I've been soooo busy these past two weeks that I neglected my blog. Like a plant without water and proper sunlight, my blog has laid dormant in the dark lone corner. Time to rejuvenate and give it a kick start! Ding dong...Bueller? Bueller?
I'll start by summarizing why I've been away. Two weeks ago I played SF city tour guide host to my friend (and former Sega of Japan colleague) who visited me from Tokyo for four days. Half the time I was working so thank god she knew how to take public transportation by herself (Bay Area Rapid Traing (BART) and the MUNI cable car).
Since s he stayed in the heart of Union Square, we walked through Chinatown all way to Northbeach. Strange, but for a Friday dinner night, Chinatown wasn't busy with the usual foot and car traffic. Northbeach was pretty oh hum as well. Yup, it's the effects of the poor economy. Last Tuesday , I was in downtown San Mateo for dinner and it was a ghost town. A sign that more people are making their own meals and eating in.
We returned to her hotel via the Financial District route thinking we'd hit a bar but I bring her to a Comedy College that's right across from her hotel. I've been here before. It's a comedy club and comedy school. Admission to the club is a steal $5-$10 depending on the night and BYOB. Yup, no two drink minimum ($20-$30) in a casual, non-fancy, relaxed, non-descript setting. I've seen funnier comedians here than at Punchline or Cobbs. It was a school night at the club so they weren't expecting us. We found out later that we were the only non students in the audience. I think we sat in a practice session of some sort.
The guy at the door welcomed us in and only charged us 1/2 admission since we missed the first hour. I have to admit, only a quarter of the comedians were slightly funny. But then again, they're amateurs and were probably nervous of our surprise arrival. At least my friend saw her first transgender comic! And the comic made no bones about it. The first word that came out of her mouth (with the deep husky voice) was, "I'm transgender". I didn't even look at my friend because I wasn't sure how she was going to react the minute our eyes met. Actually, she said he or actually she, was the funniest comic. She said she was definitely surprised. Welcome to San Francisco my friend!
On her second day, I invited her and another friend and former Sega colleague to a kick off party for the Fifth Annual Asian Heritage Festival which my company, Philippine Inquirer is a sponsor. The free by invite only party was held at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco's Civic Center.
It was great and kicked into full gear. Most of the attendees were, not surprisingly, of Asian descent. When we arrived fashionably 1/2 hour later, there were two lines of people for the wine bar. What's interesting is that my friends and I stared, along with probably most of the attendees stared at the buffet table lined with hot trays just waiting for a brave soul to make the first move. Finally about 10-15 minutes later, someone stepped forward and the waves of people converged from all directions as fast as a Tsunami.
I exchanged cards with about five new faces, including one who my Sega colleague worked with, a former PR guy. I also met a former AsianWeek journalist, a woman who works for a nonprofit agency serving Asians and a Wall Street Journal Reporter. I'm terrible with names and don't have their business cards as I write this. Everyone was friendly and social, in good spirits. With all the talk about the rising unemployment rate, and local small businesses closing shop,
I did not see or hear about it.
Since, we were close to the neighborhood of Little Saigon, we ate Pho (Vietnamese noodles) at one of my favorite affordable Vietnamese restaurants. Afterwards the night was still young, and we ventured to Hayes Valley and finished our night with rich banana and chocolate desserts at Absinthe.
On Saturday, we spent the whole day in the central coast. My friend drove us through the 17 mile picturesque scenic route from Monterey and Pacific Grove and we ended up east in Gilroy, where the great Gilroy Shopping Outlet looms - four blocks of stores! We definitely didn't see a recession here as people packed the Coach store. Coach bags are big in Japan. My friend said her $180 purse costs about $500 in Japan!
Yes, we really jam packed her stay and it was fun!
I'll start by summarizing why I've been away. Two weeks ago I played SF city tour guide host to my friend (and former Sega of Japan colleague) who visited me from Tokyo for four days. Half the time I was working so thank god she knew how to take public transportation by herself (Bay Area Rapid Traing (BART) and the MUNI cable car).
Since s he stayed in the heart of Union Square, we walked through Chinatown all way to Northbeach. Strange, but for a Friday dinner night, Chinatown wasn't busy with the usual foot and car traffic. Northbeach was pretty oh hum as well. Yup, it's the effects of the poor economy. Last Tuesday , I was in downtown San Mateo for dinner and it was a ghost town. A sign that more people are making their own meals and eating in.
We returned to her hotel via the Financial District route thinking we'd hit a bar but I bring her to a Comedy College that's right across from her hotel. I've been here before. It's a comedy club and comedy school. Admission to the club is a steal $5-$10 depending on the night and BYOB. Yup, no two drink minimum ($20-$30) in a casual, non-fancy, relaxed, non-descript setting. I've seen funnier comedians here than at Punchline or Cobbs. It was a school night at the club so they weren't expecting us. We found out later that we were the only non students in the audience. I think we sat in a practice session of some sort.
The guy at the door welcomed us in and only charged us 1/2 admission since we missed the first hour. I have to admit, only a quarter of the comedians were slightly funny. But then again, they're amateurs and were probably nervous of our surprise arrival. At least my friend saw her first transgender comic! And the comic made no bones about it. The first word that came out of her mouth (with the deep husky voice) was, "I'm transgender". I didn't even look at my friend because I wasn't sure how she was going to react the minute our eyes met. Actually, she said he or actually she, was the funniest comic. She said she was definitely surprised. Welcome to San Francisco my friend!
On her second day, I invited her and another friend and former Sega colleague to a kick off party for the Fifth Annual Asian Heritage Festival which my company, Philippine Inquirer is a sponsor. The free by invite only party was held at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco's Civic Center.
It was great and kicked into full gear. Most of the attendees were, not surprisingly, of Asian descent. When we arrived fashionably 1/2 hour later, there were two lines of people for the wine bar. What's interesting is that my friends and I stared, along with probably most of the attendees stared at the buffet table lined with hot trays just waiting for a brave soul to make the first move. Finally about 10-15 minutes later, someone stepped forward and the waves of people converged from all directions as fast as a Tsunami.
I exchanged cards with about five new faces, including one who my Sega colleague worked with, a former PR guy. I also met a former AsianWeek journalist, a woman who works for a nonprofit agency serving Asians and a Wall Street Journal Reporter. I'm terrible with names and don't have their business cards as I write this. Everyone was friendly and social, in good spirits. With all the talk about the rising unemployment rate, and local small businesses closing shop,
I did not see or hear about it.Since, we were close to the neighborhood of Little Saigon, we ate Pho (Vietnamese noodles) at one of my favorite affordable Vietnamese restaurants. Afterwards the night was still young, and we ventured to Hayes Valley and finished our night with rich banana and chocolate desserts at Absinthe.
On Friday, I drove her to Twin Peaks to get a 360 view of the citayeee(Market, South of Market, Castro, Noe Valley, Inner Sunset with Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge nestled in front of the Marina and the East Bay. Also went to the Presidio Letterman to see George Lucas' media production playhouse, the Castro, the Mission, Japantown and the Marina = all very different flavors of the city= the demographics and socio- economic differences between these districts (similar to New York Burroughs) are like night and day.
On Saturday, we spent the whole day in the central coast. My friend drove us through the 17 mile picturesque scenic route from Monterey and Pacific Grove and we ended up east in Gilroy, where the great Gilroy Shopping Outlet looms - four blocks of stores! We definitely didn't see a recession here as people packed the Coach store. Coach bags are big in Japan. My friend said her $180 purse costs about $500 in Japan!
Yes, we really jam packed her stay and it was fun!
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