keep on keeping on...

I had a couple very busy weeks at work, with hardly any daylight time after I got off.  Two mornings after my sick day, it hailed right after I got in my car to go to the hospital.  A couple days later, you could see rain up high in the clouds at sunset.

hail!  in san diego!!

rain in the high clouds, clear and sunny below

The next weekend, I drove up to South Pasadena again and hung out with Irene.  The afternoon started with a group car wash in the driveway - Joe and Irene washed their cars while I washed mine.  Then another friend from CIBC, Lisa, came over and Irene, Lisa, and I headed out for dinner and more catching up time.  Lisa's another Cal Architecture grad who is no longer in architecture.

car wash party!

irene, me, and lisa - stuffed with dumplings and bubble tea!

The next morning, I visited Newsong Church in Irvine where I met up with John again.  I also ran into Loc and Christina and family, not knowing that Christina works there!  Christina was one of "my kids" from Ichthus, the high school group at CIBC Oakland.  After church, John, his friend Keith, and I went out to sushi for lunch before they went off to watch a hockey game.

happy post-sushi photo

While they headed off to hockey, I drove to Torrance where I met up with four more of "my kids" from CIBC.  I hadn't seen any of them in years - before there were spouses and kids in the picture at all!  Now, there are three spouses, one fiancee, and 6 young kids.  We went out for dinner at King's Hawaiian, then headed back to Jason's place for dessert.

group shot: jason & abby with micah and delaney, greg & joan, esther & richard
with noah and caleb, and andrew & tiffany with ethan and ella (and me)

Another week in the hospital with no afternoons off, and then I caught up with another friend that Friday night.  Kristin was a year behind me in Cal's Architecture program, and I got to know her at CIBC.  We met up on Convoy Street which is known as a very Asian area in San Diego.  We went to a Korean tofu place and ate some comfort food - a hot clay pot of tofu with a bowl of rice.

kris and me after dinner, tapioca drinks, and good talks

The next day I headed up to Venice Beach to catch up with one of my old mountainboarding friends, Julianne.  We walked about 6 miles - from Marina Del Rey along the entire length of the Venice Boardwalk to the Santa Monica Pier and back, and saw interesting architecture and a higher concentration of weird people than Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley.  Most of them will charge you money for taking their picture, apparently will even chase you down until you pay them.  Fortunately, I'm pretty sly and didn't get caught!  I spent the night at Julianne's place near LAX, fighting with her cat for the right to keep my bed cat-free.

some of the curious houses along venice boardwalk

just a sampling of odd characters along venice boardwalk

pretty sunset on venice beach

julianne and her crazy cat

The next morning I stopped for a quick breakfast at a Starbucks in Manhattan Beach on my way south to Mission Viejo (I had a gift card!).  I walked down to the pier and briefly watched some boogie boarders before the 24 minute time limit ran out on my parking space.  Then I met up with Diana and Cary Sun at Saddleback Church - Diana is a friend from CIBC as well.  The Suns and I went out for lunch afterwards at Pieology, a pizza place owned by Michael Chang (the tennis player) and his brother Carl (who went to Cal when I did).

manhattan beach pier

diana and me after lunch at pieology

I headed back toward San Diego to catch up with more friends from Cal and CIBC - Keith and Deanna both attended Cal's Optometry school, Keith attended CIBC, and Deanna went to Cal for undergrad and was in AACF with me.  Keith made a great Korean-style BBQ while Deanna provided the rest of dinner.  Their energetic boys kept moving the whole time!

crazy bus at a "vista point" along highway 5 (and some crazy looking lady tried to solicit a "donation" for taking a photo - i declined)) - it's unclear what is special about the view

me with keith, deanna, and their kids drew and trent

The next blog post should catch up through my last weekend living in San Diego...