Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Being Wednesday

Last night I dreamt very ordinary dreams.  There was no particular narrative structure but there was a simple theme that ran through the dreams.  The theme was simply, at various points and times, being in the company of my friends.  A dozen or so made simple appearances in the dreams doing ordinary things.  I think that is where friendship is at its best, in the simple and ordinary things. A simple richness that lies in the just BEING of friendship. Just simply being.

Work was a mostly quiet day, one issue arose, but it was beyond my ability to influence, so I had the rather unique (work wise) position of just being able to sit back and watch it unfold.  I did wish I could do something to influence it, but I was willing to accept that I couldn't, and to be wise enough to realize that I shouldn't.

I had lunch with one of my friends at a place called the Grand Buffet in Sunnyvale, off Lawrence Expressway, near Central Expressway.  It is a good Indian buffet.  I had a potato curry, chicken masala, bismati rice, fresh bread, and a creamy onion and cucumber yogurt.  I am particularly fond of thier potato curry - a nice mix of vegetables in a spicy brown curry.

I got a new laptop at work so a good portion of the day was spent getting data moved over and applications installed and configuring it.  That will probably occupy a good portion of tomorrow as well, since I figure that Thursday in the office is going to be very, very quiet.  Other than the one issue, my phone never rang today and I only received a handful of email, mostly from people in my own teams.

It is the second day of the second half of the year - and for some strange reason July 1st seems to have had a significant effect on me.  It seems like I am getting a second chance at making something valuable out of 2008.  I am considering it a gift and cherishing it accordingly.

After work, I had dinner with my nephew and my friend T.S. at Holdens on Saratoga tonight.  I had the Joe's Special - scrambled eggs, fresh spinach, fresh mushrooms, spicy ground beef, topped with sour cream.  They make an excellent Joe's Special at Holdens.  It was a great little "breakfast for dinner". 

My friend T.S. is flying out to Denver tomorrow to go visit his sister in Colorado for the weekend, coming back on Monday, so we wished him safe voyaging.  He has never been to the midwest before, sowe were teasing him about the drive from Denver to Ft. Collins and how it was going to be, well, flat.  Maybe with a few ups and downs.

The 4th of July is coming soon.  Right now, I am planning to go down to the big festival in San Jose on Friday (San Jose Americas Festival). It is the usual festival fare - vendors, food, drinks, music, topped off with a fireworks display at the end of the evening.  I am planning on going down in the after, taking the Light Rail from the Winchester station in Campbell. 

At 3:00 PM San Jose Taiko is going to play and I love the primal power of Taiko drumming.  I am planning on staying for the fireworks, but, may change my mind.  The festival will draw tens of thousands of people, which means it has the possibility to become a total zoo.

I have a thing about crowds.  If I am in the right mood, I can do them.  If I am in the wrong mood, then the best and quickest thing I can do is...get out.  So, if the crowd starts to get to me, I may watch San Jose Taiko, leave, and then circle back to catch the fireworks.  We really don't need to go downtown to see fireworks- there will be plenty of them all around us - including a small display in Cupertino, at De Anza College and another in Santa Clara, at Central Park.

We have many Mexican and Chinese neighbors and both cultures are well known for their prolific firewords displays, so there will be some impromptu back yard stuff all around us that will rival any professional displays. I am definitely looking forward to the weekend.

One of things I will be specifically looking forward to is the opportunity to spend quiet, simple, time with my friends, just...being.  Just...being.

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