I have returned to San Francisco, strung out and exhausted but high on life. This morning, as you might have guessed, was brutal, but I showered, said my farewells to Ritu (who accompanied me all the way to the curb, which is a sign of true friendship at five a.m.), and made it to the airport in time to eat breakfast, which is probably all that saved me. I had intended to write on the plane, but that was a jhoke; I dozed/slept for four of the six hours, although I did pull out my laptop and work for an hour in a rather desultory fashion.
I made it to my apartment by eleven a.m., and I really just wanted to go to bed, but I forced myself to change clothes, go out for lunch (salad!), and then sit at Another Cafe for a few hours in an attempt to get some work done. This wasn't entirely successful, but I did more than my fatigued brain wanted to do, so I'll take it. Then I came home (with a v. necessary stop at the grocery store) and should have done laundry, but napped instead. Then I talked to [censored] about his upcoming [censored], picked up my packages from downstairs (my favorite doorman asked if I live elsewhere part of the time...they must think I'm so fancy), took care of various tings, wrote in my journal, and did a couple more hours of work.
And now I want to go to bed...but first, the recap of yesterday for posterity, even though it feels like a lifetime (and several bottles of wine) ago. Ritu slept in since she'd worked until 5am (slacker), so I walked to the nearest Starbucks and wrote for a couple of hours. I made it back to the apartment and showered before she woke up, but when she was awake, we shared tea and sympathy in her kitchen until we were both too hungry to keep talking.
Then she recreated Mermaid Inn for me - we had a late lunch at B&G Oysters, where we were super leisurely and super fancy in our attempts to deplete their supply of sea creatures. We started with a dozen oysters, then moved on to salmon carpaccio, eggplant with feta, and an awesome crab shell that had been used as a dish to bake cornbread and crab meat. Yummy yummy. We also had french fries, because french fries. We also had a bottle of rosé, followed by another glass of rosé each (the glass was amazing...I could have kept going with that all day), followed by a chocolate/heath bar concoction, and some coffee because I was about to die.
So, that took most of the afternoon in the most delightful way possible. We were going to do the Freedom Trail tour, but we missed it in our rapacious sea consumption, so Ritu gave me the highlights herself (particularly the old cemetery where John Hancock and others are buried; also Faneuil Hall, where a bunch of strange people were dancing 18th-century dances outside, but I don't think the dancers were part of the official tour). Then we had drinks at the Liberty Hotel - it used to be a prison, but has been turned into a swanky boutique hotel with a swanky bar, where we had swanky cocktails and were glad that we weren't in prison.
Bill joined us there for a drink, and then we had a late dinner at Sarma, which was a Mediterranean place with lots of small plates (and two more bottles of wine). The food there was totally fantastic, and they were v. good about gluten-freeness, and the leisurely nature of our meal meant we were there for almost three hours. We discussed many and varied tings of both business and personal natures, and it was the best possible way to finish my #beastcoast adventures.
Then we went back to their house, and Ritu tried to ply me with more alcohol while I packed (but for once my common sense prevailed - maybe my Puritan ancestors are still haunting Massachusetts and were better able to influence me than they are in California). And then I went to bed, and now you know it all.
And now that I've covered two days at once (you're so welcome), and made it almost to ten p.m. (my goal was nine because I'm old), it's time to sleep so I can write in the morning before the gym - goodnight!
I made it to my apartment by eleven a.m., and I really just wanted to go to bed, but I forced myself to change clothes, go out for lunch (salad!), and then sit at Another Cafe for a few hours in an attempt to get some work done. This wasn't entirely successful, but I did more than my fatigued brain wanted to do, so I'll take it. Then I came home (with a v. necessary stop at the grocery store) and should have done laundry, but napped instead. Then I talked to [censored] about his upcoming [censored], picked up my packages from downstairs (my favorite doorman asked if I live elsewhere part of the time...they must think I'm so fancy), took care of various tings, wrote in my journal, and did a couple more hours of work.
And now I want to go to bed...but first, the recap of yesterday for posterity, even though it feels like a lifetime (and several bottles of wine) ago. Ritu slept in since she'd worked until 5am (slacker), so I walked to the nearest Starbucks and wrote for a couple of hours. I made it back to the apartment and showered before she woke up, but when she was awake, we shared tea and sympathy in her kitchen until we were both too hungry to keep talking.
Then she recreated Mermaid Inn for me - we had a late lunch at B&G Oysters, where we were super leisurely and super fancy in our attempts to deplete their supply of sea creatures. We started with a dozen oysters, then moved on to salmon carpaccio, eggplant with feta, and an awesome crab shell that had been used as a dish to bake cornbread and crab meat. Yummy yummy. We also had french fries, because french fries. We also had a bottle of rosé, followed by another glass of rosé each (the glass was amazing...I could have kept going with that all day), followed by a chocolate/heath bar concoction, and some coffee because I was about to die.
So, that took most of the afternoon in the most delightful way possible. We were going to do the Freedom Trail tour, but we missed it in our rapacious sea consumption, so Ritu gave me the highlights herself (particularly the old cemetery where John Hancock and others are buried; also Faneuil Hall, where a bunch of strange people were dancing 18th-century dances outside, but I don't think the dancers were part of the official tour). Then we had drinks at the Liberty Hotel - it used to be a prison, but has been turned into a swanky boutique hotel with a swanky bar, where we had swanky cocktails and were glad that we weren't in prison.
Bill joined us there for a drink, and then we had a late dinner at Sarma, which was a Mediterranean place with lots of small plates (and two more bottles of wine). The food there was totally fantastic, and they were v. good about gluten-freeness, and the leisurely nature of our meal meant we were there for almost three hours. We discussed many and varied tings of both business and personal natures, and it was the best possible way to finish my #beastcoast adventures.
Then we went back to their house, and Ritu tried to ply me with more alcohol while I packed (but for once my common sense prevailed - maybe my Puritan ancestors are still haunting Massachusetts and were better able to influence me than they are in California). And then I went to bed, and now you know it all.
And now that I've covered two days at once (you're so welcome), and made it almost to ten p.m. (my goal was nine because I'm old), it's time to sleep so I can write in the morning before the gym - goodnight!
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