THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

i'm finally at my last stop here in LA. in a few days i'll be happily back home. it's been a fun trip so far, and i can't help but reminisce on my vacation here.

to think it started out so disastrously!

i arrived in new york where i had to take the subway to my friend's pad. my insanely big maleta broke just when i got out. it was a pain to drag across three blocks! i had to stop every few meters, without exaggeration. and to top it all off, the sky started pouring heavy rain. i remember thinking to myself, "God are you trying to tell me something here?"

so after a rocky arrival, i spent a couple of days in New York, mostly just walking around the city, and one relaxing afternoon with friends in Central Park.

after that, i took a train to philadelphia where i stayed with a kabarkada. he had to leave for san fran so i was left all alone in his place for a few days. it was a good thing that i had that creative economy summit/conference to keep me preoccupied. for more details on that, just check out my blog "Real World University".

my next stop was napa valley/san francisco. my flight was 6 am and since i couldn't trust alarm clocks, i decided to just not sleep at all the night before. suffice to say, i missed all the meals in the plane as i was totally conked out. i arrived in the airport and got a car which i rented over the internet. thanks to mapquest, i was able to drive my way to napa valley just in time to catch a friend's wedding. that drive was a lot of firsts --- my first time to go to napa valley, first time to rent and drive a car here, and first time to brave the US freeway. well, thankfully it proved to be a fun and accident-free experience.

from my lonesomeness in philly, i was glad to be with familiar friends in napa. we stayed in a really nice hotel which was like a park unto itself, wherein i finally got a good night's rest. the next day's schedule included going around napa, dropping by the outlet, wine tasting, and driving back to san francisco where i had dinner with some friends.

the next day my friend jay and i decided to drive up to palo alto and stanford university, both relaxing places to visit. we had lunch in a burger place and finally went back to our friend's place, where we stayed the night. anyway, i returned the rental car, hopped on a cab, and went to the bus station where i took an overnight ride to LA.

now, i'm just literally resting and relaxing here with my cousin keije. i've caught a couple of movies - "the breakup" and "cars"; and even spent one whole geeky day in the LA library just to soak up stuff! let's just say that on top of that, i'm revisiting some of the deadly sins --- in particular, sloth and gluttony, hehehe.

i don't recall a time that i've had the luxury of being this well -- to put it bluntly, lazy. it's literally been ages. but i guess i'm just recharging my batteries for the marathon up ahead ...