howdy. i'm back in LA now, after my week up in Berkeley, or as they (i) like to call it..."the Berk."what a beautiful place. i didn't realize how beautiful it was until i got back to LA...and realized how UGLY it is. (but the ugliness is wearing off and i'm loving LA again.)
it was nice to see some leaves turning color... hear the pitter-patter of rain outside as i was falling asleep...smell all the crazy homeless men...a cornucopia for the senses!
i often like to think how my life would've been different had i gone to a REAL school -- like Berkeley...or Penn State -- rather than NYU. and by "real" i mean a school with...a.) a campus
b.) pretty buildings (such as the Berkeley Library pictured here)
c.) real sports teams (other than fencing)
d.) an ounce of school spirit
but Matt, NYU was in the heart of the Big Apple. so in essence, the whole city was your campus!...
Spitooey! don't get me wrong, NYU, i loved ya. but i can't help but feel like i was robbed. robbed of the traditional college experience. the one our forefathers fought so valiantly to establish.
just think of how much fun i coulda had...frat parties...homecoming football games... hackey-sack on the quad...kidnapping a horse and shooting it in the dean's office...
i ask you, what's better?a lush, rolling campus...or a 3-acre park filled with dope smoke and dog poop.
an ivory tower... or Tower Records.
oh, if i could only turn back those hands of time...
OR...perhaps there's an easier answer...
GRAD SCHOOL.
(hahaha -- NOT!)
on to more pictures...
i arrived at Berkeley excited to take part in a good old fashioned protest. gee, what could we be protesting today?...the War...
the Children's Healthcare veto...
human trafficking...
capitalism in general...
NOTHING. everyone's happy up there these days. so i held my own protest to protest the lack of protest.
(pay no attention to the happy asians behind me)
that's me with my pal Duke Randave Amante Mendinuetobaddabingodingelberryschmidt.
he was a bit of a nerd and had to "study" most of the time and "can't go out drinking with you every night" because he had a "scholarship to keep" besides "you're way too old to try to get into parties up here" since i'll "never pass for nineteen anymore" and "frankly, the fact that you really want to so badly is creeping me out."
a great guy. an okay friend. lousy wingman.
but the good news is, i didn't bomb my endocrinology midterm as NEARLY as bad as i thought.
those after-school study sessions with my private tutor are really panning out.
one day i took the delightfully grungy BART train under the water to visit San Francisco.
S.F.
St. Franny.
and no i didn't leave my heart there.
(nor my wallet)
i went to visit Jenny, my old friend and co-teacher from back in Japan, who is now 7 months pregnant.
and one day, with Maury Povich's help, she hopes to find out who the father is.
j/k
here she is posing on her doorstep...
...and in her living room.
gotta love that old school SF architecture.
...before it goes up in FLAMES in the next earthquake!
mwa hahahahahahaha!
meet Skittles, jenny's very soft and talkative kitty.
when Skittles dies, i hope to use her pelt to fashion a pair of slippers. she was that soft.
(2 days later, the Animal Rescue people showed up and took Skittles away -- damn you, Ellen DeGeneres!)
that evening we had a nice Italian dinner followed by some grade-A gelato.
and believe it or not, after about 18 tries of me holding-out-the-camera-to-take-a-picture -of-both-of-us
...THIS was the best one.
people kept saying, "you gotta eat at Zachary's ...you gotta eat at Cheeseboard...you gotta eat at Top Dog."so to appease them, i did. but just at Zachary's.
and i gotta admit, that was the BEST mutha-fuckin p*zza i've had in a long long long time. (a long long long time equaling 28 years.)
my mouth is watering just looking at this pic... from the pizza, not from Duke. the pizza. the pizza.
what a coincidence! my old buddy Scott (pronounced "Scaught") Lee goes to grad school up in Berkeley too!
i know Scott from my days as a goody-two-shoes camp counselor at LCLC, a church camp outside of Buffalo.
Matt White: 1st row, 3rd from the right
Scott Lee: 2nd row, 3rd from the right
and of course, when two or more LCLC camp counselors gather together...
beer will be there.
Berkeley, for being such a hippy haven, actually has a great football team this year. and what were the odds -- they had a home game while i was there!
unfortunately, on account of me not having $1,000, me not being a student, and me not being able to find a student who looked close enough like me that i could club on the head and steal his I.D...i couldn't get a ticket.
so i made like Zachias and climbed a tree.
...only to watch them LOSE. they went from 2nd place to 10th in one day.
sucks to be you, Cal. sucks to be you.
except for your Marching Band! they totally rocked! if i went to Berkeley, i'd definitely wanna be in the marching band. for sure.
and as the sun set on me, my time up North had drawn to a close. will it be another 3 long years til i visit you again, NoCal?
let's pray not.
(this is actually a picture of the sun setting on the Golden Gate bridge while shrouded in fog. it is. just take my word for it)
til next time...
