Walk: Sunny Day

A genius is one that think outside the scientific standard.
An insane person is one that act outside the social norm.
The distinction between the two are not mutually exclusive.

I remember sitting in my high school English class, and my teacher read out a quote from Robert Frost that goes something like this, "On a path through the forest, I take the path least taken, because that is the most interesting one." I cannot recall that teacher's name, but many quotes that he read stuck to me.

On Saturday, I went up to Pasadena again to take pictures of a hut-shaped coffee store for my project in business class. The temperature during noon was over 90 Fahrenheit, and not see a single cloud can bee seen in the bright blue sky. The sky was as empty as air itself. The hot weather never really bother me before, and so I decided to walk as planned. In order to reduce the heat, I washed my hair with water before I left my house around noon. However, by the time I reached the second intersection, my hair was already dried.

Jogging up the hill was not easy, and it hit hard when you are unfit. I used to jog for almost 30 minutes continuously during the college days. That was with a calculus book, a 5 inches binder, and a bunch of junks in my backpack. Nowaday, I maxed out at 15 minutes with no extra weight. It wasn't pretty, but that did not stop me. Along the way, I went inside two stores that I passed by all the time in the last 10 years, but never enter them. First was Honey Baked Ham store, and another was a CVS store across the street from Honey Baked Ham. Interesting, but I didn't buy anything.

When I finally reaches the coffee store at Pasadena City College, I took out my camera and started taking picture. Since the store closes on weekend, I was taking picture of an empty hut-shaped store. Nearby, a photography student was eating her lunch under a tree, while occasionally looking at what I am doing. Maybe I was being too pessimistic and conscious, but she probably thought that I was either crazy or stupid. Who the heck take picture of a hut in those boring angles? Ten minutes later, she went back to her class.

I left the college after almost 20 minutes of photography, and along the way, I started to think about these walks that I am doing. Now, it just happened that one of my manager lived near by and occasionally drove on the streets and roads that I walk. In the past year, he spotted me twice on the road. To be fair, I don't walk on the same path, or go to the same place each week, but yet he spotted me twice on the random occasions. I thought to myself, who else saw and recognized me on the road? There had to be other people that recognized me out there. I don't look that much different since high school, so I am pretty sure someone noticed me, and did not say anything.

Disappointing. These people cannot stop themselves to even say "hello." Did they simply choose to ignore me, or simply cannot control themselves from moving ahead? Do these people even know that they are in control of their actions? Or is the simple act of saying "hello" is too hard? Too much time out of their lives? Too inconvenient? Too much trouble that it worth? Even a simple honk on your car would do. Maybe it has to be dramatic like the movie, where I got hit by his/her car before he/she come out, say a few words, and hope that I won't sue him/her.

Ever since I started walking, one car honk at me(couldn't tell who it was), and came across three people from high school. It is sad if they chose to ignore me. It it worse if their actions are beyond their control. Honestly, I do not mind that people act within the social norm, but I hate to see people constricted by the social norm. If you can think and judge independently, then act freely. Like they said, I am tire of excuses.


Sincerely,
Someone You Have Not Say Hello To :)

Walk: Old School

The last few weekends have been nothing but troubles. There were rain for several weekends, and when it was finally sunny, I got a flu. So, since my weekends were filled with troubles, I decided to take a rare opportunity to take pictures on weekday instead. Indeed today(Wednesday, March 19, 2008) was a great day to be taking photos. Instead of the usual walk around my neighborhood, I decided to head up to my old college, Pasadena City College.

My college days were both fulfilling and empty at the same time. Like many other college students, my wallet was very hollow and empty. The lunch was a dollar burger from either Carl Jr., Jack In The Box, Burger King, or McDonald. Yet, it was because of this hollow wallet, I learned to explore Pasadena city with my legs. From the foot of the mountain(North) to Old Town(West) to East Pasadena(East) to San Marino(South), I have walk to the four edges of Pasadena.

Revisiting my old college again is freshing. It has been less than ten years, but a new building is being constructed on the western end of PCC. On the eastern end, there is a library, so I decided to take few pictures in there.

Afterward I headed to Cal Tech campus. The university is grand, peaceful, and beautiful. A university that host hundreds of top students across United States, and a home to Feynman. Yet of all these accomplishment, the joke in the comic section is still as lame as ever. To my surprise, there were several students walking around the campus than I ever recall seeing back in my college days. After walking around and saw the calendar, I learned that today happened to be the last day of the final exam week. My guess is that these students were taking take a good look at the sun before the next quarter comes around. If you ever visit Cal Tech, be sure to drop by the bookstore. Two things should surprise you. First should be the classical music in the background. Second would be the lighting environment. Basically, it feels like I was in a high end coffee shop; sofa and plenty of books.

After Cal Tech, I went down south to The Old Mill. Unknown to me, I have walk passed this place several times before, but never both to enter the place. After so many years, I was there to see what it was all about. To my disappointment, I did not see any mill. The historian told me it was long gone. It was used by the missionaries from San Gabriel Mission(another historical site that I entered only by accident... last weekend) in the 1800s.

The Old Mill is quite small, but the building is itself significant. It was built in the early 1800s for the San Gabriel missionaries using adobe brick. The wall in basement is five feet thick, and was used to keep the grain(granary). Unfortunately, due to the damping underground, moisture seeped through to the basement, and ruin the grain. The place was sold in the mid-1800s, and after the Mexican War, the place has been transform to a residential house. In the early 1900s, it was converted to a clubhouse for the golf course that used to cover a large area of San Marino. In 1962, The Old Mill was given to the city of San Marino, and was established as a historical site.