For the 1st time since I came here, I finally have time to sit and think of the dramatic change that has happened in my life. I am still happy with my decision to move here and the gig I was offered at Galveston College. This week I have been really busy trying to get prepared to teach next week. On Tuesday, I finally had electricity turned on at my apartment so I now have lights and air conditioning. Back in the Bay Area, having air conditioning would be kind of stupid since all I had to do is open the window and cool air would cool the apartment. Now here, you open the window you get wind, but you also get wet heat. So you really need air conditioning. When you are outside your 1st thought is going to a place were there is air conditioning like a building or your car.
Now to the chaos at work. 1st of all, the school is remodeling many of the classrooms and the library during the summer so a lot of the attention has been on that. But that does not help a 1st year teacher's problems or concerns. I did not found out where the choral music is until Thursday and I did not get the keys to my office until Friday. Between pushing the system to get my key request through, I had to work registration hours every day. It is part of our contract. My job was to give out the parking stickers and help with the ID's. The staff member, Robert who was taking the ID pictures, is really cool and we have a great rapport. He might actually turn into my 1st friend in Galveston. I finally had time to finish my syllabus for the music appreciation class on Monday. Now that I have finished one the rest should be easy, just cut and paste and change a few things. DD came this evening and will be staying a week to help me when the movers come on September 2nd.
Today was the 1st day my contract starts and it begins with a general meeting with all the faculty, staff and administration. This went from 7:45a to 4:30p. During the assembly we were served breakfast, lunch and deserts, which were brownies and cookies. The people I talked to during breakfast, lunch and breaks were very friendly. I felt like I was part of the college community not just some teacher that teaches fun music classes. After the assembly was a faculty meeting which are always so much fun. I also just met another new faculty member, that just got hired in June, who was also from the San Francisco area. I do not think it has completely set in that I am actually a professor at a college not just some music teacher in a high school. I feel like I can make a difference.
I slept in late. It was so nice. I went to sign the lease and to see my new home. It was just as I pictured it would be. A nice 2 bedroom, 2 story town home. I spent at least 2 hours in my town home, looking around and getting a feel for my new place. It is a block away from the beach and has a nice looking swimming pool and jacuzzi. I will be in the jacuzzi all the time. The funny thing is that I did not really miss the bay area as much as I thought I would. This place almost feels like I am home. Then went to IHOP (which I have called pancake house since I was little) and then went back to my apartment. My electricity will not be turned on until Tuesday. It somehow takes 5 days to turn on electricity here in Texas. Well off to sleep.
Yesterday I said bye to my apartment. It was a nice place to live for a year I learned a lot about myself. I then took a shuttle to the San Francisco airport saying bye to things along the way. Said bye to Mt. Tam, to the Corte Madera River, to Sausalito, Tiberon, the Golden Gate Bridge, and San Francisco. I slept during most of the flight to Houston. Got my rental car and started my drive to Galveston. Got to my hotel and crashed on the bed. I had only 6 hours of sleep that last 2 days. So I got some pizza (I was somehow craving it), Watched some Olympics and slept.
I got very little sleep last night. I got maybe 3 hours. I was just to anxious about the movers coming. They came at a little after 9a and started right into it. They were nice guys. One was from Houston, Texas and the other from Tennessee. (Interesting isn't it.) They finished at about 3p. It took awhile considering I do not have much furniture. It guess it took longer because I am on the 2nd floor with stairs not an elevator and it is an apartment not a house so it is a little farther to carry stuff to the truck. Since I am the 1st to be loaded onto the truck, I will be the last to unload. The driver has a few more stops and will not even leave California until the 24th. So I will not get my stuff until September 2nd. Now normally people can deal with that but I have an in-service on the 23rd and I start teaching on the 30th without my stuff in my apartment.
I then took my car to Bon Air Shopping to met the car carrier. The driver lives in Houston, Texas. (Do you see a pattern her?) I was getting hungry and with an empty apartment and no car I was going to eat at Chevy's (walking distance from my apartment). When I arrived at Chevy's, the manager was turning people away saying they are closed. Closed? It is only 7p. I then heard a high school kid tell her friend, "that's OK, I do not have to order water." Hum. So that was out of the question so I went to Mollie Stones grocery store's deli and got some fried chicken and pesto pasta. Then walked back to my apartment. Alone in my empty apartment. It's funny. A year ago I probably would have felt sad and lonely but since I have been pretty alone since I moved up here, I have become use to being by myself. I am also going to be in a really good gig in a few days. Well this is my last day and night in Marin County. It has been interesting and I have seen a lot while living here. I have seen almost everything I wanted to see. Ya the gig here did not work out but it allowed me to experience San Francisco and it was the path I had to take to be offered a really cool gig. My next entry will be in Galveston, Texas.
I took a break from packing nice brown boxes to say bye to the Pacific Ocean. I went to China Camp State Beach which is next to San Rafael. I had not driven through that area before and wanted to see one last new area before leaving to my new home. It is a really pretty area. I could see East Bay across the water. I saw a tree on a very small island just off the coast called Rat Island. I saw meadows with water just beyond it. It was a nice break from packing nice brown boxes. I will post pictures later when I get my computer, as well as the rest of my stuff, delivered to me in Galveston in 2 weeks. Ya, 2 weeks without my stuff. (Long story later.)
Now your are saying, "If your computer is packed, how are you able to write in our web log?" I am using an older laptop that Adam no longer needed. It was nice of him. It is an older and slow but decent computer. At least I have a computer to use. It is an IBM and has a Pentium II with Microsuck Windows 98 on it. It is nice to have at times like these. Back to packing more nice brown boxes.
I have not had time to describe my recent exciting adventures here because of the fun of packing my stuff into brown boxes.
On Sunday, my friend Lauri was nice enough to spend the afternoon helping me pack my stuff into those nice brown boxes. Thanks for your help!
On Monday, my friend Jules came to help me pack. We did take a long break from the fun of packing to enjoy San Francisco. She had lived there at one time and she gave me a tour of the city though her eyes. She showed me the Embarcadero Center,
the Financial District, Union Square, Mission Dolores in the Mission District and Haight and Ashbury where she used to live. We went to Treasure Island and saw an incredible view of the city.
We also went to Twin Peaks to see an arial view of how compact and cramped the city looks.
We then went to a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown called The Pot Sticker. The food was really good and we even ordered some pot stickers which were also very good. We then walked around Chinatown and walked into a few stores. The prices in these stores were cheap. I bought 2 real Chinese soup bowls and spoons. I also bought some decorated chop sticks. The soup bowl was only $2 and is probably worth at least $10.
We then went back to my apartment to pack until about 2a. We got up the next morning and packed some more. I really appreciated her taking the time to help me pack my stuff in those brown boxes. I now have almost all of my stuff packed into those nice brown boxes.
Here are a couple of pictures of San Francisco at night from Marin.
Here are this week's Tonight Show Headlines.
Headlines
One of my favorites this week:
A moving surveyor came today. He give me a moving estimate and tentative moving dates. Let the moving fun begin.
Then my friend Silvia from the Santa Anita (near LA County) came through town. We had lunch at Chevy's. I like their food and their Blue Aguave margarita. I then took her for a walk on the Corta Madera River. I then took her to the Headlands. Now at any other time during the year you could see the entire bay. Well it is summer time and in the summer there is fog. Still nice though.
It was getting late and she wanted to check into her hotel. We then walked to an Italian restaurant called Louisa's in Pacific Heights. Really good food. We stayed until they closed talking. We later had a really cool conversation with our waitress for at least an hour after it closed. She was also really cute. Ya I know. I then walked Silvia back to her hotel and headed back to my apartment. We said bye and off she went back to her hotel. It was a nice distraction from the chaos of moving.
Composer David Raksin who composed the great melody of "Laura" died of heart failure on Monday, August 9, at his home in Van Nuys, CA. He was 92 and had been in failing health for the past several weeks.
Here are some links about him.
Mom and I went with my friend Lauri to a really nice restaurant in Sausalito. We sat right above the water while eating great food and watching the view of Sausalito Bay.
I then took mom to the Highlands watching the fog engulf the Golden Gate Bridge. It was then Mom's time to fly back home. It was really nice spending time and traveling with her.
I took Mom around to see some of the sights in Marin County. We went up to Mt. Tam to show Mom the amazing sight from up there.
We then went to Muir Woods and walked around among the redwoods.
We went to the Crescent City Lighthouse on Battery Point.
We could not go to the lighthouse yesterday because the trail that leads to the lighthouse was covered by water during high tide.
What a great lighthouse. We took the tour and had the opportunity to walk around the lighthouse and even got to go up to the lantern room on top of the lighthouse and stand next to the Fresnel Lens. What a view.
We then went up to Point St. George
to see the Point St. George Reef Lighthouse in the distance.
We then started our way back home down the 101. Took a look at Crescent City at a view point
and stopped at Trees of Mystery to buy a miniature of the Point St. George Reef Lighthouse. We also looked at the Native American Museum that we did not see the 1st time when we were there on Thursday.
We continued on down the 101 and saw 3 Roosevelt Elks in the Redwood National Park.
We took a detour though the Avenue of the Giants. An amazing road that goes right through the forest.
We finally made it home. That was a long drive.
We took a bridge from Eureka to Woodley Island.
While there we saw the Table Bluff Lighthouse
accompanied by pretty scenery.
Then crossed another bridge to Samoa located on a peninsula.
We then traveled north on the 255, merged with the 101 and continued up to Trinidad to see the Trinidad Lighthouse. It is a replica of the Trinidad Head Lighthouse.
Combined with a nice view of the bay.
We also saw a really cute church called The Holy Trinity Catholic Church. It looks exactly like something one would put in a village under the Christmas Tree.
continued up to the Trees of Mystery.
While there we walked on a trail through unusual redwood trees like the Cathedral Tree
We then took the Sky Trail over the trees.
It was like we were one of the redwoods enjoying the view of the ocean.
It went up to an observation point where through binoculars I could see an osprey and its nest on top of a tall redwood tree.
We continued up on the 101 to Crescent City. We checked in at the Anchor Beach Inn. When we walked into the room and for a second we thought it was a big picture of a beach on the wall. Instead it was the window.
What a sight.
We made a straight shot up the 101 to Eureka. Dropped off our stuff in the hotel and then walked through the historic downtown. We stopped at the boardwalk.
We then ate at Mazzotti's. It was really good Italian food. Mom said its like a hole in the wall right out of Italy. Then back to the hotel.
At 4a Mom and I started up on the Interstate 5. This is way too early to get up and drive but it is the only way to avoid the massive amount of "going to work" traffic. There are only 2 ways to get out of LA. They are the I-5 over the Grapevine (The Santa Ynez Mountains) and the Highway 101 along the coast. The 101 is a long drive to get to San Francisco so we to the 5 up to Los Banos. We then went west on Highway 152 toward the ocean to check out the lighthouses. We stopped in Santa Cruz to see the Santa Cruz Lighthouse.
What a nice looking lighthouse. Mom said it looks like a toy. The area around the lighthouse is really nice and has a park like atmosphere.
Then up PCH (highway 1) to Pigeon Point Lighthouse
It looks just like the Yaquina Head Lighthouse in Newport, Oregon.
The lighthouse is deteriorating but it is in the process of being restored. The point view is amazing.
Then up the Golden Gate to my apartment to rest for the drive up the coast tomorrow.
Today I had another chance to hang out with Adam for a few hours after he taught his class. We all 3 hung out when JK came home from teaching. We then met DD and Mom at Acapulco for dinner. Said my final bye to DD and went to AD and JK's for a few hours. Said my final bye to AD and JK before leaving and going to bed and ending a really incredible birthday trip.
My birthday weekend continues with the traditional family birthday lunch. We go out as a family whenever someone has a birthday or on a holiday like Independence Day. Today we went to Macaroni Grill in Rossmoor. The food there is good and we all really like their bread. After lunch we had tiramisu cake with candles that I blew out.
I then opened presents. I received some really nice presents from everyone: A new watch from DD, lighthouse chimes from my Aunt Bonnie and Nana and a really cool moving picture of a sunset with a lighthouse.
I then went to Bonnie and Nana's to show them pictures of my recent trips. A few hours later my friend Chrissy came and picked me up. We then picked up my friend John and had dinner at Hof's Hut. Chrissy paid for my dinner for my birthday. Thanks. We then went to one of my favorite places in Long Beach, The Reef. From here we sat on a bench and talked while watching Long Beach across the harbor. A nice way to end of my birthday weekend.