i remember that dreamlike candlelight like a dream that you can't quite place

I was clearly in need of a break from my book and my own head today, which means I didn't get much done - which is perhaps rather unfortunate, but whatever. I woke up later than planned this morning, so I scurried around, packed, showered, and made it out of the hotel just in time for checkout. Then I stopped at Starbucks, grabbed some coffee and a granola bar for the road, and drove back to SF before the rain turned traffic into a disaster.

The north bay was gorgeous on the way back - all green and misty, with rolling hills giving way to the Golden Gate Bridge, which must be once of the best views in America no matter how many times you see it. So, getting back into the city after several days away was the rude shock to the system that it always is. But I stopped in the marina to have breakfast/lunch (definitely lunch - it was almost one p.m. at that point, even though I had huevos rancheros, which makes it feel like breakfast) at Tony's cafe since I hadn't seen him in awhile and was craving comfort food. They were packed, which made it less relaxing, but still delish.

Then I came home and was home for perhaps thirty minutes before abandoning all thought of productivity and driving over to Connecticut Yankee to have a drink and watch the second half of the Oklahoma game with John and his friend Ping. They were headed to San Jose to watch the Sharks play tonight (apparently there's a hockey team or something down there - sounds made up to me), but we had fun for as long as it took me to drink a margarita and for Oklahoma to pull it out in the end, so that was all good.

Then, on a whim, I called Adit to see if he wanted to have family dinner. I drove over to his place without getting a final confirmation and sat in my car outside his house for half an hour talking to my parents, and then I went into his apartment and said hi to Priyanka and infant. Priyanka had a friend visiting, so we talked high Indian wedding fashion and other topics, which was delightful. And I held infant for a little bit, but apparently I wasn't hitting him hard enough to make him fall asleep, so I guess I failed that test. Oops.

Priyanka had to stay home because she has to be at work super early every day this week, but Adit and I had our own family dinner - we went to an Italian place (Trattoria da Vittorio) in West Portal, and it was really perfect. I never, ever go to West Portal, even though it's 20mins from my house - in fact, I mostly forget that that neighborhood exists. But this was like an upscale version of our Olive Garden days - nothing too fancy, but they had gluten free pasta which I got carbonara style, and they put a whole egg on top of the carbonara, which was pretty killer.

So we poured one out for our memories of the days in which we used to go to Olive Garden, and Applewood Pizza, and some taqueria in Redwood City, and all sorts of other places and times that are now dead to us. And we caught up on work and life...so even if some parts of the past are dead, some parts can always be renewed over pasta and so-so wine and family dinners.

Then I dropped Adit off at home, came back to my own home, and should have spent the past three hours writing, but I instead mostly read about Napoleon (which is fucking pointless since he has nothing to do with the current book, but whatev). And now I must sleep so I can be productive tomorrow - goodnight!