Lapsang Souchong

i have decided to become a tea snob.

i work at starbucks and there are a few coffee snobs there (anyone who asks for a caramel-anything is not a coffee snob) people that can tell you what county, farm, tree, branch, weather, if the farmer had a wedding ring by the subtle gold notes in the bouquet, are snobs.

like oenophiles, but for coffee. well i want that for tea. i have also started to dabble in whole leaf (higher quality than bagged), not as convenient.

my first adventure out was lapsang souchong. a black tea from china that is smoked over pine root.

it tastes like christmas, rather, it tastes like 2 weeks before christmas when dad gets the tree and cuts the lower branches off and throws them into the fireplace. smokey and piney with a tea chaser. actually its not as bad as that may sound. the scent of the dry leaves is pretty intense, but the brew is milder and when sweetened it is quite drinkable.

not the perfect cup, but an interesting sidetrack. i'm going to continue in china blacks before entering "flavor country" (india), followed by oolong, then green.

Why I hate Disneyland

i don't hate disneyland. it is a fine place. but just like Las Vegas, its adult counterpart, i just can't enjoy the artifice. its not for me, disneyland is for children, and it should be full of giggling screaming children begging for $47 sodas and $138 mouse ears. i want them to be there and have that experience, and inevitably their parents, i guess they should be there too. but seeing as i belong to not one or the other categories i should be exempt. i also have some questions as to the morality of season passes and families that go every weekend just cause they live in a 30 mile radius. kinda spoils the magic when you know the kid in the mouse suit's name is chad and he's your babysitter.

i am cheap, and any childlike wonder i still possess is tightly regulated to actual places that exist in the real world. by these two facts alone i will never understand either the mouse's house or vegas. Again, vegas i just missed the bus on, too much of an old man to get drunk and chase women, (and i mentioned the cheap thing), and not old enough that swirly lights will keep me entertained. a hotel shaped like a castle is not a remote second place to an actual castle. it might cost more to get there, but you get what you pay for.

All of this is stirred up because of my wife's vacation. she loves disneyland, loves it like a child. and i can't fault her for that, i am glad it brings her joy, she has a surplus of childlike wonder that she keeps hidden for just such an occasion. we had other plans, but they fell through, so we ended up with the two choices mentioned above. i chose disneyland, it's closer, therefore cheaper. we got there just after it opened, and left just before it closed. went to california adventure as well and had a nice time. i hear the fireworks everynight, but it was neat to actually see them, pretty big show to do everyday, wonder how much all that costs annually. (two smiley faces, dad. and three cubes) also because we were there early we got to ride everything, with seldom more than 20 minutes wait. they did ruin the haunted mansion with nightmare before christmas stuff, it was really bad. seriously, ruined.

but meg had a good time, and so did i. now i'm good for another 5 years. hope you had a good weekend too.

Congratulations!

In case the "shouted from the rooftops" reception in your area is poor: about 20 minutes ago you should have heard my mother yelling for joy as she became a grandmother.

congratulations to annie and cory on the birth of baby Bee.

We love you and are glad to open our hearts and our family a little wider.

all our love,
nate and meg

A little trip down memory lane

So meg and i had an overlapping weekend off, which is about as common as a lunar eclipse. and we decided to get away for a couple days. we left early friday evening and drove up to morro bay. the plan was to go camping at the state park (which assured me over the phone that they had plenty of spots open) but when we got there at quarter to 10pm the signs said no vacancy-and there were no rangers around. so we had to get a motel room, which is nice in its way, but not as cheap as a campsite--although cable tv reception is better than in the tent.
i got up early (7) and wandered around the embarkadero following my boyhood trail up and down the empty streets as the fog burned away, disturbing only the seagulls enjoying the fishermen's leftovers. it was a nice little stroll, i hadn't been there in about 10 years, very nostalgic. then i went up to the park to try my fortune with the rangers. as luck would have it they were still full through the weekend, but when i mentioned having handicapped placards the game changed. there were five open spots that couldn't be filled. so i happily availed myself of one. went to the site, set up our massive tent, and got things semi set up by about 10am, and went back to the motel to wake meg and check out.

then we walked the embarkadero together now that shops were open and had an acceptable brunch at the otter rock cafe. did some shopping at the boutiques along the strip. drove out to morro rock to watch the otters just generally had a nice time. it was also the weekend of the avocado/margarita festival (two of meg's favorite things) so we browsed through all the local farmers booths and saw guacamole of many varieties. then we went to camp. meg took a nap and i went off to hike around montana de oro state park.

it was, again, a very nostalgic (and hot) trek. its just such a memorable place from my childhood. i remember going there in my parents tan pontiac 6000, probably an 84-5-6, not sure, but cory and i were little and we just got out at this wide spot in the road. it was a eucalyptus forest, and we followed this trail that was almost like a hall it was so overgrown with vines and creeping plants. and then all of a sudden there was a small wooden bridge and you walked out of this crease in a cliff onto a rocky beach filled with tidepools (if you go at the right time-otherwise its filled with water). i remember touching a shark that had gotten stuck in the rocks at low tide and got to touch it. it was amazing. it was one of the few outdoorsy things my parents ever did with us as a family. (my parents are good people, but not big wilderness folk) maybe it was the proximity of the beach, the fact that we were never more than a dozen miles from a hot shower and a cool pillow, but whatever the reason for their favoring of this particular state park, i thank them for including me (and us) in what was to become my favorite part of the central coast of california.

came back to the tent, took a little nap. then we went to see the heron rookery and go get clam chowder at the harbor hut for dinner. along the way back we fed french fries to seagulls. we got back to the tent and played a game of scrabble (which i lost, handily) which included 64 points for the word "fuzz". then we went to bed, we both enjoy sleeping in the tent its very comfortable, as is required when i bring meg. but i can suffer through a little comfort for the sake of company.

we started back a little earlier than expected, so we stopped and went to the santa barbara zoo to kill some time. it was a great little trip, i'd like to go back when we have a few more days.

in my absence...

hey, guess what.

physics is hard. and not fun hard, like MATH hard. yeah, not good.

everything else is cake.
even sitting through the bullpucky that is philosophy is manageable. things have settled down, round these parts. gotten into a nice groove (or rut). i guess its been a month since i did this, or so the backlog of photos tells me. here's what happened:

my inlaws went to australia and we birdsat for them, a cockatoo and a kookaburra, they were fun to have around.

we took delivery of our new baby (parrot) a caique named Ernie. who one day decided to climb up my bike.

this was a nice photo of meg and her folks and their respective parrots. (plus a rare photo of the elusive mother-in-law)(yes, that is blood on meg's pants)

some minor successes

SECOND DAY OF SCHOOL:
better. managed to get into a physics lab (it was all that stood in the way of my getting into a physics lecture class) so i don't have to worry about ochem for another semester, and i have 16 units. so i'm done looking, and almost done crashing (i want to swap my special ed class for an earlier one) but that happens tomorrow.

and i ran into a girl that was in my very first science class 5 years ago at saddleback. it was nice to see a familiar face and chat for a few minutes outside of the ipod bubble that it seems the majority of my fellow students (myself included) wander around in. then in the afternoon my assistant manager at starbucks/friend carrie "vern" vernoy who is taking her last 3 classes walked me around campus and showed me all the senior secrets, which was nice of her. so i know that at any given time there are potentially 3 people i will recognize on campus. oh, and i met a guy named ryan in my physics lab, he had cool brown/white saddle shoes, so maybe 4.

things are already looking up. one more day, two books to buy, one to return. and then its all locked down for 5 months.

Back to school, all over again

I was hit by a car, not today, but around 10 years ago. my future wife was behind the wheel, not that the event itself matters. it is a nice story, if you like that sort of thing. but AFTER i rolled off the windshield, and also after i hit the asphalt, but before i stood up--the awestruck moment of realizing what happened, all the potential consequences, and the self diagnostics that go through your head if you know anything about spinal cord injuries.

that's where i am right now, its the best i can equate it to. cory called me midday and asked if my first day was-i forget how he put it- spiffy. at the time i had just rolled off the windshield, but before i hit the asphalt. it was not momentous, it was mildly daunting.

let me explain that it was not bad, i was not pelted with rotten fish, nor was i forced to walk the hallways to the murmured word leper on everyone's lips. i just felt alone, and doing things (like trying to crash classes) that were bordering on pointless. i went to 4 classes today, if you don't count the "modern sexuality" class that i walked into the last 15 minutes of on invitation of the instructor (a very bold fellow, who amused me greatly, and i got the impression the feeling was mutual-he stayed behind a few moments to chat)

i still don't know if i got into ochem, or physics lab (but i get to try all week long to find a physics lab) so those classes were akin to urchins looking into the bakery window (all that warm fresh education, hot from the oven, but i can only watch from the outside as others partake in electron orbital geometries, and immutable laws). and there is a certain kind of disappointment that goes along with that, solaced only by the knowledge thatsomeday i will be in the metaphorical bakery before graduation.

after lunch my luck changed, and i went to the one class i was enrolled in today medicine as literature, the instructor had changed (and into a woman-which is awesome as female lit teachers love me (i don't know what it is, i'm just sayin')) and the class seems interesting and i have already asserted my dominance--i answer questions, sit in the front, and engage the instructor. she also invited meg to come in to address the class, upon finding out her profession, and literary achievements. and then i actually managed to get added to health sciences for secondary educators, so i am now at 12 units (with a little more shuffling and hopefully another class to add) so i am at full time.

meg got me weinerschnitzel for dinner to celebrate, she's sweet like that sometimes. tomorrow, i go to work and then back to campus.