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Bad Drew Today. My camera never left the cradle, so no picture. If it had been with me, the pic would have been of the food court at a local mall. Its been a LONG time since I've been in a mall. Regular Target didn't have the thremals I was lookin' for (neigher did the sports store), so I went the extra 900m across the was to the Target Greatland. I couldn't figure out why they had two stores so close together `til I saw that they were both busy. Anyhow, the Greatland is a anchor store for said mall, and I was lured in to look for pipe cleaners, shoes and long sleeve t-shirts. I stumbled into the food court. Mmmm...Mall food. For those of you who don't live in California, we have "hot dog on a stick" (corn dogs) here. They also dip and fry cheese. Fresh. You see `em dip your stuff and put it the the fryer fresh. Its damn good stuff, not Long John Silvers (which we don't have) but good stuff all the same. After I finished my dawg and cheese, I was overwhemlned by the holy glow of the Double Rainbow. Double Rainbow is a locally made ice cream, and thier Green Tea is my favorite ice cream ever. Don't go out and grab just any green tea ice cream to try it, most of it is pretty nasty. But DR Green Tea, maybe `cause they don't use vanilla, is godsent. I get this calm soothing happy feeling everytime I have it. It's a shame you can't get it here in the Castro anymore. If you are ever in San Franciso, If you do nothing else, try Double Rainbow Green Tea ice cream.
Hmm...I was going to write something insightful about the SF/East Bay rivalry--ahhh...but how can that compete with the smooth subtle taste of...
Weather was suprisingly nice today. Especially since I was expecting rain. Clear all day for me. I rode up the the Russian River--pretty much same route as last time. Got chilled again. Must find/get thermal underwear--my union suits are not cutting it. Maybe a trip to Walmart tomorrow will take care of that. `course maybe a trip to the cycle shops for a new jacket (and maybe some rain gear) would also be in order. I need to stop by GG cyle tomorrow anyway to get a new reflector assembly. The price tag on the part doesn't seem nearly so much after the recent repair bill.
Yesterday at work was a little hectic. The storms up north had cut off power to our Santa Rosa offices for more than four hours, and after the batteries deemed it safe to do so, the Novell file server didn't come back up as gracefully as it should have. I also had to do my first Lotus Notes password recovery, which can be a bit trickey.My dinner date didn't happen, so I grabbed chineese and sushi on the way home. I got to chat with the now identifible Texas man, LthrFan Dan. Over dinner and a bit after. After Dan went offline, I hopped over to iSpQ and ran into woofy Polar Bear John. John told me he was headed for the Lone Star, so I hopped on my motorcycle and followed him over so I could shamelessly hit on him. It was a good night at the Lone Star. I got to visit with a good many friends as well as flirt with John (and some other guys as well.)
Rainy and cold here today, so no roadtrips for the DrewBear. Breakfast, cartoons, Internet and now fixin' to go out and forrage for food.
I had dinner with Leigh last night. (Yes, Clair that's the right Leigh) Tomato soup and grilled cheese at the Cove. (I should write macros for those).
After dinner we exchanged xmas gifts. Leigh got me a cool watertight travel humidor. I got Leigh a vintage lego airport for xmas, and 1x2 clear bulk bricks for his birthday. I'll have to post a picture of our construction--way cool. A ring of bricks about 2' across and 6 bricks high. Buildable only because the clear bricks have no center stud and when built in staggered series, can be twisted ever so slighty into an arc.
After Leigh went home, I spent some time online with a wonderful guy from Dallas--chatted with him again this morning. He talked me through tieing a nice rig that I'm sure I'll be using quite alot. Amazing what you can learn online.
Good web news: I'm findable in �Yahoo! and Google searches now. Bad web news: I didn't seperate my keywords with commas when I created my site, so I'm not getting hits for all the searchs I'd like. With the commas in place and good crawlers willing, I should be showin' up in more searches soon.
�D'oh! I just did a search for just my last name, Dirschell, and my Dad is talking about me and my whimpy 250cc motorcycle in his Virago Owner's Club group. I'll have to ask him which other �Yahoo! groups he belongs to.
After a hectic start, last night turned out great. I got home from work, got cleaned up, then started to get dressed when I realized that when I got myself all new pants last March, I failed to get any dress pants. I wear Carhartts to work, and the same carhartts and sometimes jeans when I'm at home. Grrr...I ended up wearing my workman's kilt, and will get a proper kilt made for the next time I need to be dressy. The next bit of panic came when I got my tickets out of the humidor. I popped open their little envelope, and saw that they were for the 7pm showing rather than the 9pm tickets I ordered. The 9pm show had been sold out for weeks. After a quick call to Vince letting him know our ticket problem, I went right to the box office fully expecting them to tell me tough luck. Instead, the attendent nodded his head like he completely expected me to have this problem, took my 7pm tickets and gave me 9pm tickets. I was blown away.I made social rounds with the 7pm line folk--exchanging greetings, kisses and hugs (I could kick myself now for not takeing pictures of folks while they were trapped in line anyway) until Vince arrived. We had a nice spicy Thai dinner at Khun Phoa, a drink at the Edge, then joined our DancingBear friends in line for the 9pm show. Much merriment and visiting ensued. I continue to be amazed by how many folks I know out of the streets in the Castro Christmas Eve.
Jim had saved our group seats, thankfully in the balcony--my favorite, because we get to sing the Fa La La's during the sing along portion of the show. The pic was taken shortly before the show started. It didn't occur to me to take any pictures during the show, and I got teary eyed during just as soon as the mighty mighty Wurlitzer started playing Jeanette MacDonald's "San Francisco" and they boys filtered on to the stage, and then on and off `til the final song, Home for the Holidays, where I had a few running down to my whiskers. They add in just a tough of "San Francisco" in the lyrics and a dash of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (The "Someday I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me" part) in the accompaniment. It is a beautiful arrangement.
After the wondeful show, we wandered up the hill to Jim & Al's house for a post concert party. It was great. Usually I wander home from the concert wanting more, and its a quick letdown to go right home. This year I got to visit with friends and decompress well past midnight, and wandered home when we were ready.
The Financial District is almost deserted. I'm down to three co-workers and one is leaving soon. I'm here `til close of business as I am the poor fuck who would rather have a plan than wait and see will stay the longest.I had a buddy cancel for the best night of the year in the Castro Gay Men's Chorus Home for the Holidays Concert. Luckily, I am whitty and charming, as well as the center of my own universe, and was able to secure another bigger furrier date in short order. It also probably helps that the event is very desireable, sold out and I have an extra tickt. This one also has no complications going to the after party as he's in that circle of friends anyway. I'll probably gush about the concert tomorrow, but �why not start now? I get all teary eyed and cry every year towards the end of the concert. So do alot of other folks. There is some element of the event that is the distilled essence of family. More times than not gay folks have to shed the skin of what they've been raised with, and choose a path of thier own. Sometimes it means losing connections to their biological family, and having to/getting to choose their family. I get a big sense of that feeling during the concert. We're Home--a home where we choose to be, and not just where we're put.
Another co-worker gone-down to two now, and then the other. I'm off to start unplugging the holiday lights, and shutting down the shop.
Every year since 1880, San Francisco has had a lighted Christmas tree in Union Square. Most folks attribute the start of this tradition to the dictates of Emperor Norton I of the United States, and Protector of Mexico. While I can't find the exact wording of the decree, it read somthing along the lines of: a lighted Christmas tree shall be erected in Union Square for the enjoyment of San Francisco's children. Emperor Norton also decreed the building of the Bay and Golden Gate bridges (though he didn't name them, just gave descriptions), that San Franciscans advance money to Frederick Marriott for his airship experiments, and my personal favorite that "Whoever after due and proper warning shall be heard to utter the abominable word "Frisco," which has no linguistic or other warrant, shall be deemed guilty of a High Misdemeanor, and shall pay into the Imperial Treasury as penalty the sum of twenty-five dollars." A list of His Imperial Majesty's decrees that the San Francisco Museum believes to be authentic can be found here. It's a crying shame we don't have him around today to give us these insights. `couse he could be, and we probably wouldn't notice him with all the other fuckin' mental cases tryin' to run the show `round here.Regarding my earlier entry on the generic public art on the Embarcadero. Seems Donald and Doris Fisher, founders of The Gap, gave the art to the city as a gift. I have no doubt that city incured some expense building the park around it. The donors also explain the cutesy product. I found this out today reading a new article on the `Gate. Seems I missed that, "Viewed from farther off, across the Embarcadero, the curves of Cupid's bow dovetail with the arching fronds of the palms that line the causeway and implicitly also with the swoop of the road itself." - Kenneth Baker. �Puke!
I rode up to Guerneville today via Route 1 (up the coastline). Fueled up in Bodega Bay, and had every intention of having dinner at Pat's in Guerneville, but Pat's now closes for the day at three--I got there not much long after. I topped off my tank and headed for Rohnert park and the Arby's that I know waits there for me. I have a weakness for their "horsey" sauce, then headed home with one more fuel stop on the way. I rode about 180 miles today, and about 300 alltogether this weekend.On my way back over the Golden Gate Bridge, which now has a whopping $5 toll, I knew my butt was stiff from the ridin' and that I'd be hurtin' tomorrow if I went right to bed. I went home, showered up, and headed out to SOMA in my truck (which was in a Monday cleaning spot and needed to be moved anyway) and did a tour of the Lone Star, and then danced for a couple of hours at Planet Big. Mark & Steve were holding court at The Spot per usual, and the Bears Gone Wild boys had taken over a corner. I visted with the court a bit, and headed over to the Bears Gone Wild. If tonight wasn't a school night, I would have probably allowed myself to be swept away in thier joyus drunkness. I love Bears Gone Wild, and am so tickled that they're friendly towards me. I visited a bit with Vince, and was off to Planet Big.
Music at Planet Big was funky and unpredictable per usual. DancingBearSF folk were all off at Ruby Sky, and many of the folks I usually dance with were not there. Luckily Jeff & Greg were there, and Super Woofy Jeff danced with me `til I got worn out. I'm fading fast and off to bed.
I went and picked up my bike from the shop this morning. Repairs were more than estimated, but that is to be expected. I popped by home to clean my visor and grab gloves, then off to the San Gregorio mountains and the long overdue visit to Alices. I took a wrong turn off the great highway, and saw the beautiful double rainbow pictured. The second rainbow didn't show up very clearly to the naked eye, but I had on my polarized "blueblocker" glasses and it was visible to me, it wasn't until I'd taken a dozen or so pictures straddling my bike on the side of the road that I remembered I had the glasses on and might take better pics without them. Then had to put them right back on when the second rainbow almost dissapeared with out `em. Having been so excited about taking rainbow pics I faild to realize I turned down the wrong road and took a nice long haul up through a beautiful wet redwood forrest with slanted sumbeams cutting down through the fog. I'm SO glad I made that wrong turn. I got to see a good many beautiful things. Too bad I didn't have sense enough to put my sweatshirt and heavy gloves on as soon as I started to feel the cold. I headed back to Half Moon Bay and fueled up again after my detour and headed for Alice's. I started shiverin' well before I got there, and was shiverin' pretty bad at the counter orderin'. I had the first cup of hot coffee in lord know how long tryin' to warm up. Also had a bowl of hot chilly and a burger. Mistake #2 was not staying long enough to get completly warmed up. They way home was pretty damn cold, and I shivered enough that it was getting scary. I got home in one piece, stripped naked and stood the the shower `til the water heater ran out of hot water. I'm bundled up now and in for the night. Tommorow I'm gonna haul out the long johns. | This is a really bad picture of Kelly. When I took it today I promised him that I'd post it. When he sees how awful it looks he'll probably march right over, wrastle me down and make me delete it. Remember Kelly, rubbers and lube are under the head of the bed on the passengers side. Kelly looks much better than this in real life, the pic just doesn't do him or his beautiful cinnimon and sugar whiskers justice. |
I woke up at 04:00 this mornin' when my internal clock thought is was time to start bakin'. I didn't plan on gettin' up `til 05:00, but theres no arguein' with the clock. I whipped up my first ever batch of pecan bars, and while they were in the oven, a batch of rice crispy treats. The pecan bars are not what I had expceted. They were good, but I was thinkin' they'd be more translucent/chewy/candish.Work today was mostly centered around the multifloor potluck, and not much work got done at all. I'm still pretty whupped and couldn't wait to get home.
Once I got home, I no more sat down then a fell asleep, and woke up right before I was supposed to meet Leigh for dinner. We broke our usual Cove routine and went to Orphan Andy's. He popped over for a bit of TV before wandering home, and I'm fixin' to get some long overdue sleep.
I got the call today, and am supposed to go pick up my motorcycle tomorrow. Depending on the weather, I might ride right down to Alice's for lunch on that long overdue trip. Glad I didn't fix it myself. Way the boys at the the shop tell it, they had a hard time with two of the repairs I needed. Tomorrow will tell how much it'll cost me.
I'm at the Van Ness MUNI station waiting for a car home. An M was just pulling out as I got to the station. Looks like a good 7 minutes before the next car (of any kind). I'm writing the entry now because I'm pretty whupped and will go to bed as soon as I get home. So much for doing the baking I put off last night--I'll put it off 'till morning.Ride home
10:36 I just got home and found a huge package, and had an antsy message from my Mom asking if I got the package. I took that as a que to open it immediatly. It was filled with Ekrich smokey links. 20 packages. 10 out of 10 for style and effort Mom. I appreciate your thoughts. I can't see how these thoughts might include that I still haven't finished up the smokey links you brought me last April, and that I'm going to have to move by February first, but 10 out of 10 for style. If anyone in San Francisco would like to try out some good midwestern breakfast fare, I've got PLENTY.
Picture is of Sutro tower first thing this morning before the storm rolled back in.
Pic is from a park near the gate waterfront. Limbs downed from storm damage this weekend. Seems we've got another big `round of storms on the way. Looks like no rummage sale again this weekend.Thanks for whichever well wishers I had for finding the LEGO train controllers yesterday. I found one more, and suspect there are still two hidden away.
Good day at work today. Cleaned up my office and made some progress on getting the Novell server to provide DHCP services. We had our holiday team lunch today at a pricy restraunt that wasn't all that good. We had a good time anyway.
I didn't get the baking doe I had hoped to tonight, and'll have to make my desserts for Friday's potluck tomorrow night after the IBR planning meeting.
I just remembered that I hadn't head from the shop for a couple days about how the bike repairs are coming. Will have to call tomorrow can check.
I got to go to the basement at work today. I LOVE going to the basement, and I got to see a few new (for me) rooms. Storage cages, Engineer Mike's Office, and the pump room. Oh Engineer Mike, what I wouldn't do to have free access to your building. I remember coming in on the weekend one day last summer. My office is on the top floor of the building. The door stairwell door alarms were going off when I stepped out fo the elevator, so I was a good tenant and went to check them out and shut them off. The stairwell doors were propped open all the way to the roof. �Wow! I couldn't resist, and wandered up sure I'd get caught and shooed back downstairs. Instead I got a glimpse of the 25th "floor" mech room, and a visit to the roof. It was beautiful I was lucky to get the oppertunity on a clear day. I could see all the way to the hayward range to the East, and the ocean horizon to the west. Breezy sunny and warm. I woulda stayed up there all day if I wasn't afraid of getting caught.Yesterday was my regular day off, so I didn't look at my calendar for the week until today. I'm overbooked this week. IBR hotel coordination meeting tonight afer work, tomorrow making pies and snackythings, Thursday IBR planning meeting, Friday work potluck. Grrr...no time for Drew this week.
I've been looking everywhere for my 9v LEGO train controllers. I must have at *least* six of them, but can only find three. Most times I'm stumbling over them left and right, `cause really �What am I gonna do with six controllers at once. Christmas decorations at work. Partially cause they look nice and my coworkers love the trains, but mostly so I can get them out of my home stuff to have less to haul around during my upcoming move. I've only looked at the top layer of the toy box under the basement stairs. Mostly `cause I can't dig out around it to move it to a space where I can get to the innerds Thats one of the few space left where they could be. Wish me luck.
Mmmm...got yummy oatmeal from Krivaar this morning. It was great all except the little piece of cardboard. ...or maybe because of the bit of cardboard I found (or others I didn't.) Ever since Mom mentioned in her recent call that she's been craving it since seeing her new holistic healer guy, I've been craving it too. I made up a big batch of steel cut oats Sunday for breakfast, and finished them off last night.
Seems the folks at the clinic hit on the right combo of antibiotics. I'm feeling human again today, and all the sudden am seeing the world again. Now to just finish healing up. Somebody's gonna get a treat this weekend.
Full day so far. I went back to the clinic, hoping big woofy Chuck would be there with the test results from my first trip. He was and did have them. He told me I should be healing up by now and I'm not. Chuck took some more swabs (�ouch!), felt me up, sent me down the hall for a shot of some other kind of anti-biotics, and gave me yet another kind of anti-biotics in pill form. He told me to come back Thursday or Friday and ask for Joe. Joe is the big alpha doctor at the clinic and probably my last resort. They continue to assure me that my dick is not going to fall off.After the clinic I headed across the Bay to San Leando to Waliworld. I made my not unusual mistake of taking 580S rather than 880S, and did a little detour through urban sprawl to get back on track. I got the green rubermaid bins I was needing and some shirts and xmas gifts besides. Folks were suprisingly civilized considering we're in the midst of holidays. I was suprised they didn't have trees out front.
I got back to town and finally booked the second act for the IBR pagent in February. �Woo Hoo! I've been worried over that. I got Blake, who comes highly recommend from the famous Harry Lit (Harry on the Right), the Bear in CastroBear Presents.
I didn't sell the carhartts today. The Daddy clerk I was hopin' for wasn't at WOW, and I want to sell to him `cause I don't believe he'll screw me over. Not in a monetary sense anyway. (evil grin)
Went to Cove for lunch. Tomato Soup. I fear the way business is going for them, The Cove won't last.
Off to do more chores maybe sorting books for rummage sale, or packing trains to take into the office.
I was reading TMB's entry about pants size this morning and it struck a chord with me. One of my chores today is to sell my 34" carhartts as they no longer have any chance of fitting me. This spring for my 30th birthday, I gave myself pants that really fit, and skipped from 34" to 38". Sure, they're baggy, and depending on how hydrated I am, sometimes slide down, but they feel great. No more of this strangling my bowels and bladder bit anymore. And now, even though I hate to give them up, `cause who knows, I may need them someday. (Not) I need to find a new home for them as they take up precious space.Must get rid of things for move..must get rid of things for move...must get rid of things for move...i will not obsess...i will not obsess...i will not obsess...
I did next to nothing today. I washed all my laundry, chatted on �Yahoo! messenger and ISPQ, broke down some LEGO Bionicle rahi models, and beat the ice titan on Kingdom Hearts.I called Mom again today, and got the machine again. She returned my call later. Nothing earthshaking to tell me, but it was nice to chat with her.
I had dinner with Leigh, who pointed out that I didn't include our last dinner in my blog. Heaven forbid.
Anyway, I suddenly felt dog tired, and wanted to pop in an entry for today before going to bed.
Picture is of the recently unveiled and repainted Harveys. I like the color.
I shall ammend my previous statements--or countermand them entirely. DJ Paulo's November 9 set at Pallidium is my favorite ever. I will have to experience a much larger sample of his work before I go claiming he's my favorite again. Tonight's set was not bad, it just wasn't the incredible experience I had on November 9.
As usual with the dancing, I almost didn't go `cause I didn't feel up to it, but now am oh so glad I did. Body, while dehydrated, feels real good. I have to work on the dehydration thing. It seems to be my limiting factor. The muscles aren't tired, the brian wants to keep going, respritory is chugging along nicely, but as much as I try to drink, I run out of fluids and start to feel "sunburnt" on my head. I know if I push it, the feeling starts to creep down to my face neck and shoulders and then the next morning I'm wickedly dehydrated. Hmmm...off to do a little work on the universe, then off to bed.
Went into work this morning and worked on the SFO server with Joyce. We didn't get the new SCSI card installed that I'd hoped, but did fix a memory problem.I had a great time this afternoon at Rick and Randy's Annual Holiday Cookie Party. Some good folks there I hadn't seen in awhile. I didn't stay to see who won which catagories.
I'm fixin' to take a disco nap. My favorite DJ, DJ Paulo (caution: music at link), is spinning tonight at Palladium. I'm looking forward to it.
I was tickled to see myself mentioned in my favorite diary today. Seems I set into motion a series of events that might make for interesting reading there tomorrow. While it was entirely unintentional, it should keep my patron deities happy that I sparked off a little chaos and challenge. I'll be sure to light a candle before I go to bed tonight. My thoughts will be with you tomorrow, SquirrelX.
It's raining today in San Francisco, and MUNI is totally hosed. Both are common in a typical San Francisco Winter--given that MUNI is hosed all year `round. Something is wrong with the lines on First Street, which is a major "on ramp" to I80 and over the Bay Bridge. I left for lunch around 11:30 to the sounds of many angry horns honking. I was getting cross with the drivers until I saw what the were up against. A whole line of MUNI buses taking up a line down First Street(you can see them in the pic if you look closely), and a super clueless MUNI driver who decide to turn right into the far left but also not moving lane, and thereby blocking all four lane of traffic. I ate lunch, smoked a half bowl of Marty Pulvers' Bar `o Gold, and walked by about 45 minutes later to see she was still sitting in exactly the same place. �Yeah MUNI!I learned that the pipe Grant got me for Xmas last year still leaks stain all over my hands when it gets wet. My hat is also leaking. I have a wet head and orangey brown hands, and am glad to be back in the office smelling the smoke in my whiskers.
I was not at work Wednesday or Yesterday, and when I got in this morning, I had an anxious little message from my Mom. She says she's having trouble sending mail to my DrewBear.Com account. I'm not too anxious to return her call as I suspect that the timing of her call, coinsiding my recent entries, is not entirely coincidental. Wish me luck.
I went out this evening to see the room Rudy has to rent. It is beautiful. While it is easily worth every dollar he wants for it, it's more that I care to pay in rent. I don't think he'll have much problem find someone who will. If I know and love you, and you're lookin' for a great room on Potrero Hill, I'd be happy to refer you to him.I got back in the neighborhood, found a place to park, and grabbed dinner at the Cove. Very slow tonight. I was the only diner there for the bulk of my meal. Luckily the wait staff are great and kept me company. No tomato soup tonight.
The antibiotics kicked in right when the clinic folk said they would--with the exact symptoms. It gives me hope that they know what their doing, and my dick won't fall off after all.
I host movie night at my place last night, with the overwealming majority of votes goin' to Serial Mom. A dozen guys showed up-a few I didn't know. Was just right so far as I was concerned. I was on the pillow pile on the floor with Red John and Vince. Good place to be. I popped 2� pounds of popcorn, and the boys ate through more than half of it. Bring Your Own Drinks didn't work as well, and being a forgetful host, I wasn't as good as I should have been about shoving drinks in folks hands.
I've been thinking a lot about shame lately. Mostly how it relates to what I do and don't include in my blog. I would love to live a shameless life. No shame. Not to mean brazen or tactless, but just to live my life in an open, honest, guilt free way. Every day I'm more of the opinion that shame is a manufactured feeling. The stress on the "man." Humans make shame themselves. We blacklist some of the simplest most natural things and make them dirty and secret and shameful. Then we perpetuate it through generations with never an examination about why. Never reevaluating. The cycle will never stop until a good many people just get fed up and do whatever the hell is right for them, and the rest of us be damned.That being said, I have a few confessions...er, no "confessions" sounds to much like I want to atone for them. I just want to be out with them--admissions maybe. I piss in the shower and in the bathroom sink and outside on trees and bushes when available. It saves water and is quicker--it just makes sense. I rarely wash my hands afterwards if all I do is piss, because my dick is almost always cleaner than my hands and piss is sterile. I also hate to think of what's on the sink handles. I like to have my belly and ears scratched. Not by everyone, but some folks do it just right,and sometimes my leg even shakes. I sometimes have skidmarks in my shorts. I am a slut, or maybe no more a slut as every other man on the face of the Earth, but I just follow through. Anyway I have sex a lot. A-LOT, and sometimes I get an STD. I'm thinkin' it's stupid and counter productive to make STDs shameful. Dirty little secrets that no one talks about and then keep spreadin' around `cause they're too embarrased to go to the doctor, are in denial, or both.
Sometimes I read SquirrelX's diary and think, �Wow!, I wish I had that many interesting things to write about every day...then realized one day--If I wrote about sex, I probably would have that many thing to write about. Don't get me wrong, I don't have many complications talking about what I do--I'd love to tell. Somehow I suspect that my gentleman callers might be put off by being written about in such a public way, so choose not to write on it.
That being said I went for a follow up at the clinic this morning, and afterwards had to call a list of a dozen or so guys to let them know I caught syphilis. Pay attention--this bit is important. The folks at the clinic tell me a body can catch syphilis and be asymptomatic and test negative on blood tests for around three months, and still may be contagious. I was still getting negatives on my blood test last Monday, while getting a nasty infectious sore. I'll have to wait to see next week how the results went this week, but luckily a whippy old RN who saw how much pain I was in made a slide and found the beasties herself. Seems they won't test positive in your blood `til the first `round of sore goes away, and they get into the bloodstream. Anyhow, the test isn't any big deal and I would strongly encourage it for anyone who plays around. Seems the syphilis, if untreated, stays with you even after the sores go away. It keeps eating at you without much in the way of outside signs. Treatment was two shots of penicillin, one in each butt cheek and hurts a lot less that the sore does. (Folks at the clinic tell me most folks' sores don't even hurt, they just come and go.) If you lie and say you've have sex with me, they'll even treat you if you're asymptomatic. If enough of you lie about having sex with me, they may start capturing me once a week and pumping me full of penicillin. �Woof!(grin)
Grrr...DSL line is down at home. Hopefully it will be back up this afternoon when I get home. Two appointments this afternoon--clinic and real doctor, then hosting movie night tonight. The gourmet popcorn arrived in the mail yesterday, so I won't have to use the last of Grandpa's 2001 homegrown popcorn if I don't want to. I was suprised to find that the variety Grandpa grows is not one of the varieties Crown Jewel sells. I'll have to find out what kind he DOES grow. Great stuff.
Not my typical Sunday. Working on servers went well--didn't get as much done as I'd hoped. commuted home in the holiday Union Square MUNI traffic. Grrr...bad commute for a Sunday. This gives me second thoughts about trying to get a picture of the lighted tree in Union Square, but I probably still will if for no other reason than it was Emperor Norton's idea to put a "lighted tree for the enjoyment of San Francisco's children." Someday I'll write about Emperor Norton to fill in non-San Franciscans. For now, I'll leave you with the gem that most folks in the city don't take kindly to our city being called "Frisco." Not due in small part to Emperor Norton's strong opinion and dictations on the issue.Friday night was Wes's going away party at the Eagle. For some god-awful reason I thought it was at 18:00. I was rushin' to get around, skipped dinner, turned down a perfectly good dinner offer, forgot to grab cigars and hurried off to MUNI. When I got there the place was empty. Sheer dumb luck had Kelly calling me on my mobile phone no more than six paces after the door, and he let me know that the party was really at 21:00. I'm still not clear on why Kelly called--it wasn't to tell me the party was at nine. He told me he'd been readin' me and wished me luck on the home search. He's probably just so holistically hip and connected to the universe that he just called. (Thanks Kelly) I wandered back home, grabbed some snacky things and cigars, switched a load of laundry, and headed back to the Eagle. The place wasn't packed, but there were alot of real people there--seems to me that a space seems alot more "full" when you know most of the folks there. I hung around with my Friday night cigar buddies for the first hour, then wandered over with John & Michael and Phil for the rest of the evening. I faded before Kelly & Bruce got there. Phil and I wandered to 7-11, got snacky things, and I fell asleep on the couch while he watched Pleasantville.
Yesterday was mostly uneventful. I only left the house twice. Once to get buttermilk and sausage so I could make biscuits and gravy for breakfast, and once to grab dinner at Hot & Hunky. I did some sorting, cleaning and laundry but not alot. I also played Mark of Kri for a few hours. I'm liking the battle stratagy planned into the game, and that for the most part stealth and planning are rewarded. I just don't care for the linear story line. No choice what to do next, or no oppertunity for "breaks" to practice or power up. Just A then B then C. I also played a little Kingdom Hearts last night. I beat the Hades Time Trial and earned Goofy his best weapon. I think the only things I have left are beating the clocktower boss, finding parts for Sora's weapon, then finishing the game again for the secret ending.
I'm off to work on my servers this morning. �Woo Hoo! Joyce is sick, so I won't get done all that I want to do, but I'll take advantage of the scheduled downtime to tweak some stuff.
I'm down in Salinas today waiting for court to finish so I can check out the cabling in the courtroom and wander home. I had a nice conversation withc Court Security Officer Ed about local history and historic places.Last night's Ba-Da-Bingo was "Jewish Chirstmas" with a fabulously dress "Grinchetta"--great costume and performance. My only grip is they kept yelling out bingo numbers in their faux-yiddish New York accents, and everyone kept misunderstanding the numbers. It didn't help that Sister Dana, who was also misunderstanding the numbers, was writing the incorrect ones on the board up front. All in all it was a great show. I sat with Paul & Pat from Guerneville, and got to visit with Jake & Co, John & Joe, and Earl.
Earlier yesterday afternoon I left work early and took my bike into the shop. It was alot less painful than I thought it would be, and not as expensive as I had feared. I should get the bike back next Tuesday or Wednesday, which suits me fine as I have Wednesday off, and would love to go `ridin.
�Isn't this bow and arrow thing the most inane piece of public art you've ever seen? No, it isn't ugly. It's just stupid. So literal, rigid and simple as to keep from being interpreted in any way. No good craftsmanship or clever engineering. It doesn't do anything useful. It's a fucking bow and arrow stuck in the ground. I seem to have blocked from memory how many hunderds of thousands of dollars the city paid for this thing.I need to make it a point to write earlier in the day, or write more often--picture or no. I had alot goin' on again today, but just want to go to bed right now.
Highlight of my day was bein' in the middle of a group cuddle with John, Joe & Earl at intermission during Ba-Da-Bingo. I got to rub Joe's furry belly. �Woof!
I'm not up for writing tonight. Alot going on in my head, but nothin' I care to fashion into words. In the middle of a busy week, and the whole moving thing is getting to me more than I care for it to.I had lunch with Leo today at a restraunt in the little alley I stumbled into last week. Harpoon somebody or other. Cheap and decent food. Wonderful atmosphere. I'll be going back.
Got a call back from the shop, and I'm taking my bike in tomorrow afternoon. As much as I'd like to work on it myself, and could really stand to save the money right now, I don't think brakes should be my first experiment in motorcycle maintenance.
Double meetings today. both were pleasant. Between the two I found and made pictures of a few DAVes. After the BOSF board meeting, I dumped my backpack off at the flat, and headed for the cove for dinner. Leigh and Capy were there. They were kind enough to stay and keep company while I finished dinner. Afterwards we wandered over to StarBears and ran into the post squaredancing crowd. I found myself surrounded by MAC people talking about watching ASCII Star Wars Episode IV by running quicktime through a telnet session. I'm not sure exactly way it is so much cooler to run quicktime from a telnet prompt, but I am assured it is. I just thought it was kinda scary.I just found half of a butterscotch pecan cookie in the bottom of my cookie jar. �Woo Hoo!
I've settled down and got my mind bent around my change in living situation. I'm still thinkin' I need to find roomies and a new space. I can't see being able to get folks to pitch in $900 and $700 for the other two rooms in the flat, and I'd need that much to cover the rent. So for now, I'm looking and putting the word out to friends. I'm looking to live near MUNI rail or BART in the Castro, Mission, SOMA, Noe Valley, Duboce triangle or nearby Haight. I'd prefer to share a space with other folks--a stable long term couple would be great, but any folks I get along with will do. Bedroom with big closet (for LEGO storage) and exterior windows. $600-700. Functional kitchen for me to ply my goodie making crafts is also a consideration. Please e-mail me if you know of folks looking for someone to share space with `em.
Last night was a great reminder of why I love San Francisco. My DancingBearsSF sleuth went to release to hear Lazy Dog (Ben Watt from Everything but the Girl & Jay Hannan) spin. The space was kinda sucky and the bars ran out of water before midnight. (Duh, dancing people drink water) The music was OK. I liken it to what you'd expect Musak to play in an elevator at a queer retirement home. What really made my night was my friends. Being in the funk I am from a bad weekend, I almost didn't go. When I got there everyone was wonderful. Happy to see me, happy to be there. Alot of good solid joy goin' on. Per usual, we took over a section of the floor, this time in the far corner next to a speaker stack. My usual MO, and that of most of the bears, is to take off our shirts before we get sweaty so we have something warm and dry to wear home. Vince and Ric already had thier shirts off, and I took no time in peeling mine off. No sooner that I had taken my shirt off, a well dressed Asian woman with a flashlight came and told us to put our shirts on. Apparently release has some sort of dress code. While she asked very politely, I couldn't help but to notice she was holding her 4 cell black maglight underhand near the bulb end. Just like they taught us to in the Bureau in case you need to whack somebody. We noticed that there were wo slide projectors on the speaker stack next to us. We're big men, and it didn't take much for us to dance in sync and get the whole projector shakin'--simple minds have more fun.The motorcycle shop wasn't open today, but the clinic was. Got some of my bad weekend problems taken care of anyway. (grin)
For lunch I finished up the homemade chicken noodle soup I made Friday, and culled through my file cabinet throwing away old records. I need to stop by the grocery and get some freezer bags and sort and put aways LEGO bricks. The only useful thing I did do this weekend was work on the train station I designed last summer. I only need a six doors, eight gray shutters, and a mess of clear 1x2 bricks for the big windows to finish up. It's turning out prety sweet.
I am SO angry right now. Let me give you some background. September of 2001 some friends of mine had tenents moving out. They live in the third floor of a three flat tenency in common they own with the folks on the second floor. One of them was newly unemployed and was starting a business and needed space, but not a whole flats worth. They asked me if I would like to share the flat. Sure--it was a really sweet deal. I moved in a year ago today. We wanted to fix the place up so repainted some floors, replaced switches, ran cabling for a shared DSL network and installed routers and switches, installed fire extinguishers, etc. James was hard up for money starting the new business and all, so I paid for it all. They told me it would be reimbursed out of the househole TIC fund, and not from the business, so they could pay me back right away. I gave them a list of the stuff I bought, all with thier approval, in April. I haven't seen a dime of it. A month or so ago James wandered in the living room and asked me if I had any plans to move--I said no, I didn't and asked him if I should start looking for a place. No, he said he was just making sure I wanted to stay. James gave every indication that he was relived to hear I'd be around for awhile. Ahhh...at least another year here. Cool, I thought--I'll go and buy a couch for the living room. I asked them if it was OK--the living room is common and they said no problem, go get the coutch. Yesterday Grant was in fixing tub faucet that has been leaking the whole time I've lived here--and the bathroom light that went dead when the furnace got fixed. Wow, I thought. This is great. Today they both stop buy and sit down--the dark of the conversation was that they're pulling out and I need to find roommates to cover the rent or find someplace else to live.I'm not angry that the business has to move. Thats OK-things change. I'm angry that until up `til an hour ago they gave me every indication that they were staying, let me buy a $800 couch, and then pulled the rug out from under me. It adds insult to injury that the real reason Grant was fixing things yesterday is because they're in "get the place nice to rent" mode. That really pisses me off.
While this is a nice place to live, I'm not sure I want to find roommates and stay here if I can't trust the landlords. It's also kinda pricy for me, and I would love to find a little dive and live more cheaply. Hmmm...it sounds like I've reached the negociation stage of my grief/change...I buzzed through denial pretty quickly. Me thinks finding roommates and new place to live...lets see if I feel the same way when I stop being angry.
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