Skeptickle

Note: I wrote this post almost to it's entirety last week, but because of the inconsistent wireless internet access at my school...it somehow got deleted. I was so frustrated about rewriting the whole thing again that I put it off until now. I apologize for those who were looking forward to reading it (although most of you had already called me to ask for details). As they say, the show must go on and the story must be written...

Prepare for a long post...

Wow, I didn't realize that I haven't posted for over a month. I must have been really busy the second half of last quarter. I'm glad I finally get to enjoy a relaxing break after such a grueling quarter. Many of my friends are taking cool trips this week, but I'm content to just settle with a good book (in this case Tuesdays With Morrie), sip Tazo tea, and check up on my hyacinths that have been blooming since I was away. Hmm, I sound like I'm 50. Or more likely it's because I've been fighting off a cold for several days and it has only succeeded in taking over my throat so far. Rob has planned a mini trip to Napa next weekend so that I'm not just piddling around the apartment and running errands my whole week. I'm happy that I got a lot of errands done already including fixing my laptop that had been acting up since winter break. Rob and I also went to San Francisco on Easter Sunday for a timeshare presentation by a very popular resort company*.

I'm on a mission to reconnect with people that I've lost contact with but had significant meaning at some point in my life. This has been going on for the past year and there are some successes so far. If you remember my previous post about me moving about 19 times in my life, it's obvious that my environment and those who I'm in contact with is always changing. I envy people who have been in one place for most of their life and went through school with the same people. I was never good at this whole "keeping in touch" thing because I guess I never really learned a good way to do so. I'm always afraid of bothering people or even worse, perhaps they never wanted to continue a relationship in the first place. The latter is most likely due to things that are out of my control and I have come to accept that those are unsalvageable. But you'll never know unless you try, right? The real trick is how to keep an ongoing relationship after reconnection.

...is upon us. Tomorrow I will be voting in one of the most significant presidential primaries this nation has ever seen. For the first time since 1928, there will be no incumbent president or vice president on the ballot. Also for the first time, either an an African American man or a White woman will be nearly guaranteed the Democratic bid. My generation is predicted to swing the vote for the Democratic nominee and perhaps even the entire election this year. I have friends that are actually excited to vote. It is a momentous occasion for the process that many of us take for granted in our adult years thus far.

Rob took me to Cyrus to celebrate my 24th birthday this year. We had to make the reservation for the 5th because I had to drive back to LA yesterday in time for my classes today. Cyrus has been rated as one of the top restaurants in the country with two Michelin stars and a Zagat rating of 28 points. Like the French Laundry, it's located in wine country which is a couple of hours away from the greater Bay Area. There were some people on Yelp that tried to compare it to the FL but the similarities end at location and expense. Cyrus had their own interior style, ways of serving, and cuisine type. We were wise enough to book a room near the restaurant because neither of us were fit to drive after our wonderful experience there. It's actually located inside the fancy Les Mars Hotel but at over $350 a night we declined to stay there. After looking through their menu, Rob wanted to try their chef's tasting menu and 7 course wine pairing. We went with that although the self-creating menu looks very tempting as well. Onward to the pictures and descriptions:

I am not a pessimist. I prefer to think of myself as an optimistic realist. My political philosophy is a mixture of utilitarianism, Nietzsche's perspectivism, tolerance for individualism, and the ideal of a socially democratic state. I'm still in the process of developing this complex philosophy.

This was a topic of discussion at a recent event and I would like to share it because it's been on my mind ever since I took my citizenship class:
I have recently come to the conclusion that our society has become way too harsh on our civil servants. What it boils down to is witch-hunt on a massive scale. I think that this results in fear from harsh public judgement, which is what is driving people away from being involved in politics in the first place. I would hate to always wonder if the decisions I made ten years ago are going to come back and bite me in the ass someday, but to have the entire nation know about it would make it infinitely worse.

We judge politicians so severely as if they were not humans beings but gods. I can tell you right now from all my knowledge of government and the way it works, that someone who has both pure intentions and is using only pure means of getting there won't get much good done. They'd get booed out of office before their term is even up. I am not asserting that politicians should not be held accountable to a higher standard than us mere mortals who are free to make mistakes and have weaknesses, but it should not be so high that it's nearly impossible to accomplish.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of introducing some friends from the Bay Area to Los Angeles. Rob drove down with our friends Mike and Nathan who have never been to LA before and were interested in experiencing what it had to offer. The challenge was to plan an itinerary that reflected certain elements of LA that were more or less stereotypical but not touristy. Since LA is a mishmash of about 88 different cultures within one metropolitan area, I had to resort to the few places I've already visited before. Strangely enough, I've lived in LA for a total of nine months now and I haven't really had a chance to explore as much as I'd like of it because of school. I think though that in the end I managed to pull off an entertaining and informative experience for my guests. Rob has the pictures on his blog of the trip.