Wanderlust

Yesterday, I took the day off to take care of some personal things that I’ve been putting off for quite a while now which took up most of my morning. I went to my good old alma mater, San Jose State University. I have been thinking of doing a career change for a while but have never really taken the steps to do so until now. I like what I do but I am getting really restless and antsy. I hopped in my car at quarter past 8 and started plotting on the best way to get to State without hitting too many traffic and then there’s also the parking dilemma. You see, I don’t have the best parking karma in the world. It must be some kind of a karmic retribution from years of being a little imp when I was still going to college. The parking situation at San Jose State is not exactly a walk in the park. One would have to drive around to every floor of the garage or follow the people leaving and offer them a ride to their car (stalkerish) or just cut people off. Anyhow, I thought to myself, I could park at the 4th street garage but that would mean that I would have a pretty good trek to get to the other side of the school. Although, I thought it might be fun to walk by the old science building again where I spent countless hours examining Bubba in my cadaver class. Nostalgia came rushing in and it’s as if I can smell the formaldehyde again and that was enough to stop me dead in my tracks (no pun intended) and thought about 7th street garage instead. Now that’s a better prospect. You leave the garage to walk out to the fountain outside the event center. Many memories of meeting up in front of the fountain brought a big ole smile on my face. Hot summer nights of running around the fountain to cool us off or mostly to sober us up from a night of bar crawling. However, parking at 7th street garage also meant that I would have to walk through the Student Union to get to the business building. You see, I was the biggest klutz ever and still am but not as bad! I’ve lost count as to how many times I have fallen on my face walking passed the Student Union where a good amount of students hung out. There I was walking, minding my own business, whistling a tune in my head because I cannot whistle physically to save my life and then BAM! I would trip and fall. And it was not an isolated event, it happened several times! I have no idea why I always trip at the same spot. It’s flat; it’s concrete and I’m wearing flat shoes! It’s as if there’s an invisible force field there sucking me to the ground. LOL! So embarrassing! I can still remember the humiliation! Ha ha ha! At least I can laugh about it now. So, my last option was the 10th street garage. Aaahh, talk about memories; the 10th street garage. Many nights I spent running up the stairs and to my car and quickly locking it because I was afraid of getting attacked. During my last year all my classes were in the evening and all of it ended at around 10ish.

Pulled into the garage and started driving up to the third floor where the student parking starts when I realized, not soon enough though, that I’m no longer a student but a visitor instead. So drove back down to 2nd floor, bought a 2 hour permit and worked my way towards the school. It was the weirdest feeling walking the campus again. It felt like no time passed since I was there last. In fact, it felt like I just had a really long dream and now I’m back at school and walking to one of my business class naked! Yes, disconcerting, I know! The campus looked the same, the students same and the smell was also unchanged. Not a minute passed and I was ensconced. Walked in the business advising center and was greeted by a long line of students waiting for their turn to have the counselor pretty much plot the next 4 to 5 years of their lives or however much longer they had left. Yup, I will be one of them pretty soon. Exciting times, this is (in my Yoda voice).

Afterwards I spent the loveliest afternoon with a new friend. I went to Allied Arts for lunch. It’s my new favorite spot, #3 to be exact. Number one being Duarte’s at Pescadero and two is the Cliff House in the city. So this beautiful garden is nestled in the residential area of Menlo Park. It truly is a gem of a find. This place is about 3.5 acres in size and inside the garden is a collaboration of small little shops dedicated to arts and crafts like pottery, glass jewelry, a blacksmith, a florist and an art gallery to name a few. Each artist is local and they are considered to be the best of the best. You have to be at a certain level of quality to be able to display your art work at the guild. Anyhow, within this oasis of beauty is a café that serves Spanish-Mediterranean yummy, delish, good food. Your dining experience is heightened by the serene setting of a well kept garden which by the way is maintained entirely by volunteers. This place oozes of good vibes and good times. One more thing, part of the profits that are made collectively by the guild is donated to the children’s hospital just down the street namely, Lucille Packard.

Not in recent memory can I recall having such a great time conversing with someone. I tend to get too cerebral for my own good and spend most of my times blogging or journaling instead of communicating with people. I’m working on it though. We exchanged stories of our worldly travels. A topic close to my heart. Touched briefly on family affairs and mostly just silly things we have done and will continue to do in the near future. And I type this with a big smile on my face as I transport my thoughts to yesterday as we sat on the blue bench and talked for a long time.

Talking about traveling woke the sleeping giant inside of me. Last night, I went to bed at my usual time of 10:30 pm only to wake 4 hours later plotting out my next adventure. Where would I want to go next? Well, for starters, I will be going to Vegas for Thanksgiving weekend with my family so that doesn’t count. The pseudo Tour d’Eiffel is not going to quell my yearning to go somewhere. It’s been 6 months since I went on vacation. It’s about time for me to pack up and go again. I actually have a trip in mind already. I’m thinking of flying to Seattle then taking the ferry to Victoria, British Columbia. I’ve been there 3 times but it’s one of those places where I don’t mind going back to like Hawaii. It’s beautiful up there. I’ve done all the touristy, sight seeing stuff, so now I want to do the nature thing. I will definitely want to camp and I already know where to go for that as well. So I’ll camp at night and hike during the day. How cool would that be? For one thing, it will be cost efficient. The campgrounds are inexpensive and the American dollar is a little bit stronger than the Canadian dollar so that’s a good thing. I’m thinking of going in the Spring sometime when the flowers are all in bloom. I need a travel buddy for this one though. Any takers? Snowball? Buddy? Pretty Girl? Anyone? Holla back :)

jakey