Saturday, August 31, 2013

* The Mountain Wins

There is a strange delight in driving late at night with the other two occupants of the car sound asleep, towards a destination where your and your friend's limits will be tested by mother nature...

Robyn, Jen, and I had been planning and preparing for this trip for months to hike/camp/climb the Middle Palisade. Our guide had been changed for the third time three days before the trip making us lose a little bit of the enthusiasm that made us say "maybe that is a sign... maybe we are not supposed to do this now...".

On August 16th, 2013, we met at Jen's place after work, left around 6:00PM to first get tested by the Friday evening commute traffic to get out of Los Angeles. Thankfully we had Jen at the steering wheel with her inimitable slalom-like driving skills to get us out! :)

I took over the driving task, hour and half away from Bishop - where we would be staying overnight - and made it safely to our motel around 11:30PM. Saturday morning, we reported to SMI headquarters 7:00AM sharp to meet our guide Tristan for equipment check and rentals for the climb. We unpacked and re-packed everything we needed plus the tents & food into our backpacks with Tristan conducting the whole schmang with the precision of an expert mountaineer. I liked Tristan right there because he tolerated my "I don't need that! I don't want this!" comments with a bright smile! :)



After devouring awesome breakfasts and caffeine next door at the Black Sheep Coffee Roasters, we set on the road following our guide's well-used truck to the trail head at 7800ft in Inyo National Park. The first part of the hike was pretty mellow and the ascent was rapid via switchbacks. We filled our water bottles from the streams, and I was pleasantly struck by the tastefulness of the melted snow. 


During one of our brief stops to snack and rest a little, I got stung (or bit) by an enormous bug on the top of my head and jumped to only fall back on my touche. It burned just like a bee sting but did not cause any swelling and the pain faded away within minutes. What I did not realize was when I jumped up, I twisted my right knee injuring the medial collateral ligament though not too badly. As we continued to climb up the steeper side from Brainerd Lake to our campsite, I started to feel the pain more and more on the inside of my knee.



We arrived at our campsite by the beautiful Finger Lake at 10000ft. in the late afternoon and setup our tents. While we explored our surroundings, Tristan started making an outstanding dinner for us. The Finger Lake is so beautiful with its light blue snow color reflecting the sky.


While waiting for dinner, rain started trickling so we got into our tents to rest and wait it out. But instead of passing, it first turned into pouring rain, then to 'lentil' sized hail, and finally 'chick pea' sized hail, trapping us in our tents for a good while before we could come out to have dinner. (Here I have to give credit to Jen for the food reference hail-sizing!). After dinner, Tristan briefed us on planning and strategizing for the next day's climb, we retreated to our tents, and fell into a restless and shallow sleep.

Sunday was our big day. We got up at 3:30AM, devoured the breakfast Tristan has prepared for us with some gourmet Starbuck's coffee while he filled up our bottles from the lake, and took a last bathroom break before we left our tents, and sleeping bags behind. All the while we had our eyes up at the magically twinkling milkyway above us slashed with the occasional meteors. We decided to come back next year during the Perseid Meteor shower.

We walked around the big rock and crossed the rushing stream, and that is when I had to make one of the hardest decisions of my life. My right knee was already hurting 5 minutes into the hike, and I knew it would only get worse if I continued to walk. Although I wanted and prepared for this climb for months, failing to listen to my body's signals would have me fail my friends and cheat them out of their climb within the coming hours. I stopped and asked Tristan to take me back to camp before we moved any further. He helped me cross back the stream, and gave me a big bear hug after he made sure that I was ok. It was still dark, so I crawled back into the tent and my sleeping bag and slept a good while before I woke to daylight.

My friends were gone for 13 hours and all that time turned into an unplanned retreat for me away from any humans, phones, and wifi (gasp!) resulting in serene contemplation and self-reflection in the midst of pure nature against a backdrop of most beautiful mountaintop views.


I sat there against a rock for as long as I never thought possible, focusing on the peak that has become unachievable for me for this trip. Everything that surrounded me was amplified - flowers were brighter, wind's whisper was louder, sky was deeper, and emotions were at peak. It was an uncalled-for cleansing of my senses from the constant chatter of artificial sources of information polluting my cognitive space.

Later in the afternoon, as the darker clouds moved in and the wind got stronger, I took shelter in my tent from the rain that was quickly followed by hail and semi-clear skies. I got into a thicker jacket as the sun moved behind the peaks and took position on the rock to watch for the return of my mates. As the hours passed, I started thinking of a plan in case they did not return. Thankfully, around 5:00PM, I caught a glimpse of three figures slowly moving along the lake shore in the distance. My brave and strong friends have made it back after an exceedingly long and hard day of hiking and climbing but there was no victory in their stance. They both got so very close to the peak but one was defeated by the elevation sickness at 12400ft (her personal best), and the other started the final climb all harnessed up but had to turn around at 13000ft (only 1000ft away from peak) to save enough energy to make it through the long hike back to camp.

One of the best things about my friends is, they never lose their high-spirits no matter what happens. Although, we had to lock ourselves into our tents that evening due to the pouring rain - during which we were served delicious chicken tacos in our tents by the best guide ever - and went to bed at 7:30PM, and we woke up to a tent floating in a giant puddle, the next morning was filled with joy with a surprise birthday celebration for Jen before we started back down the mountain.

Coming down was much easier - as it always is - and cleanup and change of clothes were conducted at a gas station restroom. We ate amazingly good gas station food, and said farewell to Tristan who was due to pick up another group that very afternoon.

This time the mountain won, BUT we did not fail. We all have the stamina, practice, and desire to make it to the top, and we will go back. We only need better planning and guidance next time, and turn it into a 5-day hike instead of 3 to traverse the great distances and heights in smaller chunks.

We shall see you again Middle Palisade, and will victoriously lift our arms to the skies cheering for us Three Musketeers!

One for all and all for one!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Tom & Viv

My discovery today is Tom & Viv - a beautiful movie from 1994 about the story of T.S. Eliot and his very short-lived marriage to Vivienne Haigh-Wood. The director managed to tell this sad story in such a beautiful and poetic way as the British countryside scenery of WWI years.





Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Kishi Bashi


I could've sworn that Kishi Bashi was a Turkish band with its name spelled to accommodate the English language but I was pleasantly surprised with what I found when I searched for it on the great sea of internets. Self-recorded and self-produced by the multi-talented artist K Ishibashi, the album Kishi Bashi has the happy, and spacious sound of open sunny skies. See if you can spot all of the 50+ idioms appearing in the video of the song Bright Whites from this album. Enjoy!


Hint: One of the idioms is "Eye Candy"


Monday, August 12, 2013

Hyperloop

Elon Musk finally unveiled his Hyperloop design - a statewide super-fast transportation system initially for the state of California. This design has two realization options; one is passenger only and the other is passenger & vehicle. If you are really curious as to what this entails, click on the link above and start reading the 57-page alpha design document.






Sunday, August 11, 2013

Artificial Leaf

Daniel G. Nocera of MIT has created the Artificial Leaf that mimics the photosynthesis process of plants to separate Oxygen and Hydrogen when immersed in water to generate cheap and sustainable energy in a very natural way.




Saturday, August 10, 2013

My Favorite Cage

I was oblivious to the fact that he was talking about John Cage, when the 29-year old sound engineer uttered the words "My favorite Cage is...". Born in 1912, John Cage was one of the (if not the only) pioneers of modern day music as we know it. Cage was one of the most influential composers of the 20th century as well as a music theorist, a writer, and an artist.





Friday, August 9, 2013

Muse 'Til Midnight

I just received an invitation to a party at LACMA on August 24th that is inspired by the work of Hans Richter - Encounters. It is a shame I will not be able to attend but for anyone interested and is in Los Angeles that weekend, Muse 'Til Midnight is the place to be!




Thursday, August 8, 2013

Live Long And Photograph

I never knew Leonard Nimoy was a prominent and prolific photographer. I am glad to have encountered the more emotional and sensual side of Mr. Spock.





Wednesday, August 7, 2013

The Gillyflowers


The late Stewart Adamson's daughter Kirsten Adamson is following his famous dad's footsteps and has a band of her own. It is not hard to hear the heart-wrenching undertones of Big Country's sound in The Gillyflowers songs.





Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Les Ailes Pourpres

Two short videos I saw within the last year both used the same music as the backdrop to their fantasy-like visuals. Finally today, I found out that the music was "Arrival of the Birds" made by The Cinematic Orchestra - a British jazz and electronic outfit - for the documentary The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos.





Monday, August 5, 2013

Ebullience

e·bul·lience  [ih-buhl-yuhns, ih-bool-] noun
1. high spirits; exhilaration; exuberance.
2. a boiling over; overflow.

“Beauty is excrescence, superabundance, random ebullience, and sheer delightful waste to be enjoyed in its own right” -- Donald Culross Peattie






Sunday, August 4, 2013

Wat Rong Khun

My bucket list is already a mile long, but when I learned about Wat Rong Khun today, I had to add it to my list of places to visit. Wat Rong Khun is a modern Buddhist temple still being built since 1996 in Chiang Rai, Thailand. Chalermchai Kositpipat - an artist from Chiang Rai - designed and is in the process of building this White Temple, and chose the color white to symbolize purity. The temple is not expected to be completed until 60 to 90 years after the artist's death.



Saturday, August 3, 2013

Cinders Red On The Sky

TRAVEL

The railroad track is miles away,
And the day is loud with voices speaking,
Yet there isn’t a train goes by all day
But I hear its whistle shrieking.

All night there isn’t a train goes by,
Though the night is still for sleep and dreaming,
But I see its cinders red on the sky,
And hear its engine steaming.

My heart is warm with friends I make,
And better friends I’ll not be knowing;
Yet there isn’t a train I wouldn’t take,
No matter where it’s going.

Upon returning from my weeklong travel to Puerto Rico, I happily found the eloquent poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay.





Friday, August 2, 2013

Vejigante

The Vejigante (bay-he-GAHN-tay) is a colorful character first introduced to carnival celebrations hundreds of years ago. He is an example of the blending of African, Spanish, and Caribbean influences in Puerto Rican culture. During the carnival celebrations in LoĆ­za Aldea and Ponce, the Vejigantes roam the streets in groups and chase children with their vejigas.




Thursday, August 1, 2013

* Lola's Home


 After a great working week in our Puerto Rico facility, the hosting native team members treated us visiting ones to an amazing dinner at Casa Lola Criollo Kitchen. We started by sharing a vast selection of appetizers and drinks with Lola's "magic ingredients". Our taste buds were pleasantly polished by the time our entrees arrived. I had the stuffed Cornish Hen with a side of mushrooms, and sampled fish from a coworker's plate. 


As they were gathering our cleaned out plates, our server started reciting the dessert menu in Spanish and hearing the word "chocolate" automatically made me say "yes" to whatever that was. Just to feel less guilty, I shared the very dense Chocolate Mousse with another coworker.


If you are ever in Puerto Rico and have only one chance to eat out, Casa Lola is "the" place!
¡Salud!