Kristina is headed for China for three months of intensive Chinese language learning. By the time she comes back, she’ll know more Chinese than Chung! Her friends hosted a farewell party last night at the Bambuddha Lounge in San Francisco. Rae and I arrived around 10:30 after spending the first part of the evening at Jeff and Vanita’s housewarming party in Albany. The moment we walked into Bambuddha, we saw the IQ level drop and the testosterone level rise. There was music but no dancing (no space to dance), but there was some certainly lots of guys hanging by the walls, hands on their… (yep). Seriously, I never could figure out how people picked people up at bars.
We must have arrived a little earlier than everyone else, for we spent the first 15 minutes walking around looking for Chung or Kristina. When I moved to the lounge area, a familiar face caught my eye. “Wait a second,” I thought to myself, “that’s Clara!” I knew that Clara and Michael had moved back to the Bay Area from Boston earlier last year, but I didn’t expect to see her at the lounge!
Once we found everyone, we moved from the bar (where it was really loud), to the fireplace (where it was really hot), to the tables (where it was just right). I enjoyed catching up with Elena and Laura Ing, whom I haven’t seen in over a year. Unlike the Kembel twins, I have always found it difficult to distinguish Laura and Elena. Remember, Elena = longer hair. Laura = shorter hair. Got it, this time!
There were more faces from Stanford and Homestead whom I hadn’t seen in some time. Cindy Wang celebrated her birthday with a party last week. Saw Dale from Homestead. I even saw Van and John Chen from Stanford! Rae and I both thought that Ken looked a whole lot like a Randy clone. Rae connected with Elena and Laura’s friend Jim from Hawaii. Coincidentally, they both know this filmmaker guy from Berkeley (who’s showing his film in Chicago right now). Jim described the film as “challenging,” the same words that were used for Invisible Light. Boy, am I glad I didn’t see that movie last week with Rae, Kai, Susan, and Bryan!