4 Years :)
I have been meaning to write this blog for the past two weeks. My excuse: I have been traveling for work for the past two weeks. My real excuse: I have no discipline and have a tendency towards laziness. So, now, I have to sit here and write. Why do I have to write? Well, the beautiful flowers below need a fulfilling story…
The picture above was taken on October 11. While brewing some morning coffee, I glanced over and saw that these flowers had bloomed. Mike had given me these flowers the day before (October 10) for our 4th year anniversary. So, yes, 4 years…and getting happier and happier by the day 
Four years of many ups and many downs. I have very little experience with relationships, as this is my first one, so I really don’t know what is normal and what is “out there”. And, perhaps our relationship is a little out of the ordinary. For the first three years, it was a LONG LONG distance relationship with a variety of combinations:
- Boston – Cambridge (UK)
- LA – Cambridge (UK)
- LA – Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)
- SF – London
- SF – SF
So yes, three years of having to deal with multiple time zones and many fights. There were fights over cyberspace, fights in Bergen, Norway (me kicking trash cans), fights while traveling with friend in Spain (yes, Jen Lou heard our “discussion” even though she was three blocks away). But, for some reason, we are here now together in San Francisco. I guess the bad times were bad, but the thought of us being together was just too beautiful to let go…
Okay, I think I stop here before this blog becomes “Daniel Steel-esk”.
Thanks for reading.
I hate United!
It has been two years since I last took a United flight, and I should have waited for another few years! At one point, I really did enjoy flying United. The service was good. My flights were on time (most of the time). And, from time to time, I was given free upgrades (I still remember the free upgrade to first class while flying from the Carribean back to NYC ). Yes, yes, hard times have fallen on all airlines. But, I have to say, my experience the other day was the worst by far! It was a simple flight from SF to LA. A flight that was supposed to take 1 hour ended up taking 8 hours! I could have driven down to LA three hours quicker. I understand that there are delays, technical difficulties from time to time, especially if one flies on a regular basis (I don’t think I like flying anymore). But, that day at the United terminal was just a nightmare.
The nightmarish day started when my SO woke up late. Once he did get out of bed, he kept on insisting that we had plenty of time. Well, by the time we made it to SFO, I only had 50 minutes to check in my bags. So, I ended up missing the first flight to LA. Not a big deal, since there are tons off flight to LA. I checked myself on the next flight…a bit of a delay, but that was okay since I had time to sit and finish “Love in the Time of Cholera”. Long and behold, that was just the start to a miserable day. As I was getting ready to board the flight to LA, a voice over the intercom announced that all United flights have been grounded due to computer failure. Three hours later, there was still no update. So, rather than waste my evening at the airport, I decided to postpone my flight until Monday and go back home. I managed to re-book my flight and went down for my luggage. When I reached baggage claim, the United representative informed me that my luggage was already sitting in LA. I asked what option I had. Her reply, “you would have to fly to LA for your luggage.” Anyways, I was quite peeved by now, but I felt quite helpless. I ended up taking the 7pm flight to LA, spending 8 hours at the airport!
To be honest, I feel quite helpless at the situation. Perhaps my only form of protest is to stay away from United in the future. Too bad Genentech uses United as the preferred carrier. Hum, maybe I should email Art…
Well, I finally made it to LA. Good food. Be and Bin are well, so I am happy! Ciao.
Dinner at Amanda’s
Too many random thoughts, I am not sure which one to go with! Rafael Nadal lost today to PimPim. Four early exits (fairly early) in the last four tournaments. The rise and fall of a tennis superstar (anyone other than Federer) becoming shorter and shorter? Have the other players figured out Nadal? Tennis is a game of shot-making, not defensive ball retrieving… Okay, I digressed. Nadal on another day.
Tonight, we had dinner at Amanda’s. Amanda swears to me that she does not remember having a conversation about hosting a dinner at her apartment. But, for the record, she and I did have this conservation (Saturday during the party at Agyris to be exact). I threw out the idea of a home-cooked meal (tired of eating out all the time) and volunteered Amanda as chef. And, as validation, we did have a wonderful dinner tonight. Amanda was the main chef; I was the little helper/cutter and Nicole supervised (thank goodness for Nicole). Lisa came in with an ingenious desert menu (YUM!). Allison sat and drank. JLou came just in time for the food and left right before dishes (kidding…).
We talked about many things…Amanda’s bachelorette event, kids, our mothers, life. How many kids do I want to have? I have always thought maybe 3 or 4. It is interesting that we often think and ask “how” rather than “why”. So, I asked my friends why…why do we want to have kids? Kids are a huge sacrifice, financially, physically and emotionally, and sometimes there is NOTHING in return. So, either becoming a parent is a completely selfless act or someone please help me understand why. Parents, perhaps you can help shed some light on this topic.
The conversation was extremely animated with tints of psycology, physiology and philosophy. We have kids because:
- in old age, someone needs to take care of us — well now, how many of us actually expect our kids to take care of us. It seems that nursing homes and/or retirement centers are more of the norm. Recent articles in the NYT have even suggest that kids are freeloading off of parents longer and longer these days
- we want to create a “self” — you would have to be such a Type A to think this!
- of hormones — this physiological/survival behaviour holds water. But, there has to be something more…
- innate desire — the purest form of human relationship…that of a mother and child
We came to no firm conclusions. Perhaps the “aha” moment comes after becoming a parent. But, would that not be too late? 
Evenutally, we digressed to Lisa’s horse riding story (Lisa’s horse Loco threw her off the saddle yesterday. Ouch!). I was satisfied with the “kids” conversation and quite amazed at the spectrum of thought and experiences. I came into the conversation thinking that there must be this “innate desire”, and I still feel that way. But, given the stories and examples that I heard tonight, I need to dig deeper at this question. Perhaps a SWOT analysis (maybe next post)
First Day in Blog Universe
So today I entered the blogger universe, and I guess this would be my first blog. My SO (for those not in the scene, “SO” = significant other) has been pestering me to write a blog. He thinks I should write, post my opinion and see how many people I would offend (kidding…I am really harmless).
Too many topics to write about today. Perhaps I should lay down my two-cents on the Yankee-Jeter-ARod drama, or a bit more serious topic of NuCLEar weapons, or maybe a recap of my weekend of oysters and kayaking?
First thing first, I really don’t understand men. A friend once described to me that a man looks at a woman like he looks at a menu. He may be full, but one look at a juicy 16 once beef burger makes his mouth water and eventually loses all control. He may be with the perfect girl, but when a pair of boobs or slender legs pass by, he forgets he is with the perfect girl. Is it true that men are first and foremost visual creature? I wonder if the visual part of the brain is bigger than the rest… The visual part of the brain compresses against the emotional and communication parts of the brain. Is there a physiological explanation for this phenomena? If someone has an explanation, please do share with your fellowship of women…
Thanks for your eyes.
