Oak Glen hike 2020

Date: 25/10/2020

I went on a hike to Oak Glen Preserve today. I took the metro in the morning to meetup with Yelizaveta at Wilshire/Vermont metro station. Unfortunately, the metro schedule post-COVID was different from the usual Sunday schedule and I missed the train I was supposed to take. I reached Wilshire/Vermont a little late by around 10 minutes at 9:15 AM. While waiting for the pickup, I saw a gold-plated McLaren, which is pretty rare in the US. It will catch your eye, but was a little under-whelming from what you'd expect (and what you see on TV).

 

We drove to her friend Sarah's place in Monterrey Park. Sarah moved to the US years ago from Korea and goes to the same church as Yeliza. We took her car on the 2 hour drive to the Oak Glen Preserve.

We walked through the Montane Botanic garden, which has many small trails over hundreds of acres of land. It was mostly cloudy and a lot chillier than I expected it to be. There were low-flying clouds giving the place a foggy feel. I wasn't dressed appropriately for the weather. It was  a pleasant hike with very little people. Sarah ran into an old friend on the hike as well who was there with his family. We clicked a bunch of photos and explored a few trails. I should explore more of the California wilderness in the future, I really enjoyed being there.

We discovered many different types of trees. My favorite was the Crab Apple tree which has a tiny apple shaped fruit that was delicious. I need to try and find this at the local supermarkets. We wanted to pick a few, but we asked a forest ranger first. She said that we shouldn't pick more than a handful because they're meant for the animals that live in the forest.

There are plenty of apple orchards in the area, which offer apple picking. We didn't have the time to try that. Also, there's a good chance all the good ones are already plucked if you go later during the day or the season.

We drove down to Oak Tree Mountain and had lunch at The Twisted Oak. The lines were insanely long and the food was overpriced, according to Sarah. But at least most of the people were wearing masks. I ordered a BBQ beef sandwhich with baked beans and potato salad. The meat was juicy and delicious. The place is supposed to have an old-town country-fair feel, but it felt a lot more commercial and up-scale.

There have been fires in this area recently because of an electrical malfunction. An apple saleswoman said they were trying to raise a $100,000 to restore the ranch. We observed burnt trees and patches of land along the way.

Before leaving back to Monterrey Park, we took a stop at the local gift store. They had plenty of locally-sourced handicrafts. 

I clicked pictures of West Covina (from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) on the drive back. I also captured a remarkable sunset. We were back at Monterrey Park around 6:15 PM. Yeliza dropped me at the 7th Street Center metro station and I was back home around 7:40 PM.

Meeeting Mark Manson

I'm getting back to this blog after over 6 years. Phew! I had given up on this because it was too much work. Documenting all the small details of your trips are a tedious affair. It's not very convenient. And every day you delay writing the post, the higher the probability it will never get written.

So why am I back? One reason. My memory sucks. I think I have a lot unique and eventful days. And the memories of many of those are fading into oblivion. I find it hard to keep facts and tiny details in my head for long. It's holding me back. I need a way to retain these memories and their details. An anchor to come back to whenever I need it. To reminisce. To remember. A way back. This is my way back.

This blog must now transcend from being more than just a travel blog. Here is where I'm going to document a lot of my life moving forward. My "Experience" - as the title rightly suggests. And what better way to inaugurate this tradition and refuel this commitment than talking about today. The day I met Mark Manson.

Mark Manson is by far my favorite author. The ideas from his book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck made me rethink a lot about myself and the ideas I had about my world. To say that it's changed the way I look at the world is an understatement. I've been religiously following his work since then. So attending the release tour of his new book, Everything is Fucked, in LA was a no-brainer.

 This was originally meant to be a paid event. That got cancelled in a few weeks after I got the tickets and was replaced by a book signing event at Barnes And Noble, at The Grove in LA. Now this was a "wrist-banded" event, which apparently means, you have to go to Barnes and Noble on the day of the event to buy a copy of the book. On a first-come, first-served basis, you are given wristbands which is your entry into the event. No pre-order or ordering online or the day before. And even with your wristband, there's no guarantee they'll let you in.

Now I had to get in. Obviously. So I found myself going to the store, shortly after it opened at 10 AM. I got the book and the wristband. The lady at the counter offered VIP seating if I became a paid B&N member. Was not a very enticing offer. I politely declined and left the store.

Now I'd have to wait till 7 PM in the evening. And this was a Monday. A working Monday. Earlier I told my team I'd be working remotely. I planned on working from the closest Starbucks until the event. But shortly after leaving B&N, I decided to go to the office. I had some critical items at work which I didn't want to do while distracted in a coffee shop. So I Ubered to the office.

I left the office at 5 PM and came back to The Grove by around 6. I waited on the third floor of the bookstore, where the event was to happen, for about an hour until Mark showed up. There was seating for about 100 people, which filled up by the end of the hour. Another 30 odd people were standing. Mark arrived at 7 PM sharp. Unlike famous musicians, it looks like book authors are more respectful of people's time.

Mark seemed like a pretty chill guy. He was casually dressed and easy-going. He had this air of confidence about him which was great. He talked about his book, his experience being a bestselling author and how he ended up writing the book.

As is customary at bookstore events, he read a section from his book. He asked the crowd if they wanted a section about life advise or a "more dark, fucked up" section. Considering his target audience, it wasn't really a surprise that most people voted for the dark section. He said the response was the same the previous night at his event in San Francisco. And he went on to read a section about how pain is inevitably a part of our existence. Classic Mark.

Then he opened up for a short Q&A, followed by book signing. The talk and Q&A were done withing half an hour, which was a bit disappointing.

I managed to squeeze in a question, asking him if he thought self-awareness was a curse, since it makes life more complicated. He and half the audience laughed when they heard the question. At that moment, I realized I'd just made my favorite author laugh. I gave myself a mental pat-on-the-back. He responded saying that he didn't think it was a curse. He believes it's sad if you're doing fucked up things without realizing they're fucked up. He said that he thought it was a "good problem" to have. Marks spends a lot of time talking about good and bad problems in the Subtle Art. I was satisfied with that answer.

After a short wait in line, I got my 15 seconds with Mark. I asked him if he ever got tired of signing books. He paused briefly and then responded that never at events. Though his publisher sends him tons of books to sign at home, which he said wasn't fun. As I grabbed my copy, I asked him to "stay vulgar". He responded saying "Thanks man, I appreciate it".

I walked around the Grove after the event, before settling down to have dinner at a bar lounge called Mixology 101. Dinner was Hummus and Naan. The taste was okay. They had fresh mushrooms in the hummus which was nice. The portion size was small for 16$. While having dinner, I spotted Mark leaving in a taxi, back to his hotel I presume. The Grove seems really nice. Lots of malls, stores and places to eat. There's even a movie theater. I'll probably go there a couple of times. Reasonably satisfied with my day, I headed back home.

Visit to Sandhan Valley: Day 3

Date: Sunday, 3/24/2013

Location: Sangamner, Maharashtra

Sunday morning started out lazily. Still exhausted from yesterdays trek, most of us took our time to stretch our legs and took our time to get ready to leave. We visited Vishal's restaurant, which is a family owned restaurant in the heart of the city. The puri-bhaji is a specialty at this place, and that's exactly what I had.

After a brief visit to Vishal's house, we went on to Gangamai ghat. A quiet serene place. There were maids and village women washing clothes at the banks. I tried getting a good click. But I decided it was better to not get too close to them as I didn't want to bring too much attention on myself and make them uncomfortable. There was a pundit who sat at the bank of the river offering prayers. We spent some time at the bank of the river.

 

Vijay had relatives over back in Pune so he was in a hurry to leave. I left for Pune with him. The rest of the crew stayed on for a couple of hours more after we had left. We left around 11 a.m. and arrived back in Pune around 1:30 p.m. This concluded the trek.