🥳 A Week of Celebrations 4/6/25

Hi Everyone!

My Grandmother sent me an old photo of myself, probably from when I was 3 or 4, where I was imitated the Statue of Liberty. Apparently, I’ve been mimicking statues since toddlerhood.

Some things never change. 

Anyway, here’s what’s up with Will…

I don’t think I have mentioned it in this newsletter before, but for the past couple of months, I have been applying to grad schools! I finally submitted them all on April 1st, which also happened to be the application deadline. I have always been a procrastinator, so why should this deadline be any different? 

The current plan is to get a master’s in communication. I know I will not be the person solving a millennium problem or writing a dissertation on Moby Dick, but I see communication as the perfect mixture of the Liberal Arts and the STEM fields. I expect to hear back from programs within the next 4-6 weeks.

After the mad dash of applying, I invited Brandt and Connor to play Magic (where they graciously let me win, thanks guys), and then we got Mikk to join us for a trip to a sushi restaurant. I already ate dinner though, so I got red bean mochi to celebrate!

For the past few months, San Francisco has been hosting a street fair called Downtown First Thursday. Every month they get big-name people to do a DJ set, and this month’s headliner was Bob the Drag Queen. I have been a fan of Bob ever since watching RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 8, so I figured this was the month to attend.

Hands down, it was the wildest street fair I’ve ever been to. There were the usual vendor booths and food stalls, but that was just the beginning. There were table tennis games, live chess matches, and even the SF Pride Marching Band parading up and down the closed-off street. Multiple outdoor bars kept the drinks flowing, and dance floors with DJs kept the energy high.

However, something amazing happened that night. 

As some of you may know, I have been trying to get my hands on a Dubai chocolate bar for quite some time, and one of the vendors had one of these bars for sale. Good things come to those who wait, I guess.

Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: The Will Willis Food Review. Dubai chocolate makes for a cool cross-section, and I appreciated the pistachio flavor. That being said, the texture of the kataifi pastry inside reminded me of a Mounds bar. An elevated Mounds bar for sure as I am not much of a coconut person, but the texture was almost identical. At the end of the day, this is one of these things that is not worth the hype. I’m glad I got to try it, but I don’t think I would go out of my way to get it in the future.

I want to give a big shout-out to my dad as his birthday was this week. It just so happened that my parents were in town this week for a conference, so we decided to spend some time in Napa for the second weekend in a row. That being said, when someone tells me that they want to hang out together in Napa Valley for their birthday, I am not the person who is going to tell them no.

Instead of going to Vineyards this time, we focused primarily on Downtown Napa.

We drove up Friday night and stopped at JaM Cellars for live Music featuring Spike Sikes and His Awesome Hotcakes, a North Bay Jazz / Blues Musician group. What a name!

The first stop on Saturday, Housley Napa Valley, felt very homey and laid-back. We sat down in what they affectionately call ‘The Living Room”, and they let us pick 5 of their wines. The tasting was like a pick-your-adventure book, and we all got to tailor our wine tasting to what we liked. None of the wines were outstanding, but I did enjoy all of them.

Levendi Winery and Tasting Room felt more like the proper Napa Valley tasting room. There, we had a tasting of the 4 different Cabernet Sauvignons from different parts of Napa Valley. I know that the topography, elevation, and climate that grapes are grown in determines the taste of the final product, but I really got to see these differences in action. I could tell each wine had some tasting notes that were more prominent than the others, and some wines were noticeably more tannic than others.

Finally, for dinner, we went to an Italian place called Oenotri. I got an incredible Clam pasta with a tomato base and salted caramel cream puffs for desserts. Also at dinner, Rylee put her full wine knowledge on display here and sent back a bad bottle.

Finally, we celebrated Easter, as we all will be apart then. 

I am going to finish this newsletter with a cheer. Here’s to a man who ages like fine wine! Happy Birthday, Dad.

I don’t know about you, but I remember on every road trip, my parents would always make us stop at a Cracker Barrel for food. When I saw this video, I felt something in my soul. There are no Cracker Barrels on the way to Napa though, so no stop on this road trip.