i don't wanna rain on your crazy parade, buddy

Today is essentially my last day in the city of sin, and while my body will be happy to get back to avoiding gluten and getting eight hours of sleep, my heart is happy that I made the trip here.

I woke up this morning in Tracy, and Jen, Joann, Jane, and I finished our sleepover with breakfast, which was basically last night's leftover dinner. We had enough tater tot casserole left for all of us, and we put a fried egg on top of each serving, which made it a total winner. I'm tempted to experiment with making a breakfast tater tot casserole (with sausage and maybe some peppers instead of the carrots/onions), but we'll see what I discover. We also had leftover apricot salad, which is also a nice breakfast treat. So, all in all, my attempt to bring Midwestern culinary delights to California was a success.

Eventually, I left Tracy (while the rest of them stayed and continued hanging out) to drive to Alameda to see Claudia. Claude's mom was visiting, so we had a nice chat - I hadn't seen her since Claudia's wedding, but it was great to see that she's doing well. She brought tamales with her, which were delish. And I took some leftover jello to Claudia and her son Téo - Téo wasn't really interested in lunch since he'd already eaten, but he had a small scoop of jello and then demanded three more scoops of jello with a crazy gleam in his eyes.

So, we had to take him to the park to burn off a bunch of sugar. Claudia and I talked while watching him play in a sand pit, and it was actually pretty delightful - the weather was nice, Claudia and I were overdue for a chat, and Téo (who turns three soon) is perhaps the cutest child in the history of children (no offense to my other friends' children). It was a really nice afternoon, so hopefully we'll get a chance to do it again sometime soon.

Then, I parted ways with them and drove to Berkeley to see John and Jess. I did not see their kid, so I have no report about Ian since they dropped him at his grandparents' place. But I'm happy to report that John and Jess are doing well. We went to Saul's Deli, which is where we always go for breakfast, and I was surprised to see that it's open for dinner and also serves surprisingly fancy (and inappropriately named) cocktails. So we had latkes, and I had a sandwich with roast beef / harissa / horseradish / swiss that was excellent, and John and I each had a cocktail and split another while Jess enjoyed her fancy healthier beverage choice.

And then, I parted ways with them, drove back to the city of sin, and met up with Chandlord. We were supposed to grab a drink, but instead we stayed in - and I somehow, some way, tricked her into watching SAHARA (and paying to rent it). This is basically the opposite of doing something nice for someone who hosted you. I, of course, still love it, but Chandlord seemed rather displeased with a variety of plot holes that I thought she made much too big a deal of. C'est la vie, I guess.

And now, I need to sleep so that I can pack up tomorrow - I'm moving to an airport hotel tomorrow night and doing some exploration of the south bay before that, so I want to get out of the city in good time. Goodnight!