Updates

Wow, haven't blogged in a while. Should probably be less wordy than usual in updating, then!

A few weeks back, I took a class down in Santa Clara for work, and they were kind enough to spring for hotel so I didn't have the do the 2+ hour commute each day. I stayed at the Wild Palms Hotel in Sunnyvale, which was actually quite cute. It was designed to have a fairly tropical feel - open lobby, pool with little bungalows around it in the middle, open (though roofed) hallways, tropical-looking canopy over the beds, etc. I didn't spend any time at the pool, though I walked by it to get to breakfast each day, but it gave it a nice feel. The rooms were pretty nice as well - not huge, but comfortable with a large desk where I got some studying in. Free wireless, free breakfast. My one complaint was that the alarm clock in the room next door to me went off (beeping) at 6am one day and kept going for an hour (and I couldn't get the "Guest Services" button on my phone to work). Then the next morning, I was woken at 3:30AM by a radio alarm in that room, heard the people move around and then leave..and then at 6AM, was woken again by the bloody beeping alarm! After 10 minutes, I called the front desk (just took a chance and dialed 0) and told them that this alarm was going off, had gone off for an hour yesterday, and that I was pretty sure there was no one in there, and could they *please* do something about it. A few minutes later, it stopped. Yay! No one I know needs a hotel in the Bay Area, but if they do, I quite liked that one.

Two weeks ago, I had a fairly busy week since we had tickets lined up to see the Flight of the Conchords on Tuesday and then A Midsummer Night's Dream on Wednesday. Both were rather interesting experiences.

Flight of the Conchords is a duo from New Zealand who mix comedy and music in often hilarious ways. Unfortunately, as I discovered, it helps to have familiarity with their material before going to see them live, because it was exceedingly difficult to understand what they were saying (especially since the people around us *did* know them well and kept whooping and cheering and laughing and drowning them out). I like their music, but the humor gets lost when you can't hear it. Still was an enjoyable show, I just think I would have liked it way better if I had familiarized myself with more than Business Time and one song I recognized but have since forgotten what it was.

A Midsummer Night's Dream was a restaging of Shakespeare's classic play by Indian and Sri Lankan performers. On seeing the information about it on the Best of Broadway SF website, I got the impression it was a Bollywood-esque interpretation, an extravaganza of dance, acrobatics, singing, etc that used the play as its basis. I was wrong. There were some elements of it - some dance, some acrobatics with ropes and dangling cloths, and such. But it was fairly minimal and far less than expected. Instead, the play was largely comprised of its multiethnic cast performing Shakespeare's play in seven different languages - English and six Indian and Sri Lankan dialects. I have a hard enough time understanding Shakespearean dialogue to begin with. Shakespearean dialogue performed in Indian/Sri Lankan accents and frequently interspersed with long stretches of language I don't understand is even harder to follow. Without the extremely detailed insert describing the plot, we all would have been incredibly lost. The use of the sets was fairly interesting - a big frame structure hung over with billowing white sheets that got torn and climbed all over over the course of the evening provided the background, there was a hanging platform, and ropes/cloths hanging all over the set. The guy playing Puck also was the set rearranger, wandering around and unhooking or rehooking the ropes, setting up one of the more interesting visual scenes, putting out the cloth for the actors to sit on in various scenes... I don't know. All in all it probably didn't help that what we saw didn't match our expectations of the big Bollywood extravaganza, but none of us enjoyed the play particularly much. And I've never seen so many people just get up and leave during the first act.

That same week, we had a Lost night to watch the finale. That was interesting. Lost is weird for me - it's a show where attention and memory for detail pays off big, and it's a show where the details completely slip my mind very quickly. When the finale opened I was actually confused - it'd only been 2 weeks since we saw the previous episode and I couldn't remember what had happened, who was where, and why. Strange. I enjoyed it though, and am curious to see where they go next season.

Before "Flight of the Conchords," we went to eat at the Nob Hill Cafe, a small Italian restaurant which was just about the only reasonably priced place within 4 blocks and which was extremely popular and crowded (always is pre-show at the Nob Hill Masonic Center, evidently). We quite enjoyed it - it was good, basic Italian that was quite tasty.

Before "Midsummer Night's Dream," we went to eat at Kim Thanh, a Vietnamese restaurant only a couple blocks from the Orpheum. It was also pretty good, basic Vietnamese/Chinese - we had a decent salt and pepper crab, a decent if standard wonton soup, a fairly tasty vegetables in oyster sauce, and a quite yummy pork vermicelli. I don't know if I'd go out of my way to go back, but if I happened to be in the area, I wouldn't mind going again. The waiters were nice and one helped us figure out how to eat some of the stuff.

Before Lost, we had dinner at RNM in lower Haight, where we'd eaten before, and which was still good.

Last week, I hung out with a friend and ate at the Alembic in Haight-Ashbury (Haight btwn Cole and Shrader). It's a bar with a small food menu. Literally small, both in the number of options and the size of the dishes. Yummy, though. We got the charcuterie plate, which had some tasty cuts of salami, prosciutto, and other meats. I got the Berkshire Pork Belly which was very fatty as pork belly should be, melty, yummy, bad for me, and tiny. Both my companions got the Flat Iron Steak (a special for the day), which I tried a piece of and was quite yummy. Very small portions, not that cheap, but the food was well done and the bartender (we ate at the bar) nice and friendly. It's not a place really designed for dinner - there are very few tables - but the food was surprisingly good.

Spent most of the weekend in Boston for my sister's college graduation. It rained kindly on us on Friday - as we sat down before graduation, the skies opened up, but luckily we'd been provided with ponchos that mostly kept us dry, except occasional rain that would seep in the sleeves (only happened to me). The rain stopped by the time the procession started, which was a small plus. It then was extremely hot and humid on Saturday, the day we packed up her room and moved her out. I intelligently walked from my hotel in Brookline to her dorm in Cambridge, which wouldn't have been a bad walk had I not been carrying my bags and walking in the humidity. Ah well. I do like Boston, though. We had dinner at Le's Restaurant (formerly Pho Pasteur) in Harvard Square, and I had my old favorite yellow noodles dish. So very very yummy. My sister kept stealing some off my plate b/c it was so yummy. The Pho Pasteur in Chinatown does their corresponding dish (which they call chow mein) differently, somehow. It just doesn't have that distinctive yummy sauce I've never found anywhere else. Also had a pineapple shake (ah condensed milk) which was much happiness.

What else, what else.

Ah yes. I just gave notice today and am starting a new job in a month. Only my second job since college. I'm scared and excited.