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Man, what a whacky commute out to the East Bay yesterday. First it felt like I was on a train that was going to a Spanish speaking conference or something since everyone around me was chatting in the Espanol. Even when I got off the train and started walking up to Cal, everybody was still speaking Spanish. I guess this is what I get for making a movie about people speaking Spanish... badly. Irony is a bugger somedays.       Then on the train back, I see a girl with an empty baby stroller. Not the most common of things to see, even here. As I'm sitting there, I get let in to her plight via a loud cellphone call. She told her friend that she was going down to a battered women's shelter to get her baby. It was pretty obvious that the guy she was with had been a real piece of work to her, as she had some visible scratches and bruises on her arms. It was just sad really. Not even the little dog in the corner can be happy about this one.       Thankfully things got on an even keel once back in the City, but what weirdness. I used to blame this kind of stuff on the full moon, until I realized it happens all the time and humans is just freakins' weirds at times.

Ah man. I'm really feeling my age these days. While I don't mind getting older and the fact that people seem to take you a bit more seriously, being around people a lot younger than you kinda sucks. There's so much you want to tell them, but you realize they just gotta find it out on their own. Such things as drinking beer, wine, and tequila in the same night being a bad combination are just one of those hard-learned nuggets in life.       Why is this coming up now? Well, having made it through my first week at Berkeley it was a thought that was fresh in my head. My Croatian class that I'm taking out there has kids, literally kids in it. There are 19, 18, and even 17 year olds in this thing with me. When you're 29, you can't brush it off and you just gotta realize that they are indeed a helluva lot younger than you and yes, it's weird being in class with people who weren't even born when you started Junior High.       What have I learned from being around the younger generation? Two things. Young undergraduate girls definitely look young and this is not something I admire. I'd much rather date a girl who is and looks my age. I've realized that guys who cruise the colleges and pick up the 19 year olds are just screwed up. The other thing that I learned was that the younger generation is indeed getting dumber. I guess I should actually say that they're losing their common sense in our overly-nuturing society more than losing true intelligence, but it's hard to tell. For instance, stopping in the middle of a doorway is just kinda dumb, as is trying to ride your bike in the hallways. Also dumb is for college girls to talk to any guy over the age of 25. Yet, it seems the ability to buy alcohol is such an allure... One last thing, pas nije čovjek and I really mean that.

As I'm taking a class in Berkeley these days, I am now having to take the Bart quite often again. Ah Bart, how I missed and missed and missed and missed and missed and missed you.       Thankfully this is a rather short commute of just 25 minutes or so and that's not so bad. That Bart does run on time for the most part and is one of the more reliable systems we've got here. I have noticed though that since they've somewhat halted their renovation program for the train cars (or at least it seems like they have), the cars have gotten a sort of "distressed" smell to them. I equate to feeling like you're in an airplane bathroom. It's cold, a little breezy, and there is a septic stink of indeterminate origin all around you.

Ah, the wedding. Tis the season I suppose. Seems like everyone is doing it, so why not? And I guess that was the hardest part about being at a wedding by yourself and single. You see all these glowing people around you who are married or engaged or expecting their first child. Anyways, I suppose that when you're approaching 30, these things start to sink in more.       But as for the ceremony, it was great. Dinko (the groom) is Bosnian and his wife Ana, is Macedonian. So, the wedding was blend of those Balkan cultures and some American bits thrown in. It was fun to see pretty much all of former Yugoslavia represented and those that were there were smart enough to leave the war conversations out of everything. A very, very good call, since I think 96% of all fights in Balkans start from such talk.

This article breaks down what I've been saying for years. For some reason, they're acting as if this is news (perhaps because it is a newspaper) but my little hoogie boogie plunkings around at the grocery store have led me to the same conclusion.       It's true. Eat basic foods not loaded with corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup. And stock up on the high fiber foods while you're at it. Toss in a bit of exercise here and there and you'll be fine. Don't believe me or the study? Just go to Europe. They lead this kind of life and seem to do pretty well.       I've lost about 15 pounds since I stopped working in Walnut Creek and eating all the crap food out there and what people keep around the offices. It's a tough thing to break, but really, it is your responsibility. Crap will always be with us. It is up to the individual to rise above it.