A dime and a nickel

It's been just over 15 years since high school; last week I reconnected with a friend whom I haven't seen in maybe a dozen years, RT. Every once in awhile D and I would talk about the old 'hood and wonder about our classmates-actually, we seem to do this everytime we get together (I guess that's one of the signs of getting old). But I digress-RT's mom called my folks a few weeks ago out of the blue, trying to get ahold of me to 1) let us know that RT and JT were getting married in Hawaii and 2) invite me to a reception/open house at RT and JT's pad up north. I was excited to go-RT and I lost touch during college, I went to the UW while he went to Stanford. Yet, there was the usual trepidation-will we be able to reconnect, have we gone in completely different directions in the intervening years, is he the same guy I knew (am I the same guy he knew)?

Long story short: qualified "yes" to each of those questions...sure, our lives are much different now than they were when we were 18, our circles are much wider (along with the waistlines), but as we caught up with each other's lives, it started to feel familiar, the old jokes were still funny, the memories good...we're the same, but different. It'll be nice to get reacquainted.

As I was leaving the party, RT called my car a "yuppie car." Yup, he hasn't changed, though coming from a Volvo driver, I don't think he has much leg to stand on.

RIP

Got the news today that JG, one of the founding partners of the firm I work at, passed away last night after fighting cancer for the last couple of years. We worked together on quite a few projects during my time at TBP; he was a big influence on how I approach the profession, and design in general. He let me loose with my own ideas, while providing a guiding hand to make sure the thing can actually be built-for that, I am grateful. I also appreciated his directness and honesty-if something stinks, he'll let you know. He told me straight up once that I was a "lousy" project manager. After the shock wore off, I realized it was exactly what I needed to hear.

I'm not sad-J wouldn't allow it if he were here anyway. Everyone at the office has been preparing for this day for some time, so while the mood was more somber than usual, it was business as usual, which I'm sure he would want. I'll attend the memorial and hopefully learn something new about J.

Bruce Lee, bringer of peace and unity

How cool is this? Generations of ethnic conflict in Europe possibly healed by Lee's example:

"The ethnically divided Bosnian city of Mostar has agreed to erect a new symbol of unity -- a statue of kung fu legend Bruce Lee, worshipped by Muslims, Serbs and Croats.

A group of enthusiasts came up with the idea of honoring the childhood hero of the city's ethnic groups in 2003, on the 30th anniversary of his death. They launched the project, found donors and waited a year for the city's approval.

"We plan to erect the statue in November in the center of the city," Veselin Gatalo, a member of the Urban Movement organization, told Reuters by telephone on Monday.

This will be a monument to universal justice that Mostar needs more than any other city I know.

He said Mostar, scene of fighting between Muslims and Croats in 1993-1994, needed a symbol of justice, mastery and honesty -- virtues upheld by the late Chinese-American actor."

Having only been to Croatia, I see the conflict mainly from their perspective, and have tended to sympathize with them, though I'm sure that all parties acted just as horribly during the war.

New addition to the family...sort of.

My entire life, my idea of family was quite nuclear: Mom, Dad, Brother. That's it (well, okay, at one time that included "wife" but that's another story). We Jalas are immigrants, except AJ, who had the great fortune of being born in Tacoma ...I never felt much of a connection to my aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.; we were separated by an ocean and a culture and sometimes the four of us is all I can handle. Every once in awhile I'd hear of what's going on with them: so-and-so graduated primary school second in her class; remember your cousin Baby-she's a pharmacist now; that's all I knew about them. Sadly, I've lost 3 grandparents without every really knowing who they were; what's perhaps even sadder is that while I loved them on some level (family is family after all), it was difficult to muster the emotion that usually accompanies a loss that close. The most time I've spent with any of them is the few weeks I was in the P.I. when I was 14 (though Lola Mary did live with us here for a few months back in the late '80's)...

Which brings me to the present. Mom's sister, B, along with uncle R and the two kids have been living in SoCal for the last few months after immigrating from the P.I. Now they are moving to O-town next week, and I'm a little weirded out, frankly, in the way that happens when values or concepts you've held to all your life suddenly change. I'm going to "meet" them later this week; I'm looking forward to it, in the sense that I can connect a little bit more to my history, though I don't feel like there's any hole in my life that needs to be filled.

Leaving Belltown

After getting the news that my building went condo some four months ago, I've been searching for a new place to live. They offered to sell my current unit to me, at a decent price, but it's not the right time for me to buy, both from a financial and lifestyle standpoint. Dad and I chatted over breakfast about this après golf this past weekend. I questioned the actual benefit to my net worth; yes, the house is an asset, but being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt offsets that in my mind. People seem to view houses nowadays as more of an investment rather than simply fulfilling a basic need, but my guess is that appreciation of the property has more to do with inflation than an actual return on investment. I could probably do better by playing the markets than sinking dollars into real estate, plus it's more liquid. My 401(k) seems to bear that out, at least in the short term.

It's not just about money, though. I'm liking the sense of freedom that renting offers; I don't feel the need to get rooted down to any particular place, I can try on different neighborhoods for size, see how it fits me. Which gets me back to the headline of this post. I've been in Belltown for nearly two years, and while I appreciate the conveniences of being in the middle of the "action," truth is, I didn't take much of an advantage of them while I was here. I'll miss being within stumbling distance of the hottest bars in town, the view of Elliott Bay, the view of the chick in the apartment across the street, and that's about it. I've applied to another building and should find out soon if I'm their type. It's a little more money, but somewhat quieter; there's an Irish pub downstairs and a Whole Foods under construction 3 blocks away (I don't know which is more dangerous).

If all goes as planned, I'll be moving in 2 weeks. I'll keep you all posted.

'Nuff said.