June 2005 Archives

Dav and Sean were both at Where 2.0 today, and I snuck in after work to see the new projects in the "Where Fair." A lot of mapping stuff being done, for sure. It'll be cool to see the good stuff filter out, and really be used by lots of users. It will add a whole other angle to all this internet fun we're having.

Sean presented his project. I was so proud! There were tons of folks around his booth as he explained his team's work. Yay!!

Most of you know that I thoroughly enjoy dressing up. Saturday night, Dav and I went out to a party...a pirate party. Dav was in more traditional pirate garb (black blouse, hat with feather, sword), and I wore a corset with a long skirt. I was supposed to be Dav's wench.

I love corsets. Sure they are tight, but there's something refreshing about having great posture all night. I feel very formal. And I like the ritual Dav and I go through to get me in it since he has to tie it up. Thought I'd share that process.

And here's a bonus picture we took for fun, in character.

I had forgotten to upload these photos of a dinner I had with Elida at Emmy's Spaghetti Shack at Mission and Godeus. I had uploaded a cute pic of a scene in front of the restaurant to Flickr though.

We ordered 4 appetizers instead of entrees, and it was all delicious. But I also really like the interior of the resaturant. Very casual and cool with hints of cuteness. They had some striking art up that I snapped too. Oh yeah, as you can see, the exterior is super colorful.

Waiting to meet up with Kimi and they have a pet adoption thing on the street. I am dying to bring one home! So hard...

Went to dinner at Chaya in Berkeley with Rachel and CC. So wonderful to see them. Life gets busy, and I treasure being able to catch up with good friends.

Coming back to our Java Fu car, we found the most beautiful anonymous gift on our car. A bouquet of flowers. Left lovingly by someone with a generous heart and love for Burning Man, right on the man's head.

I have grown to love the Jave Fu car immensely. It has character, for sure. But by far, the symbol of the man on the hood of the car, made by Dav and left there for over 2 years now, prompts cheers, hoots, and hollers. Tonight it brought us flowers.

It says: "New Dove firming. As tested on real curves". Excuse me, but what the fuck? Those models are beautiful and fine. They don't need some product to be "firm." I'm guessing the company wants to seem progressive by using non-anorexic models, but even me, who usually doesn't pay much attention to marketing nonsense, was in disbelief. At the least, get a marketing .manager who is with it. I, for one, am disappointed enough that I am no longer gonna use DOVE products.

At our Friday evening gathering at work. We work hard and we play too! Jay and Byrne.

Click to see video.

So cute. I've posted these best friends before, but Stella and Major playing together simply makes everything seem right. Stella is big sister letting Major jump all over her, letting him pull away her toys so he thinks he's big fierce dog, and gently rough-houses with him.

At Great Eastern Restaurant. Recommended by a bar owner in Chinatown. It was a loud bar but clearly loved by its patrons.

Cover bands to honor Nick Drake. Dav told me a tragic story about him. He was an incredible yet unrecognized music artist. He broke into music studios in England to record his songs, all parts done by himself. But he soon committed suicide. A reason could be because he was not confident about his music (who can say why someone really commits suicide?). Years later, Volkswagon picked up one of his songs for a commercial. Most of us would recognize him now. Yet so tragic because he is not with us. Beautiful music.

Ian gives a great description of our biking around, visiting the Alameda yacht club open houses. I'll just provide the pictures. Since he recently lost his camera, we compliment each other nicely this way. I snap away, he reports.

The yacht clubs were a different culture indeed. It's fun to take a peek into what other folks like to do. I'm sure there are tons of fascinating sea stories to be heard. Someday, Dav and I will have our own stories.

Was a beautiful day. Alameda is really growing on me. We even saw an egret.

On Father's Day (in Japan).

Taking the bikes to ride around Alameda during the open house season for their 6 yacht clubs. I love driving with the top down. Mid-way, our bikes started wobbling around and we had to stop and adjust them. Dav brought his new gps toy that keeps logs.

Eddie, my neighborhood buddy from when I lived in Tokyo, IM'd me the other day. He had posted a very cute picture on his site. I put it on my site too. Then we chatted a bit and in the midst of our conversation, he mentioned that I don't write that much on my blog. I am indeed more into pictures. But that got me thinking. I do want to write and I was being more or less complacent with just moblogging all the time. So I started thinking more about writing, which is a very different sort of sharing with the world.

Then last night, Dav downloaded that Cree Summer song I've been wanting to hear. We were lying on the bed listening when all of a sudden a huge wave of emotion washed over me. Tears started and my heart tightened. In an instant I realized my association with the song; I had listened to it many times during a very difficult break-up and personal transition. It was the darkest time of my life thus far. I've journeyed on, and am lucky to say I am very happy. I feel the challenging lessons I learned have guided me well. But I don't talk much about that very private period. So I was rather stunned at the power of that song to bring those emotions right back to the surface.

It was such an emotional experience that I felt the urge to blog it about it. Encouraged by Eddie, I would write about it and really share something from inside. But I also felt hesitancy. I don't really know how many people read Kokochi, and I haven't been in the practice of sharing so intimately. I became aware that I was tempted to censor myself in relation to the imagined audience of Kokochi. Dav pointed out that lots of blogs I read and enjoy bear very personal matters to the public at large; that the blog is the writer's blog and they share what they want to. And yes, Kokochi is mine.

I do like that I don't limit my blog to a specified group of friends. I have received the most heart-warming comments or private emails from total strangers. Those connections are what makes blogging worth it for me. I want to keep Kokochi completely open.

Then Dav really hit it home. He said if I'm thinking about audience, I should think about my children or grandchildren. I've often said one of the important reasons for blogging is to show future generations who I am, and show tidbits about this life we experience. I am conscious that Kokochi is a documentary. So although I hesitated, I am posting this to add depth to the otherwise rather mundane moblogging posts. I realize I'm still not giving details about that time, but letting you know I went through it is the first step, right?

Via Eddie.

Transcription by Gen.:
Zuppa is opening soon. They are located right next to the Six Apart office. Ginevra, my awesome office mate, befriended the owner and managed to arrange that a bunch of us could be the first customers for free. Yay!! Let me allow Ginevra [to] say a few words.

"I always adore making new friends, and this time, it paid off - in food and wine, my favorites!"

Latitude: 37.778507232666016
Longitude: -122.3973617553711
Altitude: -14.6M

[Street Map][Satellite Map]

The real deal. Parked in front of where Dav and I had lunch today.

Presentation by prominent Bay Area photobloggers hosted at the SF Apple store. I get a distinct sense that the web and digital cameras are opening a lot both for art and documentation. More participation by others and different views of the world...which is great!

Photos via Dav's phone from that SupperClub opening. I didn't know Dav got pictures of me playing a meditative game of stacking stones with a guy. It required delicate balancing and concentration (among all the ruckus going on). Never spoke to the guy; we just stacked the stones together.

Excuse me, but this post is for me :)

I'm not the only neko-baka, however. Check these out.

Had dinner with a friend and he showed us his "welcome notice" he received from the Department of Homeland Security. En brief, he got his greencard. I know this is important to people, but I simply found this funny and pretty unwelcoming to say the least. From the Dept. of Homeland Security. Ew. That department does NOT mean welcome to the America that I know. Practically opposite to what I feel America represents for me.

Sorry about the out-of-focus. My phone ain't that great with close shots. I can feel the curiousity about other phones percolating within me. Keeping an eye out for the next goodies, that's all.

Click to see video.

Latitude: 37.76942825317383
Longitude: -122.23883056640625
Altitude: -21.3M

[Street Map][Satellite Map]
Organized by Marcus.

After a few hours walking along the beach, we were dying to get home and eat the lasagna that James and Jack (Belinda's husband and son) stayed home to cook. We came in, and oh the wonderful smell. We had to wait for a bit more before it was done, and when Jack took the lasagna out of the oven, we cheered. A neighbor, aptly called the Pie Master, came by with his cherry pie. Picked cherries in the morning, hand-pitted, and hand-made. What a wonderful dinner. Thank you, everyone!

Latitude: 36.960365295410156
Longitude: -122.0203399658203
Altitude: 27.5M

[Street Map][Satellite Map]

A transcription has been entered below by mademoiselle a.. You may update or lock it here
Visiting Santa Cruz to see Belinda, a dear friend with whom I worked at the IMF in TOKYO. Her daughter just graduated from UCSC. I've never met Belinda's daughter & son, so this is special to meet her family...here in SANTA CRUZ, far away from Tokyo.

Now having lunch at a BRASILIAN Cafe before meeting up with Belinda. INTERNATIONAL!

Latitude: 36.967533111572266
Longitude: -122.03922271728516
Altitude: -1.8M

[Street Map][Satellite Map]

Transcription by Chuck Swenson:
(I've been saving my digital pen paper because I was running low, but got more. So I'm back to writing. Yay!)

We're at Fort Mason for a Long Now Lecture Series. Tonight is about Modern Medieval Cities.

On our way, we saw a Segway gang, lined up like ducklings. Neat. Then we checked out the sailboats since Dav starts sailing lessons next week.

Latitude: 37.779510498046875
Longitude: -122.3981704711914
Altitude: 2.1M

[Street Map][Satellite Map]

Wohoo! Remember this exciting post? Unfortunately, although I was dying to use it everyday, the GPS moblogging system I got a hold of was a bit buggy. Not to complain, but I couldn't get it to reliably work. Very frustrating to get so close to feeding my posting-with-gps obsession.

Luckily, Dav is back and not working, so he's had time to make his own system. My sweet darling techie hunk of a boyfriend (a title he's earned several times over) is so cool! I am thrilled to bits and can't wait to play with this!!

And just to put things in perspective, my first post with GPS in Tokyo was May 25, 2003. I'm just saying...

I was kindly contacted by our neighborhood blogger who just started Potrero Hill, San Francisco, "a community blog for the neighbors of Potrero Hill." He commented on my video skills about this neighborhood's 2 seconds of fame. I'm really glad to learn Potrero Hill has a neighborhood blog. Such is the kind of blog use that is most inspiring to me. Hopefully, the Potrero community will meet together more and share important information that otherwise would go unheard.

I had an amazing neighborhood in Tokyo. Just enough traditional and quaint feel, but also very cool and fun to hang out in. I loved walking around discovering its character. I miss it dearly.

I guess my point is neighborhoods have meaning. Check out your neighborhood.

Hosted at OpenWave. Russell Beattie showing off his 25 gadgets that he always carries around. He sure likes gadgets! Cool monthly meeting with discussions about stuff I so want in the market now!

Neat place in Alameda that has old traditional pinball machines. The guys sure got into it seriously, while I was more into the funky retro art work.