The Adventure List: The Beginning

I have now lived in San Francisco for almost exactly two years. Two years of painfully high rent (that comes with a stunning view of the Bay Bridge from my bed). Two years of extraordinarily steep hills, every single day (but my ass has never been in better shape). And, ever since I moved in - two flew-right-by years ago - there are some things I keep saying I want to do, but haven't ever made the move to do them.

So, the New Year gave me some inspiration, as it always seems to do. I made a list. (I like lists. A lot, actually.) I made a list of things I wanted to do, places I want to visit, and restaurants I wanted to try in 2011. (Yes, restaurants. Have you been to San Francisco? A new one opens about every five minutes.)

Then, I sent that list to a group of my friends in the area with the following instructions:
1. Read over the list
2. Tell me which ones you want to do
2a. Suggest more!
3. Once I get a final list, I'll email you and set dates

So far, I've gotten a great list together, and even started on some of the things! Haven't decided yet if I'll blog about every single one, but thought I'd start it off with the first thing I checked off my list: the 25 Years of Pixar exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California.

I didn't intend to dive into the list so quickly, but I found out that it was the last weekend, so decided to kickstart the adventure. Amy and I bought tickets for Saturday night and BARTed over to the Lake Merrit station in Oakland. When we got to the museum, it was buzzing, even though it was 6:30 pm. Lots of babies in strollers, kids toddling around, and people like me and Amy feeling 10 years old - in the best way possible. And who wouldn't, surrounded by Woody, Buzz, Nemo, and the rest of the Pixar crew?

There were strictly no cell phones or cameras allowed inside the exhibit, so I don't have anything to show off here. But I can tell you this - I was grinning like you wouldn't believe.

Something got me about the exhibit. I realize it's not "fine art," but I could relate to it on a personal level. We see the finished products on the big screen, and are sucked into the emotions of the story, because they truly are great stories. And sometimes, when we're wrapped up in the plot, we miss the incredible artistry and creativity that goes into these major films. All that was brought out into the open at the exhibit. There were early sketches of characters, colorscripts that show the color schemes of each major scene, sculptures of the characters used for 3D modeling - all kinds of tangible things that have to happen before the computer design of the movie can take place. It made me see some of my old favorite movies in a new light. I saw them as art, instead of a nostalgic guilty pleasure. (The little kids running around squealing "waaalllll-eeeeeee" made for a pretty fun atmosphere, too.)

So, I think it was an excellent start to the 2011 Adventure List. Hopefully I'll keep trying new things, and shedding light on old things. Hope some of you will come along for the ride!

Too Much Tech?

I have this friend. She's also a coworker. She also is a tech geek to the max.

Every move she makes, she checks in on Foursquare, which then updates her Facebook and her Twitter - both of which show up in my respective feeds. And we're talking about every. move. If something cool happens at the office - cool presentation, random mariachi band, whatever - there is an immediate post on her Tumblr and accompanying photos and/or video, as appropriate.

Sometimes, it's a nice mid-day distraction to see where she had lunch. But sometimes, I wonder - why do we need to share this much? It's starting to detract from our actual relationships. What's my best friend from grade school doing now? Well, her Facebook status said something about taking a break from her job (listed on LinkedIn as working in a development office) to go on a 2 week trip to the Philippines to visit her family - which I then saw pictures of. And, 6 friends got married this summer - didn't make it to the ceremonies, but saw the videos online.

What ever happened to staying in touch the normal way? Why is it now a cold, de-personalized stream of text and code? What ever happened to, you know, hearing the voices of the people you care about once in a while? We are biologically created to crave human interaction - in the flesh. But we have now mutated to get the same emotional reactions out of a text message that we used to get from holding hands. Technology claims to make it easier to bring us closer together, but really it just seems to be making it easier for us to exist apart. And our communication is missing the thoughtfulness that it had before technology made it easy to type a "143" to your significant other to say "I love you."

So I'm thinking about taking a break from some of it. Calling instead of writing an email. Sending congratulations flowers instead of a text message. Getting together for coffee instead of trading wall posts.

But... I'll probably still check in on Foursquare when I get to the coffee shop. Gotta get that badge, you know.