Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Weekend: You Wish You Were Me (Plus Convent Canines)
Okay, right, the weekend. After the amazing response I got from the heron post yesterday, it’s obvious to me that y’all are mostly interested in who I saw and what I ate (or vice-versa) over the weekend. Well I hate to disappoint you but it was a really lovely weekend and I’m glad I endured it. Here’s my story:
Saturday was the day of recreation. I took a nice hard run through the Presidio, set up some music and burned a disk as a gift for some friends, and then went off to the bay area blogger meet-up (not hook-up, as I’d been led to believe) at a local television studio. We were warmly welcomed by a portly older guy in a blue blazer who emphatically disclaimed much of any idea what the hell we were doing with his media, and then I ate a bunch of little sandwiches and some cookies and I had several diet colas while basking in the wry wisdom of greg, meredith and elizabeth, who gave me cover as someone far enough removed from utter geekdom to have hu-man friends. We chatted, we shmoozed, we made fun of the guy in the blazer, and then had our photos repeatedly taken by a videographer with a still camera, which meant that he took more photos than I thought were absolutely necessary, but whatevah. (Thanks, Sawni, for finding this image and reading my thoughts. Interesting digital fact: the more megapixels your camera has, the more soul is removed from persons you photograph. I hardly noticed it with the little cameras, but when the big six-meg cameras came out I could feel my vital force being sucked right out of me. From the quix of my fingernails, if you must know.)
After the meet-up my friends and I, plus three other cool and interesting bloggers, strolled up to a nearby tavern for beerz and conversation, which ranged from blogging to porn to hometowns to music and back to porn (I am from the San Pornando Valley after all). At that point, sadly, I had to excuse myself and leave the party, get home, take a quick shower (to wash the stench of joy off my sour skin) and load up the car with my lovely wife for a trip to the Mission district - San Fran’s Spanish Harlem. We parked unreasonably conveniently, grabbed some coffee, and then met Tantris and Jules (and Jeremy) at Bissip Baobab for some of that good Senegal grub, by which I mean food like paella and samosas, and not actual grubs. We ate well, visited a nearby pub for additional refreshment, and reluctantly parted company at 11, to the serenades of actual wandering mariachis (wanderachis) since J&J had a long drive back to Santa Cruz. Thanks, T&J&J, for visiting. We had a fabulous time and miss you much already.
Sunday was full of work: we cleaned and straightened, hung shades in the bedroom (no more prancing about naked and shadeless for the neighbors, who have yet to register complaints), hit the hardware store and asian grocery and dim sum shoppe and housewares emporium.... Clement Street on a sunday at noon is a busy and fascinating place, and we had a great time perusing the goods and watching the other weirdos doing their shopping. A bit more puttering around the house, hanging pictures and reorganizing a long-forgotten closet, brought us to suppertime, so we grabbed a quick burrito and then took a drive to the Unitarian Church where a weekly vipissana meditation session is held. We attended an introductory talk followed by a solid 45 minutes of sitting zazen. I found it delightfully clarifying, and was glad I’d gotten a little countdown timer at the housewares store that morning so I could start a regular practice of 10 minutes of mind-time after work each day. So far I’ve done it one-out-of-one opportunities; we’ll see how long that lasts.
Finally, returning home, I finished with the last bit of housework: going through a big box of retained mementos salvaged from that messy closet. Old scrapbooks and photo albums, notes from friends in high school and college, souveniers from Grateful Dead concerts and other meaningful incidents in my life.... it was a big old box, not very efficiently packed, and much of what was in it I was ready to discard, but I did find a lot of cool fun stuff I intend to keep around for a good bit longer. Prime among these: my fidget! This is so totally coming to work with me, and I’ll manipulate it till the oil runs out the back of it all over my piehooks. In addition, I found a raunchy old paperback I literally found in a gutter in Hollywood back in the 80s. I won’t show you the cover, or even identify it by name, but the back cover fell off a while ago and this is it. So you see, I guess, whence my delicacy derives. Someday I’ll turn it into a musical. Some day I’ll turn you all into a musical.
Then I went to sleep and when I woke up it was Monday.
Since the weekend I’ve felt a bit run-down, even though I did have another lovely run around the lake yesterday morning. Well, tonight is the anusara yoga class that’s usually the highlight of my week, and I’m getting a lot of work done at the office, and I’m planning on seeing friends this weekend, and it’s so freaking warm and sunny out around here that it’s hard for me not to bolt and frolic all the live-long day. I’ve got nothing to complain about. Yeah, just give me till tomorrow and I’ll think of something. The weekend report is concluded. Don’t let the blog hit you on the ass on your way out.
