Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Life Unexpected

my cousin is working on his college applications. my cousin, 10 years my junior, will be going to college soon.

10 years ago i was in the same place. a sweet-faced kid with naive notions of the world. fast forward 10 years and i still have the sweet face but cynicism has eaten away at the naive notions the same way hungry hungry hippos consume their white pellets.

my life hasn’t quite turned out the way i expected. i am 27 years old and when it comes to my love life there is none. perhaps rachel greene said it best when she said “i’m not getting married. i’m not even close”.

in jr high our teacher had us write where we would be 10 years in the future. i would get a high school sweet heart. he’d be an athlete because i wanted to borrow his jacket, the one with the team name and leather sleeves. he’d send flowers to my class or maybe a pizza because i’d get hungry in the afternoons. after we both graduated from college we would get engaged and be married two years later. we’d be working full time in well-established industries. we would have our first kid by the time i turned 28. we'd have two kids and a dog.

well, that didn’t quite happen. the closest thing to a boyfriend since college has been zq. we can't count posey either. it's not really a relationship if the other person doesn’t even know of your existence.

there's still time before i turn 28 but it's highly unlikely i will go through dating, engagement, marriage and kids in four months. yes I know it is possible to get all those things done but it would be crazier than being in a pretend relationship.

relationships take work and I don’t think I have the time. no, let me rephrase that. i haven’t met someone i’m willing to make time for and vice versa.

maybe when all my friends are married off i will feel the pressure to do the same. but for now i say to my 14 year old self all idealistic and wide-eyed, we will just have to go buy our own pizza and if you still want that kid we can adopt one from a foreign country and be just like one of them celebrities out in hollywood.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

We Shipped Confetti From L.A.

because, as brian wilson would say, we’re ridiculous.

i got to watch the parade the city threw for the giants. amazing.

my BART morning commute was jam-packed. i spent about 20 minutes facing an arm pit. not my idea of a good start but i was pretty excited seeing all the black and orange on the train. people were chanting “Uribe” and “Let’s Go Giants”. the streets were lined with orange, black and white balloons with streamers. banners saying things like "world series champions" and 'congratulations giants" hung from each block. traffic was reduced to a crawl.

i spent a good hour outside the bank taking pictures for my coworkers. it was only 7 am but people were already lining up for the 11 am parade. people got dressed up in beards and panda hats. my favorite had to be the person dressed as a giant foam finger.

the streets were packed but people were so polite. one lady had two kids with her. the kids couldn’t see so a lady standing in front offered the kids her spot. when a guy realized he was blocking my view through the window he moved over so i could see. people were sharing snacks and stories about the giants like how the parade route was the same one used when the team first arrived from ny decades ago.

my boss let me stand on her desk to watch the parade if i promised to take some good pictures for her. people would cheer for whatever came down the street, buses, police, orange balloons, anybody in a beard. then the actual parade started. the players were pretty excited. aubrey huff twirled his red thong, brian wilson was swinging on the bars of the cable car, bumgarner was actually smiling but was dangerously hanging out of the cable car.

the screams of hundreds of teenage girls signaled buster posey's arrival. he looks even better in person. not really sure what swooning is but i think i might've done that. totally didn’t get a picture of him though. he was moving back and forth trying to wave to everybody. oh and i was jumping up and down which may have affected the shot a bit.

i would describe the feeling of this parade as being at disneyland, christmas time, with your friends and there are no lines.

there was just a whole lot of happy going on.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

THE GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!

that's pretty much how i answered all the phone calls coming into the house last night.
me: THE GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!
dad: i know. so what's for dinner?
me: THE GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!
dad: i heard you the first time. so what did you eat?
me: THE GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!
dad: stop it. dinner?
me:....THE GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!
(i am so obnoxious sometimes).

i started writing this post back when the giants were playing the braves but was afraid to publish it. i'm kinda superstitious when it comes to this kind of stuff. don't want to jinx it. but now that they've won i can say things like "i love the giants!" and not worry about them losing the world series because of it. yes, 'cuz i think i have that much power.

back in the day i would watch their games on a regular basis. i'd be talking to ann on the phone and we'd both have the game on. it was pretty fun because she would have a 5 second delay so when she heard my reaction she'd go "WHAT?! oh".

the team seemed unstoppable but then the 2002 world series happened and the happy went away. just thinking about it would hurt. i didn't stop cheering for them but it was hard. they lost in seven games despite leading the series, jeff kent went to the dodgers (i hate them) and the whole barry bonds steroid thing was upsetting.

fast forward to this year and i would sometimes glance over the sports page to see if there were any giant players i still recognized. the team had a freak and a kung-fu panda (say what?). despite it being called a rebuilding year the team wasn't doing too bad. i read an article from columnist glen dicky about how molina should pass the torch and a buster posey should be called up. With the image of an animated blue rabbit (tiny toons) wearing a giants uniform dancing in a field of...posies i wondered if this would happen. would they replace a seasoned vet with a rookie?

i was at a bbq and a game was on. i kept staring at the catcher's outfit because it looked really crazy to me. then the guy lifts the mask off and before i knew it i found myself grasping kim's(woo)arm and asking, "who is that?".

flash forward a few months and i would find myself sitting in front of the tv forgetting to breathe with my hand covering my eyes. it's crazy really, jocelyn and i agreeing on the cuteness that is buster posey. oh and the fact the team was doing so well despite the critics is even better. take that haters! i really like this team. it's drama-free.

after ann and i watched brian wilson make the final pitch i found myself screaming. who knew seeing a bunch of grown men jumping up and down could bring so much joy? the heartbreak is over. it's time to party in the streets the sf way by using an iphone app to see where the party at.

it's been really fun watching this series especially when i have ann on the phone during the games and she's still getting the 5 second delay. aww, good times.

the giants won the world series. they're the 2010 world series champions. hella awesome.

don't be surprised if i randomly hug you these next few days. just don't get use to it.

"this is great. there's no barry bonds. there's no steroids. this team is legit". - giants fan