie theater, stores, restaurants, and high density housing all tied together in large historic-looking buildings that mimic a traditional downtown. It's right across the street from Valley Fair and the Winchester Mystery House. It offers the type of environment that Downtown San Jose SHOULD offer. It's friendly, and vibrant, and exciting. Most of the stores were too upscale for our taste or budget (or to ever locate in Downtown), but the restaurants looked good and the atmosphere was worth the visit alone. Another notch in San Jose's belt, and hopefully a wake up call to all those planners that are working on Downtown. Went to TGIF with the parents after, and once again was denied my clam chowder fix. Humph.

Monday was a beautiful day weather wise. Crisp and clear. Ran a few errands with my mom and then we had lunch at the Lakeside Cafe at Shoreline Park. That cafe has to have one of the nicest views in all of the South Bay. Good lunch. The rest of the day was spent working on homework....and then making my way back to Berkeley for another fun filled week of school. Woohoo. Oh well, before I know it Thanksgiving will be here, and then Christmas. All right. That's it. Phew. A good...long..weekend!

Happy Birthday to the best city I've EVER lived in! Woohoo to Mountain View....otherwise known as the Happiest Place on Earth. 100 years on this very day. I've got my Centennial Committee Shirt on, my jacket and umbrella..... I'm ready to brave the first storm of the season to celebrate the final Centennial Event of the year. Get to see the new Centennial Plaza, my family's inscribed bricks, and the new train station...a replica of the historic train depot built in 1888. Here's to historic architecture! Eat that Bill.

I was appointed by the mayor of the city to the Centennial Celebration Planning Committee back when I was in high school. How weird that this date is finally here. I remember being a young teen and realizing that my 20th birthday would be two days after MV's 100th. Jeesh...20! I thought. That's a whole new decade. Ack! The same thoughts go through my mind right now.

Hmm.....it sure is pouring outside. Unfair. So conflicted! Usually the first rain of the season is something I really enjoy. Now it's just...well...raining on my city's parade. Ah well!

Dia de los Muertos. It's a good tradition....and it's not just the Mexican version of Halloween. Dia de los Muertos acknowledges death as a part of life. It's an annual event where Mexicans and Mexican-Americans celebrate those that have passed away with symbolic alters, funny skeleton figures, special foods, and in some areas a trip to the graveyard for a nightime picnic. It's a healthy way of mourning and coming to grasp with our own mortality. Like most Mexican traditions, its a mix of ancient Aztec culture and Catholic/Spanish traditions.

My uncle, who lives next door to me in my grandparents' house, sets up an alter every year. It has pictures of members of our family who have passed away, yellow marigolds, skeleton figures, candles, and incense. There are also offerings to the dead, pan de los muertos....bread of the dead. According to tradition, on November 1st the souls of children that have passed away come and eat the "spirit of the bread." Then on November 2nd the souls of adults come. My uncle told me last year that he heard voices and noises outside his window last year....said he thinks we had some spirited visitors to the alter.

Why not?

Happy Halloween! I can't believe Halloween has already come...and almost gone. The haunted house was great this year, first time we had lines of people waiting outside the door. I'm glad Kay, Candice, and Erik made it down....specially since my two oldest friends forgot they had told me they'd come.....like they had for the past 5 (or 7) years and went to Cal Poly instead....oh well.

Kay, Candice, Erik, Joella, and I tried our best to run it when my dad, Chris, and his friends were gone....we did our best! First group of people we got, a bunch of 9 year old girls....everything didn't work. They came out of there yelling it wasn't scary at all. Second group we scared em good! Ha! All together I think we gave away over 65 treat bags of candy, and dozens of individual pieces after that. I wouldn't be surprised if about 100 people came this year!

Mountain View is a great place to be at Halloween now. There are at least four haunted houses in the city, one that is at Haunted Mansion-level when it comes to technology and special effects. It was great to see all the streets lined with the shadows of trick-or-treaters and families, to see pumpkins glowing on so many front porches, and to hear laughter.....and the occasional scream.

Whew. Where did that weekend go? Even with the extra hour it was way too short. My home is all decked out for Halloween, the haunted house is half way set up, La Llorona is ready to scare the neighborhood kids. Went to a birthday party for my little cousin Angelica. She turned 6. Erik got to meet most of my mom's side....and even baptised my Aunt Lydia with diet coke by letting a basketball slip past his hands and on to a table full of drinks that my Aunt was sitting at.

Got to see Lesley play field hockey against Stanfurd. What can I say except...wow, boo to Stanfurd. This lady sitting next to Erik and I, all decked out in a fancy Stanfurd vest was an living breathing steriotype of a Stanfurd fan.

Excerpts from her conversation with a friend sitting next to her:

"(so and so) FINE-AL-LEEEE bought a new house. Her house in Cupertino was sooo tiny....it only had THREE Bedrooms and TWO Baths you know. Can you imagine, it didn't even have a den."

"It is soo great to have her with us (referring to her maid). We took her with us to Mexico City. It was great because she speaks the languague of course, and was able to help us find our way around. I mean noooo one speaks a WORD of English down there!"

(Blissfully ignorant of the fact that there are groups of UCSB fans sitting around her as the score approaches 11-0 Stanford): "This is a wonderful game! It is just great that all the freshman get to play against this club team. (yells) GO FRESHMAN!"

....and so on. We had better win the Big Game.

The homecoming game was awesome! Just awesome. Cal beat UCLA! We rushed the field at the end of the game and celebrated. It was so much fun. I saw one of the football players and realized I went to school with him in kindergarten, and he was one year ahead of me for the rest of school. So I shook his hand and said hi. I hope we can rush the field again come November 23. We Want the Axe!

Good news on the studio front. My project was extended till Wednesday! Bad news why, a girl in another section cut herself pretty bad in the shop....but didn't loose any fingers or anything luckily. However, it caused the shop to close down for a day,....which made it impossible for a lot of the class to finish their projects. I was going to go home tonight, but decided it'd be better to just stay here for the weekend and catch up.

Good news on the City Planning class front too, I got a 23/25 when the curve made a 17 an A. Let's hope I did something similar in stats...by some miracle.

Good times.

So, midterms have come and gone. All two of them. Lucky me. I have no idea how I did on either of them. Not fun. I have a bad feeling about my Stats midterm, and a slightly optomistic feeling about my City Planning midterm.

But...I really don't have too much time to think about them. After classes today it was off to studio for me. Where I remained, with a nice break to celebrate Ryan's birthday, until midnight. It was nice to have the whole group together. Hope we do it a lot more often. Erik and Ryan came to visit me at Wurster and walk home with me after they went to the RSF. Thanks guys.

My goal: finish my model tomorrow and finish my presentation board by 4:00pm on Saturday! Will I do it? Check back on Sunday to find out....