Back in Oakland

I'm home! I just spent the day sitting around the house and eating. I went to my high school for a little while but didn't stay too long. There and back within 2 hours. It feels weird to be back now. All the kids look so young.

I was debating when to come home until Lena decided to have a birthday celebration at her house. So I spent Thursday doing laundry, finishing food, last minute cleaning, taking out the trash, returning library books, etc. This taking out the trash thing is actually a lot of work. We have 2 recycling bins and 2 trash cans in the kitchen. Another trash can in the bathroom and one in my bedroom. I didn't even have the time to take out the recycling in my room. Now I know why the household section at Walmart is so big. You're always in need of that special product that will make your life easier. Specialized cleaning solutions for every item in the bathroom and kitchen. Air fresheners for different places.

For the record, I actually did do some studying the past few days at Stanford. I managed to go through several chapters of one of the books for foundations. Well, most of the book is filled with charts, figures, and formulas, but there were some interesting stuff. I wish I had time to go through all the chapters and move on to reading another book that was more theoretical. But between going to the gym, hosting dinner parties, and just hanging out with people in general, I didn't have time. I think I managed to get through so much of the book on my own because of my past internships. I encountered a lot of the concepts and formulas at my internship this summer and everything makes so much more sense now.

I've been obsessed with reading about marathons lately. I've been going to the gym and using the elliptical lately because my right knee can't handle any running. I think I will take the next two or three days off completely, mostly because I don't have access to a gym. I really want to run a marathon this upcoming year. The Big Sur Marathon looks amazing! But the entry fee is on the expensive side and there are many hills involved. But the course is really, really nice. I always thought it was far away but it's actually just a little bit south of Monterey. The race shuttles will take people from Monterey to the race start. And apparently, there's a bus that goes from San Jose to Monterey. So it's only about 1.5 hrs on public transit to get from Palo Alto to Monterey.