<center>2006.02.15</center> <a name="winterptii"><h3>winter, pt. ii</h3></a> <p>수요일 아침: in the end, last nite, i skipped taekwondo praktice. i rushed home n' was gonna change (clothes) n' pick up sooni 4 taekwondo praktice; but then the beautiful <a href="http://www.realestatesforcharity.com" target="new">kaela hwang</a> came home. that surprised me. i thought she was just gonna study all nite as usual. well, she sed she wanted to go out 4 a <font color="#ff99cc">v.</font><font color="#990000">day</font> dinner. of course, i'd already taken her out to (mtn view's / mountain view's) <a href="http://www.cheztj.com/" target="new">chez tj</a> (on villa st. off'f castro st.) on sat nite 4 an opulent meal. however, she sed this 1'd be her treat. we tried to find a restaurant in my gift checks ¢oupon book that didn't have a "no holidays" restriktion, since most merchants'd prob'ly be sneaky n' call <font color="#ff99cc">v.</font><font color="#990000">day</font> a holiday even tho' it obviously really isn't. we 1st headed back out to mtn view, thinking we'd hit up some place called asian fusion café. however, they were, to our surprise, closed on <font color="#ff99cc">v.</font><font color="#990000">day</font> evening. whah? r they just plain not very smart??? what kind'f restaurant closes on <font color="#ff99cc">v.</font><font color="#990000">day</font> evening?! neway, we gave up on the gift checks book n' ended up @ a li'l, unpretentious joint called "pasta?". btw, check out <i>this</i> online article 'bout the "gift checks, inc." company: <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/1996/11/04/smallb3.html" target="new"><font face="times new roman" color="black">"No discounting the success of this coupon book business"</font></a>. until recently, i kept getting "gift checks" n' "entertainment book" mixed up. when i was a kid, my mom'd sometimes buy these ¢oupon books. i <i>think</i> the 1s she'd buy were "gift checks" books. <p>neway, after all this delay, we decided to visit "pasta?". we 4tunately found a decent parking spot in a publik lot 'cross castro st. from the restaurant's hi profile location. we walked in the cool, brisk, chilly february nite air. in the past couple'f wks, the bay area has experienced abnormally warm weather in feb. can u believe that they monterey area had 84 °f weather some day in the past couple'f wks? that's amazing! 4 some reason, monterey was warmer than the bay area proper. i dunno why, but there must be a logi<font face="script" color="blue" size="+3">cal</font>, meteorologi<font face="script" color="blue" size="+3">cal</font> explanation. as we approached the restaurant's entrance, i recognised a distant cowerker'f mine, n' she recognised me, so we waved hi. it's funny cos kaela n' i'd also cn her @ santana row 1nce, which makes her 1'f very few cowerkers that i've cn out in publik. i always wonder where my cowerkers hang out cos it's an absolutely huge company but i rarely c ne cowerkers in places where i frequent. *shrug* i wonder if many'f them just stay @ home n' don't go out. neway, kaela n' i got seated @ 1'f the tightly spaced couple's tables. kaela n' i figured they must've broken up dual tables originally set 4 4 into numerous 2.person tables 4 <font color="#ff99cc">v.</font><font color="#990000">day</font>, which in turn greatly reduced the space btwn tables. having been sf area lo<font face="script" color="blue" size="+3">cal</font> in the past; i.e. since we used to hang out in sf all the time when we lived in <font color="blue">berkeley</font>; we were used to this tight table arrangement. in sf, where land is obviously extremely precious, many successful n' criti<font face="script" color="blue" size="+3">cal</font>ly acclaimed restaurants occupy small properties n' thus have tight space btwn tables. also, i guess in sf, restaurants usually hardly "family establishments" but better fit 4 raomantik "couple's dinners," so having many "couple's tables" tightly spaced makes more sense. *shrug* neway, we sat down @ our table. u know, i'm glad that <i>encyclopedia brown</i> books taught me as a kid how to properly sit @ at table as a lady n' gentleman couple, i.e. i, as a gentleman, know where to let my lady sit relative to the architecture'f the restaurant. dude, i realise that so many guys these days don't know how to be gentlemen, but whatever, man. <p>@ "pasta?", we shared a insalata spinacci, which had plenty'f bacon. kaela ordered some kind'f spaghetti tutti di mare. i had this overpri¢ed (n' not worth it) fusilli con salciccia. kaela had a glass'f pinot grigio w/ her meal, n' i had a glass'f "house" chianti. 'twas great to be out on <font color="#ff99cc">v.</font><font color="#990000">day</font> evening. we decided not to have coffee or dessert @ the restaurant but instead head over to ne'f the numerous nearby boba cafés. 'twas very cold outside, so we hurried over to the nearby tapioca express that we spotted earlier from the parking lot. we wanted <i>hot</i> drinks. kaela tried out the hot barley milk tea w/ taro balls (which were cubes), n' i tried out their hot peanut soup. we found it interesting what kind'f grps we saw out n' 'bout on <font color="#ff99cc">v.</font><font color="#990000">day</font> nite: couples, dates, friends... kaela sed that it's ok 4 2 single gurls to go out sort'f to console each other on <font color="#ff99cc">v.</font><font color="#990000">day</font> nite but asked if it's ok 4 2 guys to do the same. *shrug* i guess so. i tried to think back to <font color="#ff99cc">v.</font><font color="#990000">days</font> past, when i was single. *shrug* i recalled 1 <font color="#ff99cc">v.</font><font color="#990000">day</font> in <font color="blue">berkeley</font>; i guess <font color="#ff99cc">v.</font><font color="#990000">day</font> 1999, when i went out w/ a grp'f guys from the <font face="script" color="blue" size="+3">cal</font> taekwondo p. crew (party crew) but ended up mtg up w/ a co.ed group also from our taekwondo grp. i recalled that was the nite i met several'f our friends like romy, young, n' tiffany. after we finished our drinks, we went home. <p>[later] 저녁: during my lunchbrk, i went to the werk.com gym. i lifted some weights n' then did my jumping plyometrik exercises. i guess i'm gettin' ready 4 snowboarding this wknd. i also did crunches n' reverse situps or back situps. my back's felt pretty ok lately; but i worry that snowboarding n' (more so) driving'll strain my back this wknd.<br><br><br>