Tom + Me

Another photo from the weekend Yoshi was gone. Taken on the roof by my neighbors' friend Kurt.

Yoshi's away, my turn to play!

We're incredibly lucky to have a nice family support network. My parents would keep Yoshi if they could. This past Friday my parents began their little vacation with Yoshi. They took Yoshi and drove down to Orange County to visit Eric, Wendy, and Ellie. Oh and Sami, their doggie, can't forget her. My parents even braved the crowds and accompanied Yoshi to her very first trip to Disneyland, which Yoshi has been wanting to go to for almost 2 years now. Rumor has it that she even helped change Ellie's diaper and took the dog out to pee. I hope she continues this angelic behavior when she returns home.

While Yoshi was gone having a grand ol' time, Tom and I struggled coming up with things to do. We actually played with the toddler next door for about an hour just so we could get in some kid playing time. Man, we're pathetic. Even other parents called us out on our pathetic-ness.

We decided to spend our free time cleaning out our bedroom. We got rid of our large filing cabinet that sat in the corner of the room, recycled a slew of papers, reorganized and rearranged our bedroom furniture, and bagged up unwanted items for the thrift store (hopefully I can donate those tomorrow). Our room is more spacious now instead of the cluttered dumping ground it had been. Now the hard part will be keeping it clean

Actually, we did some stuff. We saw a fun show at the Marsh theater just a couple blocks away from our house. We went to a couple bars. We went to a Pride party that our neighbors threw. We hung out with some other neighbors. We had a little photo shoot on the roof where the above photo was taken. And last night we went out for a late dinner at a little sushi restaurant in the Castro (and walked by 3 other sushi bars along the way). It's nice to be able to enjoy a late dinner and not have to stress out about making a child eat the food only to come home and have said child say, "I'm hungry!" It's also nice to have some time to focus on us as a married couple instead of us as parents. And the good news is that we are still fond of each other.

Tomorrow Yoshi comes home. I'm looking forward to it. I feel re-energized, which is great because the day after tomorrow we're all going to New Jersey for a wedding (Yoshi's the flower girl) and we come back Sunday night.

Alcatraz

Tom's family was in town recently and we took a jaunt to Alcatraz. I've been there a couple times before, but it was still pretty fascinating. Here are some photos from the visit.

Shoes:


Morgue:


I'm not sure what this structure is:



The few cell blocks facing these windows were the most desired as there was the sunshine in an otherwise isolated place. Sometimes the voices and laughter of the outside world would be carried through these windows and the prisoners would remember the life that existed without them.



Visit my flickr set to see more.

Growing up

As I watched Yoshi play with her best friends in her kindergarten class, I wondered how long she'll stay innocent where she only has to worry about whether dessert will be served that night. Where her biggest source of anxiety will be starting a new grade at a school that is already very familiar among kids that she loves playing with.

But then I realize that she lives in SF. She asks about homelessness, AIDS, what it means to be gay, and why people kill others in war or for no good reason at all. She already knows we all will die one day. In some ways, despite her shy and sometimes delicate outward appearance, she's a tough little cookie. But she always remains compassionate (for the most part).

Today is the last day of Kindergarten for Yoshi. In a couple minutes I'll walk over to her school to pick her up--a special treat since she usually goes to after school care and doesn't get picked up until close to 6pm. I'm feeling a little sentimental. She looked so little when she started kindergarten. But now she seems taller... and more mature. She acts like she's 5 going on 15.

But she's still my baby. Even when I'm 100 and she's 75.

National Running Day

As I looked through my running log, I noticed that for the month of May last year I ran 145 miles. This May? 15.5 miles. Ouch.

Happy National Running Day! It's a rest day for me though.

Snoopy on the catwalk

This show is from a couple years ago, but I just came across the video today.



Although I must say shame on you, CariDee for calling Linus the wrong name. Lionel?

I love the fun snoopy wedding veil. I should have worn that when I got married.

Super funny, awesome, craftastic video