Paris, je t'aime

After sleeping in this morning, Puppy and I taxied over to Tegel airport and headed off to Paris for the 2nd part of our European getaway. For me, Paris is a city that induces huge fits of nostalgia - one that probably makes me very annoying to be around since every metro station, landmark or major road triggers some sort of memory.

Take, for example, the Virgin Megastore on the Champs d'Elysees. Not just a record store. Instead, it's where Policy Wonkette, The Communist and I saw a little-known boy band called Worlds Apart perform amidst a crowd of frantic tweens. And this was before the term "tween" meant anything.

Having spent a semester abroad in Paris, I sort of claim it as a city where I've "lived," even though my time spent here was very limited. And I haven't purposefully taken a trip to Paris in more than 10 years, so it's not a city I know very well anymore, despite my best efforts.

Besides layovers at the airport, the last time I found myself here was in 2004 when my parents, brother and I were "stranded" for 24 hours because we missed a connecting flight in Italy. I dragged my family along a whirlwind tour of the city, insisting we see every sight and taste every pastry before we were forced to return to the States.

This time, however, we have a bit more time, so I hope to be a bit more thoughtful in showing Puppy around for his first time. We checked into the hotel (a definite step above the one we stayed at in Berlin), and hustled over ot l'Arc de la Triomphe and took some pretty generic photos.

Puppy asked me all sorts of questions I couldn't answer, then we ambled along le Champs d'Elysees and did a bit more shopping than I anticipated. We tired of the throng of tourists, then metroed over to l'Hotel de Ville, broke for a coffee and pear clafoutis, visited Notre Dame and took a tour of St. Michel's schwarma- and crepe-filled streets.

After a quick refresh back at the hotel, we went to a nearby brasserie for assorted cheeses (and amazingly crusty French bread), some strawberry-mint martinis and steak frites. It was a really lovely and typically French meal, complete with overwhelming clouds of smoke from every other table at the restaurant.

Then, we took the metro over to Trocadero for the best view of the Eiffel Tower in the whole city. We enjoyed the monument at night and stayed for the 10pm light show razzle-dazzle before heading out to le marais for les bars.

Since it's been 10 years since I properly went out in Paris, I had no idea where the hot spots were (especially on a Wednesday night). We hit two bars that were duds, then ended up at a Latin night that The Old Man suggested we visit. It was apparently where everyone in the city had gone to. Packed, hopping and fun, this bar featured some sort of drag queen and Latin men showering for everyone's pleasure. It also played videos from 1999 - one that included a friend of mine from my days living in Washington DC!

I met a bunch of people in the fashion industry who are here for some sort of textile fair. And when I explain that I, too, am in the industry, it seems to fall on deaf ears because no one's heard of my company. No matter, maybe I'll still try to write off this trip as business-like!

Before returning to the hotel, Puppy and I stopped into a Quick (France's answer to McDonalds) and ate some pretty disgusting fast food. Some sort of cheesy balls, some chicken tenders and an ice cream/cocoa krispie concoction.

But we're back at the hotel now, getting all rested up for our next day in Paris - tomorrow we hope to tackle a bit of the Louvre!

A brand new life, brand new life, brand new life around the bend

Growing up, I enjoyed Clarissa Explains It All, and to a lesser extent, Blossom. Thus, when I found out there's a new show called Melissa & Joey starring Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence, I watched. Yes, I did.

Mel Jo Ha plays a powerful blonde lady who's challenged with parenting two kids. Former Gimme A Break star Joey plays a down-and-out fella who has a knack for cleaning and taking care of angsty teenagers. The two can't stand each other, yet Joey ends up as Melissa's live-in manny. And there's perhaps an underlying attraction!

Didn't this show already exist as Who's the Boss? I guess it is updated a bit. I'm pretty sure Samantha Micelli would never have called a teacher the C word.

I probably won't need to watch again, but I'm glad to see that Melissa's still cute and likable. However, how in the world does Joey have no hair, yet still sport a widow's peak? A mystery of nature.

Movie note: Tron

THREE STARS

Wow. Special effects sure have come a long way in the past three decades! Was there a plot? A point? Why did I love this movie so much as a cub?

Pad Thai bye bye

Swimsation and I had another farewell meal last night, when I brought over some Thai food to her house. We'd planned to go out and find someplace fun for dinner, but she was hit by a car the other day on her way to (her first day of) work!

Fortunately, she's okay, but what a terrible way to start off a new job!

So, we celebrated our new jobs around her kitchen table and reminisced about the fun times we had when we lived in DC. Her new job will take her back to DC at least once a year, and I hope to convince her to extend that trip to include a little Beantown jaunt.

As I continue on the Panda!!!! Farewell San Francisco Tour 2010, I'm getting sadder and sadder about leaving this city and all my friends.

Things just stay the same

After my work event, I met up with some old friends at the DC swim team happy hour, hosted at the 18th and U Duplex Diner. When I walked in, it was like walking into a time warp.

More than seven years ago, when I left DC, this place was super busy, thanks to a new owner, a strong bar menu, comfort food and an attractive bartender or two. It was crazy packed, just like I remembered it and I fought my way to the bar to order myself a drink as I waited.

Much to my surprise, the bartender was one of the same bartenders who worked there when I left DC, and I think he was wearing a shirt that he owned back then as well. The swimmers and the runners (it was a co-hosted happy hour) didn't seem to mingle and the conversations I heard were all about the same topics that I avoided back in the day. Generally speaking, they were all talking about each other, team gossip and complaining about leadership.

It was strange at first, but then I embraced the situation and I found it strangely comforting to be back in a familiar space, running into some people I knew and slipping back into my friends' conversations at dinner nearby.

Save the children

Remember those commercials from the 1980s and 1990s where Sally Struthers implored viewers to help disadvantaged children in developing countries? You know, the ones where she is covered with dozens of malnourished children while she weeps into the camera lens? The ones that taught you that, for the same amount of money you spend on your morning coffee, you could feed and clothe a child, send him/her to school, ensure he/she as a home and a robust collection of G.I. Joe or Barbie dolls?

Well, I was reading a passage in an article that made me think of those commercials:

In the late 1990s, several child sponsorship organizations amended their disclosures after a series of articles in The Chicago Tribune revealed that while they were soliciting money to sponsor a specific needy child, that child was not necessarily receiving the money directly.

Then I remembered the time I called my parents from college and learned that, in an effort to enhance my sister's "community service" credentials, my mother adopted a little Filipina girl named Benalyn in her name. Benalyn's photo stared despondently from our computer keyboard for several years, and I suppose my mother continued to send money to her (or, to an organization that purported to help her) while my sister was in high school.

My friends and I dreamed of the day that Benalyn would show up in California, seeking to be reunited with her generous new mother from the Western world. My sister would be so proud of her young, disadvantaged, Tagalog-speaking daughter and we would all weep with joy at young Benalyn's high school graduation, taking pride in the fact that Lil' Sis' Panda!!!! had given her a second chance at life. We would lovingly embrace her at her extravagant wedding in the US and we would brag when she achieved a top position in Corporate America.

Alas, I wonder what happened to Benalyn and how many other families shared this dream.

Just a baby panda

Internets, today was a long day. After only 4-5 hours of sleep, I dragged myself to The Nonprofit's board meeting, which found approximately 20 of us cooped up in a room from 8:30am to 6:00pm, with only a 30 minute break before re-convening for a board dinner.

While I honestly enjoy my fellow board members, I am not very good at all-day marathon meetings. And it's especially hard to keep up with such a smart and distinguished group of people. I think I'm the youngest member of our board (Although one of the newer members may be slightly younger.), but I'm definitely at the lower end of the experience spectrum.

At one point, the two men seated on either side of me were bantering back and forth about who was older when one turned to ask how old I was. When I told them, they both groaned and declared that I'm a baby!

One of our newest board members mentioned that his daughter attended my alma mater and when I let him know of my affiliation, we realized that his daughter is a mere four years younger than me. He was kind of shocked that I was serving on the board, only 11 years after my undergrad experience.

I don't usually mind being mistaken for young, especially since I feel so old, but it's tough to maintain credibility when you don't have the experience or at least the air of experience about you. I know it really shouldn't matter, but I just feel like it does. I guess I should enjoy it before I'm one of the geezers.

Mexico roll

VALedictorian and I went to a restaurant that boasted Mexican-type sushi last night, deep in the Mission district. It seemed like an interesting idea, but when you put jalapeno and spicy sauce on everything, you can't really taste anything else! So, basically, I got mouthful after mouthful of caliente and didn't appreciate the other flavors.

And hearkening back to 1990, VALedictorian told me a little tale about some of our friends from high school. And basically, it went like this (names have been changed to protect the innocent): "Joe-Bob told me that he thinks Beulah is mad at Ringo because he's dating this girl." I guess we never really grow out of high school.

Endless salad bar

Today's errands took Puppy and me to the 'burbs, so we decided to reclaim our childhoods and hit the Sizzler salad bar! It was just as I had remembered: wilted greens, processed meatballs, processed chicken product, can-fresh peaches and spongey chocolate mousse! I requested a piece of garlic cheesey toast, and it was good, but somehow, a Sizzler meal has lost its luster since I was 11 years old. Nonetheless, I tried my very best to get the most value for $7.99! And now I feel kind of gross.

Visitors

I learned today that ABC is trying to "re-imagine" the '80s series V, which was about lizard-like aliens who tried to take over Earth, disguised as humans. The mini-series and subsequent television show were both fascinating and frightening to me as a child and I remember being a fierce follower of its mythology.

From the creepy skin-peeling, the green blood, the eating of rodents and the quickly evolving "star child," the show's special effects spurred my young imagination fueled my and my friends' playground shenanigans. We imagined that we were either the dastardly aliens or the noble resistance fighters, but mostly we imagined that we were wearing red jackets with exaggerated shoulders and gray-tinted, oversized sunglasses.

I'm curious to see what the new series dreams up but I'm doubtful it will stand up to the holiest of all re-imagined series, Battlestar Galactica.

Recess

While eating lunch on a bench with a friend today, I noticed the faint sound of Motown songs coming from behind me. I turned around and saw that two grannies had placed a portable stereo on the ground and were listening to some tunes from the '60s and '70s. Each was dressed in a loose-fitting t-shirt, stretchy pants, tennis shoes and a visor, so clearly they were out for a little exercise.

Suddenly, the two ladies busted out jump ropes and started gently skipping rope, chatting and listening to their music! It was sort of alarming to see in the middle of the city, but you get used to seeing many strange things in San Francisco. But it reminded me of how, in elementary school, we would rush to finish our lunches so that we could maximize the rest of our lunch-time recess on the playground.

10 favorite albums

Puppy challenged me to list my "top ten favorite albums of all time" yesterday and I've been thinking about this list for several hours. He gave me the following reasonable qualification and sent me off: "For purposes of this task, the word "favorite" does not mean "best." For instance, Radiohead's "the bends" may be their best work but not your favorite album of theirs."

Many songs came to my mind, but not many albums. And of course on the short list were titles by Michael Jackson, Christina Aguilera, The Pixies, Joy Division, Pearl Jam and even Danity Kane, but I decided these would be my top ten (At least for now. I'm a changeable panda.):

10. Rhythm Nation 1814, Janet Jackson - To be fair, this was nearly a tie with Whitney Houston's debut album. But I remember riding in a bus on the way home from a swim meet in Reno and listening to this album non-stop on my Sony Walkman (the yellow sports variety, of course) and when a certain hunky high schooler defended my choice of music to a particularly insulting teammate, I was smitten. Plus, the video for "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" was uber-sexy.

9. Faith, George Michael - Boy did I crave getting my ear pierced and wearing a cross earring in it! I remember sitting in the back of the classroom, giggling with my friends as we read the lyrics to "I Want Your Sex" and thinking we were so rebellious!

8. Post, Bjork - She was the first person I ever saw in concert (when she was with The Sugarcubes) and I've continued to love her since. Truthfully, this and Debut sort of merged into one album for me but the video for "It's Oh So Quiet" is so fun and bouncy and ... unexpected.

7. Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos - Something about her voice on "Crucify" can still give me chills to this day. And for some reason, I found it much easier to write papers in high school and college while this album played in the background.

6. Live Through This, Hole - The last track of this album, "Rock Star," was one that I loved to blast and sing along with over and over again during some angsty moments in high school. I also remember listening to this in the car with SameBrain and she always made me skip a certain track that she found offensive.

5. Metallica, Metallica - Every single song on this album was awesome, especially "The Unforgiven." And we had a running joke about how Metallica should cover "My Lovin'" by En Vogue.

4. Singles, The Smiths - I don't know if it's fair to include a greatest hits album, but I'm doing it anyway because I had a poster of Morrissey in my dorm room when I was a freshman in college and I think every proper gay boy of the '80s could appreciate the melodious angst of The Smiths. Plus, the intro to "How Soon Is Now" still gives me the goosebumps.

3. Baby One More Time, Britney Spears - I love me my cutesy teenage girl-woman singers and Britney is the ultimate! Although this obsession began with Tiffany and Debbie Gibson, Britney brought it to a whole new level and "Born to Make You Happy" is still a frequently played song on my iPod.

2. The Immaculate Collection, Madonna - I'm surprised this CD even survived college, where it was played to death at every single swim team party (among other important occasions). The weird, screechy interlude in "Like a Prayer" irritated me at first, but I grew to love it.

1. Siamese Dream, Smashing Pumpkins - I was obsessed with this album in late high school and was thrilled to finally see Billy Corgan and friends perform live during my senior year. This may be a bit morose, but I had a vivid plan to end my life very dramatically and "Disarm" would be blasting through my home when my poor family would stumble upon my lifeless, teenage body.

So, there you have it. My ten favorite albums. As you can tell, it's as much about the memories as it is about the songs. Any surprises? Any startling omissions? Comment away and let me know yours!

Oregon trail

In a few hours I'm heading to Portland, OR for work and it made me think of the computer game "Oregon Trail" that we played in elementary school. I believe the intent of the game was to teach kids how to plan and prepare, but I'm not exactly sure it succeeded in my case.

I remember vividly having to insert big, black floppy disks into the computer, waiting for it to give me the signal to enter the next disk and continuing the process for several minutes in order for the game to load. When you were finally in the game and able to play, it prompted the user to answer several questions about rationing resources amongst different supply categories like food, weaponry, medicine and misc. It was always this last category, misc. that tripped me up.

For whatever reason, my young panda mind always mis-read "misc." as "music" and I thought it was all about entertainment. And I never allotted any of my dollars to that category and therefore never made it across the country to Oregon! I don't think I actually ever made it past the Mississippi River. Instead, some rogue "enemy" or scurvy would do me and my poor family in every single time.

Gem temptation

I just discovered that there is a ginormous tub of Sunkist Fruit Gems in the break room on my floor at work. As a cub, I loved these little jelly, sugary blobs of sweetness! My waistline will regret that I made this discovery.

I promise you it'll get better, better

When I was in high school, I shared a little theory of mine with VALedictorian. To my untrained ear, it seemed like the word "corazón" appeared in the lyrics of every single Spanish song I heard, whether it was a ballad, an uptempo diddy or a gangsta-fied rap. After carefully listening to a sample of approximately 10 songs, VALedictorian agreed with me.

Well, now there's a song that's actually called "Corazón" and it is a hot tranny mess! This is like three songs in one. It has three sections with different tempos and the singers are all over the place. I wonder if three different producers had individual takes on what the song should sound like and someone appeased them by splicing the interpretations all together. I also wonder what the remixes sound like.

Never shined through in what I've shown

In the car today, I heard this song on the radio and was instantly transported back to my high school days. Of course, I belted out the song at the top of my lungs.

10 years later

I drove from Boston to Connecticut yesterday, to attend my 10-year college reunion. The drive down from Boston was beautiful - hills covered in lush, green trees on either side of the road and a beautiful, sunny day. Driving down reminded me how beautiful New England is and one reason why I chose to leave California to attend college in the first place.

Upon arriving on campus, I felt a little lost. It's been five years since I last visited - new buildings have popped up and I feel considerably older. I also didn't know where any of my friends or classmates were so I wandered around by myself for a bit until I finally found a handful of my friends.

There weren't a whole lot of people from my class on campus yesterday, but it was a good crew. After an all-campus buffet dinner, we enjoyed a performance by alumni from one of the student imrpov comedy groups and we went to a party for alumni at one of the student society houses.

As some of my friends peeled off to attend a college house party, I decided it was time for me to return to my hotel room. I think this whole driving thing might seriously crimp my style so I will have to figure out a way around that tonight.

Today proves to be more fun and catching up. I'm speaking on an alumni panel about corporations and the third world, but I'm really more excited to see some friends, explore campus and to enjoy the beautiful Connecticut weather!

A crazy maze of LZRs

When I competed in swim meets as a young cub, I donned a speedo (two if the race didn't matter), dove in and swam my little heart out. As I grew older, technology would introduce newer, faster versions of the speedo, like the paper suit, which was achingly uncomfortable in all the wrong places (and for the females would take two additional helpers to squeeze the racer into the suit) and would require that a swimmer begin the process of putting the suit on approximately one hour before the race.

In college, I remember the aquablade, which was just as uncomfortable as the paper suit, but had special little ridges that allowed water to pass more quickly or something like that.

Toward the end of my college career, full-bodied swimsuits emerged on the scene. Some suits were better for certain strokes (with grooves in different parts of the suit) and others boasted different types of technology. Fortunately, my swimming career was in its twilight years as these $100 suits burst onto the scene.

Well, it seems that Speedo has introduced a $550 suit, the LZR, that seems to be stirring up a bit of controversy. I highly doubt my parents would have ponied up $550 for a suit that lasts 5 races, but I'm sure that there are 12-year-olds who sport these swimsuits at age group meets in affluent neighborhoods all across the country.

Since I'll never compete for Olympic gold, I'm going to stick to the tried-and-true nylon water polo suit, a comfortable and long-lasting option. That is, once I decide to start swimming again.

Pretty woman

Contrary to what some believe, this panda is not a prostitute.

Yesterday, on my way home from work, a car pulled over and the driver asked me directions to Haight/Ashbury. So, I explained how he could arrive at his destination, then he asked whether he could give me a ride to wherever I was going. I declined politely and he responded, "Your body looks strong." I continued my walk home as he drove away.

It reminded me of a time when I was in college, studying abroad in Paris. I emerged from the metro station in an unfamiliar neighborhood to meet a friend for a night out. A gentleman pulled over and propositioned me! It was actually a fairly healthy sum of money, but I do have standards. Said standards may be really, really low, but they're there!

Grabbing some beers

Middle Bottom was in town this weekend, after having finished up a project in San Jose. Since I couldn't meet up with him on Saturday (too tired from all the BBQ I ate with Roommates A&J), we decided to grab dinner and some beers last night to catch up.

I can't believe it's been nearly 10 years since I met Middle Bottom, swimming on a master's team in Washington DC. He was definitely one of my favorite people on the team - his caustic wit and biting humor helped give perspective to a team that was at times either obsessed with competition or lackadaisical to a fault.

We spent much of our discussion gossiping about people, catching up on each other's lives and reminiscing about my early twenties. It kind of made me want to return to my DC life - a time when I was in better shape, less prone to get into trouble and more hopeful in my life's goals.