Danny ChaiI forgot to mention the worst part of the worship team doing “How Deep Is Your Love” – it was led by a female, so on the most critical part of the chorus, my absolute favorite part, she had to go down an octave, thereby ruining it. I love the part that starts “cause we’re living in a world of fools”. Just the way it kind of soars in a melancholy way, with that melancholy chord progression, I totally love. Ruined by the female leader going an octave. If you’re gonna do a disco ballad in church, at least do it right.
On Monday I was sick, so I spent most of the day resting and recovering. SN. SoCal is just too hot. Houston is hot also, but there, it’s so hot and humid that everywhere you go has really effective air conditioners. That’s not true in SoCal. It’s not humid, and not blazing hot like Arizona or Vegas, so the home AC units aren’t used as often, and aren’t as good. I’ve been in many a SoCal domicile with subpar AC, and I suppose people just get used to the it, because they don’t bother getting anything better. It’s the same way in NorCal, but it’s a good 7-10 degrees cooler up here, and that difference matters. For me, any time I was upstairs I tried to get as naked as possible and keep my body parts from touching each other to prevent the sweat glands from going.
Tuesday we went to San Diego, staying at the La Jolla Marriott. A coworker once taught me a trick that, when checking in, you should always ask for a room upgrade. They’re often willing to do it at no extra cost; all you have to do is ask. Even though we were Priceline, they gave us a corner room with a nice balcony that we didn’t use at all.
I have to say upfront that I love San Diego. I’ve been there twice now, and I think it’s my favorite U.S. city, for the combination of weather, vibe and things to do. I’m seriously trying to figure out how I can move there in 5 years or so. I’m increasingly unkeen on raising my family in the Bay Area, and of everywhere I’ve visited, I think San Diego is #1 on my list. So meet you there in 2012.
Lunch at Girard Gourmet. Then we went to Balboa Park. Every Tuesday, one museum in the park is free; this particular Tuesday was the Science Museum, kind of a poor man’s Exploratorium. It was packed, and most everything was a science exhibit not age appropriate for Abby. However, there was a Kids’ Zone, basically a big toddler play area, which was perfect for her. And free. Music to my ears.
For dinner we went to the Westfield mall (SN. When did Westfield take over the world?) across the street. It’s an outdoor mall like Stanford Shopping Center, but with an indoor food court. Malls are great for families for various reasons (SN. My favorite area of Valley Fair is the kids play area. It’s lined with seats which are invariably filled with completely exhausted-looking parents. These are my brethren, my comrades. Their exhaustion is my own) and I had a hankering for food court Mongolian stir-fry. Strangely, it was not as tasty as at Valley Fair and too spicy, which caused 10 hours of stomach woes.
Wednesday was brunch at The Cottage in La Jolla, then the beach thing at La Jolla Shores. Some local guide said if you visit but one beach in the San Diego area, this is the one to go to. So we did. As did approximately five thousand other people. Crazy crowded, with no parking to speak of. I ended up parking many blocks away up on a hill, which was easy to go down, but when going to the car, pushing a heavy stroller, I despaired of life. I quite honestly felt like Sisyphus – it felt like the hill had no end. Also it was a little windy and cold, and I still got a sunburn. However, Abby had her first beach experience and I was happy.
SN. It seems like everyone in SD has a tent or portable canopy, because everywhere we went, people had set them up, on the beach, in the park, even on their lawn, and were just hanging out. I loved that. Did I mention I like the San Diego vibe? Any place where people predominantly wear flipflops is a-OK with me.
Before dinner we did a drive around Coronado Island, where we had stayed the last time we were in SD. I didn’t really consult a map, just decided to take the bridge and drive around the island. It turns out it’s not truly an island, and we ended up taking the road that connects it to the south, quite a long detour. But that was fine as it ended up being Abby’s nap time.
Dinner we met up with the Jungs, Yuhans, and Has, who had independently planned a trip to San Diego as well. If you’re keeping count, that’s 8 adults, and 7 children (with 2 more on the way). Dinner was not exactly calm. But you get used to the chaos, I suppose. I remember before I had kids, I’d see kids being extremely loud in public places, and I vowed that I wouldn’t let Abby be like that. The problem is, invariably, you just get used to loud noises. So it’s not that you don’t want to control it. It’s just that after a while, you don’t even notice it. In any case, dinner was loud, and I noticed a number of patrons asking to be seated away from our table. Fortunately, the restaurant was empty enough that other tables were available.
I thought Abby is a messy eater (and she is), but my nephew Matthew takes it to a whole new level. When he’s done eating, everything within a 3 foot radius has acquired a fine sheen of food particulate. It’s really something.
Thursday we ate brunch at The Mission, some local place, then took a dip in the hotel pool. Abby liked that a lot more than her “lessons”, probably because the pool was heated. Swimming in the hotel pool was actually a lot of fun. Then lunch at some random sushi place across the street before we headed back. This was one of those roll type places where they have like 50 different kinds of rolls, a la Sushi O Sushi. You know what I’m talking about right? Like they’ll have something like a Super Bay Area Dragon Roll – shrimp tempura, crab, avocado, and cream cheese with a layer of baked scallops, tuna, and salmon on top with ponzu sauce. In general, I’m against this. Just because, I dunno, maybe my taste buds are lacking, but when I mix 5 different types of fish together, I can’t taste anything anymore. It tastes like some sushi mush. Why spend money on sushi if you can’t actually taste anything? But that’s just my take.
Drove back, then hung out with Jieun’s bros at Cheesecake Factory (which, call me a Philistine, but I like. The food tastes good, and they give you a ton of it. Plus they accommodate large parties. I wouldn’t regularly wait hours for a table, but whenever we have to go there, I have no problem with it at all).
Boring, huh? Next time, the wedding festivities.