I've been wanting to dance. Like really really wanting to dance. Wanting to lose my mind in dance kind of dance. Forget about everyone and everything for a spell dance.
It's been a while.
I posted an open question on Facebook looking for recommendations for a club in the south bay; I'd be going with Raul (Nicole's man and my friend of 13 years now), and it wouldn't make sense for us to go up to SF, logistically. And old coworker from Barnes and Noble suggested a once a month electro-house DJ party hosted by a friend of his to coincide with downtown San Jose's SOFA district 1st Fridays art walk. It sounded pretty promising.
Raul agreed, as did my friends Kenneth and Dave and new friend Jen. Kenneth brought John, his longtime friend who is visiting from Fresno, and we made a group of it for
Today's New Activity: The Workout
I'm not sure why this monthly dance party is called The Workout. I guess the idea is that it does turn out to be quite the cardio routine, if you're doing it right that is.
I was super excited about tonight until I visited the photos on The Workout's Facebook page and noticed that nobody in the crowd looked a day over 23. I started to get all self-conscious, thinking I'd be too old, be dressed wong, look spastic on the dance floor, etc, etc. But Raul's and Kenneth's insistence that they didn't care about the demographic gave me the little push I needed, and when we got there I saw that it didn't matter anyway. Not only were there plenty of, ahem, slightly older folks there, the place was so dark that a lot went undetermined, and there was a wide range of attire.
Anyway, who CARES about all that stuff, right? We were there to dance, so the details didn't really seem to matter once we got there.
I was a bit shy at first, given that when we got there there was exactly one man--one very high man--dancing all by himself. Raul was game to be next out there, but I needed just a *bit* more of a crowd to be wooed. Three people later, I said what the hell, let's go.
And two and a half hours later, sweaty and exhausted, we stepped back in to the cool night air and straight over to La Victoria, the only possible place to go. What happened in between there was nothing more or less than a lot of moving to music. Feeling not thinking, moving not thinking, letting go and not thinking, for once.
I highly recommend it.
Raul and I plan to make a habit of getting to this little shindig whenever we can. Every time I dance like that I'm appalled to think of all the time I've wasted NOT dancing like that. It is so very good for my soul and state of mind. A good release and an energizer, all rolled into one. If only the gym could be this much fun...
Showing posts with label Downtown San Jose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Downtown San Jose. Show all posts
6.22.2011
The GGA Project -- Day #193 "Down in Front!"
If you've been reading this blog over the past few weeks, you'd think I watch movies all the time. I'm actually the least movie-watching person I know though. I fall asleep watching movies at home--when I even make the attempt--about 85% of the time. Going to the theater is typically a very rare thing for me. It just happens that for some reason I'm more interested in seeing movies lately.
Even, apparently, movies I've seen about 687 times.
Today's New Activity: Outdoor Viewing of The Princess Bride
Oh, The Princess Bride. Where to begin in extolling its virtues? This movie was probably the single most-often viewed movie of my childhood, and I think I could be down for watching it 687 times more. In fact, as it progressed I kept thinking, 'I wonder how old Monkey will have to be before he'll get that joke,' and the thought made me very excited for the one-day prospect of showing it to him.
My friends Nicole and Jesse came too. One thing we learned (this was the first time attending a movie in downtown San Jose's Starlight Cinema series for all of us) is that chairs would be a very very good idea. This movie is mercifully short, if you happen to be sitting on a blanket on the asphalt, but still I was squirming and shifting the entire second half.
People start gathering in chairs and on blankets at about 7, and that leaves about 2 hours to kill before the movie starts at dusk (9pm in this case).
They do a bit of trivia before the movie begins, but mostly you are left to entertain yourself in this waiting time. Good thing there are a bunch of restaurants on the block from which to order take out. We even noticed that the people seated on the patio at one of the nearby restaurants had made it a dinner/cinema by taking in the show over food and drinks. Brilliant!
When the movie got underway with the familiar sound of the Fred Savage character's baseball video game, I was instantly transported to my 9-year-old self, remembering what magic that movie held.
And I can't believe that in 20 years I don't remember having watched it with Nicole. We sat and giggled like the little girls we were when we met during the Battle of Wits scene (Vizzini's faces are priceless).
It feels so good to be outside at night on a summer day. And though it got cool and I'm pretty sure I have about 25 mosquito bites in the aftermath, it was well worth it. Oh. That's another thing. It was free. Can't really beat that.
I can't wait to see The Big Lebowski in a few weeks ;)
Even, apparently, movies I've seen about 687 times.
Today's New Activity: Outdoor Viewing of The Princess Bride
Oh, The Princess Bride. Where to begin in extolling its virtues? This movie was probably the single most-often viewed movie of my childhood, and I think I could be down for watching it 687 times more. In fact, as it progressed I kept thinking, 'I wonder how old Monkey will have to be before he'll get that joke,' and the thought made me very excited for the one-day prospect of showing it to him.
My friends Nicole and Jesse came too. One thing we learned (this was the first time attending a movie in downtown San Jose's Starlight Cinema series for all of us) is that chairs would be a very very good idea. This movie is mercifully short, if you happen to be sitting on a blanket on the asphalt, but still I was squirming and shifting the entire second half.
People start gathering in chairs and on blankets at about 7, and that leaves about 2 hours to kill before the movie starts at dusk (9pm in this case).
They do a bit of trivia before the movie begins, but mostly you are left to entertain yourself in this waiting time. Good thing there are a bunch of restaurants on the block from which to order take out. We even noticed that the people seated on the patio at one of the nearby restaurants had made it a dinner/cinema by taking in the show over food and drinks. Brilliant!
When the movie got underway with the familiar sound of the Fred Savage character's baseball video game, I was instantly transported to my 9-year-old self, remembering what magic that movie held.
And I can't believe that in 20 years I don't remember having watched it with Nicole. We sat and giggled like the little girls we were when we met during the Battle of Wits scene (Vizzini's faces are priceless).
It feels so good to be outside at night on a summer day. And though it got cool and I'm pretty sure I have about 25 mosquito bites in the aftermath, it was well worth it. Oh. That's another thing. It was free. Can't really beat that.
I can't wait to see The Big Lebowski in a few weeks ;)
6.03.2011
The GGA Project -- Day #174 "Now THAT's What I'm Talkin' About!"
Ahh. Where to begin talking about
Today's New Activity: Attending the 4th SubZERO Festival
?
A while back I got wind of the SubZERO festival (which I somehow missed during both years when I was living--quite literally--around the corner from where it happened. I don't know how the funky good vibe alone didn't have me wandering out my front door to find its source), and I've been looking forward to it for weeks. How thankful I am to report that it didn't go the way of so many of San Jose's outdoor festivals and leave a little to be desired. How could it with all this action?!
a station where stoppers-by could sit and draw models who switched out in what seemed like five-minute intervals, though some could have been longer (peek and you can see my friend Laura in the second row, doin' her art thang!...she's so cool...).
One stage featured an interpretive dance troupe that was covered in artful, very detailed body paint, and the body paint artist demoed her work live during one band's performance later in the night. It's too bad all the details can't be made out from the pictures, but this is something of a before and after:
There were food trucks galore. And though I longed to try the raved-about munchies from Gomo, they (and two other food trucks) were out of their only vegetarian options. I found my friends Alejandra and Kliff during the food hunt portion of the night, and they both made off with yummy treats. Hey guys! It was great to do some catching up with them. And congrats to Alex on her recent graduation!!
I SO meant to stop by the t-shirt tent of the guys who made Kliff's "Hella" t-shirt so I could finally count myself a bona fida Nor*Cal girl, but I forgot :( I'll find 'em online.
Music and art were the main focuses of this event, and though I didn't photograph any art for fear the artists would say, "Hey punk, if you like it so much, why don't you BUY it?" (not that they ever would, and not that I'd be opposed to it were it in my budget, but it seemed rude to just go around taking pictures), there was a whole lot of beautiful work to take in.
Around 10pm my best gals Nicole and Kelsi made it, to my shock and glee. It's SO great to be out with those Mamas, especially in the streets of downtown San Jose, and especially at night. It reminded me of our earliest adventures in this town, before Mamahood got its wonderful, forever grips on us. We stopped for coffee and then meandered a bit, seeing:
Bam! Roller derby demo! And
Bam! A yarn bombing!
This is just a very small sampling of all there was to enjoy. There were art cars and taiko drums, another super fun and energy-filled drum circle, a bicycle joust (!), spoken word, and I even found the tent of one of my bank's customers, who turns out to be quite a talented painter. And there was so much more.
In the end, Kelsi and I danced to the spinning of a local radio station dj, whose name eludes me right now. The music was so incredibly happy it was impossible to resist. I read an article in Details a few months ago about how so much of today's new bands are super happy and bubble gum. The author was practically lamenting the absence of the angst of rock music past (though not the extreme Emo of more recent past). I could see the truth in that, if the music this dj played was to serve as any kind of example. But you know what. It's freakin' FUN to be happy!!!
Some years ago I was dancing by myself at the salsa stage at San Jose's Jazz Festival. A Mercury News photographer happened to take a crowd shot that I was visible in, looking as free and happy as a young woman who'd just graduated from college should look. The picture appeared in the paper twice in articles about the festival. Dancing tonight I felt the same kind of joy that I see in my face and body language whenever I come across that picture (which is actually only when I visit my brother, who has it pinned to his bulletin board...sweet bro). My life is not without cares or problems. And in the past year it is certainly not free from conflict, confusion, or the agonizing act of trying to decipher which is right, of the multiple directions from which to choose. But in certain moments, and more and more frequently, I am full of that same sense of joy and wonder and absolute knowledge that my life--in the present--is the best possible life I could be living.
Thank you to all the wonderful, talented artists of San Jose and the friends I shared the evening with for bringing me into that place tonight.
Today's New Activity: Attending the 4th SubZERO Festival
?
A while back I got wind of the SubZERO festival (which I somehow missed during both years when I was living--quite literally--around the corner from where it happened. I don't know how the funky good vibe alone didn't have me wandering out my front door to find its source), and I've been looking forward to it for weeks. How thankful I am to report that it didn't go the way of so many of San Jose's outdoor festivals and leave a little to be desired. How could it with all this action?!
I couldn't get enough of watching this very talented foursome of belly dancers. I generally love watching belly dancing, and tonight was no exception. I managed to make it over their way during 4 separate mini-sets. The drums they danced to were a calling I couldn't refuse.
Next I wandered over to one of the stages, where, for most definitely the first time in my life, I got to hear what happens when hip hop meets the trombone. This band was just formed last week some time (there was also a female vocalist who isn't pictured here) but you wouldn't have known it with how good they sounded together.
Next, a visit to a traveling curios museum, a mini-version of which was housed in one of the many tents set up on South 1st street, which was blocked off for the festival:
Also among those tents:
a giant cardboard dollhouse with real scenes visible through every window!,
One stage featured an interpretive dance troupe that was covered in artful, very detailed body paint, and the body paint artist demoed her work live during one band's performance later in the night. It's too bad all the details can't be made out from the pictures, but this is something of a before and after:
There were food trucks galore. And though I longed to try the raved-about munchies from Gomo, they (and two other food trucks) were out of their only vegetarian options. I found my friends Alejandra and Kliff during the food hunt portion of the night, and they both made off with yummy treats. Hey guys! It was great to do some catching up with them. And congrats to Alex on her recent graduation!!
I SO meant to stop by the t-shirt tent of the guys who made Kliff's "Hella" t-shirt so I could finally count myself a bona fida Nor*Cal girl, but I forgot :( I'll find 'em online.
Music and art were the main focuses of this event, and though I didn't photograph any art for fear the artists would say, "Hey punk, if you like it so much, why don't you BUY it?" (not that they ever would, and not that I'd be opposed to it were it in my budget, but it seemed rude to just go around taking pictures), there was a whole lot of beautiful work to take in.
Around 10pm my best gals Nicole and Kelsi made it, to my shock and glee. It's SO great to be out with those Mamas, especially in the streets of downtown San Jose, and especially at night. It reminded me of our earliest adventures in this town, before Mamahood got its wonderful, forever grips on us. We stopped for coffee and then meandered a bit, seeing:
Bam! Roller derby demo! And
Bam! A yarn bombing!
This is just a very small sampling of all there was to enjoy. There were art cars and taiko drums, another super fun and energy-filled drum circle, a bicycle joust (!), spoken word, and I even found the tent of one of my bank's customers, who turns out to be quite a talented painter. And there was so much more.
In the end, Kelsi and I danced to the spinning of a local radio station dj, whose name eludes me right now. The music was so incredibly happy it was impossible to resist. I read an article in Details a few months ago about how so much of today's new bands are super happy and bubble gum. The author was practically lamenting the absence of the angst of rock music past (though not the extreme Emo of more recent past). I could see the truth in that, if the music this dj played was to serve as any kind of example. But you know what. It's freakin' FUN to be happy!!!
Some years ago I was dancing by myself at the salsa stage at San Jose's Jazz Festival. A Mercury News photographer happened to take a crowd shot that I was visible in, looking as free and happy as a young woman who'd just graduated from college should look. The picture appeared in the paper twice in articles about the festival. Dancing tonight I felt the same kind of joy that I see in my face and body language whenever I come across that picture (which is actually only when I visit my brother, who has it pinned to his bulletin board...sweet bro). My life is not without cares or problems. And in the past year it is certainly not free from conflict, confusion, or the agonizing act of trying to decipher which is right, of the multiple directions from which to choose. But in certain moments, and more and more frequently, I am full of that same sense of joy and wonder and absolute knowledge that my life--in the present--is the best possible life I could be living.
Thank you to all the wonderful, talented artists of San Jose and the friends I shared the evening with for bringing me into that place tonight.
5.28.2011
The GGA Project -- Day #168 "Sitting In"
After work today I swung by Nicole's house to pick up Raul. I'd been wanting to pick his brain about some things I know nothing about but would like to, and he was generous enough with his time to agree to it. We ended up going to his favorite haunt, one of the most successful independent-like (it's not a giant company, but there are 8 locations now--so they're growing) coffeehouse stories in San Jose.
Today's New Activity: The Philz Experience
I know I'd stopped in at Philz once before, but it was just to buy a cup of milk for The Monkey. This was the first time I'd actually ordered coffee. And I didn't think anything about coffee could make an impression on me at this point, but today's experience truly did.
I was a little confused at first by the ordering process. You order directly from the barista, which wouldn't really be that confusing expect that a bunch of people are just kind of standing around the bar and it's difficult to discern if there's a line, who's already ordered, or where your place is in the scheme of things. Luckily the barista was used to sorting through the mess and seemed to have a good idea of who'd arrived when.
I ordered black tea with cream and honey for Raul (first time I've ever been to a place where the barista adds these fixings during the preparation), and an Americano for myself. He said that they don't make Americanos there but that he'd happily make a coffee for me. I didn't quite get at first how he was going to make a coffee just for me--just one cup of coffee, but after asking me a lot of questions to get to the bottom of what exactly I wanted, he said he'd do just that. This was great! The only reason I ever order Americanos (which I usually do any time after about 11am) is that most places stop brewing coffee very often once the morning rush is over, and I can't stand old, bitter coffee. But it's definitely a trade off. Americanos aren't nearly as strong or flavorful as brewed coffee. And plus you have to wait 45 minutes for them to have cooled down enough to be drinkable.
So it turns out all cups of coffee are brewed to order there, and I have to say the difference was evident. Drinking that fresh and super flavorful cup made me wish there was a Philz near me. And apparently the feeling is mutual. I looked the place up on Yelp: the reviews, given the high volume of reviewers, average out to the best I've ever seen I think. 418 reviews at the time I'm writing this and 4 1/2 stars. That's pretty amazing. I read a lot about their flavored drinks, but I'm giving them a rave review of my own on black coffee alone.
I also really liked the atmosphere--the multiple couches reminded me of the coffee shops I remember as a teenager, before they all got homogenized. Also, the Fanime Con convention was going on downtown, leaving the area teeming with kids dressed up as all manner of Anime, comic book and just general character. At one point, Raul exclaimed "Jesus Christ!" I turned around, thinking he was commenting on the pouring down rain that had just started. What a surprise to see Jesus Christ! Or a really good, costumed version of the illustrated Bible versions I've seen of him anyway. The whole thing made for some great people watching.
And that is all.
Today's New Activity: The Philz Experience
I know I'd stopped in at Philz once before, but it was just to buy a cup of milk for The Monkey. This was the first time I'd actually ordered coffee. And I didn't think anything about coffee could make an impression on me at this point, but today's experience truly did.
I was a little confused at first by the ordering process. You order directly from the barista, which wouldn't really be that confusing expect that a bunch of people are just kind of standing around the bar and it's difficult to discern if there's a line, who's already ordered, or where your place is in the scheme of things. Luckily the barista was used to sorting through the mess and seemed to have a good idea of who'd arrived when.
I ordered black tea with cream and honey for Raul (first time I've ever been to a place where the barista adds these fixings during the preparation), and an Americano for myself. He said that they don't make Americanos there but that he'd happily make a coffee for me. I didn't quite get at first how he was going to make a coffee just for me--just one cup of coffee, but after asking me a lot of questions to get to the bottom of what exactly I wanted, he said he'd do just that. This was great! The only reason I ever order Americanos (which I usually do any time after about 11am) is that most places stop brewing coffee very often once the morning rush is over, and I can't stand old, bitter coffee. But it's definitely a trade off. Americanos aren't nearly as strong or flavorful as brewed coffee. And plus you have to wait 45 minutes for them to have cooled down enough to be drinkable.
So it turns out all cups of coffee are brewed to order there, and I have to say the difference was evident. Drinking that fresh and super flavorful cup made me wish there was a Philz near me. And apparently the feeling is mutual. I looked the place up on Yelp: the reviews, given the high volume of reviewers, average out to the best I've ever seen I think. 418 reviews at the time I'm writing this and 4 1/2 stars. That's pretty amazing. I read a lot about their flavored drinks, but I'm giving them a rave review of my own on black coffee alone.
I also really liked the atmosphere--the multiple couches reminded me of the coffee shops I remember as a teenager, before they all got homogenized. Also, the Fanime Con convention was going on downtown, leaving the area teeming with kids dressed up as all manner of Anime, comic book and just general character. At one point, Raul exclaimed "Jesus Christ!" I turned around, thinking he was commenting on the pouring down rain that had just started. What a surprise to see Jesus Christ! Or a really good, costumed version of the illustrated Bible versions I've seen of him anyway. The whole thing made for some great people watching.
And that is all.
4.24.2011
The GGA Project -- Day #133 "Falafel Misfire"
**Unintended first for the day** For the past 133 days, I have been carefully, sometimes obsessively taking measures to ensure there's a post up here for every single day. Sometimes it means putting a placeholder up just to make it so the eventual post has a timestamp for the day the new activity occurred. As I left my house this evening, I told myself to remember to do this from my phone at some point, some point before midnight. And I guess I was having too much fun cuz that didn't happen. Whoops! So, there will be no post for April 23rd, though the activity for Day #133 did happen on the 23rd. So now that it's happened and there were no terrible consequences apart from my own annoyance with myself for having forgotten, I'll stop worrying about it so much...
So then.
Today was my gal Nicole's birthday. Or more accurately, it's the day we chose to celebrate her birthday, since her birthday is actually tomorrow--Easter. We wanted to get some pearl tea in downtown San Jose, but lunch first. Nicole wasn't hungry, or she didn't think she was when we were deciding where to go, so she left the decision on where to go up to me.
My first instinct was to head to La Victoria. But then I remembered the complex feelings I have about La Vic's, which I've shared before here, and I decided it was a good idea to try a new restaurant.
Nicole had just received a flyer for a new Mediterranean joint downtown, so went to check it out.
Today's New Activity: Lunch at the Kebab Shack
The Kebab Shack was a cute, unimposing place with simple decor and a pretty pared-down menu. No matter. A falafel pita was what I was in the mood for anyway, which they had. And some fries.
I thought that seemed like a sound decision, until I read the description of what Nicole had ordered. And therein lies the "misfire" part of the falafel. How much more awesome the experience would have been if I'd read the whole menu first and realized I could have my fries inside the sandwich, along with hummus. That's what one menu item (the "Aprodite" was it?) gets you!
Just genius. I'll remember it for next time. This wasn't the best falafel I've eaten, but it was good and I'd be back, especially because the service was super friendly and the place clean with outside seating available.
The only bummer to the otherwise nice outing was that Kelsi (who also came to join in honoring Nicole's day) and I both managed to get parking tickets just 3 minutes before we returned to our cars. Ugh. They've upped the fee to $40 per violation! So I suppose that was some pretty expensive falafel, but nothing could get me down today, so it's all good.
Aww, just lookit that birthday cutie! :) Oh Happy Day, Nika. I'm so glad you're here on this planet!
So then.
Today was my gal Nicole's birthday. Or more accurately, it's the day we chose to celebrate her birthday, since her birthday is actually tomorrow--Easter. We wanted to get some pearl tea in downtown San Jose, but lunch first. Nicole wasn't hungry, or she didn't think she was when we were deciding where to go, so she left the decision on where to go up to me.
My first instinct was to head to La Victoria. But then I remembered the complex feelings I have about La Vic's, which I've shared before here, and I decided it was a good idea to try a new restaurant.
Nicole had just received a flyer for a new Mediterranean joint downtown, so went to check it out.
Today's New Activity: Lunch at the Kebab Shack
The Kebab Shack was a cute, unimposing place with simple decor and a pretty pared-down menu. No matter. A falafel pita was what I was in the mood for anyway, which they had. And some fries.
I thought that seemed like a sound decision, until I read the description of what Nicole had ordered. And therein lies the "misfire" part of the falafel. How much more awesome the experience would have been if I'd read the whole menu first and realized I could have my fries inside the sandwich, along with hummus. That's what one menu item (the "Aprodite" was it?) gets you!
Just genius. I'll remember it for next time. This wasn't the best falafel I've eaten, but it was good and I'd be back, especially because the service was super friendly and the place clean with outside seating available.
The only bummer to the otherwise nice outing was that Kelsi (who also came to join in honoring Nicole's day) and I both managed to get parking tickets just 3 minutes before we returned to our cars. Ugh. They've upped the fee to $40 per violation! So I suppose that was some pretty expensive falafel, but nothing could get me down today, so it's all good.
Aww, just lookit that birthday cutie! :) Oh Happy Day, Nika. I'm so glad you're here on this planet!
4.16.2011
The GGA Project -- Day #126 "The Setup"
Coming soon.
Well, pretty soon anyway.
Days later...One week and four days later to be exact...
Well. It would seem I've been sitting on this post for quite some time. I'd been almost religious in my devotion to getting blogs written within a day of the new activity's occurrence, but this one eluded me. It wasn't that I didn't have the time to write about the activity; I just wasn't sure what/how much I wanted to say.
Maybe I'm still not.
See, originally I'd had it all planned out that I'd write about checking out the dueling piano action at Los Gatos Brewing Company in downtown San Jose. But as it turned out I wasn't even inside that restaurant long enough to say anything of substance about the experience. So I was left with the option to write about what the real subject at hand was after all, which I'd been somewhat opposed to doing.
Today's New Activity: Being Sent (Brought) on a Blind Date
For probably two months now, my friend Kelsi, on behalf of her and my friend Jeff--her husband--has been telling me about a friend of theirs they wanted to set me up with. They think they are somehow qualified to do this just because the last couple they set up got married last year.
Whatever.
At first I resisted on principle alone: I've never been set up with anybody and didn't think I liked the idea of it.
Then I resisted on more specific grounds. I don't feel ready to start dating, and heavens-to-Betsy, though I've been separated for 10 months, my divorce is not final and that made this seem like a less-than-optimal time to start dating.
Then I resisted out of sheer nervousness at the idea of getting back out there, and doubt about the viability of this particular match. The guy they wanted to set me up with was a few years younger than me, never married, and already dating a couple of women...not likely itching to embark on the kind of journey that dating me--at this moment in my life-- would be. How to open this introduction? "So, I hear you've got a not-quite-divorced, single Mom fetish. Well buddy, you're in luck." (finishing with a wink). Yeah.
Finally, I agreed to meet with Kelsi, Jeff, and the man-boy in question together for a night out, if mostly just to satisfy a curiosity: what kind of guy did they think was perfect for me? They kept saying our senses of humor were good matches, and Kelsi assured me he was nerdy cute. That's not a lot to go on, but a good start. I like jokes. I like nerdy cute.
The biggest downside to the whole prospect was that both parties knew our friends were attempting to set us up. There was no way to casually pull this meeting off as a casual meeting. It was a meeting with a very specific, pretty high-pressure purpose, and it was bound to affect the interaction all the way around.
Enter my try-new-things project. It was time to suck it up.
Jeff and Kelsi did a fantastic job of ensuring the hangout went about as awkwardly as it could have gone while also attempting to mitigate that awkwardness as well they could. We met at the restaurant where the dueling pianos were in full swing. And we could have probably stayed there a while and eased into the night by mutually taking in this show of sorts. But instead we went outside to the near-empty patio, where there was nothing to be done but to fill the space with the sounds of our own voices. There was no buffer zone.
So Kelsi, always one to foster group conversation, took the first pregnant pause in conversation to say, "So, is this awkward enough for everybody?" That was actually fine. No problem stating the obvious. It's a good idea.
But then, she took the next extended silence as her opportunity to say, "So ________, _______ is working on a project that she's blogging about. Why don't you tell us about it, _______?"
Whoah. Deer in the headlights. What could I do but lean over, sideways hug her, and tell her how much I love her for her efforts. It's tough to share personal information with a stranger on a prompt.
Jeff wasn't much better. It happens that the date and I work for the same company. So Jeff said, "Hey _______, ________ also works for _________." In Jeff's defense, he definitely said this tongue-in-cheek, but it was still goofy. "REAlly?!" I exclaimed. "This is the very first I've heard of this."
At least we could laugh at the situation. More opportunities arose when Jeff asked his buddy, "So _______, how old do you think _______ is?" And then asked me, "So _________, how much do you think ________ weighs?" You'd think all this pointing out of the awkward would have made the situation less so.
It didn't.
Eye contact was difficult to establish (from my end, it felt like too much pressure...too hard to speak directly to him when I knew K and J were watching and hoping to see sparks). Also, we didn't seem able to land on a topic we could all connect on...not in this first meeting anyway. There just ended up being a number of little side conversations.
All got more mellow and went more smoothly after Kelsi and Jeff left on account of needing to get their boys back from the babysitter, but that was a brief period because I had to get home in time for when my own baby would surely wake up in the middle of the night.
This about it felt good: it felt good to be able to say that to him, that I needed to get home to my baby, without any hesitation about how that truth would affect the outcome of the date...good to be comfortable in my own skin and in the skin of my life.
It also felt good to be able to walk away from that date and not give a lot of thought about how it went, what he thought of me, whether or not I'd be hearing from him. I used to care too much about those things. And not only can I not afford to anymore because I've got tinier fish to fry, I feel much more inclined to focus on the question of whether or not I liked him, if I focus on any part of it at all.
Still, it was a fun night and I am thankful to Kelsi and Jeff for dragging me out. It made me feel alive to be out on a Saturday night with a young, single person, in downtown San Jose, which was teeming with Sharks fans just out of a game.
The reason I was so hesitant to write about the night was that I have never, in my 9 (!) years of blogging, written about my romantic life (apart from announcing my wedding, when it happened) and I don't plan to start now. That is one part of my life I don't like to share. I've never been a kiss-and-teller (maybe years later, but not in the thick of it!), and I would not want any aspect of my dating life to be affected by the idea that I may or may not write about it later. So writing about this night was a first and a last. It seemed a first blind date was pretty worth telling a bit about for the purpose of this project, and it's out of my system.
Happy lovin' to y'all :)
Well, pretty soon anyway.
Days later...One week and four days later to be exact...
Well. It would seem I've been sitting on this post for quite some time. I'd been almost religious in my devotion to getting blogs written within a day of the new activity's occurrence, but this one eluded me. It wasn't that I didn't have the time to write about the activity; I just wasn't sure what/how much I wanted to say.
Maybe I'm still not.
See, originally I'd had it all planned out that I'd write about checking out the dueling piano action at Los Gatos Brewing Company in downtown San Jose. But as it turned out I wasn't even inside that restaurant long enough to say anything of substance about the experience. So I was left with the option to write about what the real subject at hand was after all, which I'd been somewhat opposed to doing.
Today's New Activity: Being Sent (Brought) on a Blind Date
For probably two months now, my friend Kelsi, on behalf of her and my friend Jeff--her husband--has been telling me about a friend of theirs they wanted to set me up with. They think they are somehow qualified to do this just because the last couple they set up got married last year.
Whatever.
At first I resisted on principle alone: I've never been set up with anybody and didn't think I liked the idea of it.
Then I resisted on more specific grounds. I don't feel ready to start dating, and heavens-to-Betsy, though I've been separated for 10 months, my divorce is not final and that made this seem like a less-than-optimal time to start dating.
Then I resisted out of sheer nervousness at the idea of getting back out there, and doubt about the viability of this particular match. The guy they wanted to set me up with was a few years younger than me, never married, and already dating a couple of women...not likely itching to embark on the kind of journey that dating me--at this moment in my life-- would be. How to open this introduction? "So, I hear you've got a not-quite-divorced, single Mom fetish. Well buddy, you're in luck." (finishing with a wink). Yeah.
Finally, I agreed to meet with Kelsi, Jeff, and the man-boy in question together for a night out, if mostly just to satisfy a curiosity: what kind of guy did they think was perfect for me? They kept saying our senses of humor were good matches, and Kelsi assured me he was nerdy cute. That's not a lot to go on, but a good start. I like jokes. I like nerdy cute.
The biggest downside to the whole prospect was that both parties knew our friends were attempting to set us up. There was no way to casually pull this meeting off as a casual meeting. It was a meeting with a very specific, pretty high-pressure purpose, and it was bound to affect the interaction all the way around.
Enter my try-new-things project. It was time to suck it up.
Jeff and Kelsi did a fantastic job of ensuring the hangout went about as awkwardly as it could have gone while also attempting to mitigate that awkwardness as well they could. We met at the restaurant where the dueling pianos were in full swing. And we could have probably stayed there a while and eased into the night by mutually taking in this show of sorts. But instead we went outside to the near-empty patio, where there was nothing to be done but to fill the space with the sounds of our own voices. There was no buffer zone.
So Kelsi, always one to foster group conversation, took the first pregnant pause in conversation to say, "So, is this awkward enough for everybody?" That was actually fine. No problem stating the obvious. It's a good idea.
But then, she took the next extended silence as her opportunity to say, "So ________, _______ is working on a project that she's blogging about. Why don't you tell us about it, _______?"
Whoah. Deer in the headlights. What could I do but lean over, sideways hug her, and tell her how much I love her for her efforts. It's tough to share personal information with a stranger on a prompt.
Jeff wasn't much better. It happens that the date and I work for the same company. So Jeff said, "Hey _______, ________ also works for _________." In Jeff's defense, he definitely said this tongue-in-cheek, but it was still goofy. "REAlly?!" I exclaimed. "This is the very first I've heard of this."
At least we could laugh at the situation. More opportunities arose when Jeff asked his buddy, "So _______, how old do you think _______ is?" And then asked me, "So _________, how much do you think ________ weighs?" You'd think all this pointing out of the awkward would have made the situation less so.
It didn't.
Eye contact was difficult to establish (from my end, it felt like too much pressure...too hard to speak directly to him when I knew K and J were watching and hoping to see sparks). Also, we didn't seem able to land on a topic we could all connect on...not in this first meeting anyway. There just ended up being a number of little side conversations.
All got more mellow and went more smoothly after Kelsi and Jeff left on account of needing to get their boys back from the babysitter, but that was a brief period because I had to get home in time for when my own baby would surely wake up in the middle of the night.
This about it felt good: it felt good to be able to say that to him, that I needed to get home to my baby, without any hesitation about how that truth would affect the outcome of the date...good to be comfortable in my own skin and in the skin of my life.
It also felt good to be able to walk away from that date and not give a lot of thought about how it went, what he thought of me, whether or not I'd be hearing from him. I used to care too much about those things. And not only can I not afford to anymore because I've got tinier fish to fry, I feel much more inclined to focus on the question of whether or not I liked him, if I focus on any part of it at all.
Still, it was a fun night and I am thankful to Kelsi and Jeff for dragging me out. It made me feel alive to be out on a Saturday night with a young, single person, in downtown San Jose, which was teeming with Sharks fans just out of a game.
The reason I was so hesitant to write about the night was that I have never, in my 9 (!) years of blogging, written about my romantic life (apart from announcing my wedding, when it happened) and I don't plan to start now. That is one part of my life I don't like to share. I've never been a kiss-and-teller (maybe years later, but not in the thick of it!), and I would not want any aspect of my dating life to be affected by the idea that I may or may not write about it later. So writing about this night was a first and a last. It seemed a first blind date was pretty worth telling a bit about for the purpose of this project, and it's out of my system.
Happy lovin' to y'all :)
3.08.2011
The GGA Project -- Day #87 "Shady Business"
Today I went to my best friend Nicole's house to hang out with her and her daughters Maya and Sureya (Monkey's girlfriend). Since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to go for a stroll through SJSU's campus (where, we agree, the students seem younger and younger every year, a sign of our own impending old age), into downtown San Jose.
Nicole grabbed a pearl tea and a chicken snack thing at Quickly, and then I decided to do a minor new thing I've been wanting to do for a while. If you know downtown at all, you know that La Victoria pretty much rules the roost when it comes to taquerias. I'll admit that I'll rarely ever go to any other Mexican joint in the area, even though I know some of their food is far superior. The reason for this is simple. La Victoria sells this crazy orange sauce that brilliantly masks all the food's shortcomings and adds an amazing (if extremely difficult to pinpoint) flavor. Something like cream-based, mildly garlicky salsa. But not at all like that. I don't know...it's hard to describe.
Anyway, I kind of have a love/hate relationship with "La Vic" as it's so wittily nicknamed, and I think a lot of people do. I love them for inventing and spreading so much joy through their orange sauce, but I resent them for taking our collective business for granted and pretty much slinging whatever they want into a foil wrapper and calling it Mexican food. I swear I am not exaggerating when I say that, a solid majority of the time, the veggie burrito I order arrives containing 10% pinto beans, 15% cheese, and 75% cold lettuce....so much of it that the cheese doesn't even melt. Why oh why would anybody put up with this and come back again and again?! I already told you....it's that damned ORANGE sauce.
Anyway, a couple of years ago another taqueria, Taqueria Los Gallos de Villa, opened up just behind La Victoria, and I was really pulling for it to do well...if the food proved to be good anyway. I noticed, however, that nobody seemed to be going there, while often the line was to the door at La Victoria. Unfair. It was making me really mad that people weren't venturing out and giving the new kid on the block a try, until I noticed that I wasn't either.
Until today.
Taqueria Los Gallos de Villa was one of those places I love where there is a helpful picture of each menu item:
Nicole grabbed a pearl tea and a chicken snack thing at Quickly, and then I decided to do a minor new thing I've been wanting to do for a while. If you know downtown at all, you know that La Victoria pretty much rules the roost when it comes to taquerias. I'll admit that I'll rarely ever go to any other Mexican joint in the area, even though I know some of their food is far superior. The reason for this is simple. La Victoria sells this crazy orange sauce that brilliantly masks all the food's shortcomings and adds an amazing (if extremely difficult to pinpoint) flavor. Something like cream-based, mildly garlicky salsa. But not at all like that. I don't know...it's hard to describe.
Anyway, I kind of have a love/hate relationship with "La Vic" as it's so wittily nicknamed, and I think a lot of people do. I love them for inventing and spreading so much joy through their orange sauce, but I resent them for taking our collective business for granted and pretty much slinging whatever they want into a foil wrapper and calling it Mexican food. I swear I am not exaggerating when I say that, a solid majority of the time, the veggie burrito I order arrives containing 10% pinto beans, 15% cheese, and 75% cold lettuce....so much of it that the cheese doesn't even melt. Why oh why would anybody put up with this and come back again and again?! I already told you....it's that damned ORANGE sauce.
Anyway, a couple of years ago another taqueria, Taqueria Los Gallos de Villa, opened up just behind La Victoria, and I was really pulling for it to do well...if the food proved to be good anyway. I noticed, however, that nobody seemed to be going there, while often the line was to the door at La Victoria. Unfair. It was making me really mad that people weren't venturing out and giving the new kid on the block a try, until I noticed that I wasn't either.
Until today.
Taqueria Los Gallos de Villa was one of those places I love where there is a helpful picture of each menu item:
And as an incredible suggestion for an impulse buy, you can apparently rent U-Haul trucks there too. For real...we saw one in the parking lot.
I ordered the veggie torta, which was toasty goodness and which hit the spot. And in an added plus (when compared to La Victoria), the chips and salsa bar were free, and the chips were fresh, homemade ones as opposed to the stale, out of the giant plastic bag disks they offer at La Vic.
Alas, however, they don't have The Orange, which would have made the torta that much better. Win-win solution will be to buy a bottle of The Orange next time ($6 well spent) and make the hybrid, San Carlos Street meets 4th street dream team super meal. Good call!
Now, as for
Today's New Activity: Playing Shadow Tag
...it was borne from a conversation Nicole and I were having in which we talked about how sometimes, getting caught up with all the day-to-day work of taking care of kids, we can miss out on the playing, the act of simply having fun with them. Nicole was saying that she does, in fact, play with Maya sometimes, but Maya disagreed. "You' don't play with me. When did you play with me?" A question to which Nicole replied "I played shadow tag with you that one time" (which made me laugh because it called to mind an exchange in Modern Family during which Clair is lamenting to her young son Luke that she's no fun and that his dad does all the fun stuff. Luke doesn't want her to feel bad, so he reassures her with this: "You put that potato chip in my sandwich last week. That was a crunchy surprise." "Nope," Clair says, "that was also your Dad.").
I asked them what shadow tag was, and Nicole said it was tag, except you tag people's shadows instead of their bodies. Well-named game, I'd say.
So on the way back from lunch, we went back through campus and plopped down on a big patch of grass, where the babies were free to do their roaming without the danger of cars passing by, and without anything at all in sight that we'd have to try and keep them from grabbing at. Why hadn't we found that spot sooner?!
Nicole and I talked for a while, and when Maya got tired of chasing the babies around (and she's so sweet with them, and such a good big sister...it's fun to watch her getting such enjoyment in playing with them, and vice-versa), she reminded us that we'd promised to play shadow tag with her. The fact that neither of us jumped up to make good on this promise just reinforced for me the idea that dads really are better cut out for (dare I saw pre-programmed for?) fun in a way that moms just aren't. It's a shame. I'm not saying every mom is a stick in the mud. It's just that I don't think we naturally act as silly or as playful or as energetically as dads when it comes to recreation with the kids. Maybe I should just speak for myself (or for myself and Nicole, since we talked about this and are in agreement), but it feels true. I can't think of any mom I know who is a fun in the sense of play-like activity as any of the dads I know.
But we did play after all.
So the rules of shadow tag are that you can't "tag back" immediately the person who just tagged you, and you can run to the shade for refuge (since your shadow isn't visible there), but you can only stay there for 10 seconds (which seemed like a long time to me, for the record).
A word to the wise about shadow tag....it's probably best not to play in the late afternoon/early evening, when each shadow is ten feet long and the "it" person needn't be anywhere near the others in order to tag them. I don't think it's really how the game was meant to be played...me stepping on Maya's shadow from so far behind her she couldn't even hear me.
It's probably also good to play with more than three people, especially when two of them are moms who would rather be talking than running :P We gave it the old college try though. And I couldn't help but scream and squeal like a kid when Nicole or Maya was running toward me and I was trying to get away. Given that we were clearly playing some kind of tag but nobody ever actually touched, the students walking by must have thought we were off our rockers. Or maybe they *knew * about shadow tag, I don't know.
Chupi and Sureya--already loaded back into their strollers and ready to head home--watched with curiosity and big, happy smiles on their faces as their Mamas crossed back and forth on the grass in front of them, as they'd been doing moments earlier. It was funny to see them watching our every move for once...quite a role reversal. I wonder what, if anything, they thought we were doing.
Shadow tag and the walk back to Nicole's were nice finishes to a really, really nice day off. Not sure I'll be playing the game again any time soon, but I would like to put more effort into being Fun Mama. I'd like for Monkey to have those kinds of memories of me, too.
3.02.2011
The GGA Project -- Day #81 "Old Haunts Made New"
This year, though I've moved 40 minutes away from downtown San Jose, I was more excited than probably ever for the annual Cinequest film festival to begin. It would be a great reason to revisit the city that welcomed me to Northern California more than 10 years ago now! While I've lived in the surrounding areas of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara for periods of time, downtown San Jose has been my home almost exclusively, and any excuse I have to get back there makes me happy.
I put a mention on Facebook in the afternoon that I was heading down to SJ in case anybody wanted to join the fun. My friend Sowmya wanted to make it but was buried in a grad school thesis, so I went this one alone. And I have to say: one really nice thing about going to the movies alone is that you are totally free to pick exactly what you want to see, at the time you want to see it, and sit exactly where you like. I am not exaggerating when I say that during the time I was together with my soon-to-be-ex-husband, I did not chose a single movie that we saw together. I could have gone to movies alone back then, but that's a whole other story entirely, for another day.
But this alone = absolute say in everything is not unique to movie-going of course. Since separating I have enjoyed every moment to myself to spend my free time, well, freely. Of course having a toddler means that the majority of all my decisions will factor in his needs first, and heavily, but when he's with his father (like tonight), or otherwise engaged (zzzzzzzzzzz), it's great to revisit my days of autonomy, of independence, and of simply enjoying my own company. After graduating from college I took a whole backtracking trip to Europe alone, mostly because I knew I'd relax in ways I wouldn't if I were always halfway-bound to anyone else's itinerary ideas (especially since I'm anti-itinerary...which makes me think it would be great to find a traveling buddy who's also anti-itinerary...I think Nicole definitely qualifies...we gotta get that roadtrip underway!).
ANYway, tonight I chose to see a film from Iceland called "Mamma Gogo," about an elderly woman's fall into Alzheimer's disease and her relationship with her grown children, namely her failed filmmaker son. It was charming and sad and juuussst emotionally compelling enough without being sentimental. A couple of scenes, like one in which the mother's nursing home caretakers discover her in the bathroom trying to flush herself down the toilet, were incredibly moving.
***Sidenote having nothing to do with this*** When the movie opened and I first heard the language, I was reminded of my favorite Youtube video of all time, though it turns out this language is Flemish, not Icelandic.
So back to tonight...there were two movies I was trying to decide between, and the choice was ultimately made by the fact that one of them was being screened at a theater I've been longing to see the inside of for some time now.
Today's New Activity: A Visit to The California Theater
The California Theater, on South 1st street, was apparently an old vaudeville house built in the late 1920's. It was closed for a long time and fell victim to downtown San Jose's darker days of shuttered storefronts and pee-anywhere-you-like freewheelin'. That's pretty much what downtown San Jose was like when I first moved there, and I think the memory of those days keeps a lot of people from even going there. But I've watched as slowly--sometimes painfully so--the city has transformed into a respectable place to bring your friends, even your foreign friends from much more well-known places. Every time I'm in the area I see a newly restored building or a new, bustling restaurant. This one was restored and reopened in 2004.
And I'm sad to say that I lived, literally, around the corner from The California Theater for 2 1/2 years and I never caught a single one of the operas or symphony concerts that are the main reasons for its existence. First time for everything, though, right? Look at this beautiful building!
I couldn't resist taking a picture of the bathroom here as well. I don't know that I've been in a prettier or more sparkling one
After the movie finished, I took some time to walk around the streets of the first city I've ever really called home. I'd spent hours and hours walking for transportation up and down the streets of this city, or waiting for buses, or talking to transient people. I'd smoked countless cloves, drank countless cups of coffee, completed countless homework assignments in or around its establishments. I'd found and lost love and friendship among the people I met here. All in all, the night ended up being a wonderful date-with-self outing of the kind I used to experience often and have always appreciated.
Best way to finish it? A visit to Psycho Donuts, where a girl in a nurse's uniform serves up these hunks of insanity:
That bottom one is called the Cereal Killer. Cute. I'd never been to a Psycho Donuts before, but I'd been curious about checking it out after learning that my friend Laura's art was on display at their other location in Campbell. I chose a donut called the Kooky Monster, which was a ridiculously yummy and surprisingly not-too-sweet treat. It was a really nice finish to an all the way around pleasant evening...
I put a mention on Facebook in the afternoon that I was heading down to SJ in case anybody wanted to join the fun. My friend Sowmya wanted to make it but was buried in a grad school thesis, so I went this one alone. And I have to say: one really nice thing about going to the movies alone is that you are totally free to pick exactly what you want to see, at the time you want to see it, and sit exactly where you like. I am not exaggerating when I say that during the time I was together with my soon-to-be-ex-husband, I did not chose a single movie that we saw together. I could have gone to movies alone back then, but that's a whole other story entirely, for another day.
But this alone = absolute say in everything is not unique to movie-going of course. Since separating I have enjoyed every moment to myself to spend my free time, well, freely. Of course having a toddler means that the majority of all my decisions will factor in his needs first, and heavily, but when he's with his father (like tonight), or otherwise engaged (zzzzzzzzzzz), it's great to revisit my days of autonomy, of independence, and of simply enjoying my own company. After graduating from college I took a whole backtracking trip to Europe alone, mostly because I knew I'd relax in ways I wouldn't if I were always halfway-bound to anyone else's itinerary ideas (especially since I'm anti-itinerary...which makes me think it would be great to find a traveling buddy who's also anti-itinerary...I think Nicole definitely qualifies...we gotta get that roadtrip underway!).
ANYway, tonight I chose to see a film from Iceland called "Mamma Gogo," about an elderly woman's fall into Alzheimer's disease and her relationship with her grown children, namely her failed filmmaker son. It was charming and sad and juuussst emotionally compelling enough without being sentimental. A couple of scenes, like one in which the mother's nursing home caretakers discover her in the bathroom trying to flush herself down the toilet, were incredibly moving.
***Sidenote having nothing to do with this*** When the movie opened and I first heard the language, I was reminded of my favorite Youtube video of all time, though it turns out this language is Flemish, not Icelandic.
So back to tonight...there were two movies I was trying to decide between, and the choice was ultimately made by the fact that one of them was being screened at a theater I've been longing to see the inside of for some time now.
Today's New Activity: A Visit to The California Theater
The California Theater, on South 1st street, was apparently an old vaudeville house built in the late 1920's. It was closed for a long time and fell victim to downtown San Jose's darker days of shuttered storefronts and pee-anywhere-you-like freewheelin'. That's pretty much what downtown San Jose was like when I first moved there, and I think the memory of those days keeps a lot of people from even going there. But I've watched as slowly--sometimes painfully so--the city has transformed into a respectable place to bring your friends, even your foreign friends from much more well-known places. Every time I'm in the area I see a newly restored building or a new, bustling restaurant. This one was restored and reopened in 2004.
And I'm sad to say that I lived, literally, around the corner from The California Theater for 2 1/2 years and I never caught a single one of the operas or symphony concerts that are the main reasons for its existence. First time for everything, though, right? Look at this beautiful building!
I couldn't resist taking a picture of the bathroom here as well. I don't know that I've been in a prettier or more sparkling one
After the movie finished, I took some time to walk around the streets of the first city I've ever really called home. I'd spent hours and hours walking for transportation up and down the streets of this city, or waiting for buses, or talking to transient people. I'd smoked countless cloves, drank countless cups of coffee, completed countless homework assignments in or around its establishments. I'd found and lost love and friendship among the people I met here. All in all, the night ended up being a wonderful date-with-self outing of the kind I used to experience often and have always appreciated.
Best way to finish it? A visit to Psycho Donuts, where a girl in a nurse's uniform serves up these hunks of insanity:
That bottom one is called the Cereal Killer. Cute. I'd never been to a Psycho Donuts before, but I'd been curious about checking it out after learning that my friend Laura's art was on display at their other location in Campbell. I chose a donut called the Kooky Monster, which was a ridiculously yummy and surprisingly not-too-sweet treat. It was a really nice finish to an all the way around pleasant evening...
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