Blog

Short blog posts, journal entries, and random thoughts. Topics include a mix of personal and the world at large.

Eating indoors

The verdict is in: you should definitely go one size up on the Allbirds Wool Runners shoe. After buying a pair in my typical size 9 and finding them surprisingly restrictive, a size 10 pair got delivered today. I am happy to say they fit perfectly, and finally I have a pair of Allbirds that is as comfortable as everyone raves about.

I am looking forward to breaking them in at work tomorrow.

It seems I am going to be doing lots more walking on the weekends as well. Last week, San Francisco entered the least restrictive yellow tier of California’s COVID-19 lockdown measures. This means, amongst other things, bars are allowed to open, and indoor dining increase in additional capacity. We can finally frequent our favorite bars and restaurants once more without too much hassle.

I am going to be doing a lot of that.

Obviously, one still have to be masked when indoors, which is quite interesting when it comes to eating at a restaurant. What I do is: I remain masked while sitting at the table until first of the food and or beverages arrive. Then it is mask off for the duration until the check is signed off and I am ready to leave. It makes no sense to keep putting the mask off and on in between bites or sips. Also, not very sanitary.

To be honest, being fully vaccinated with the best vaccine available - Pfizer - I really don’t care to wear a mask at all. The worst I’ll experience from COVID now is just a mild flu. It’s because of the rules in place that I even wear one, such as heading indoors in public spaces, or visiting a place of commerce. I would be perfectly fine with going maskless and live life as I did before the pandemic. Isn’t that the point of vaccination?

I think we’ll all get there soon enough. San Francisco is doing great: half of all eligible people are fully vaccinated. We are back, baby!

Ouch my fingers

The main obstacle to learning the piano, at my ripe age of 33, is my wretched fingers. Decades of cracking my knuckles and lifting weights (and typing on computer keyboards all day too, probably) have turned these fingers into quite misshapen sticks. I’m fairly sure I have early signs of arthritis, too: certain grips or holds becomes painful rather quickly. Grasping the handle of a frying pan with my right hand, for example.

This is to say it’s not a great foundation to begin with when playing the piano requires tremendous dexterity and precise touch. I’m okay with not being able to hit certain patterns or movements with the proper fingering technique. What I am not okay with is arthritic pain from simply playing the keys. Perhaps I really should stop cracking my knuckles, cold turkey style. It’s truly my equivalent of a smoker trying to quit.

Thankfully, the pain right now is limited to my left hand. When the index finger gets too involved (read: have many notes to play), the arthritic searing is rather immediate. Stretching exercises seem to help, but it feels to me the hitting power of my left index finger just doesn’t have the same punch as the right. The blind hope is that the more and more I practice and play, the better the situation will become. Sort of like muscle soreness and weight lifting.

In some ways, I lament not starting this craft much sooner. Preferably when I was still a kid, when the fingers were yet virgin from the side effects of knuckle-cracking. Then again, you practically need to go to school back then to learn. There were no online apps and tablet computers you can plug into a piano to autodidact my way through. In-person lessons just wasn’t something my family could afford. Never mind the fact that I didn’t have the same conviction and drive as I do now as a full-fledge adult.

Onwards.

Keep wearing masks

It’s been about a week since the CDC said you no longer have to wear a mask outdoors if you are fully vaccinated. I did that to full effect this past weekend visiting Fresno. The only time I wore a mask on that trip was when I had to enter indoors into establishments. A few times I even I forgot I had to, so freeing it is to be finally without masks when walking around.

Back home in San Francisco, I find myself still wearing a mask when I am outdoors. It’s purely for convenience: since I need to wear a mask when I go to campus, it’s less hassle to just have it on already. The less chance my hands touch my face, the better. The same goes when I go grocery shopping, or visiting the local shops. When I know I’ll be indoors soon enough, I keep my mask on at all times - even when I am outside.

Obviously, if I’m just going out on a hike, that’s different.

I’ve been seeing on twitter people wondering why folks are still wearing masks outdoors, especially those who are vaccinated. Don’t these people trust the science of very low risk of outside transmission in the open air? Why the performative mask wearing still, even after the vaccine?

And I thought we are a country of live and let live! Who gives a crap if someone is still wearing a masks outdoors even after the CDC dropped the mandate? Is it bothering you? So long as they are not in turn hassling people for not wearing a mask, then who the heck cares? I’m sure that like me, these people have their own reasons. Perhaps they live with people who are vulnerable, or perhaps they themselves have respiratory issues that are totally unrelated to COVID-19.

Something tells me people are going to make fun of Asians for our habitual mask wearing that long predates the coronavirus. I hope I am wrong on this, of course. I still plan to wear masks - though not nearly as often - long after this pandemic is over: it’s something I’ve done for awhile (especially when I travel). Masks are quite handy in area of huge crowds, or at work when a coworker is sick during flu season.

One more benefit to mask wearing: no more chapped lips!

Size up on Allbirds

I finally bought a pair of Allbirds Wool Runners that everyone else have been raving about for years. They are not inexpensive at about $115, but my pair of Nike Roche 2 have finally worn down, so the time was right to finally try the Allbirds. If they last as long as the Roche did (about five years of wear), then the over hundred dollar entry fee isn’t so onerous.

As standard, I purchased a pair in size 9. Shipping is of course free, and I received the shoes in about three days. On first impression, the Wool Runners wear a bit tight: my big toe is jammed right on the cap, and my heel is right up again the back. I figured the Allbirds may need some breaking in, and what better way to do so than a 10 hour trip to and from Fresno, California. In 90 degree heat.

Turns out the answer is no: the Allbirds do not break-in with wear. The pair remain as tight as it were out of the box yesterday when I wore it to work. I definitely need to exchange them for a larger size. Thankfully, Allbirds provide a 30-day return policy, no questions asked. Even if you’ve taken your pair of Allbirds on a hike to the ends of the earth, the company will still give you a full refund. No wonder the price for a pair is so relatively high: we’re all paying for the generous return policy!

Well, I very much like to keep a pair of Allbirds that fit, so back goes the size 9 and incoming is a size 10. I would have chosen a size 9.5, but like Converse with its Chuck Taylor shoes, Allbirds doesn’t do half sizes. I sure hope the size 10 Wool Runners won’t be too large, the opposite problem from the size 9.

Obviously, all of this may be idiosyncratic to my situation. I anecdotally know people with Allbirds that fit them fine in their usual shoe size. Nevertheless, the shoes are made of thick wool, so perhaps sizing up to begin with wouldn’t be a bad strategy. Either way, exchanges are free - they pay shipping - for 30 days.

I’ll let you know how the size 10 fits once it arrives.

To Fresno

This past weekend, I finally left the San Francisco Bay Area for the first time since the pandemic started. One of my good friends is a Chinatown enthusiasts, and he’s on a quest to visit all the major Chinatowns in this country and beyond. Now that I’m fully vaccinated - and so is my friend - I’ve decided to join him on one of these adventures. This time, it happened to be the central California city of Fresno.

The result: I’m pretty sure I got enough vitamin D to last the rest of May. It was a dry and sunny 90 degrees in the Central Valley, a complete weather opposite to the foggy mid 50s that I am used to in San Francisco. After more than a year in pseudo hibernation, perhaps it was a bit overboard to go from zero to that much sun exposure at once. I was certainly feeling the effects by the time we finished lunch (surprisingly good Chinese food in nearby town of Hanford): a mild headache and decently dehydrated.

Turns out, it was an exceptionally dry weekend in the San Joaquin valley, with a few wildfires igniting in the Merced area. We damn picked a good time to go and torture ourselves! It didn’t help that I was breaking in a new pair of Allbirds wool shoes, in what turns out of be a one size too small. My feet sure was feeling it being stuff in those things for 10 hours in the heat. I’m in the process of returning them for a pair one size larger.

Overall it’s nice to finally get out of the house for an extended period. I really miss going on road trips, and the three hour trek to Fresno is a good appetizer for things to come. My BMW M2 has yet to go on a long trip of any sorts, so that is something at the top of the list as California nears its fully reopen date. I’m sure my friend has other Chinatowns to explore in Southern California, and up the coast into Oregon and Washington.

I’m still recovering from being sun-drunk two days later, but this is good for my body. I’ve gotten too used to nature’s air conditioning, living in the west side of San Francisco. A little bit of heat now and then is beneficial.

Stock up!

One of the things I greatly miss about Japan is the sheer availability of drinks vending machines everywhere. You literally cannot go a few blocks without spotting one of them at a corner, ready to dispense refreshments. These vending machines are a godsend during Japan’s notoriously hot and humid summers. It’s also quite nice, too, to be able to have ice cold coffee practically anywhere, anytime, at a moment’s notice.

Obviously, such a concept of street-side vending machines everywhere would never work here in America. Our culture of rugged individualism would never allow such an enterprise to flourish. The machines would get vandalized and items stolen so quickly that they will never make any money from it. It’s a shame that we can’t have such convenience, though I guess there’s always the neighborhood Walgreens or CVS. Assuming the one local to you haven’t shutdown due to… vandalism and theft.

To sort of replicate having an arsenal of drinks at my disposable, I make weekly runs to Costco to stock up a on variety. Green tea is a given, plus cans of both Diet Coke and cold-brew coffee, and an aloe-vera drink. Whenever I’m hankering for something other than plain water - which is almost always - the cache of drinks is right there. Probably costs less than getting it from an actual vending machine, too.

Of course, it would be cheaper still - free, even - if I simply drink water from the tap. But that’s a terrible way to live: I make money so that I can enjoy tasty refreshments here and there. Until I actually move to an Asian country somewhere down the future, stocking up drinks at home is the way to go.

Go see your parents

As more and more people are vaccinated, it’s very heart-warming to see them visit their parents for the first time in over a year. The excitement, relief, and absolute joy is a lovely sight on my twitter feed.

Lucky for me, it’s a feeling I cannot relate to: I see my parents all the time. I was living with them when this pandemic began, and even after moving out of the house some six months ago, I still go home every weekend. I suppose the people who had to take an involuntary year off from seeing their loved ones will never take it for granted again.

I certainly don’t, which is why I still go see my parents every Sunday morning on a schedule. I’ve only moved to the other side of San Francisco, rather than somewhere far. No guarantees that won’t happen in the future, so I take the opportunity to visit my parents often while I still can. Though probably more than someone who have “moved out of the house” typical do.

Nevertheless, it’s already been half a year since I’ve moved out on my own. Routines and things have settled in quite nicely, and I often amazed at this little nest I’ve created. It’s truly wonderful to have absolute solitude whenever I want. In hindsight, I probably should have moved out a few years sooner, but then a Porsche 911 GT3 got in the way of my entire budget. Obviously, the pandemic created great impetus to make the move back in November, and I could not be happier having done so.

Primarily, it’s the massive decrease in stress that makes it worth all the money in rent. Living within walking distance from work, removing myself from a somewhat messy situation back home, and the sense of accomplishment in taking care of myself completely, are contributing factors in lowering my stress and anxiety. Having less disposable income takes some adjusting, but as of right now, I’m at a fine place to live how I want.

The only emotion I want to express, is gratitude.