karl malone

I had a fabulous weekend in Santa Cruz + the city of sin, which is dangerous for my endlessly-wandering, never-satisfied soul. My writing class/retreat was really wonderful - the last couple of days were restorative and inspiring in a way that I was really craving, and I hope I carry that with me even though it's back to the grind tomorrow. The teacher (Dani Shapiro) was one of the best writing teachers I've ever heard speak, and the subject (memoir) was something I'm deeply interested in and also deeply avoided. But maybe it's time to stop avoiding.

It was also wonderful to spend a weekend with Veronica, who is one of my favorites - we had a lot to say to each other, and she was the perfect person to have this experience with. It was the perfect blend of 'earnestly engaged with the material' and 'snarkily rolling eyes at everyone else', so we got along swimmingly. We also got massages yesterday, enjoyed some time talking over wine in the cafe, and generally made the most of our weekend away.

The program ended this morning with two hours of work + Q&A, which was pretty illuminating. Then we bounced rather than waiting for lunch to open, so we got back to V's around 1pm. I promptly drove over to Nopalito - when I realized I could have lunch in SF by myself, I considered My Tofu House, Samovar in Yerba Buena, Caffe Union (my true love, but hard to park next to), and a variety of other spots, but I ended up at Nopalito. So I journaled and ate more than I should have just because I never have it, and it was lovely.

Then I drove to the Kabuki, checked in, did an hour of work (a stupid expense report), took a twelve minute nap, got myself ready and went to the lobby. I talked to my parents for a few minutes to verify that they were still alive, and then hung up as Lauren (aka Subz) walked through the door. We only had an hour to catch up but we made great use of that time - it's great to have friends who are always friends, no matter the distance or changes between interactions. Also, she has the best hair in the world (as a slightly sketchy man in the bar told her), so she has that going for her, which is nice.

After she left, I took an uber to Chandlord's, where I made small talk with her roommate (who almost didn't let me in at first) until Chandlord was ready. We went to Rye, where we had a drink, and were shortly joined by John and Jess. We eventually adjourned to Esan Classic, where we met up with Oniel (aka Fauxniel, the surprise special guest who no one knew was coming except for me), Aditya, Santy Claude, and Sam (who needs a nickname at some point). We had a very delightful, very standard Sunday family dinner over a lot of delicious thai food; it was pretty sedate since it's a work night for all of us, Claude is pregnant, and Adit is starting a new job tomorrow. But it was nice to have some family time, even if it was in the heart of the Tenderloin and men were waving iron bars around outside in an ominous and/or drug-fueled manner (note: I chose the location and knew exactly what I was doing when I did it, tanks).

And now, after a v. successful weekend, I need to sleep so I can drive to MTV tomorrow - goodnight!