Yesterday, about 4.30 in the afternoon I notice it’s a little hotter than usual. I check Google and this is what it tells me. It’s absolutely roasting. In fact I think it’s a record for San Francisco, it’s usually sunny but never this warm. The good weather is expected to last throughout the weekend.

In other news, this weekend is shaping up to be good. The annual Bay to Breakers Race is taking place is taking place this Sunday, which draws huge amounts of people. It’s a 12k race from Embarcadero on the east (the Bay), to the breakers at Ocean Beach on the west side of the city. Of course there’s all the hills on the way which makes it considerably more difficult than it sounds.

The reason it gets a lot of attention, aside from being the longest consecutively running race in the world, is that it attracts more people either in costumes or in nothing at all than actual runners. Do a search for Bay to Breakers on Flickr and you’ll see what I’m talking about. There’s thousands of people dressed as Elvis and other things, and about the same about turn up for the race in the nude. Interesting.

Also interesting is that my friend Paul turned up in SF the other day. He’s on a ’round the world’ trip and has been mainly visiting Asia and Australia so far, but he arrived here a few days ago and is staying about a week. He says I have an American accent now, but I think he’s just taking the piss a bit. At least, I hope he is…

Valerie attempted to cut his hair last night with my $5 shaver from Walgreens, but with no success. It was a combination of his hair being a total mess and my shaver being of expectedly crap quality. I advised him to visit my favourite little hairdressers in Chinatown, where they only charge $5. They don’t understand English but they can interpret a ’shave my head’ gesture.

I have both Saturday and Sunday off this week. For most of you on placement or at university, this is nothing unusual so be thankful. My last weekend off was about a week after coming home from Hawaii. So about 5 months ago. Rejoice!

Prince Caspian comes out today so I will go see it. I’m gearing up for disappointment, since it got a pretty bad review from the SF Chronicle, which is generally quite accurate at reviews. I’m more looking forward to Indiana Jones next week, for which I purchased a replica ‘Indi’ hat to wear to the special occasion. Expect pictures.

I guess it’s been nearly two weeks since I last wrote something here. Why you might ask? It’s not that I have exams or other commitments taking up my time, I suppose it’s just because I don’t have much to report.

Alas, it’s the end of another month and again I question where the time has gone. It hasn’t been the most spectacular of months, mostly working and trying to sort some things out back home. In fact, I’m still looking for somewhere to live when I get back home in September so if you can help with that then you’d be a rockstar.

So what’s been happening over the past two weeks? A couple of Sundays ago I rented the incredibly touristy Go-Car. It’s basically just a scooter chassis with a fiberglass shell over the top, and has room for two passengers. It looks kinda like a side car on a motorbike from days gone by. It was fun, but not very powerful. It gets up to about 30mph and you can feel every bump on the road. I really wanted to take it up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower, but wasn’t sure if it would make the climb. To it’s credit, it did ok and we made it!

The only down side of this little car is that it’s really expensive. It cost me $100 for 2 hours, which is a lot more than renting a real car for a whole day. Worst of all, when I mentioned it at work I found out that I could have gotten it for free if I had mentioned that I worked for a tourism company. Oh well, maybe I’ll do it again some time.

Last week Valerie’s parents came to visit for her graduation. It was a good week for Valerie, she got an internship at the prestigious Westin St Francis hotel on Union Square as a manager (congrats by the way) and then her parents arrived. Her parents are great, very funny and don’t speak hardly any English between them. Still, I’ve had to exercise the old French GCSE lingo which seems to be getting me by so far. ‘Salut, enchante, ca va…’. They’ve been very kind taking me out for dinner and ice creams. On Tuesday they left for a short 3 day trip to Las Vegas and Bryce Canyon with Valerie. They also bought a video camera for the graduation which they are planning on leaving with us, so I may be able to shoot some video of my last few months here.

Tomorrow my friend Gaelle leaves to go back home to France. I will really miss her, she’s one of the few French people that lives in my building that are actually friendly. The rest of them seem to stick to a little clique. Late last year she moved to Berkeley for college and I didn’t get to see her as much as before. Sad that I may never see her again after tomorrow, so tonight she invited me and some people out for dinner to say goodbye.

My boss is in Ireland at the moment on a month-long trip to Europe. He’s been interviewing some people at Jordanstown about coming out here to take over from me when I go.

Oh, just one more thing - check out mapjack.com. It’s like Google Street View, except with hi-res photos. They’ve got the whole of San Francisco covered, Lake Tahoe and a few other places. Check out some cool places in SF, search for Fort Point, Coit Tower or Golden Gate Bridge. You can actually cross the bridge in hi-res, it’s awesome. My house is on there too - 580 O’Farrell.

Yesterday was fun.

Work

I started the day quite badly. Sunday night I worked the late shift at work, answering the calls until 10pm, then I worked the early shift on Monday which means answering from 6am. I forgot to turn my phone off between 10 and 6 and in the middle of the night, someone called to cancel their tour for Monday due to illness. 2am in the morning I answered my phone thinking it was 6am. I couldn’t sleep the rest of the night so I arrived at work exhausted before I even started.

Playstation

But I got off work at 4.30pm and walked up to Mission St. I had been checking on Craigslist for a Playstation 2 just so I would have something to do if it was wet outside and I was totally bored (which thankfully doesn’t happen often here). There was a guy in Mission selling one with a ton of games and controllers or $100, so I needed to take the 14 bus into the Mission.

Stupid me, I took the wrong bus. I didn’t know there were 3 14 buses!

I ended up in outer mission, which is miles away. I eventually found my way back and got the Playstation, but without half the games. They were mostly crap. And I bargained him down on the price a bit, so I got the whole deal for $95. Tried it out this morning and it works like a charm. He also left one of the disks inside, so I got another one without even knowing it.

Free tickets to Advanced movie screening

I had to rush back downtown as I was meeting Valerie there. It was six months yesterday that we’ve been together so I planned a bit of a date. I met her (about 30 minutes late) at the Metreon, which is essentially a glorified cinema, and we waited in line for a movie that I had got free tickets to.

The movie is called ‘21‘. It’s based on a true story about a guy who is trying to get to medical school, but can’t raise the $300,000 he needs to pay the fees. His teacher notices he is very good with numbers and invites him to join the MIT Blackjack team, who use a system of counting the cards in a blackjack game to beat the dealer. Every weekend, the team flies to Vegas and uses their technique to win big at the casinos. Apparently this method of counting cards is not illegal, but casinos have strict measures in place to stop this activity.

The movie was pretty good, an intriguing story and well acted but it was a little Hollywood for my liking. There were all the cliched things, and at times it was predictable and a little fantasized which made it difficult to believe in parts.

Q&A

But by far the coolest part was that the guy who the movie is based on did a brief Q&A after the movie. He answered a lot of questions, and was very interesting. He’s basically banned from Las Vegas and can’t be within 20 ft of a blackjack table at any casino. Every casino in America knows his face and he can’t play anywhere.

The movie comes out on Friday here, and on April 11th back home, I think. It’s worth checking out if you like those sorts of movies.

Italian Food

The cinema organised some blackjack after the movie at nearby Jillian’s bar across the street, but I took Valerie to Buca di Beppo instead, which a great Italian restaurant that I went to over Christmas. It was great, I really love Italian food over here - it’s one type of restaurant that I could order almost anything off the menu and know I would like it. Usually there’s only a few things on a restaurant’s menu that I would go for. In the end we both settled for lasagna because it looked just too tasty. And it was. It was just the perfect size because I was just able to finish it and no more. Very satisfying.

Happy six months Valerie. Poor girl has been stuck with me for too long…

Aloha - I’m back! Did you miss me? Of course you did.

I’ve been in Hawai’i (I’m going to be anal and punctuate this entire post in Hawai’ian English) for the last 4 days on holiday. It’s taken me 3 days to write this post. But before I plunge right in and tell you everything, allow me to take you back a few years…

A Boy and his dream

The year was 2005. I was a bored 1st year student living in the suburban ghetto of Jordanstown university, so I joined an online DVD club. You make a list, they send them. Easy. Unfortunately the stupid company I was with sent me the wrong DVD the first time around. Instead of some Angelina Jolie flick, I was mailed a documentary about surfing. I grumbled, but watched it anyway. That DVD was Riding Giants. It was awesome, and it started my dream to not only learn to surf, but to see the Waimea Bay on the north shore of O’ahu, Hawai’i. University was so boring in first year that I needed a break and it’s been my dream since then to see people who spend their days surfing in the paradise of Hawai’i.

Waikiki Beach at Honolulu 

It’s a tourist trap, yes, but it’s beautiful. I got off the plane ready and wearing my shorts (Oakland airport was baltic at 5 in the morning flying out) and took the bus to Waikiki to meet Valerie. Desperately need suncream because the powers-that-be at the airport suspect my just-purchased $10 bottle of suncream to be a threat to national security, along with my hair gel. Goodbye style. I do, however, have the option of checking my suncream at the desk - meaning that the only checked luggage I have will be one bottle of suncream and one bottle of hair gel. Two hours waiting in line to check them, then looking like a complete dork as my two bottles come round on the baggage claim in Hawai’i? Airports - officially my most hated place.I meet Valerie at her hotel after riding the bus on a minors ticket (I cut my hair so I pass for 17). She looks great we so meet Gaelle and go to the beach. Spend the whole day on Waikiki beach swimming and playing volleyball with the locals. Beautiful place, and the weather is hot without being unbearable. I also get some suncream (factor 50 with a big picture of a baby on it…) . Dinner and relaxing in the evening and bed at a reasonable hour as we were all very tired.

 Gaelle and Valerie - the two wonderful girls I spent my holiday with.

Day Two I spend sightseeing. I should point out that in spite of working for a tour company, I absolutely hate the tourism industry. I hate feeling like a tourist, and I hate going sightseeing. But I was told that Pearl Harbour was a must-see so I booked a tour to go see it. It’s not bad, and it’s certainly very poignant in it’s message but it’s definitely the one part of my trip that I enjoyed least. The tour itself isn’t bad, you watch a 20 minute movie first (you’ll find out that anything touristy in Haiwai’i requires you to watch a movie first) which details the attack by the Japanese and builds up to the sinking of the USS Arizona, which was crippled by the air attack and took 1,177 crew members under the sea with it. Those crew members are permanently interred there and a memorial was built over the top of the ship which still lies at the bottom of the harbour. You get a little boat out to the memorial, so it’s cool and interesting historically speaking, but it’s very overcrowded and I just wanted to leave the whole time.My next stop on the tour was on Ford Island in the middle of Pearl Harbour which is an active military base. Here we visited the Pacific Aviation Museum which again deals with the American Involvement in World War II, and particularly the aeroplanes used and importance of Hawai’i during the war. Again, interesting but the tour guide was too long.Finally we stopped at the USS Missouri which is a former battleship turned into tourist attraction. Not bad, but a little tiresome. All in all, not a bad day but probably would have preferred to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center or something. But I’m glad I saw it.

Day Three was awesome. We began the day, all three of us, snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It’s simply beautiful. It’s a wonderful little beach in a large bay that has lots of coral and tropical fish. As is now almost expected, they make you watch a very cheesy video at the start to educate you on how to respect the fish complete with a Disney-esque song “please don’t feed me” to the tune of Under the Sea.

Hanauma Bay - great place to snorkel and see cool fish.

 It was wonderful though, I saw many cool fish and was even lucky enough to swim beside a green sea turtle. Two turtles side by side - shame I didn’t have my camera! We didn’t stay long unfortunately though, the weather was quite overcast and it was getting cold just sitting about so I let Valerie bury me in the sand and sculpt me into a mermaid, then we headed back to Waikiki for lunch. Shortly after, we got picked up for an afternoon of surfing.

Surfing

Well folks, I have realised my dream. I surfed. And I was great. My first wave, check me out:

Surfing - mastered on my first try 

Forget the terrible shorts, and the fact that I’m incapable of getting a tan or looking un-Irish, but focus on the sheer skill, mastery and elation as I command the board. This my friends is joy, riding a wave until the end and giving a ‘hang loose’ salute for the camera.Ok, so here’s the scene 3 seconds later:

Surfing - ok, so maybe ‘mastered’ is a little generous… 

I’ll admit it, I have a problem with balance. But the whole day was simply amazing. I have the scars on my knees to prove it, the coral is razor sharp and the water is very shallow. My surfing instructor told me I was his best customer all day. He’s a native Hawai’ian, actually from O’ahu. He pretty much spends all his days surfing. Respect.

My surfing teacher - what a legend

 It’s exhausting paddling out to catch the waves but it’s a lot of fun when you get going. I’m quite sure that I want to continue to surf (along with snowboarding!) so I’m checking Craigslist for a cheap surfboard and maybe I’ll move out somewhere closer to Ocean Beach so I can get more time at it. Speaking of surfing, the huge world-famous Mavericks surfing contest at Half Moon Bay was on at the weekend. I’d been looking forward to seeing it for months, but it’s only announced days before it occurs so I had no idea. I missed it! But I watched the webcast, and congratulations to Greg Long for winning.So, all in all a great holiday. Along with my weekend in Tahoe it’s definitely my best memory of America so far. I think it’s hard to find somewhere more beautiful on earth than Hawai’i. My only regret is that I didn’t see the north shore, Waimea and Pipeline where all the world-famous surfing happens. But not to worry, I still surfed. I just have to visit the other 6 islands now! I love this place - the people, the landscape, the lifestyle, the weather, the language - everything about Hawai’i is wonderful. It definitely lived up to my expectations, and then some!

Sun sets over Waikiki. I love this place!

I’ve just realised that it’s been quite some time since I last updated you lovely folks on what’s been happening around here. I’m sure most of you have been having your own Christmas and holiday celebrations, and I hope that wherever you are/were you had a relaxing time.

My Christmas was quite surreal. I think that, for me, Christmas consists of many elements that make up the holiday experience and  without some or all of those things then it’s impossible to really feel ‘Christmassy’. This year was kinda like that. For a start, it’s always nice to open a present on Christmas day which didn’t happen to me this year. Apart from money, this year my two presents were a bottle of wine from one of our drivers, and a few small little things that Valerie gave me before leaving for France (although one of those was tickets to Jersey Boys - most awesome musical ever!).

Another important thing for Christmas is to be with friends and family. Although I was with the few people that were still there at Christmas at my accommodation, it wasn’t really close friends. More, people I know and hang out with from time to time. Actually, many of the people I spent Christmas with were people I met for the first time. My friend Robert is with me for the holidays but he’s been missing his family so we both felt a little weird this year.

On Christmas eve we had our Christmas dinner (apparently in France and Korea it’s traditional to have the meal on the 24th) which was chicken soup prepared by Sue, and after some sort of eggplant with garlic (not so tasty in my opinion). We had a small bit of chicken instead of turkey and then strawberries and chocolate for dessert, so not the traditional Christmas meal we all love. Still, I enjoyed it and it’s always worth trying new things, if for no other reason than to appreciate what you’re used to.

Afterwards, we headed out to Union Square for some photos and went to a bar with a group a nice Brazilian girls who’d asked us to take a photo for them. It was definitely a strange Christmas, and sad in a way that many people in America just try to get Christmas over with. It’s certainly not the same without family and being at home, as much as I hate to admit it. In saying that, I’d probably have been bored at home too.

Christmas Day me and Bob went to Fisherman’s Wharf on the cable car (he’s a tourist) to get a hot bowl of clam chowder. Have to say, it was a marvelous alternative for a cold Christmas Day. Didn’t do much else that day, just chilled out and watched Blade Runner (which really isn’t that good!).

So now it’s coming up to New Year, and my other friend Caroline is here in SF to visit. All three of us are crammed into my wee room, technically breaking the residency rules at my place. In a few days I’m moving too so they’re coming with me. Tomorrow night for new years we’re going to a friends apartment for a party as the discos and parties at the clubs are all $50+ just to get in. This way we can have fun for cheaper, get some good food, wine and take it easy. The guy’s apartment is on top of Russian Hill which means you can see the whole bay from his window, so we’ll see the waterfall of fireworks on the Golden Gate Bridge. I think the plan is to have the party of his roof and then head to the Ferry Building for the midnight countdown - it seems to be the place where a few hundred thousand gather.

My biggest news is that I have managed to get a few days off work for the start of January, and I’ve found some cheap flights to Honolulu so *fingers crossed* I’ll be joining Valerie there for a few days. Pretty short, but I need to go. I simply must! Still very tentative at the moment and extremely last minute but I’ll get something sorted.

Sorry for the lack of photos recently too, I have some from Christmas which I’ll try to find and load up on Flickr. Hope everyone has been having fun, see y’all later.

Firstly, relax…I’m not talking about myself here. I’m a long way off from that.

I’ve been caught in a weird place these last few weeks. Recently I was on Facebook and noticed one of my friend’s status changed from ‘In a relationship’ to ‘Engaged’. Came as a bit of a surprise to me. I guess being over here in America removes you from the loop a little bit, and as much as you try to keep up with what’s going on at home, there’s still things you’ll miss.

It’s still a new thing for me to have a friend that’s engaged to be married. I know it happens all the time, but somewhere along the line I’ve slipped into that age group where your friends around you are getting married. Granted, the ones involved are older than me (well…actually the guy is around the same age) but still I feel like the whole world is changing around me and life never sits still.

So I’m busy musing all this over when I notice on Bebo that an ex-girlfriend of mine is now married too. And she was only six months older than me. Scary. For me, it seems too young but I suppose there’s no perfect age to get married. A lot of things can change so fast and you don’t even realise. In a way it’s sorta sad that I get most of my information from social networking sites these days.

Today, again I was on Facebook and there’s another status update. Two friends of mine from university, who I thought were just good friends, are now engaged too. Of course, my first flippant reaction was that the whole world is getting married and clearly I’ve missed something. It’s a huge step to get married, because you’re essentially sacrificing your own freedom for the happiness and benefits found with sharing life with someone you love. I know that my friends haven’t taken the decision to wed without serious thought first, yet it makes me feel both young and old at the same time.

I’m still young, and I know that marriage should be way down my list of priorities but I’m reminded of the old proverb that if you haven’t found the person for you by the time you leave university then it becomes much more difficult. When I come back home, my full time education will only last one more year so if this theory holds true then I’m short on time. Taking a risk and moving country was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But nothing worthwhile is easy, and I’m so glad I did it. As a friend of mine once said “I’m fed up with being safe and discontent. At least if I take a risk and it doesn’t work out, I can say I’ve tried”. I went through the same thing - at home I had it easy, but I was still discontent. I couldn’t have picked a better opportunity. I’m in the middle of California, I have a whole year and every day is different for me. My life here is totally different to back home and at the moment I wouldn’t trade it.

So congratulations to my friends that are taking (and have taken) the next step in theirs lives. I hope that will be me someday, but for now I’m happy being who I am, being where I am and doing what I’m doing.