Category: My San Francisco Chronicles

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featured My San Francisco Chronicles NaNoWriMo television

Featured on Bay Area Local Television–

In high spirits this evening; earlier today, I got the chance to participate in a television audience for the first time. The “View from the Bay” show is a local talk-show, featuring food and local cultural outlooks for mid-day viewers to watch. I initially wanted to be in the audience because of Jaden Hair being a guest on the show; however, I also got the opportunity to submit a question to the consumer reporter on the show and ask the question on-air. Exciting!

In NaNoWriMo news, looks like the Muse is picking up a little speed, at least for now. Still behind on that daily word-count, but I’ll just keep chugging along. Thanks to my friends on Twitter, I have momentum to keep me going. Looking forward to the rest of the month!

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inspiration My San Francisco Chronicles reflection

Captivating Cards

Yesterday after work, I was over in Japantown looking at some advertisements, which then led me to the Kinokuniya Card Store, which then led me to these cards here: when I first saw the card on the right, I felt spellbound by it. The picture doesn’t do it much justice; the colors make the scene seem so much more surreal. I stood there in the store, staring at the card for a good 2-3 minutes until I snapped out of the trance.

I wasn’t going to buy the card, but then I found myself admiring the card on the left, designed by local San Franciscan artist Tomoko Maruyama. I first stumbled upon her work via Facebook and had since been trying to hunt down her cute, light designs in the city. Lo and behold, most of her work is featured in Japantown, so now I know. I picked up the Tomoko Maruyama card and then, thinking a bit, I went back and picked up the other card.

I’ve used the Tomoko Maruyama card already for a friend, but the other card, I think I shall keep. Strangely, it has a power over me; after buying the card, I felt a real sudden urge to just write. I decided to write a letter to an old friend after that, scribbling furiously into another card I had bought at the shop. After finishing the letter, I still wanted to write a lot more–how did such a simple card give me so much inspiration? Unfortunately, I had to suppress my urges to write more since I had to attend my Korean language class; after class, I didn’t feel that spark anymore.

I had the card displayed on my desk right now; perhaps I have found my muse for this next month.

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featured My San Francisco Chronicles photography

Featured on the "i live here: SF" Project

Photo part of i live here: SF set by Julie.

It’s amazing what opportunities I have stumbled upon in San Francisco since moving here over two years ago. I met the wonderful Julie last Friday at the Municipal Pier to take part in her ongoing photography/story project, “i live here:SF”. She started the project earlier this year and has captured some amazing photos and stories of many city transplants and locals, having them all converge through Julie’s website.

Julie herself is such a kind soul; we walked along the Municipal Pier, which was one of my old haunts when I used to live by Fisherman’s Wharf. The morning was foggy, which at first I was a little disappointed with, but Julie was so easy to work with, staying positive about how the fog gives a certain glow to the photos. She greeted people who walked by with a nod and a grin, and in many ways, I felt honored to be in her presence with her warm spirit.

The photo shoot was my first, but I felt comfortable enough throughout the hour-or-so session. As the hour progressed, the fog lifted quietly from the Bay and soon we were greeted with the muggy sunshine of the day. We ended the shoot by celebrating the spirit of the Wharf: eating crab/shrimp sandwiches from the street vendors there. It was a pleasant way to end the session, and I was glad to be able to work with Julie. I hope to work with her more in the future.

View the full entry and photo shoot.

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Busride Observations My San Francisco Chronicles reflection

Ray of hope on the morning commute–

7:13am, October 13, 2009.

The first big rain of the season; I stepped onto the 5-Fulton bus for my usual commute and felt like I had just battled a true typhoon. I went to my favorite seat immediately and settled down.

There were a couple of men talking about San Francisco; they were both recent transplants to the city, so they were making comparisons of their previous locations to The City. I felt like it was just a simple exchange of a few words, so I drifted off into my own thoughts, and onto a warm slumber during the 40-minute commute.

Rain poured outside while our bus driver perilously navigated the slick streets; meanwhile the two men continued to talk across the aisle with each other, until one, who introduced himself as “James”, decided he would just sit beside his new companion, who said his name was “Jack”.

As the bus continued on towards downtown, more passengers boarded with gloomy expressions over the unexpected rain. However, through the gray faces, Jack and James seemed to melt into their own world, sharing their life stories with one another.

Somehow, that small scene from this morning has stuck with me all day–that, amidst all the recent negative Muni coverage, there are still small beams of hope shining through all the mess.

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celebrity death music My San Francisco Chronicles

Unexplainable: Michael Jackson-related incident

It’s been a couple days since Michael Jackson passed away, and all the world/blogosphere is still buzzing away about the death. It’s still very hard for me to believe that the man died at the still-young age of 50; I remember growing up listening to his music and watching old music videos of the Jackson 5 on VH1. My siblings and I used to aspire to learn all the dance moves and found ourselves garbling together the lyrics of songs such as “Dancing Machine” and “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough”.

The point of this entry is not simply to remember Jackson, but to also present a strange incident that occurred to me on the morning of the 25th:

It was just a normal Thursday morning for me; hopped onto the bus, took my 40-minute commute downtown. I crossed Market Street and was walking towards the office building when, out of the corner of my eye, I spied a character dressed up strangely: the man was wearing a Michael Jackson-esque outfit, similar to what Jackson wore for his “Thriller” video. At first, I thought the guy was just dressed up weirdly and I shrugged it off as being “Oh, this is San Francisco; I’ve seen weird characters before.” But then, I studied the man’s outfit a little longer, and I realized that, in fact, he was intentionally dressing up as Michael Jackson, with the single white glove and everything. I didn’t study the man’s face too long; this whole little incident only took probably a minute out of my time that morning. It was 8 AM PST.

Michael Jackson was taken to the hospital around 12 PM PST. He died around 3 PM PST.

So, then, how did that man know? What was the purpose of that man dressing up as Michael Jackson so early in the morning? Did he somehow know? Was he deemed a “crazy man” but, in actuality, has psychic powers?

I hadn’t even thought much of that morning incident until the news broke of Jackson’s death and then, suddenly, that image of the man from the morning came back to me, and I felt myself growing spooked.

I don’t know if I’ll ever know what that man had meant by the outfit, but it sure gave me something unexpected to ponder upon.