so, wow, a week goes by and so much happens around the world. it makes my life look pretty unmoving/unchanging. things have been pretty quiet down at stanford, but wow, those sf protesters are really uh.. going at it? i feel like their anger would be much better directed if they didn't just block traffic so much as government buildings, and sf's not even the capital of the state, so there aren't that many federal buildings here, so really they should go to sac or even to dc. honestly, i think people are just feeling unrest and are going to try and express that in the most disrupting way possible. not to mention all the anarchists and violent people just like inflicting mayhem probably are just flocking to the city. but really, what's the point of standing in the street and stopping traffic? i don't get it. and assaulting old ladies in their car? you think it's their fault? and vandalizing cars of military personnel, don't they realize that these people really can't stop the motions of the war? that's not protesting, that's violating the social conduct laws. and the poor sfpd - all officers on duty for more than 24 hrs and all leave cancelled. good luck to them. why can they protest like in chicago? where sure they stopped traffic, but they weren't violent? violent protests against the violence in iraq seem hypocritical.

i'm going up snowboarding tomorrow with greg, john and art. don't i look like the pimp daddy or should i say mommy? i'm looking forward to it, but i'm not too sure anyone else is. i think we're going to kirkwood this time, but i'm not sure and until john emails me back, i won't be sure of anything.

past couple of days have been pretty laid back, gone to work, worked hard and long, gone to the gym for an hour, eaten, slept. you know, normal functions.

i've been invited to lots of wedding in august. austin and janine's and mary and ethan's. possibly even andrew and nikki's? (andrew is greg's older brother..). it's sort of overwhelming.

i love my watch. i never realized that til it broke and i couldn't use it and then i sent it to hk to get fixed. actually the fixing process was pretty quick, so that was nice. but i love my watch.

this week was pretty hard on me. i was pretty sick, not the falling down sick that a lot of people have been, where they're so dizzy they can't get out of bed, so tired they can't sleep and hacking up their lungs. but a milder version of all that. but i'm saving my sick time, so i went to work feeling pretty miserable. i actually went in late on monday and left early, if anyone's counting. but there were days were i worked overtime, and you know, i don't get overtime, so i was feeling pretty dang magnamimous. yesterday i left a little early too though, wade, dave, liz and i went to happy hour and were joined by nicole a little later. it was pretty fun, but i definitely have no tolerance for OH.

i spent last night at home kind of headachey and kind of grumpy. i think i had to be grumpy to make up for being so happy.

someone told me that if i get those wrist guards for inline skaters my wrists will feel a whole lot better after next weekend, and they offered to lend them to me! yay!!

so i was wanders about davis last week, well not really wandering per say, more like driving to greg's and then to alli's and i was watching people - most likely students - walking or biking idlically around, debating, flirting, just sunning themselves, and i was jealous. not like a green envy, but just, i longed to be that way again. i wonder if people ever looked at me and thought that as they drove by in my 4 years. probably, but you never will knowi suppose.

is it love, or is it masochistic?

so this weekend, i went snowboarding for the first time ever. i shall make the requisite 'oy, am i sore!' comment now. but it was totally worth it and i can't wait to go again. maybe i can convince someone to drive me up this weekend.. hmmmm...

friday i took off work early and drove to davis, where i hung w/greg for about an hour, helped art get his car ready to go down to SLO and then picked up pearl tea and dropped myself off at becca's and allison's. we took off and damn did it take forever to get to tahoe. actually it took us 1 hr 20 mins to get to where fry's is in sac, which takes maybe 30-40 minutes normally. we got up to where we were staying, somewhere near northstar called red wolf inn or lodge or soemthing around 9:30 (we left at 5) and after finding the inn (which was an adventure in itself since it's sign was knocked down and they didn't have their temporary sign, i mean, piece of plywood illuminated, we drove by it 6 or 7 times. we went to dinner at some italian joint called luzio's or something. larzia? i don't know. huge meals, great bread though. we went to safeway and then bed.

saturday morning we got up uber early and drove over to northstar, parked in the cool 4+ people carpool free parking and went to rent our gear and sign up for lessons. alli and andrew took ski lessons and becca has all her stuff since she's been skiing for forever. anyway, once we were equipped, we grabbed the gondola up and rented a 'basket' (more like what you get your mail in when you put it on hold for longer than a week) for the day. and then i thought i lost my sunglasses so i went 'sprinting' back to the basket area, which was essentially like walking in snowboarding boots. i had to retrace all my steps and by the time i made it back to my board (which had been deposited with my instructor by becca), i was practically in tears, but then i went to remove my leash from my hood and there they were! i guess they fell in my hood when i took off my bag. anyway, they told us about our boards and how to stand and then we put one foot in the bindings and practiced straight runs w/our free foot to stop us. i was incredibly bad at this. i did the splits like 10 times, had some specatular falls and kept just getting up. but by the end of the morning i made it work. unfortunately the package i bought was just a morning lesson and i hadn't even made it up the chair lift yet! but they were really nice and told me to come back at 1pm after imbibing some OH to make my inhibitions lower (yeah, like i could afford that up there!)

so i came back and learned to turn on my heel edge and went up the ski lift and learned to (according to james) plough. it was pretty exciting, but once i fell down i couldn't get back up (too much falling on my wrists i guess), so andrew had to come pick me up a couple of times. for which i was really grateful. and then all my friends were ready to go so i didn't go down the mountain backwards (damn!). we went home and took baths and went hot tubbing (i took the bath, they went hot tubbing, they didn't tell me to bring a suit!). did i mention the weather was gorgeous. it was like 50 something, we were out in tee shirts etc. beautiful.

sunday we went over to heavenly, and decided it was too expensive, we were too sore, etc, so becca went skiing with her friends from bodega and alli, andrew and i went down to the lake, took some pics, and then went to cesear's to gamble. i won a whole dollar on penny slots! actually it was a net of 50 cents since i was down 50 cents at the time. i immediately cashed out (and was id'd.. do i not look 22??). and then we waited for becca to finish, drove down to davis. i took a shower and went out for dinner with james and greg, where james and i incessantly talked of boarding and i hope to convert greg to boarding (he doesn't do any winter sports as of yet.. but just wait..). and then i drove home. it was probably the most painful drive since i was sore (you do the splits that much and you're bound to be) and tired as heck.

today i felt really sick, sore, swollen throat and a mild cough. i worked pretty lightly and took off 20 mins early or something and went walking in an attempt to stretch out my muscles. tomorrow i'm home alone, whee! house party! actually everyone's busy *pout*. but there is a 20% off sale at borders w/your student id.. so i think i'll hit that.

How do they (the israelis) do it? how do they overcome their fear, exit buildings and go to public spaces,when they know there's a pretty good chance that they'll get blown up? ok, i know that you could argue that, for instance, i'll get killed on my way to work in a fatal auto accident, or some meteor crashing to earth, or something equally unlikely, but suicide attacks aren't as unlikely, especially these days.

it's hard to think how much more difficult other people's lives are in comparison to mine. i'm bound to get fed at least twice during any given day. i not only have a place to sleep, but it's warm and comfy. i have money to spend on things that aren't essential for my existance. it's just such a daunting thought, thinking of those so much worse off than i am. but what is there that i can do? i'm not necessarily capable of helping myself (though many of you out there my argue), how can i help the starving africans? the terrified israelis and palentines? the oppressed in any country? it's not as if i believe that bush is going to help them, no matter what he does. he is the president, he's going to do what's good for the country and him, though i'm not sure which one has more priority.