I had a lovely day, even if it did involve a lot of driving around the city of sin. I spent the morning in my hotel, where I packed up, ate a snacky-style breakfast, and did some work. I eventually grabbed my car and drove to South Park, which I have never, ever been to, to have lunch with Adit. It's nice to know that there are still parts of the city that can surprise me -- and also nice to know that there are parts of the city where I can park right in front of my destination (although I suspect this was a fluke).
Adit and I went to a Japanese place near his office, where I had a v. tasty spicy tuna and rice bowl and he had an egg sandwich that I was v. jealous of. Then we grabbed coffees and walked back to his office, where I had a too-brief run-in with Priyanka. It was nice to get an Adit encore after last night's dinner, and it was also nice to be in San Francisco on a warm, sunny day. I've known Adit for twenty-four years now, and I'm guessing we're going to stay friends??
After we parted ways, I drove back to my hotel to grab my bags, which I did not want to leave in my trunk because I thought it would tempt fate (aka robbers). This was painful, since I had to drive near Moscone during a conference, but I made it and then promptly escaped to the glorious south bay. I briefly went to Stanford, which I had not been to in ages - I didn't have a lot of time to walk around, but I bought a new sweatshirt, which I will wear while Stanford continues its slide into post-Pac-12 ignominy.
Then I checked into my hotel down here, changed quickly, and met up with Joann for a long dinner at Shana Thai. The service was weirdly terrible tonight, but it meant we had a couple of uninterrupted hours to catch up, which was v. welcome. We are on some parallel paths in various ways, but I'm glad that my parallel path doesn't involve working at her current employer (which is my former employer). It was great to hang out, and I could have kept going...
...but instead we parted ways, and I came back to my hotel and did a couple of hours of work in the lobby bar. And now, I'm going to go to bed since I have similarly fun plans tomorrow - goodnight!
I'm v. tired, but I had a nice day. I did some work this morning, and then I got my hair cut - I basically only get my hair cut by my San Francisco person, even after seven years of not officially living here (with the exception of my bangs, which I trim myself, and she gave me permission to continue doing). We had a v. lovely chat while she cut my hair, so that was worth it.
Then I found a new to me poke place - the fish was incredible, and I felt v. happy about it. I also wrote at Fort Mason for awhile - I was there with Tom yesterday, but I went back to stock up on notebooks at Flax + do some writing at The Long Now. Then I came back to my hotel, took a nap, and did some work / journaling. All in all, a quiet day...
...but then I met up with Adit and Chandlord for an 8pm dinner at Ernest. I was even more excited when Chandlord pointed out that it used to be Coffee Bar, which was obvious as soon as she said it - I mourn that place still, so I'm happy about its new incarnation. The food was incredible - due to our varying dietary needs, Adit/Chandlord shared a bunch of vegetarian things while I tried to be as gluten free as possible (but possibly failed). I had oysters, a hamachi crudo, some rice/tartare/roe situation that was delicious, and some dumplings that definitely weren't gluten free but were 100% #worthit. I also had a cocktail with sour cream in it, which was about 100x more delicious than you might guess.
After dinner, we adjourned to Trick Dog for another drink + more discussion of important topics (mostly the Olympics). And now I must sleep - goodnight!
No blog tonight, since I'm already falling asleep, but I had a v. nice, chill day. I spent the morning writing + packing so I could switch hotels - and I was supposed to stay with Chandlord tonight, but I got a decent last-minute deal at a Marriott-type property using some of my hoarded points, so I checked in here instead. I haven't been sleeping well, so a real bed and an early night seemed important.
Then, I drove to the magical north bay (aka Mill Valley) to have lunch with Tony. He owned my fave cafe in the Marina when I lived there, but he shut it down during covid and never reopened. So we ate brunch together, and it was a delight. Then I came back to the city, checked into my new hotel, picked up Tom, and had tea with him at Fort Mason / The Long Now. We talked about writing, etc., which was great.
And now, I am going to go to sleep - my evening was quiet (salad and fries at the bar, although I chatted up the bartender because I realized she used to be at Le Meridien) and now I need to sleep. Goodnight!
I had a v. nice day, even if it did involve going to the dirty east bay. It helped that I got a lot of sleep last night and so was starting to feel normal again - and I also wrote for an hour or so this morning, which felt great. Then, I walked down Post Street to a rental car place; while my current abode in Japantown is still quite nice and the neighborhood here is generally good, it seems that the Tenderloin is encroaching on the eastern part of Post. Post was always just a little sketch, but I walked it all the time from Lower Nob Hill to the SF office (or Union Square and the mall) back when I lived at Chandlord's place. I would still walk it today, but it felt grimier. So far my impression of SF has been mostly positive (it's definitely livelier than it was during any visit I've made during the pandemic), but I'll be curious to see how the rest of the week shakes out.
sssanyway, I picked up a rental car and immediately remembered how to drive in the city, which is a good thing since it's a next-level mess of one-way streets and ill-enforced traffic laws. I drove across the bay to Oakland, where I was 40mins early for my lunch (unheard of), so I sat in my car and wrote. Then, I met up with Victor for lunch, which was a real blast from the past - I'm guessing it's been well over a decade since we last saw each other. He was in my freshman dorm at Stanford, and we kept in touch for several years after college - but he and his wife moved away at some point, and we fell out of touch. We reconnected via LinkedIn recently, though, and decided to get together since I was going to be here. It was really wonderful to see him - and a little strange to pick up with someone again after fifteen years, but it seems to be one of my skills.
After we had lunch, I drove to Berkeley and wrote for another hour at a way-too-cool-for-me coffee shop (the building felt like it was just a hallway and everyone was sitting on the floor because there were no chairs (although there were posh cushions for the floor), and grabbed a table outside that was on a fairly steep hill). Eventually, John joined me, and we caught up for forty-five minutes or so. He was at my party with Jess on Saturday, but we hadn't really chatted, so it was nice to say hi.
Then I drove back to the evil city, and was pleasantly surprised that traffic wasn't a nightmare. When I got here, I wrote for just a bit more and then walked over to The Progress to meet up with Claude. We spent a couple of hours eating a variety of tasty things that I absolutely can't get in Iowa, and we also went deep on each other's lives. I may have convinced her to come visit me in Iowa, especially by offering up [censored]'s services to let her son play with a tractor or excavator, which would probably be the best thing to ever happen to that kid.
After we parted ways, I walked back to my hotel and met up with Chandlord, who was here for a drink with one of her coworkers who is also staying here. So, we chatted for a bit (and I referenced my blog to settle a dispute, which the coworker was in awe of). And now, I need to sleep - goodnight!
I'm still recovering from yesterday's festivities, but my recovery wasn't too bad today - my post last night was abbreviated because it was 2:30am (4:30am in Iowa) and I was so tired that I was starting to type gibberish, but I actually wasn't that intoxicated from the party. So, other than the fact that I slept like garbage last night, which gave me a headache, I felt mostly fine.
Yesterday was fantastic, though. I ran some errands in the morning (to buy decor for the party) and then had lunch with Chandlord. We went to a ramen place near my hotel, where I ordered a pork dish with rice because I can't eat ramen - it was pretty tasty, and I'm glad I got that instead of the spice that made Chandlord weep silently while she was eating her food. What a fun and interesting experience!
Then, I parted ways with Chandlord and took an uber to the Marina and back to pick up a bunch of cupcakes. I did a bit of work, took a brief nap, and then took care of some party stuff. Jess showed up at my hotel so that she could get ready, since she was already in SF for something earlier in the day, and I roped her into helping me with some decor elements. We shared an uber to the party venue, and she very kindly helped me set up the space. I'm very grateful that she was able to help, since I would not have had time to do everything myself!
Eventually, the party started, and it was a total riot. People were mostly on time and also mostly took it as an opportunity to dress up after years of no parties. The food and drinks were excellent. And I saw a total cross-section of all the major phases of my California life - Stanford people (freshman year and senior year), early coworkers, writing friends, and some connections between the groups. I'm used to seeing these people in separate / smaller gatherings, but it was really fun to see everyone in more of a party mode.
Of course, some ridiculous tings happened. Julie kept insisting on doing shots, but since the bar wasn't actually doing shots, they just poured cocktails into shot glasses - which was much tastier and safer for my liver. We discovered that Jane has a bunch of old photos stored on SmugMug, which I didn't even realize was still in business. John gave me (and everyone else) a Magic card for "The Swamp," which seemed appropriate. Walter came on his own actual birthday, which was great (and I hadn't seen him in forever, so I was glad he and his wife made it). I indulged Chris, Adit, and John, in playing "All the Way Up to Heaven" on the epic playlist. And we had an abbreviated candle ceremony in which Adit read a brief but v. dirty scene from one of my books (and other people gave other, more sincere, toasts), which will live in my heart for a long time.
So we hung out for about four hours, and people slowly trickled out at the end. The final nine went to Last Rites, which was around the block...but Adit and I made the mistake of ordering three punchbowls for nine (reasonable) and then discovering that really, only four or five people were drinking (not reasonable). I didn't need a punchbowl after the cocktails at the party, but I persevered, and Adit and I finished our punch bowl even though we had to give up on the other two. And the final group (Julie, Tom, Rachel, Shari, Chandlord, Adit, and I) was a very solid final group.
I don't think I'll have a birthday party again for a long time - but I have to say that this one lived up to my expectations, and I was thoroughly delighted by it. Happily, I have some time to catch up with poeple more quietly the next few days, but as parties go, this one was pretty great.
So I got back to my hotel around two last night, went to bed, and slept v. v. fitfully. Today, I mostly took it easy - I ate breakfast at the hotel, did some work / writing, ordered a takeout sandwich from Ike's (I do love their sandwiches), took a nap, etc. Then, I walked down to Beretta (on Divis) to meet up with Katrina - she wasn't able to come to the party last night, so it was great to see her. We caught up for three hours over pizza and squid ink risotto, and it was v. tasty (and wonderful).
And now, I really need to sleep - goodnight!
I have a million things to say, but I can't say any of it because I also had a million cocktails (+ three v. ill-advised bowls of punch at Last Rites). Suffice it to say that my birthday party was a smashing success, and my heart is full wtih everything that happened tonight.
I need to recount in more detail tomorrow, but I'm going to go to bed so that I don't miss anyone, mixcount anything, or fail to capture how much fun we had. More to come later - goodnight!
I'm leaving for California tomorrow and I have a million things to do before then, but at least I got some tings done today. I did a bunch of laundry, moved various items around my house, sent some emails, and rewarded myself for the emails with some tuna salad and potato chips (lunch of champions). Then I did more laundry, cleaned up the garage, and briefly saw my parents. And then I came home and made myself dinner (my usual black bean chili, which [censored] and I are now calling Elmer's Chili because it's must more of a paste-like consistency than [censored] prefers in chili, although I happen to love it).
Shortly after I ate and cleaned up the kitchen, [censored] arrived, and so we talked for awhile. And then I spent the last couple of hours taking care of various tasks and choosing which articles of clothing I'm going to take on my trip. There's still time to change my mind tomorrow, but at least the initial winnowing is complete.
And now, I need to sleep - goodnight!
I have v. little to report today. It started absurdly early - I had to give a talk to a local group about the mural festival, and their standing meeting is at 7am. I got to the bowling alley (which is where they meet) right on time, and I was pleasantly surprised by breakfast (I had an egg and two sausage patties, which was pretty tasty). There were only four people at the meeting, which seemed to turn into an attempt to get me to join the group, which was rather entertaining. But all in all it was good, and I'm glad I went.
Since I got out at eight a.m. and was wide awake, I decided to run to the next town over so I could pick up a few things I needed at Walmart. Then I came home and spent the day alternating between working and procrastinating - I'm starting to get back into some grooves, but I still don't feel like doing much. I did talk to Katie, though, and I also took care of a lot of things for my upcoming trip, so I felt pretty good about the day.
And now, I need to sleep - despite my somewhat productive day, I have a million things to do tomorrow. Goodnight!
Sorry that I've been intermittently blogging lately - I'm still recovering from the mural festival, and when I do work up energy to get tings done, I sometimes run out before it's time to blog. I spent most of this weekend at the Round Barn - it was open for tours this weekend, and I hung out there all day both days to help sell t-shirts and direct incoming visitors. Today was pretty quiet compared to yesterday - we had the benefit of a lot of local visitors yesterday thanks to the town celebration, but today we didn't really have anyone all morning.
However, it was still nice to sit out there - I spent the morning talking to my parents and the mother of one of my high school friends (who was also my reading teacher). She had volunteered to sit in one of the buildings all morning, but since we had no visitors, she hung out on the porch with us instead. In the afternoon, things picked up a bit, and I also chatted with another volunteer for quite awhile. All in all, I sold some t-shirts, took in some donations, got even more tan on my arms, and otherwise had a v. relaxing day (although there are a million things I need to do that haven't gotten done).
When we were done, I came home, unloaded my car, and made burrito bowls for me and [censored]. Then I did some online work for the last couple of hours. And now I really need to sleep so that I can pursue tomorrow's plans - goodnight!
I had a pretty decent day, all in all. I actually wrote for several hours this morning / early afternoon, which felt like alternating between pulling teeth and flowing; it will take some time to get fully into a writing practice again, but I am starting to feel ready for it. I ate some leftovers for a v. late lunch, did some more work in the afternoon, and then went into town for my first meeting as a member of the library board.
The library had solicited board applications this summer, and I applied because 1) I loved the library as a kid and it was hugely beneficial for me, and 2) I still care a lot about libraries (professionally as a writer and personally as a reader / lover of books) and I figured better me than someone else. My application was approved, and today was my first meeting. The president of the board is my former Spanish teacher, and one of the other board members is someone I know who is almost my age, so that made it feel pretty accessible. I still have a lot to learn / understand, but hopefully it will be a good thing to be involved in.
Then I came home, wrote for another hour on my balcony, ate a v. late dinner (leftover prime rib from Saturday night), and said hi to [censored], who got home from the usual trip to [censored]. And now, I'm going to crawl into bed and probably finish the book I started last night. Goodnight!
I have stayed up just slightly too late, but I miraculously managed to put a book down even as it's closing in on the climax, so maybe I'll get to bed before I ruin tomorrow. Today was pretty uneventful - I got up, did some stuff, went into town for allergy shots, and then had a mural committee meeting. We're still wrapping some things up, but overall things went well, so hopefully I can push through the end-of-project boredom and do what I need to do.
After the meeting, a couple of us went out to the Fairgrounds to pick up the last few things. Then I came home, ate a v. belated lunch, and wrote off and on for a couple of hours. Then I talked to Veronica, took a v. short walk, ate leftover shrimp alfredo for dinner, and started reading INK BLOOD SISTER SCRIBE. It's a fantasy novel I stumbled across awhile ago and added to my online library borrowing queue (thanks Denver for not kicking me out of the library yet!). I'd forgotten all about it in the haze of the mural festival, but it showed up a couple of days ago and I decided to try it. I've really enjoyed it - it's a bit bizarre, and it's unusual to have three viewpoints in a non-epic book, but I like it a lot. I don't think I'll write a book about magical books since it's pretty hard to pull off - I weirdly find books about magical books to be hit or miss for me, but this one is a hit.
However, I need to sleep if I'm going to get anything done tomorrow, so it's time for bed. Goodnight!
Happy birthday to me! I had a v. lazy day - I slept in, had some cold brew, took a shower, and did a bit of writing work (not actual writing, but some writing-adjacent stuff that I'd been wanting to do). Then I had lunch with [censored]. And then I messed around a bit, ran into town for a couple of groceries, came home, and baked myself some funfetti cupcakes. The gluten free funfetti mix from Pillsbury is surprisingly excellent - it dries out a little quicker than regular cupcakes, but they start out as moist as any gluten free product can be, and they're v. tasty.
I had a brief non-relaxing moment in the afternoon when [censored] discovered water in the basement - but we think we know the source and nothing was damaged, so I relaxed again. Then, I said farewell to [censored], who missed out on the dinner I made for me and the parents - I decided to make shrimp alfredo, which is v. tasty and extremely quick. Mom and Dad came in to eat with me, so they also benefitted from the cupcakes, and it was all great.
After they left, I cleaned up, took some trash to the dumpster, checked the basement (still dry), messed around, journaled / wrote, etc. And now I need to sleep - thanks for all the birthday wishes, everyone! Goodnight!
I had another v. lazy day - I was strangely tired all day, but I think this is probably ongoing adrenaline collapse from everything that happened in August to get ready for the mural festival. I did get some tings done, like getting the last of the paint supplies out of a building in Allerton, taking some photos of various murals, paying my water bill, doing laundry, etc. I also made burrito bowls for me and [censored] for dinner, which was a success. And I wrote a bit this morning / evening and also contemplated my book in my head while making dinner, so maybe I'll get back into it this week.
But for now, I really need to sleep - goodnight!
I had a v. sloth-filled day today - I got a lot of sleep last night, and I wasn't able to move from that straight into getting tings done today. I did accomplish a handful of things (cleaning, tidying, various tasks, etc), and I also got groceries, washed my car, and checked up on more mural installations. It wasn't as much as I'd intended to do, but for a day off it felt pretty good.
In the evening, I met up with the parents for dinner at our usual prime rib spot - it was pretty tasty, and it gave me another chance to inspect the mural in that town (which looks gorgeous). The prime rib spot was surprisingly slow for a Saturday, but it was nice that it wasn't packed, since we were able to talk and weren't overwhelmed with a bunch of people around us.
Then I came home, did some tings, and greeted [censored], who got back from [censored] tonight. And now, I need to sleep - goodnight!
I was pretty lazy today - I'm still recovering from the mural festival, although I'm by no means done with it. Yesterday I did some stuff for it in the morning, and then drove east on a whim so I could drive past the new mural that was installed in our smallest town on Highway 2. The mural looks great, and after taking some pics for social media, I went on to the "big" town east of here to grab lunch and get some groceries. And I spent last night doing some complicated accounting to try to make sense of piles of money that volunteers had helpfully kept separate across three envelopes and a yogurt container - I think I figured it out, but it fried my brain for blogging.
Today was a bit more of the same - I slept in, then ran to town to look for some golf cart keys that we had misplaced (I was successful) and take a photo of the new mural on the side of the museum. Then I came home, showered, ate lunch, and went back into town for allergy shots. I reacted to them, but I'm still alive, so I guess that's okay.
Then I sped up to the tiniest town in the county because their mural was installed today and I wanted some pics for Facebook. I have literally never seen another person in that town (their population is 29) - but in the five minutes I was there to take a picture, I ran into a documentary filmmaker who was in town to see if he could find anyone to learn more about the place. He apparently has a grant and is starting to prep for a film about very small towns. More bizarrely / serendipitously, he also went to Stanford (MFA, not undergrad) and worked for my former employer, and we were both visibly shocked to have run into each other. So I sent him to the museum and told him that they would have info about the town, and I heard from the museum director later that she was able to intro him to the mayor that afternoon. It was a completely unexpected little twist of fate, but maybe he'll like the town (and the murals) enough to come back.
Then I came home, did some tings, opened a bottle of v. nice cabernet, and drank a glass while sitting on my balcony writing. This is the first time I've sat on my balcony (or wrote) in weeks, and it felt amazing to hang out there. At some point, I took a break and made rice and "thai turkey maidrite" (a dish using a premixed sauce packet, which is quite spicy; I added ground turkey, onions, and red pepper, and it was all pretty tasty.
Then I retreated to my room, made my bed with fresh sheets, and talked to Katie for a couple of hours. And now I really need to sleep - goodnight!
I'm beyond tired, but the festival continues to go swimmingly. I had to take someone to the Des Moines airport today, which isn't what I wanted to be doing, but it was in some ways a nice way to get a little time to myself (at least on the way back). And the artist was a delightful person to chat with, so at least that all worked out okay. And [censored] checked in with the brigade at the soda fountain wall for me and found that they were well under control, with multiple layers of command structure (and plenty of snacks), so at least I knew they were in good hands.
After I got back, I ate lunch at my house, grabbed some tings, considered taking a nap, and decided against it. I checked in at the soda fountain and found that morale was still high (and lots of people were stopping by, so I talked to several of them). Then I went into the Fairgrounds, where morale was also high but chaos was even higher. It wasn't that bad, though - just a million details to deal with, and not enough time.
But we made it through the afternoon, and then we had our recognition dinner / benefit auction for the mural festival. [Censored] said that the [censored] was like [censored] and this was a [censored] concert, which won joke of the night, but I can't tell you because [censored] is v. private. That said, the dinner ticket was a hot commodity, and we basically filled the event center. My parents, [censored], and Aunt B and Uncle B came (due to being donors, being my +1, and being gifted someone's tickets that had already changed hands a couple of times). I did not sit with them to eat, since I was too busy helping with the dinner flow, but the food that I had later was pretty tasty.
All in all, the evening was great - we thanked a lot of people and sold a lot of incredible art. I was v. happy to win the auction for the Chautauqua mural, which I love; we also kept the Coca-Cola mural in the family, which was great since the lead painter for that is a total character. But the Farm Aid piece was the first time the public is seeing a sneak preview of the much bigger mural, and it was incredible - an amazing work of art, and also deeply emotional for a lot of people here (myself included).
So, the auction was a smashing success, we raised a bunch of money, and it's all good. I talked to some people after, then made it to the soda fountain right as it closed so that I could celebrate with a malt (almost as good as Milford used to make). And then I talked to [censored]/Aunt B/Uncle B for a couple of hours. And now, I really need to crash, since the festival still goes all day tomorrow - goodnight!
