1. to give in trust or charge.
2. to consign for preservation.
3. to pledge (oneself) to a position on an issue or question; express (one's intention, feeling, etc.).
4. to bind or obligate, as by pledge or assurance; pledge.
My committed relationship with Charles finally ended for good this weekend. He drove down on Friday night and stayed till Saturday. I packed all his stuff that were here in my apt in a few tots and bags and he took them with him. And he took my life with him as well.
Six months ago, if you told me that Charles would fall out of love with me. I would have said you were crazy. But then, six months later, here we are. If one thing I was "sure", it would have been our love with each other. But I guess I was mistaken and thought our bond was much stronger than that.
How exactly do you get over someone that you were ready to ask him to marry you? I know time will ease the pain and I need to be strong now. But it is painful to feel how sure I was about things and how much I was looking forward to finally living together, as a couple, and all the plans, and thoughts that go into it.
It is always the one thing you never expect.
about 2 years ago, Charles left me a very nice and sweet voicemail and he sang an exempt of a song.... "I love you baby... and it is quite all right... I need you baby..."
That tune went over and over in my head non stop for the next 6 hours.
made it a real fun day for me.
- Location:The Castro
Thursday, Mike and I took the gondola and went up to Heavenly mountain. Heavenly is one of the bigger ski mountains at Lake Tahoe. Mike and I actually had a nice time up there. Went to the observation deck at mid level and the view was fantastic. Walked around, got a cup of coffee and went up to the ski area. Obviously, in September, there isn’t any snow up top. In fact, I was very surprised how warm it was. It had to be in the 80s. We had some lunch thing (wasn’t very good) at the “restaurant” and then went on to a couple of trails. We chose the medium difficulty trails and it was quite tough to hike. Steep hills and thin air had both of us sweating and panting in no time. We walked around and the view wasn’t as nice as it was on the deck, but it was still interesting to see ski slopes without any snow. They must produce tons of snow here during winter time. I would love to come back some time and actually go down one of these slopes.
We came back after a few hours of hiking and looked around at all the souvenir stores. Then we headed over to Lake Mammoth, as Mike was able to score a very nice Hillside Westin hotel over there with points. I have to say, Lake Mammoth is nice and quaint. It is quite upscale comparing to Lake Tahoe and Big Bear. We had dinner and went to a bar and got a couple of drinks and chatted. I very much enjoyed the area and the comfort of the hotel.
Thursday, the next day, we headed over to Devil’s Postpile. Our original plan was to take a shuttle to the area and explore for a couple of hours before heading to Yosemite. When we got to the meeting area, we found out that they no longer do the shuttles after labor day weekend. Thanks for updating your website! So, we accelerated our plans and drove to Yosemite.
I feel incredibly unappreciative to say this but, I really didn’t enjoy Yosemite as much as Lake Tahoe or Lake Mammoth. We drove across the park from East to West. At the beginning of drive, there were some interesting stuff to look at, but after a while, it was just tress after tress. A few major reasons why I didn’t find the park interesting: 1) I had driven across the country a couple of times, and I had seen some of the very spectacular tress and rock formation. Although the view at the park was still amazing, the wow factor was dramatically reduced; 2) it has been a very dry season, and the waterfall in the park was dry; 3) Food at the hotel sucked, although I enjoyed the view; 4) we drove the whole thing. I’m sure my experience would have been different if we were to hike a bit or went camping. After Yosemite, we drove back to Livermore and stayed the night.
Saturday, a whole bunch of us went to my favorite place, Monterey Bay. We met up with Dave and Reggie and German in the morning, had some nice crepes before going into the Monterey Bay Aquarium. As usual, I enjoyed the visit. Dave and Mike had never been to the aquarium so it was a new experience for them. After Monterey, we drove over to Carmel and went to my favorite beach and walked around. Of course, it was the weekend and there were tons of people on the beach.. but it was still incredibly refreshing for me. I couldn’t help wishing Charles was there with me… And one day, I would love to have a house here.
At night, we went to this Italian restaurant that Chaz and I went last time. The service sucked but the food was very very good. We walked around the area for a bit after meal before the boys headed back to their respective home and Mike and I checked in to our hotel.
Today was another nice traveling day. We set out to Big Sur. We originally thought Big Sur was quite far away, but turned out it was only 28 miles from Monterey Bay, so we made a decision to go back to Livermore tonight, as supposed to stay out another night. Anyways, At the beginning of the trip, the sky was dim and there were tons of fog along the coast, but it cleared up nicely. We went to a few trails. One of them was kind of a bust but the other two were great. Snapped tons of pictures. I will do a picture post later after the entire trip is done. Mike and I headed out to Santa Cruz after all the walking and had dinner at the pier there. And now, back in Livermore.
Going to take it easy tomorrow and Tue, but will likely venture out to SF both days.
It has been a nice time since I got to Northern California a few days back. Last Sat, I flew from DC to Denver to San Francisco to start my 10-day vacation. My vacation started out fantastic because my friend Mike got me an United ticket with his miles. I offered to pay him $200 and he refused to take it. Can’t beat that!
My flight was decent although it took quite a bit of time. Got to SFO by late Sat. Met up with Mike at the airport and we took the BART to my friend Dave and Reggie’s place in Livermore. It was nice to see those guys again. I stayed with them 6 months ago when I did a roadtrip with my friend Dennis, and they have always been great hosts. Oh, my friend German was there as well and it was nice to catch up with him.
Sun, we got up fairly early. I had a hard time sleep because I was sleeping on a couple of very flat pillows. That problem had since been solved as I stole the other pillows from Mike :) Hey, my sleep is very important. Make me less bitchy. Anyways, we got up early and then took the BART and headed out to town. It was Harrison fair so we went in and hung out for a little bit. It was nothing special really… so we left and went to the lonestar and later on to planet big, which is another bar.
When I was at the lonestar, somehow I lost my pair of Oakley sunglasses. I had them on my t-shirt and then it was gone. Yes. This marked the second time I lost a pair of Oakley in a bar. I was SO pissed off. Mine ya… these are not cheap glasses. These are $375 pair of X-Metal Romeo glasses. I just hope that at least someone stepped on them and they broke… versus it was taken by someone else.
I guess now I am warranted to get a new pair of shades.
The upside is that a couple of people came up to me and talked to me at the bars. Given, these are folks that I had talked to online before. But still, I very rarely get approached at any places. It was still refreshing. So Sunday was sort of a wash…. Good and bad.
And Mike at this point is out venturing by himself. He has tons of friends in SF to visit so he was gonna stay in town and do his own thing.
Monday was Labor Day so no one had to work. YAY! German, Dave and Reggie and I went back out to the city. We drove and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. We had decided to walk across the bridge and back. I had been to the bridge quite a few times but never actually walked across the damn thing, so it was nice to have that experience. There were tons of people though. Damn tourists…After the bridge, we stopped by German’s place and hung out with him and his kitties for a bit. Then drove home and had an early night.
I ventured out back to the city on Tue. Went to the Castro and sat at a coffee shop and got some work done. Did some nice reading too. I have actually quite a few things to do so I sort of crafted out Tuesday to do all that. I accomplished quite a bit of it, but work is never done, ya know. At night, I met up with Mike and my friend Dave (another Dave) and his roomie Bill. I love Dave as he is a really nice guy. His roomie is an awesome guy too. We went to this American/Portuguese restaurant, kinda a hole in the wall place. The food was all right. I ordered the Jambalaya special, but it had tons of sauce and the food was warm…. Well, it was the company that counted right…. After dinner, Mike and I hung out at the Westfield mall just to idle, as Mike was waiting on his friends to call (he was staying with him). After a while, I had gotten real tired so I took the BART back to Livermore.
And today, Mike got up early and went to SFO to pick up a rental car and drove to Livermore. We were heading out to Lake Tahoe! The 3.5h drive was uneventful. We got to South Tahoe around 6ish and got a hotel. Mike is an awesome bargin shopper. We went to the Horizon casino and hotel at the NV stateline and they charged $50 for a room. Mike went online at the lobby and got a price for $40 on priceline. He shared that info with the front desk… and of course, the guy working at the desk told him that no manager was on site and he couldn’t do anything: “just book it online”.
And so we did. The total including taxes and fees came up to $50. We basically saved $10 for the night. It is not even about the money, but it was the principle you know…. And I am completely impressed with Mike’s speedy online resources (he went to the hotel’s website; priceline, hotel.com, hotwire and kayka). All I can say is… AWESOME!
We had a nice dinner at a nearby restaurant. Mike had elk and I had a rack of lamb. Came back and chilled out for a bit. Then we headed down to the casino for a bit. Mike won $40 playing slots and I won $30 playing blackjack. Not a bad night at all.
Next few days will be jammed pack with fun things. We are likely going up to Heavenly and do some hiking. The next day (Friday), we will drove over to Yosemite for a few hours, then head back to Livermore/SF. On Sat, we are planning on heading out to Monterey Bay/Carmel. German, Dave and Reggie and Dave might join us for the day as well. Mike and I would stay over and likely head down to Big Sur on Sunday, then back up to Santa Cruz the day after.
I am flying back to DC on Wednesday. Morning flight will be a killer for me, but so far, I am enjoying my trip. Not so much of a relaxing time though… but I am having a good time, which is important….
Oh, and I will be back to work on 9/11. EKK!
We went to Boystown for late dinner, then headed back to Mike's new condo. His new home is nice, located in Uptown. 10 foot ceiling, top floor with balcony, brick wals, state of the art projector and sound systems of course. We settled for a bit and started our tradition: killing guys on video game.
I have been to Chicago for a weekend a few years back, but I didn't really get to explore the city much. Mike and I drove passed the corner of Montrose and Broadway a few times, and at first, I thought I recognize the area... at one corner there is a sizeable jewel osco; and at the other corner, a huge unconstructured area. Later I realized I was here last time when I was in town. I don't remember a whole lot about my last visit, but for some reasons I recall that interception. Kinda weird.
Oh, and I think I have started a Chicago tradition! Last time I was here, I was sick as a dog and could barely (ok, I really couldn't) talk. This time, well, it isn't bad, but I definitely have trouble talking with my sore throat. I am getting it under control though, but still, I think evetytime I come to Chicago, I should have some sort of illness that prevents me from talking.
Friday, we both got up fairly early and we went waling around town. Started out with having lunch at the Grand Lux. Then we walked around the area and went funiture shopping. We then headed over to millenium park and got to see the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and the awesome cloud gate, aka "the bean". And of course, how can you visit the bean without taking pics!
We bought some burgers and hotdogs and got the grill going for dinner that night. And later on, we headed out back to boystown to a bat called Spin. We met up with LJers
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
djzack67 and didiseven and it was great meeting those guys. Mike and I were both tired so we didn't stay long.Sat was fun. We went out to catch a little bit of the air and water show. Got to see the Blue Angels flying around, roaring the sky. Oh, I forgot to mention, Friday when we were driving to lunch, we saw a couple of F-22 Raptors flying around practicing spinning and upside down. That was wicked cool! At one point the Raptor just "hang" in middle air, at 60 degree angle, gliding along. Only the latest generation of fighters can do that.
We took the rest of the day pretty easy. Stayed at home. Went out for Chicago style deep dish pizzas, killed some more guys on XBOX. it was a fun day.
And today, we should be heading out to Milwaukee Wiscousin for a road trip. Can't wait!
- 12:39 This is just fucking sad.... www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/12/oly.k
ids/index.html #
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大地
長城
長城
Spend all your time waiting
for that second chance
for a break that would make it okay
There's always some reason
to feel not good enough
and it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
oh, beautiful release
memory seep from my veins
Let me be empty
and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight
In the arms of the angel
fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here
So tired of the sraight line
and everywhere you turn
there's vultures and theives
at your back
And the storm keeps on twisting
you keep on building the lies
that you make up for all
that you lack
It don't make no difference
escaping one last time
It's easier to believe
in the sweet madness
oh this glorious sadness
that brings me to my knees
fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here
You're in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here
傾心
別人的歌
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