I made it!

10:30am today: Wonder why Shaowei hasn't called me. I later figure out he forgot I asked him to.

10:50am: I leave for Stanford to check my mail hoping the Budak CD has arrived. It hasn't. I also decide not to get Philz. It's a long drive and I should space out my caffeine intake.

12noon: Arrive at Gilroy. Super packed. Camped out for parking at 2 different spots (Holland-Village-style!) before getting a spot. Have fun shopping with Shaowei Cynthia Clar Qianwen and Bert. Joel, Tam and Joel's family were around there too. I buy a nice maroon long-sleeved shirt and 2 (yeah, 2) pairs of shoes. I feel slightly strange that I bought 2 pairs of shoes at one go. At some point it suddenly occurs to me that there are a ridiculous number of Asian people there (including entire families speaking Mandarin), and almost no white people.

2:50pm: Meet at Applebees for "lunch". Fantastic meal. Steak, shrimp with parmesan (yeah I ate shrimp) and HUGE sides. Oh and quite a bit of pretty good Mango Long Island Iced Tea.

4:30pm: I leave Gilroy for San Diego while the others begin Round 2 of shopping. Was amused at how indignant Clar was about the preposterousness of napping after lunch when there's so much more shopping to do. I also discover that approximately a gazillion other cars decide to leave at the same time as me. It takes me about 10-15 mins just to get out of the parking lot. Thankfully they almost all get into the freeway in the opposite direction I'm going.

About 10 mins later: The sun sets. Was quite nice driving through the curvy roads leading to the I-5 in the dusky lighting. Would have been nice to have some light for more than 30 mins of the drive though.

Some time after that: I realize long solo drives are just like long plane flights when I can't sleep. I spent most of my time listening to my iPod, watching the scenery / clouds go by, sometimes sitting in silence or talking to God. Except this has the added dimension of me also being the pilot.

Somewhere around 8pm or so: Stop for gas. Gas is expensive! Then I realize an extra 20 cents a gallon only translates into an extra $3 for 15 gallons. Not a big deal. Also, I discover the gas station shop is selling Christian T-Shirts. Very random. I saw one that was quite nice. Bought it. :) Oh, and I calculate my average gas mileage. Roughly. It's around 24mpg. Given that almost the whole tank was spent on the freeway, that is abysmal. I am shocked and consequently (and somewhat neurotically) try to shift into neutral whenever I encounter long steep downhills in order to save gas.

Not long after that: No. of cars on the road has increased, and it remains that way until Alan's place. The road is also wider. This is good because driving with many cars around feels much more interesting than driving on a sparsely populated 2-lane freeway.

10:45pm: I suddenly realize the exit is coming up way sooner than expected. I check my mirrors and merge to the right, and as I do that some guy (in an Acura TSX a.k.a. Euro Honda Accord) tries to overtake me from the right going much faster than me. I am momentarily surprised and confused. He ends up having to go on the shoulder for a bit after passing me. I assume it's a guy - few girls drive like that. I am strangely unrattled. Thank God for protection!

10:55pm: I reach Alan's house in San Diego! My drive is officially successful, and surprisingly, caffeine-free. His house looks very nice from what I can see. Pretty good time - I expected it to take about 7 hours but made it here in 6 hrs and 15 mins, including one gas stop (yup I only stopped once). Well. Technically it was 6 hrs and 25 mins, but I feel justified in discounting the 10 mins it took to get out of parking. Amazingly, there was no LA traffic problems, save about 5-10 minutes in slow-moving traffic because a lot of cars were getting out at this one particular road.

Ok. Time to shower and sleep. My eyes are really tired... worst part about driving at night is the constant glare from the oncoming headlights. But thank God Forrest and I made it here in one piece! =)

Christmas!

I was in Christmas service yesterday (Christmas Eve), and it dawned on me: God's most precious gift to us isn't that He gave Himself for us. It's that He gave Himself TO us.

geez. Talk about big revelation.

I feel like I'm waking up, like I've been semi-conscious all of Fall Quarter and the hunger is just starting to resurface. It's always been there, but kind of like hidden under the ice, and the ice is melting. Or something of the sort.

Today I was home (well, at Alan Jerry & John's house in Palo Alto, but it's home for these few weeks) for almost the whole day with John and his sis Jen. It was good. Spent time thinking about Jesus, praying and yearning. Went out for groceries, did some errands, then went to Qianwen & Clar's (and Shaowei's? hm. maybe I shouldn't stretch it) to cook. John and Jen came too and joined us for dinner. Afterwards I sent John and Jen to the airport, came back and nuahed with everyone in front of the TV. Cynthia came over too.

It was nice. It was for something like this that I decided I would be around this area for Christmas (and New Year's too). Can't imagine any other group of friends I'd rather spend Christmas evening with. :)

Going down to San Diego tomorrow! It's about an 8 hour drive. Going to stay with Alan until New Year's Eve when I'll drive back up and join the rest here for New Year's.

My plan for tomorrow:

10:30am (or so): Leave the house I'm staying at in Palo Alto. Get Philz coffee perhaps? And maybe go to campus to see if the Budak Pantai CD Angie sent me has arrived. :)
11:30am: Arrive in Gilroy. Shop. I need shoes. But also, hang out with Shaowei, Cynthia, Clar and Qianwen who will also be there.
Before 2pm or so: Have and finish lunch, then drive drive drive. =)
Arrive at Alan's around 9pm. Maybe later if there's traffic (which there is a good chance of methinks).

Most people don't like driving alone. I'm looking forward to it. Time alone driving is usually fun for me. It's also good God time.

Time for bed. :)

Isn't it ironic...

(courtesy of xkcd.com)