i spent last week in santa barbara but i did not take one worthwhile picture to show you. i think i might have forgotten how to blog, too.
this was taken near the corner of palm+geary on thursday, january 20, 2005.
it was lying next to a curb with a parking meter as if it had just fallen out of someone's car. i wanted very much to pick it up because i had promised maura that i would collect found notes for her. alas, i couldn't bring myself to do it. the envelope was still sealed so i felt somewhat wrong. otherwise, i would have snatched it up.
i have all sorts of things swirling around inside my little head that i want to blog about. funny how whenever i sit down to write them up, they stop swirling.
pictures i took during this morning's walk to clement street.
sidewalk parking on geary
this vehicle sprouts silk flowers
sign reads: no dogs allowed on grass
sold in front of a chinese herbal remedy shop
pretty food products devoid of labels
small toys at super tokio
and even smaller toys
all i bought was epoxy glue, some light bulbs, and $7 worth of junk food. first time i spent less than $15 on clement street.
look what i saw on my way home. i have not seen a lost pet flyer for months. this one is the smallest i've ever seen. not to mention the hardest to read.
on a light pole next to kinko's
forget the cat, find the flyer
normally, no lost pet ads can go wrong with me. this one, however, sucks. to begin with, it's tiny. what was this person thinking? if i found the cat, i'd rather take it to the pound than return it to a person whose name is t.... and whose phone number is scribbled as if s/he does not want to be reached.
anyway, i took this next picture yesterday to show you my cluttered apartment. interesting how anything can look bearable in the warm glow of the sunset.
i give you heather, the first person i have ever met in sf through schmeebot. we had pizzas at georgio's and gabbed for almost two hours!
i had been resisting meeting new people in the city for a few reasons, one of which is this perpetual fear that schmeebot will lose readers if they knew who's behind it. it always amazes me that there is someone else out there, other than the standard five, who actually looks at this blog.
i had a terrific time getting to know heather. the only downside was learning that the avon walk for breast cancer awareness requires a $1,800 minimum in fund raising. this instantly dampened my effort although heather is convinced that we could do it. the trick is to ask friends to ask their friends to support the cause. the only problem with this scheme is: i only have five friends, the same five i force to look at schmeebot.
it's just as well. i may not be around here in july to participate anyway. but if you will be doing the walk, please let me know. perhaps i could put schmeebot to use and help raise some fund. i will do my best to help in every way i can.
last weekend jg and i finally took up frank and gabbie's invitation to hang at their time share in angels (apostrophe s?) camp. it was supposed to be a snowboarding trip except i was not up to it. i had just driven back from sb so the long road trip to ac was not very appealing.
there were seven people all together in a two bedroom "cabin" so jg and i ended up in the kitchen on one of those space saving wall beds. we slept right next to the switch on switch off fireplace and we slept well.
on our way to bear valley, we drove through a handful of small towns of calaveras county. it was the sort of back road trips i like to take, except we didn't get to stop and hang around. in fact, we only had about two hours to spare on the main stretch of angels camp.
i tried to put the camera to good use, but this is all i have.
hitting the health food store first thing saturday for hanukkah cream
taken at the end of a short day at bear valley
gabbie, frank, danni, jg, and goofy foot
frank and bullwinkle
taken at the saloon while waiting to have dinner
the usual suspects plus neil and his wife at left
these were taken on sunday. get ready for an encounter of the amphibious kind.
highway 4, angels camp visitor's center at left
inside
i should have bought this for fred
main+raspberry
jg at his best
here are a few hall of fame jumpers whose plaques are on the sidewalks a la hollywood stars.
old warty was not from sf
cross dresser
world record, no less!
jg trying to figure out which boutique to go to
shiny jewelry+unintentional self portrait
more frogs on store fronts than not
not angel, not twain
plaque below frog statue
east end of main street
leaving angels camp, good bye to ol' beth
we had a pleasant drive home. highway 4 took us alternately through scenic orchards and wide open spaces. i never knew that the valley could be so lush.
blue+green as far as the eye can see
the good pilot
happy cows
altamont windmills on 580
until next time, here's a frank reminder for us all to live well today.
saturday jg and i made an expository trip around the city by bus. it was my first time taking the muni since we moved here. the last time i took the muni i was with, why, my webmaster! it was the evening he took me to see the cocteau twins at the warfield. holy smokes, that was 1991!
fast forward fourteen years, jg and i decided to take the 38 to fillmore street. we had been there once before for dinner. we wanted to go back and see a specific furniture store.
$1.25, please hold on
please exit through the back door
boom boom room mural taken from the blue overpass
stopping at max furniture in japantown
welcome to fillmore street
first lost pet flyer of the day
getting smoothies at jamba juice
drooling all over de la espada made us very thirsty
unexpected view (forgot i was in pacific heights)
fillmore got steep, sidewalk became steps
view got better a few steps down
golden gate bridge+palace of fine arts
for maura
for team middleton
back in england on fillmore
at the bottom of the hill we turned right onto union street. i tried taking pictures of jg in front of all the festive valentine store fronts but none turned out very well.
shoe shopping with jg on union street
back on the bus heading for william stout bookstore
we took the wrong bus so we ended up walking
through the tenderloin
and north beach
hazy view of the transamerica
turning all the lights on and then off in artemides
finally, william stout
we spent almost two hours browsing but did not buy one single book. we left at two, starving.
perfectly cloudless sky
taken right outside of the bookstore
hitting a vietnamese restaurant on stockton for a late lunch
waiting for the bus on the edge of china town
we heard firecrackers go off in the distance but we didn't know what it was. then it hit us, massive crowds, firecrackers, it was the third day of the lunar new year! not a good day to be in chinatown. a couple of busses passed us before one did stop. of course, it was packed. the driver didn't even open the front door so we had to shove ourselves in through the rear door. regular criminals.
standing room only
we took yet another bus near the zoo that is market street
child rearing chinese style
forgot where i saw this flyer so i'll just insert it here
a filthy drunk bum came on board and made conversations with eveyone. he asked jg if he voted for bush. it was pretty harmless until he went and hassled the driver. suddenly there was shouting and the drunk was thrown off the bus. he continued swearing at the driver and spat on the glass door repeatedly before the bus took off. very exciting!
we went to the wood shop below jg's office.
aka a giant blue bottle coffee stand
we checked jg's glue job on the walnut table top
we hung around the wood shop until we got good and buzzed by the smell of non stop $2 espressos. then we decided to walk over to market street to see beeze.
seen on the way over to dlx
a skate shop
where we goofed around
while beeze worked
then we walked back to hayes valley to catch the five bus home.
this was taken on octavia
the bus dumped us at fulton+stanyan around six. shortly after complaining to jg that there are never any missing cats in our neighborhood, i saw this.
that's because inner richmond is dog country
overall, it was a pretty successful experience. i'm not a big fan of busses but i guess it beats having to find a parking space. all i need now is one of those two wheel old lady carts. then i can bus around and shop all day without having to worry about carrying all the loot. yay!
until then, i'll leave you with half of my most favorite skateboard deck.
saturday jg and i went to see my peeps in san jose. our visit was cut short because beeze found out it was his last chance to get snowboarding gear at cost.
we immediately drove to berkeley boardsports to try on boots. beeze pretty much turned the store upside down so i could get my meaty calves fitted. during the circus, beeze's friend dylan showed up. and, just my luck, he said i could have his old awesome orange bindings.
i'm sorry about the in-your-face image size
i need it for ebay later
i was advised to buy the 142 cm board but i bought the 138 instead all because, you guessed it, i like the graphics. how can i refuse the sound of a "thuy bird" board?
i took these while we were at dylan's picking up the free goods. he lives in that infamous warehouse.
jg talking to one of two resident kitties
plasticky looking flowers
jg, dylan, and beeze on pretty flooring
permanent installation on the ceiling
sunday we, the usual four, braved the potential holiday crowds and went snowboarding. and as usual we left the city at 5. the only positive thing about getting up at this ungodly hour was seeing the moonset.
that bright spot is the moon, i think
sun trying to rise
jg+beeze took turns driving
beeze+camera shadow
soon we were stuck in 30 mph traffic caused by the ever moving chain check station. snow was coming down in chunks and the windshield wouldn't defog.
winter wonderland
stopping to switch to four wheel drive
we went to the sugar bowl, the disneyland of ski resorts. the freeway signs were all snowed over. if it wasn't for kev, we would have missed the exit.
getting dressed
jg tying my snazzy new motos
it continued snowing in chunks
so i couldn't wear my glasses like i usually do
our first lift of the day
jg took the kiddie slope with me on our first run. i reverted to falling down every ten feet. jg reported my poor performance and, next thing i knew, i was on a lift with just beeze, my dreadful but effective instructor.
i shaped up in no time
after my second run they decided to ditch me for the double black diamond slopes. i was glad to be left alone.
catching snow flakes next to strangers on the jerome hill lift
i got a total of six runs done before noon, when we met back at the car for lunch.
usual lunch hour entertainment complete with crass jokes
assessing my satisfaction with the non rental set up
getting ready for the afternoon session
note kev's four-wheel-drive gangsta pledge
i spent the afternoon on my own. first i tried to follow the aggros on their first run but i couldn't do it. i didn't think walt would design so many treacherous slopes. they left me with a map so i could negotiate my way from one green route to another to get back to the kiddie lift. it was scary. there was a very flat segment through the woods on the donald duck (or some disney name like that) slope where, i am embarrassed to admit, i had to take my board off and walk while little kids bombed past me.
taking in views of lake mary
i was very happy to get back to the familiar kiddie slope, except it wasn't kiddie. i was very pleased to learn that i had been running a blue slope all day long!
i spent all afternoon trying to get hip like this guy
because he's on my board's label
i improved considerably despite being on my own and without instructions. jg joined me on my last run and was thoroughly impressed. he shot a short footage for proof. you can see me wobble my way downhill. thank goodness he wasn't there to record the nasty spill. i spun out of control and rolled over twice on my shoulders. my board scooped and flung big chunks of powder into the air as i went down. yes, very exciting.
i did a record thirteen runs before the lifts closed. the most runs i had ever done in a day was seven. resorts should note on the back of their lift tickets: get most effective use by not going down slope on your rear end.
we had no problem with traffic going home. we stopped at in n out burger for the traditional after boarding dinner.
jg took this picture
highway 80 descending into the bay area
heading toward albany for some hard liquor at the mallard
mike our trusty bartender
i forgot the name of my drink but it was pretty darn good; it numbed my every achy part of my body. i should try to remember what it's called so i can order it again next time.
my buddy dylan has this exclusive announcement for schmeebot readers:
if you're looking for something to do tomorrow night around eight, come singe your clothes at:
abco artspace
3135 filbert street
oakland california
near the corner of 32nd+san paolo
there will be art, live music, dance performance, and $3-10 sliding scale donation at the door.
tell dylan you heard about the show from the girl whom he gave his orange bindings to. if you're brave, ask to see the coffin he keeps in his basement.
