I have lived in San Francisco most of my life, and I’ve only been to Baker Beach once. I’ve passed by it just a couple of times, but yesterday was the only time I’ve stepped foot onto the beach. We were very lucky because it was such a gorgeous day out. It was a relaxing afternoon, hanging out with a large group of random people, and bonding over the booze and the burying of each other in the sand.

It has the reputation of being a clothing-optional environment. Did I see any boobies or wieners? No. They tend to stick to the northern end of the beach, and I didn’t move very far in either direction. Just enjoyed the spectacular views of the Golden Gate and Pacific Ocean. It’s easy to tell yourself not to wear sunscreen when the sun doesn’t seem to be beating down… I have the sunglass tan to prove it too!

I’m taking quite some time to write these. Maybe I will finish by August?

Oh, Barcelona! Perhaps my expectations of you were a little high. Everyone we’d spoken to before the trip had raved on and on about you. You didn’t really disappoint. It just wasn’t as life-changing as I had imagined it would be. That, and after spending several days there, my wallet was already feeling the difference. Why must you cost so much more than every other place in Spain? Must be the popularity, huh?

After reading all these websites about scams and pickpockets all over Barcelona, I was afraid to leave the hostel. Seriously, we arrived at night, and the very next morning, we sat in the lobby for a bit because we didn’t really want to head out into the big bad world. Haha. We had a plan though – one person carry the bag, two people watch. Thankfully, our plan worked. Even though we were obvious targets for things to happen to, we were safe from all of that. It was one of our hostel friends who kept getting ALMOST pickpocketed – poor guy. Happened to him 3 or 4 times on his trip.

Gaudí’s work in Barcelona is amazing. I’m still curious as to how he did not become famous until after his death. He was commissioned to work on buildings and the cathedral… Were people just blind back then? And the story of his death is a little sad too – of all things, he got hit by a tram.

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[1] Casa Batlló. The first stop on our tour of the various Gaudí structures on Day One. This was the most expensive of the bunch, but by far the best. If you could only see one house, this one would be it. It’s also known as the House of Bones.

[2] The very famous rooftop of Casa Batlló. They say it’s supposed to resemble a dragon. It does, doesn’t it?

[3] Looking up in La Pedrera. This was the other major house that Gaudí worked on. The inside was furnished in a very typical Spanish home of Gaudí’s time.

[4] The entire neighborhood – Eixample [pronounced like EYE-SHOM-PLUH] – is made up of buildings of this modernist architecture. It’s gorgeous and quite amazing.

[5] through [8] La Sagrada Familia. It won’t be finished for another 30 years or so. I still can’t get over what a genius Gaudí must have been to come up with all this.

[9] and [10] Parc Guell and Gaudí’s House. We saved the trip up to Parc Guell for another day. We sorta went in through the back [up an outdoor escalator!] and ended up with a great view of the city from up top.

More photos: Barcelona – May/June 2007

Last Friday, I attended a health fair sponsored by my workplace. They were offering screenings for glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure, and osteoporosis. Most importantly, they were offering free five minute massages. So of course, I was all over that!

Turns out my glucose is fine, and I’m not at risk for osteoporosis. It was definitely a weight off the shoulders, considering how my grandmother was diabetic, and I’m fairly skinny, so I would have been at risk for those. My blood pressure, on the other hand, is a bit low. I still need to figure out what that means!

What worries me the most, however, is the cholesterol. It’s a little high, especially for someone at my age. The good news is that while total cholesterol is high, the HDL (good cholesterol) is relatively high too. As long as the HDL is up, it means LDL (bad cholesterol, associated with heart disease) is not AS high.

So what’s going to change? I am not planning on running to the doctor to get prescribed Zocor, Tricor or Lipitor. Instead, just to be on the safe side – more fiber in the diet and a bit more exercise. I want to see if that changes anything before I go change my eating habits. I’m not ready to give up good food (especially greasy brunch food) if I can help it!

So when I got home, the first thing I did was proclaim loudly, “Daddy, this is all your fault! My cholesterol is high, thanks to you.”

I know. That’s the wonderful daughter that I am.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time aka Toki wo kakeru shôjo: It has won many awards, and of course, it came highly recommended by the sister. So what’s the verdict now? I enjoyed it, but boy does it depress me! Won’t reveal any other details for those of you who have not seen it yet. Get to it! If you need information on how, let me know!

And I don’t know – it’s probably not normal to have a tiny crush on an anime boy, is it? *sigh*

Knocked Up: Watched this at a time when I needed a good laugh. It was humorous and served its purpose. And the memorable quotes listed on IMDB – hilarious. Brings back some good memories. The movie was graphic at a particular point in time. It was a little unexpected and caught me off guard. I don’t think it was exactly necessary…

Introducing the Dwights aka Clubland: This was an Australian film that we got free tickets to see. A fight broke out at the movie theater some time in the middle. We were waiting for someone to throw punches, but only a few random “Shut up!” and “No, you shut up!” and “Don’t tell me to shut up!” were exchanged. I must have enjoyed the movie because as we were leaving, they were randomly surveying folks as they stepped out of the theater. All we could respond back to them with were smiles and giggles.

On Sunday, we’re planning to see the new Harry Potter. I know it’ll be crazy because it just came out. Normally, I would wait a few more weeks to see it in a less crowded theater, but I made the plans already! Crossing fingers for a decent seat with nobody’s kicking feet behind me.

A friend of mine is in the running for a Modest Mouse music video. Please vote for Video 5! It’s really good!

Here’s the link: Modest Mouse – Missed The Boat Vote. He is currently in third place… It appears that you can vote multiple times – maybe once a day?

I’m in a funk. It’s that once-a-month funk we have come to learn to love. Let’s hope it goes away soon. The funk doesn’t get me to study more, which is really what I need. It does have me wanting to clean and rearrange. So it will be one of those weekends of unproductive cleaning and rearranging. I’ve already started – see new banner on this page. It was a photo taken in Bilbao.

All week long, the sun’s been out. Of course, as soon as the weekend rolls in, so do the clouds and fog. It’s yucky outside. So for all those of you in the area who waited for 07-07-07 for your “special day,” I laugh in your faces.

Went to get my eyes checked for the final time. 20/15, baby! That’s PERFECT vision. My eyes do get tired more quickly, and they freak me out when they are red in the morning. I’m afraid to get pink eye again!

Before leaving for Spain, I consulted with an oral surgeon who was part of my network. I paid the $40 during the visit, thinking that it would be a long time before I would have to think about that. Well, nope. I got a bill for $600! Since it didn’t show up as unpaid or rejected claims on my insurance company’s website, I knew something was up. Called both the surgeon’s office and my insurance company – lo and behold, my services SHOULD be covered, and for some strange reason, my claim was not filed. Anyway, they told me not to worry about the bill and that my insurance company would get the claim soon. *phew*

If I had to dig up another $600 out of my pocket, that would have sucked. I’m lagging behind on the bills ever since the Spain trip. And I need to buy replacement sunglasses since the FIRST pair I ever bought after getting LASIK is now LOST. Don’t know where they disappeared to during training in Austin.

Can’t be spending so much all the time! As for the camera that never got here, I cancelled the order. Got my money back, less the shipping. Oh well, at least I have another $300 back.

We were freezing our butts off in these two cities in the Basque country. After leaving Segovia and hanging out with the hostelers we’d met at the hostel, we went on the sleeper train to Bilbao. After staying at a hostel, we were quite impressed with the train. We had our own little room with a shower, sink, and a bunk bed. Of course, the shower was cold, so that proved pointless. The rooms were narrow – with our backpacks on, after we walked in, we had to back out because turning around was just impossible. It was probably more expensive to take the sleeper train, but we just had to try it once! The conductor was a friendly old guy, making sure that we knew when and where to get off the train.

When we arrived, it was really just a matter of collecting ourselves and figuring out what to do. We wanted to head up to San Sebastian right away and then leave exploring Bilbao for the next day. With my broken up Spanish, we managed to make it all the way to the bus station AND get some meds for Donna at the pharmacy. Her stomach was still bothering her at this point, and it was starting to cramp the traveling style. Haha. :p And it was a good thing too – after taking the meds, she got better pretty quickly and was able to eat that same night! WOOHOO.

We took a bus over to San Sebastian. I didn’t really reserve a hostel, but had some idea where to stay based on someone else’s recommendations. So we walked from the bus station to the general area, and with Donna’s supervision, we found the hostel. It was a little disappointing though because after checking in to the one hostel, they took us to a different building, which just wasn’t as nice. :( We wandered around the area a bit, checked out the old town, and did a little hiking. San Sebastian is a typical resort town, known for the beaches and surfing. But the first day that we were there, it was just butt freezing cold. :( We DID pack for the summer, so yeah – not prepared. It was like being in San Francisco! Donna was feeling better by the evening, so we found a great tapas place and basically pigged out. It was so wonderful. In the evening, we didn’t go out or even socialize with our hostel. It was just a bunch of people gathered in the kitchen talking about their experiences while drinking. WOOHOO. Yeah, not my thing, so we hid out and went to bed early. The girls in our room were pretty loud and inconsiderate, so we were glad it was only for one night.

The next morning (of course, just as we’re leaving), the sky had cleared up. It was gorgeous out, and we had to go! So sad… We took a couple of pictures, but then we were on our way back to Bilbao, which hadn’t yet cleared up. In Bilbao, we did a lot of walking and a little shopping too. The shopping was more for staying out of the cold. I picked up a Mango zip-up hoodie – it’s been quite useful throughout the trip. Checked out a museum… Went to this one restaurant where we ordered a ton of stuff, but it wasn’t exactly delicious – only okay and edible. Some things were waaaay too salty. A little disappointed, but it kept us out of the cold for an hour or so. And some time during our trek through Bilbao, we witnessed some guy sitting by the river basically shooting up into his already bleeding arm. Ick.

Before heading to the airport, we found ourselves sitting on the top floor of Corte Ingles, a Spanish department store, sipping on cafe con leche. Next stop – Barcelona.

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[1] The Bilbao train station. When we first got there, we didn’t really have a clue what to do with ourselves. So first, we asked someone in the train station about perhaps putting our bags into lockers. Funny bit was that when he goes to open up a locker to let us put our things in, he finds someone else’s bags already in the locker – UNLOCKED. So he’s going ahead and calling security, and we wander off for breakfast and end up carrying our luggage all the way to San Sebastian.

[2] La Mejillonera – The Mussel. It was where we pigged out on tapas in San Sebastian!

[3] Footprints in the sand.

[4] The sky was so blue the second day. Such a difference from the first day. If we weren’t rushing back to check out Bilbao before our flight to Barcelona, we would have stayed a little longer.

[5] Bilbao is the current home of the Robert Indiana exhibit. There are numbers from 0 to 9 and then various versions of “love.” Yup, I’m lame. I went and took a photo of each one.

[6] through [8] The Guggenheim!

[9] Donna doing some crazy ass jump in front of the hanging bridge.

[10] The #6 was next to a weird patch of grass. Lumpy!

More photos: Bilbao – May 2007 and San Sebastian – May 2007