Two months in Sacramento

Wow, it's been two months since I moved back to Sac! Just for fun, I'll update in reverse time.

I just came back from two weeks in the San Francisco Bay Area. A week was spent at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). The rest of the time was spent catching up with old friends and co-workers. Now that I look back on the trip, I really saw quite a few people from various circles in my life. Some readers might know them, so I'll list them briefly: Genentech, former Genentech (Melissa Ma, Lawrence Hon, Svetlana Pidasheva), GDC CAs not attending this year (Xander, Nur, Eric Tang), Auntie Helen, Mayo lab (Jonathan Lassila), Cal (Blisseth Sy), Avery House (Jim Pugh, Joseph Koo, Habib Ahmad), GrX (Sarah Castonguay), JFK (Aaron Lum).

From Habib

This is Habib. We were both grad students in Avery House. We went to Vegas together. And Yosemite. I think we even liked the same … hmm, maybe he doesn't want me to talk about that. =)

Anyway, Habib is now working hard at Bosch. His wife is very friendly, his son is super-cute, and his garden is looking snazzy. Habib took me to a wonderful Pakistani hole-in-the-wall in Fremont. So good.

From Korean BBQ

This is Aaron. We were one year apart in high school, but we rarely hung out. What's funny is that we share a lot of similar interests: video games, board games, anime. Somehow, we re-connected when I was living in Daly City. Aaron and his girlfriend Tamiko let me stay with them during the GDC. Of course, I owed them a dinner.

We went to another hole-in-the-wall with great food: this time, Korean BBQ! This place was special: if you look closely at the photo, you'll see charcoal! Aaron kept saying our clothes would smell of smoke for a week. I didn't take him seriously. Besides, they really smelled only for 5 days.

The GDC was fun but went by oh-so-quickly. I was a volunteer again, along with 430 others. (The entire GDC is ~24,000 attendees.) Surprisingly, by the end of the week I knew almost every volunteer at least by name and face. While I consider all the volunteers as part of my second family, some are especially dear friends.

Here's my official photo from the GDC. Each volunteer has one. I like these photos because they're done with professional lighting (remote flashes, umbrellas, etc.). On the down side, it makes me more aware of my physical imperfections. For example: My left eyelid is lower than my right, and my hairline isn't symmetrical. I think my ears don't line up with my sideburns, either. Thankfully, I'm past the age when those things really bother me. I think. =)

And here's my official 1980s photo. =) They had a photo booth with people to help style you. Thank you to Deb and the others at iam8bit! I actually took two other 80s photos, but I like this one best.

A lot of my friends took photos, too. You can see them all by clicking on this Flickr link. I suppose it really helps if you recognize the people in the photos, but I crack up every time I look at them.

From GDC 2013

This is me at the Oculus VR booth at the GDC. I'm wearing a special Virtual-Reality headset called the Oculus Rift. It's still in the developmental stages, but it's amazing. Not just cool, but *amazing.* I could talk forever about it, but you can Google it. The official site is at this link.

Okay! Back to my Sacramento life.

From Beth reading

One nice thing about going home is that I get to see my cousin Beth before she moves (down to LA, alas). I have a lot of cousins, and Beth and I didn't meet until a year or so ago. Here, we're studying together at a Starbucks where my friend Mitch works. I took this photo because I was struck by how intently Beth was reading. It wasn't bad news; I think Beth is simply very thoughtful.

Of course, the biggest thing about being home is living with my mom again. We tried this 7 years ago, and there was a fair amount of drama. I vote for less drama this time.

From Mom at Panera

To that end, I'm trying to help out a little more (washing dishes, grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, etc.). I think Mom and I are also trying to talk to each other more and listen more. We also have regular lunches (~bi-weekly) together, going Dutch. Here's my mom at Panera!

And then there's my grandma. In some ways, that's the highest priority, because she's 94. On the other hand, I feel Grandma lives a very peaceful life. By that, I mean Grandma always seems at peace. Even when she's nagging me. =)

Here's Mom and Grandma at breakfast. I should note that Mom has lovingly been cooking and preparing nutritious meals for Grandma and I each day.

From Mom and Grandma

Grandma and I have done a little walking together. It takes awhile for her to get to just the end of the block. Sometimes I have to push her. But once, she managed to do it on her own. =)

From Grandma

Grandma and I live on opposite ends of a long hallway. I don't spend much time looking down the hallway, but one time I saw Grandma sitting at her bed, reading. And because she's 94, she really didn't notice me. It was kind of cool, having this light and life at the other end of the dark tunnel. I want to say it was almost romantic, but obviously this is my grandma, so let's just say I have poor diction. Maybe it made me think of someone else.

I tried to have a normal conversation with Grandma across that hallway … but it was too far, and Grandma's hearing isn't that great. So the experience was also a bit melancholy. Nevertheless, just thinking about it was fun. =)

I'll close with a video. It's of Grandma walking down the block, for 10 minutes. Sounds exciting, right?

Grandma's Walk

Actually, I don't expect you to watch the video. At least now. Shucks, if I hadn't made the video, I wouldn't want to watch 10 minutes of Grandma walking, either.

But maybe you miss Grandma. Or you will. When that happens, come back here. This video should still be waiting.

I hope it will give you a fond memory of her. =)