Describe

What is my blog about. It was originally started to document my last days in San Francisco. But it hasnt quite turned out that way completely. Last night, I was telling my friend that it doesn't matter to me how many people read my blog. It was certainly true in the beginning when I knew that nobody knew about it and so it didn't matter. Now if the people, who do know, aren't reading, then are they passing a judgment on my abilities, my life..? So, I'm not so sure.
What I probably meant to say was I'm not going to try..

What is my blog about? As I told a friend of mine - "It has got nothing clever, political, philosophical, artistic or related to sports, current affairs, etc." Then?

My blog is about me. The part of me that I'm willing to share.

Prairie Home Companion

So. I subscribe to podcasts from Prairie Home Companion. It is hard to describe what kind of a show it is. But whatever it is, I must've looked like quite the fool on the Bart today - staring into infinity, sipping on my coffee and giggling uncontrollably.
I feel too tired to write much tonight but I want to sign off like Garrison Kellor.

"And thats the news from Lake Wobegon - where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are ... above average"

Twitterish - Wisdom

Couldnt let this wise dollop go. Posting it so I dont forget. Courtesy, a friend, MD, who is unsympathetic towards hypochondriacs

"Marriages are not about showing someone else how horrible they are by falling sick.."

Twitterish - Ice Cream

Sitting down with a pint of Dulce De Leche from Mitchell's Icecream and can only say one thing about it. Pretty fucking awesome! A thought - a pound of icecream can make me only a pound heavier?

Stairways of San Francisco

So. I was going to blog on the Bart, for the first time, from my phone. But the browser would not recognize the text-entry box(?) and I couldn't.
When I got back home I couldnt remember what it was that I wanted to write about anymore. I had to go back to my phone to see if the blog title was still there. And the title, as you can see/read is "Stairways of San Francisco".
I found a book about them in my house. It is my house-mate's and I've seen it a few times before , but back then I had no free time whatsoever. And socializing always took precedence over tourist-ing. Since I still feel like a tourist here and I've been so burrowed in the Mission neighborhood, I've been looking for ways to see more of the city. And this book seems like a treasure-map for such idle activity. Reading the book I realized that without knowing it, I've already been on four such stairway walks.
- One is in Bernal Heights. I found it when I first moved here and decided to walk up to the top of the hill. I ran into this beautiful garden which lead into a staircase which kept cutting through people's backyards, trees, streets to get to the hill. It was really amazing.
- Another was the stairway somewhere close to the Embarcadero leading up to the Coit Tower, which is famous, anyway. I walked there from the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building, so it cant be that hard to find.
- Another was in Potrero Hill which I ran into when I got lost looking for a room to rent. I remember thinking that this is really weird. But I have no idea where it was and dont remember what I saw, though.
- The last one is part of the Grand Walk near Cliff House in Outer Richmond which shows up after a short, beautiful hike through some awesome views of the coast and of the Golden Gate Bridge. I didnt finish climbing this one because both the times I was there, the light was fading and I had to walk back soon.
So, I want to go explore one more stairway during the week. I was looking for somebody to go with but I didnt find any, which sucks. Truly sucks. Who knows though, there is still time..

----
PS : My favorite part of the Bart ride every morning to the South Bay is the stretch near Daly City. The train is so high up that there is, for a brief moment, an illusion of flying in a plane. And the sudden appearance of thick fog also makes it easy for you to pretend that its not just a drab workplace you are headed towards, but rather you are on a long journey through a different Dickensian world/age..Too bad, it just doesnt last very long.

Saturday Night

And I am blogging. So that itself tells a story.
But I'm not here to tell stories, am I? What I am here for is to impart wisdom that I've acquired in the last 24 hours. So, lend me your eyeballs -

1. Disco-night is not fun if you are not tipsy (maybe not even if you are). And sometimes it does make more sense to spend the extra five bucks on cover. But you've got to try and make the best of any situation. So, Dance..
2. Remove the metal foil before uncorking wine bottles. Especially if you have to do it all and pour it fast.
3. Half a tub of ice-cream might give you a sore throat.
4. Even if you don't like hip-hop music, sometimes it is better to go with the flow if you have nothing better to do.

I wanted to stay in an hour ago. I made myself some good hot tea and downed a glass of Emergen-C and took a nice long shower in between. Now that I'm feeling better, I'm not so sure about staying in now. But maybe rest is not an overrated concept...

Lazy Title

So. A good thing about blogging is how a day seems suddenly eventful and interesting when you've written about it. I guess, there is something to, not just thinking about, but actually literally counting your blessings.

Now, time for the Pond's wisdom chunk for the day.

"If you're going to a family dinner and there is a little kid who is prone to shouting, shrieking, crying and running around when scared... Shave!"

Finally friday and for the first time in weeks, I have no plans whatsoever for the weekend. It feels almost as if the weekend has crept up on me. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Here's to good times waiting around the blind corner!

Today

Women in summer skirts make the world a happier place. I had lunch on the grass in front of the Bow and Arrow sculpture facing the Bay Bridge on the Embarcadero. The view was spectacular. My friend had to go work but I'm trying to understand why I left the place after lunch :o)
Had a few setbacks in the morning which didnt drag me down. I didnt get any tartar sauce with my shrimp cakes though, which did drag me down..

Brace yourselves for some wise points-wise recollection :
1. Went to Mitchell's icecream at midnight only to find out that they close at 11pm. The walk, in the crisp night air, was very nice anyways. I also remembered that there already was icecream in the freezer.
2. I decided to rent out a car from CityCarShare and drove to Ocean Beach at 2am. There were many people still there and a few bonfires dotting the beach. It was a beautiful sight. Reminded me of Vizag a lot. I like beaches.
3. Lunch at the Ferry building.
4. Another person at Socha mistaking me for somebody who plays in Classical Revolution. I need to find this person who looks like me. I already know a few people in Classical Rev...hmm. And also Vijay Anderson, the drummer.. whoever he is. I've heard his name (in relation to mine) at least 4 times now at the Poppy and at Socha.
5. Made impromptu plans with a friend in Berkeley and dragged her out of work to go on a hike with me. And a lot of very very good chocolate before dinner at Kabana, which was really good too.
6. Fell asleep on the Bart, from all the eating and walking. But woke up at my stop, luckily.
7. Affordable Bike hunt continues.
8. Thought about changing name of the blog to "So".

Until, next time.. may the weather be nice, our spirits remain high and all thats good and beautiful in this world be by our side - whatever the fuck that means.

Biking in the USA

I realized that my bike was stolen from the garage a few weeks back. This would mark my bike being stolen in Davis, San Jose and San Francisco. Or all the bikes I've had so far. So my gameplan now would be... (i feel like using a big word) procuring another bike for the spring. The weather is so great, and another friend, IG, was bike shopping, which got me inspired...I was earlier studying in the bicycle capital of USA, mountain biking, bike commuting, etc. Well, enthusiast is a very big word. But I need it more since I dont have a car. And what would I do with my two helmets, biking shirt and biking gloves, otherwise.
So, used bike shopping it is for this week.
I've already marked my bike route from my apartment to the Ferry Building, Rainbow Grocery, Golden Gate Park, and was marking my route to the Golden Gate bridge and this happens!
I check the weather forecast for the week and there is rain around the corner? What the hell.. I still have to buy that bike. Does it make sense to buy a bike when I might be moving soon? There are enough people who want a bike here, so yes it does. It is easier selling a bike than, for instance, selling my couch.
In other news, I cleaned and rearranged my room and it looks more spacious - books are more visible and laundry is better hidden.

PS: Does a blog have to reflect the perceived personality of the blogger in real life? Isnt it afterall, supposed to give more voice to the blogger. For me personally, I think the more revealing the posts, the better the blog. I'm not courageous enough to reveal my opinions/beliefs here yet (mostly because I keep debating them and they change so often), but I admire people who do. And maybe someday I will get there.

Why We Blog

It is burning up here in the Bay Area. Apparently the temperature is in the 90s. And people are resorting to tanktops, wifebeaters, shorts, iced coffee and AC-fied indoors. I've only yet taken up iced coffee for now and wiping my brow with a paper napkin every five minutes - feel free to pick bits of paper stuck to my face. What'd happen to Northern Californians if the Indian summers were let loose on them.
In any case, I was trying to think up a reason of why I keep blogging. And also trying to figure out when I blog and when I dont.

This weekend has been a blur of many things. Thursday - The Mighty to see Karsh Kale/Midival Punditz (after which I missed my bus stop and was lost in BayShore at 2:30am); Friday - Housemate's birthday party (for which I cooked some good tandoori chicken and fish fillet) and then Bollyhood ; Saturday - Dinner at friends' place and Bhangra; Sunday - studying and then Elbo Room for Mission Dub.

I think I'm just keeping a diary of things. I write when I wonder about how the days are going by. Maybe mood has nothing to do with it.

Wishlist for the summer:

1. Yosemite
2. Shasta
3. Some place in Oregon - preferably the Redwood National Parks but even Portland/Ashland would do.
4. Just as I was typing that out, I realized that I'd missed Picnic Day in Davis. I want to Amtrak up to Davis.
5. Go camping. Big Basin, maybe. Or one of the places I mentioned above.
6. Bike over the Golden Gate.
7. Exploratorium.
8. Spend quality beach days.

Beware the Ides of April

So, here in Socha again armed with a bunch of papers and listening to Beirut..
I'm about to start off on one of the most complicated systems invented to confound the human brain. Tax filings. But today feels like the end to whatever I owed last year. What if I make something out of it too, no.

Yesterday I had the privilege of having my own private music show of this band called Yacouba from Burkino Faso. Dont worry, my roomie has never heard of the place either. They were asked to come in for a photo shoot. And we asked them to pose with their musical instruments. And due to our/their thick accents, they misunderstood us and started playing. With as much joy and passion as I've ever seen anybody do anything. They could've been drunk and high on their own music. Laughing, shouting, dancing.. I was very lucky to have winessed it.

I feel like writing more but I have to file my taxes, then work on a website and be done in time to have dinner and to go see a play which I have free tickets for. Doesnt seem like a hard life to me.

Rewrite

I was in a pensive mood earlier. And I was wondering why.. especially since all 3 days of the weekend have been top-notch. Then I started typing out over here and I realized that I'd rambled on about counting my blessings, increasing sourness in nature, responsibility, hunger, Easter, cherry blossoms and something else I cant remember but which I'm sure wouldnt have fit in with anything I'd mentioned earlier.
I read it later and I dont agree with half of it, so I started over..

Isnt it funny, how you read your diary a year later and dont agree anymore with the person you were before.

Green Day?

So I received an email from the Independent saying that Green Day would be performing tonight at 8:30 and at 10:00 over there. And the best part, the ticket price was only $20. I'm not a super huge Green Day fan but to see such a band in an intimate music venue would've be awesome. But, by the time I clicked through Ticketweb, they were all sold out. My relentless friends still wanted to go to the venue to check if there were any tickets available at the door, inspite of me saying all kinds of discouraging things. And predictably, too predictably and sadly so, they were sold out and there was a huge line for No-Shows, which I'd doubt would be any, anyway.

So, still itching to do something, we ended up at Amnesia where there was an open-mic going. The first person on the stage was a singer/musician and was super awesome. But the next two, inspite of the sangria, very so totally bad that I mistook their poetry and spoken word for comedy.

Really. Really. No, I mean.. realllly! And I'm not a harsh critic at all. Anyway without asking you to be judgemental, please judge for yourself.

"Charisma shines through your eyes..
........ Your heart beats inside your chest.
Which moves up and then recedes down."

"Pride. We should have just enough pride. We should also be grateful. This, I was taught, when I was a kid in church. Wait a minute. The church said, we should not be proud... hmm. My mind is all mixed up. What the fuck am I saying? Anyway Co-ops. There are a lot of co-ops in this city..."

Yes my friend, yes..you are so right. What the fuck are you saying.
Both their birthdays were this week, so we'll draw some unlikely inference from that later on.
Anyway, that was sufficient reason to down the drinks, on the double, and head out to my coffeeshop. Where there is always refuge to be found in some jazz, hot chocolate and cheerful baristas. Or Hemp Ale, depending on how your sweet tooth is behaving for the night.

random diary post

So I took a test of what kind of an ayurvedic body I was. I'm not yet sure what it completely means but I am of the VATA variety. I havent checked out the other varieties but this did make me feel good.

"People with more Vata in their constitutions tend to be thin, with a slender frame and prominent joints, delicate skin that is naturally dry, and dry voluminous hair. They are quick and lively in thought, speech and action, and make friends easily. There is an element of airiness to their step, a quality of lightness in their laughter. Change is usually their second name. They are light sleepers and gravitate towards warm environments. Creativity and enthusiasm are hallmarks of balanced Vata.


I have obviously left out the negatives of the Vata dosha, but I know nobody is interested in that, including me :o) Well, this I'm sure everybody is interested in ..I am supposed to be eating more moist foods.

I'll now get back to my coffee and live drony jazz-electronica.. and to my severely inadequate attempt at doing something productive. Peace to all.

Pull up

Procrastination is addictive. Know it, learn it, accept it. It is a culture.. not in the vibrant, art, tradition kind of culture. More like a bacteria, yeast kind of culture.

Die procrastination! Die!

Choice

What would you rather have?

The bitter truth or the safety of ignorance?
Maybe the easiest way out would be to not even know that there is a choice?