Party, Hiking, Art, FIFA, Observant, and Alien

Recap of 4th of July The 4th of July was a lot fun. It wasn’t even foggy in the morning, although the fog returned in the evening just in time for the fireworks. So, I skip the fireworks altogether. I went to East Bay and swam with the boys in an outdoor, but heated pool. The water was fresh, the sun was strong, and the mood was relaxing. I am glad that the pool is heated, because the wind picked up later after I did about 30 laps. By the end of my 50 laps, I could hardly get out of the pool because staying inside the water was the only way to keep myself warm. The party at Galen’s house was crazy. I didn’t count, but it seems like almost 100 people. I had blast talking to old friends, and made a few new ones. I probably had too much to drink that night. The next morning, I could not recollect how I got out Alex’s car and walked into my apartment, showered, emailed before I went to bed. But, no hangover. The next day, I even cooked couple dishes and brought them to Frank’s place for a potluck with a bunch friends. So everything is back to normal. Busy at Work Although this past workweek started on Tuesday, it seemed incredible long. A few bugs make me even dream about how to fix them. It seemed once I sat into my chair, I hardly got up for a long time. When I heard some noise at the window, I got up to see what happened—a great time for me to get up and move around. Two workers were cleaning the office exterior window. I would never ever take a job like that. This is also why I hate those amusement park rides. I am too scared of height. 7974 That’s how many steps the pedometer counted today from I got off the bus at Milok Trail, hiked to the top of the hill, then came down to the bottom of hill, and arrived the Rodeo Beach. I thought it should have been more. It’s about 3.5 miles and it took me about an hour. I am sure my legs and butt will be sore again tomorrow. On the way, it was quite foggy, but very cool. So it’s a pleasant hike. There are more wild flowers everywhere, but this red colored one stands out, as if they group together want to make a statement. Not sure why, but when I snapped that picture, I thought of them as Lady Gaga. He he… Being Observant I like to observe people when I go around in the City. It’s fascinating to speculate in my mind what their life stories might be. Couple stories from last week. Little Boy and His Bus Pass One day last week when I was on a bus home, a little 3 or 4 year old Chinese boy sitting on his grandma’s lap and holding her MUNI pass. She wants get it from him, he held it tight and wouldn’t give it to her. However, after one block, he forgot about the pass. I had a feeling that he would drop the pass eventually. At next block, his grandma got up and tried to get off the bus with the little boy, and her groceries. Sure enough, the boy dropped the MUNI pass on the floor. I picked it up and gave to her before she got off the bus. If I had not observing them, she would have lost the bus pass… Shitty Advice On Saturday, I was having lunch in a restaurant in Castro. I sat by a window so I can people watching on the sidewalk. Below the window I sat, a blond young guy sitting on the sidewalk panhandling. However, his tacit is a little clever. He keeps saying this to people walking by: "$1 for shitty advice, $2 for better ones." Although not everyone stopped for an advice from him, many did have a smile on their face. One guy stopped and gave him a cigarette. Then, another Asian girl stopped and handed him $5, also without getting any advice from him. After she left, I saw him rolling that $5 bill into a roll of cash he took out from his pocket. There were plenty $10 bills in that roll. Hmm… easy money? During the whole time, this blond kid had no idea that I was observing him behind where he sat. Oh, I also saw an older guy, perhaps in his 60s walked by. Why is he special? Well, he was wearing regular jeans and button down shirt. However, he was wearing a pair of woman’s high heel shoes without socks, showing his pale feet. 10 minutes later, he walked by to the other direction. Same clothes, but this time, he was wearing a pair of slipper sandals. Obviously, he failed both times. Fisher Collection Last week, I went to San Francisco Modern Art Museum (SFMOMA) last week to see the newly installed "Calder to Warhol: Introducing the Fisher Collection"—contemporary art works collected by the late GAP founder Donald Fisher and his wife Doris. I was not impressed. They made billions with GAP and collected these crap? Some of the works look familiar. I have seen them somewhere else before or simply not interesting enough to me. When I was outside, I saw this girl sitting next to one of the giant painting which is more memorable than any piece in this collection. I snapped a picture. Now, she becomes my art. FIFA Final By now, we all know who won the FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) title on Sunday. I wasn’t rooting for any team before I went to the Civic Center at City Hall, after I returned from my hiking in Marin Headlands. There were thousands of people already there to watch the game together. Although I couldn’t hear the "the greatest silence ever heard," there were not much noise either. But very quickly, I began to support Spain team. Not only because they had better looking uniforms, they were definitely better and in control. On the other hand, that Dutch team in orange jail jumpsuit played so dirty. Yellow card, red card, and yellow card repeatedly issued to these guys. It shows how desperate the Dutch became. I began to cheer for Spain. A guy standing next to me was drinking from a can covered by a paper bag, like all the public alcohol drinkers in the City do. He seemed rooting for the Dutch, because I don’t hear him cheering when I did. Suddenly, he asked me with a heavy accent: "Are you gay or straight?" "Excuse me?!" I was puzzled by where that question came from. "I want to know if you are gay or straight, because if you are straight, I want to say the girl in front of us has the most beautiful ass, but if you are gay, it’s okay." He used his eyes pointing to a teenager girl standing right in front of us with her friends, she was like at most 17. I didn’t say anything to him and I want to him a red card or yellow card if I had one. Predators The famous physicist Stephen Hawking warned us not long ago: aliens are dangerous. Obviously, that is an understatement if the aliens are those in the bloody sci-fi film "Predators" (USA 2010 | 106 min.). They are deadly, from hell. "Predators" is the third in the "Predator" franchise preceded by "Predator" and "Predator 2." However, like many other sequels in recent years, your knowledge about the previous films is not necessary for you to get terrified by this third one. In "Predators," eight people from all over the world (our world) are mysteriously dropped into a jungle. Luckily they all speak English and there is no subtitle needed for them to communicate. Most of them are heavily armed with guns that can shoot out almost endless rounds of ammunitions. They are confused about where they are and how they get there. Trying to figure out where they are, led by the Royce (Adrien Brody), they manage to walk to a "higher ground," only find out that they are looking at the earth as if they are sitting in a planetarium—ops, the aliens have kidnapped them to another unknown planet. The cat and mouse chasing game begins between the invisible aliens and these lucky (or unlucky) chosen eight who run for survival in this absolute hell land, which awfully looks like the earth where trees grow in mud and cockroaches eat fleshes. However, when the aliens do become visible, they are the usual saliva dripping, big teeth poking, iPad touching, and green blood floating disgusting creatures generated by using CGI. And, they hunt human. The film is hair-raising terrifying. It graphically depicts what hell looks like. It is a gore genre at its best, minus the humor and comedy. In between the fast moving action sequences, the film sneaks in a few interesting twists to the characters, but we all know the real message the film is trying to send—it is the same thing Stephen Hawking has told us: run away from the aliens, as well as the hell they live. "Predators" opens on Friday, July 9, 2010 at Bay Area theaters. http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/W9JaUIEg7kc&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&ap=%2526fmt%3d18