Fire In the Sky

Boston, South Station

Christmas at Logan Airport

Chicago

Colorful

Even More Flash Santas

More Flash Santa

Flash Santa

Manhattan

Trax

Blimp

May Lee's

Asahi Lucky Cat

CCA Night 2

29 Bloody Marys

Veterans' Day

Installation by Julie Mendez.

: D. in his extra-large blue pajamas, gets orange juice from T downstairs; walk to Kaiser, run into M. strolling her son, he stares at me with big, curious brown eyes; waiting room in the SW corner, two well-groomed men, one taps his foot nervously while the other is ushered in; what I must look like, red-faced from walking, dripping coffee from my fingers, flannel and dirty jeans; weigh-in, 191 lbs, srsly?; heart-rate reads 92 which I mistake for my own but, as numbers flash and disappear, I realize it belonged to my predecessor; spray-gun thermos of liquid nitrogen; still early enough I go to Nijiya market for kewpee mayonnaise, salad dressing, tea, curry, and melon pan; he stands alone smoking a cigarette, blue flannel shirt, speed-acne, slight tilt to his eye, on the bus he flips through a sketchbook of inked octopi, stubble along his jawline and chin, a tilt to his lip, maybe no shower after a booze flipped night, feels like Friday; falafel with A. and run into C.; MetLife blimp, the image of Snoopy looks like a mix of Orville Redenbacher and the I.R.S. Records man; though I had 7 hours of sleep I feel hungover-exhausted; meeting about Stealth Seminars; snap a pictures of J.’s California Veteran’s statistics; ride the bus home; left-over chicken parmesan, Fringe and The Event; R. comes home, she shows me her work clothes for tomorrow, flannel blue pajamas and Cookie Monster slippers; “You’re gonna wear your nude Steve Madden heels, right?” “Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah! No question. I was just 99% about the outfit, you know what I’m sayin’?”

Brown Eyes

House on Masonic

Friendship Bracelet

Giants

Out of Service

Poltergeist at the Castro Theater

San Francisco Halloween Decorations

Party Store

Castro & 18th

All You Kneading

Raven & Dean

Body Part Knobs

MUNI

Dean

Big Daddy's

Foliage

Wedding

Breakfast

Clouds

Safe Surrender Site

: emails highlight making mountains out of mole hills; why does everyone get cc'd and when did "cc" become a verb; heat is rising; red dress on the bus talks loudly on her invisible phone about in-takes and disrespect; like a zombie walking into Haight Grocery; non-dairy vegetable pot pies (yuk), cheese and crackers, (Kathleen), organic Fuji apples, Cheerios; washing dishes, D. and I talk while he shreds last night's chicken; "I'm prepared to tell D. when I see her that we're being unfairly targeted," he says. "Yeah," I say. "Tell her some anemic troll came up the stairs and yelled at me."; red wine and Glee; "What happened to the speed in the show? The quick cuts and high energy?" Then Mercedes and Santana own "River Deep and Mountain High". "Here's what we've been waiting for!" and then... Rachel and Kurt do the Barbra/Judy duet from The Judy Garland Show!!; R. comes home while we're youtubing with "Proud Mary"; more wine, Cougar Town and 30 Rock; on the roof D. and I watch the stars, "I'm going to be happy to move out of here. I've been here for five years."; kick off the duvet and sleep under thin sheets.

The Hills

: text: dinner's in the oven I'm at my choir rehearsal, text response: sorry, didn't mean to interrupt your Old English rendition of "Bad Romance"; heat up last night's Shrimp Won Ton Pho; watch Dexter, The Event, and nod off in the middle of Fringe.

Clear Afternoon

: sleep the weekend off; trip to Lucky's for cleaning supplies; spend an hour in the bathroom disinfecting, wiping away grime, dust, and hair. The Swiffer makes mopping way more fun; strawberry Odwalla smoothie, kalbi kimchi sandwich from King Foot Sub; a nap while listening to laborer's next door tear up the house. They listen to KOIT and one sings along to Avril Lavigne, "I'm With You" which makes me happy; D. and I walk to get soup and notice Toy Story 3 is playing at the Red Vic; too much food at The Citrus Club, spring rolls, soba noodles with tofu and each a hefty portion of pho; walk around Amoeba, The Corin Tucker Band; a handwritten index card warning patrons of a PG-13 preview that shows before the movie. "Someone complained once during a screening of a G-rated movie about a preview, so now we warn everyone."; hard to believe the first Toy Story came out fifteen years ago.

Weddinz

: this could be bad, but it's not!; motivate the crew to move, go to the cafe for croissant egg and cheese sammies; on the 71 our loud talking forces a couple to move to the back of the bus. Then, a man singing falsetto wearing an iPod forces them to move to the middle; on the BART we play the movie title mash-up game we learned from Cougar Town; hail a cab to S. and N.'s; a hot and beautiful day; they prepare flowers from her mother's nursery; beer, mimosas and pastries; get emotional as the ceremony begins; we make speeches; "S. has always been honest in her generosity and certainly generous in her honesty!"; the arrival of the pig wrapped in foil; wine, food, and conversations; their wedding cake is absolutely delicious; we play the movie mash-up game to the point of dizziness; cab ride to the train and a cab from from 16th and Mission back to the Haight.

Room With A View

Wish You Were Here

Lost

: 10:30AM and still drunk, body tenses with anticipation and guilt, what happened last night? Crawl into D.’s bed, we bemoan the presence of hangovers, the sounds of buses on Haight Street; coffee and breakfast, we get ready to leave the house; T.’s apartment is black marble and darkwood cabinets with new appliances and fresh paint, outside her door the residents of 101 scuttle into their crack in the wall; 71 to Golden Gate Park, walking with heavy beer and a blanket; bike parking, lawn chairs, guitars; Indigo Girls at 1:00PM, we’re in the ivy and dirt behind them drinking Sapporo; H. and J. arrive, tell us their Norm MacDonald and Tom Green stories; then an awesome performance by Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women; fish and (garlic) chips from the booths; people complement our food like it’s the sexiest thing; Rosanne Cash, Nick Lowe and then, as the fog rolls in and the mist sprays, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings; she tears up the stage with two beautiful back-up singers, a trio of hot men on brass, and she celebrates the whole audience from the front to the back; near the end I yell, “ShaRON!” and she hears me!!, waves; R., D., and I are the last ones left; walking home on Fulton passing retro buses and Airstreams; laughing until we’re exhausted; take the 33, make faces at each other; bearded guy with tattoos wears a black shirt with the word HEART in orange, “I like your shirt.” “Thanks, friend made it.” “Is that for the band?” “No, I went to Chico,” “Chico State? I been there.” D. pipes in “What kind of underwear you got on?” “Uh, this is my stop,” he says; craving bologna sandwiches but go for mortadella and Doritos; R. makes macaroni and cheese; the kitchen is a mess; D. and I watch Project Runway and two episodes of Cougar Town; flashing lights in my eyes; take a shower, go to bed, but I worry about the neighbors, think about gifting them Christmas cookies and rotten food outside their window.

Luce, the Foster Dog

Foosball

The 33

CCA Night

Breakfast, Lunch, Chicken Teriyaki

Wolf's

: older, long-gray-haired guy yells at a 71L bus for not stopping at a non-limited stop, “Hey! Hey!!” pounding the metal side; Whole Foods salad bar shows no sign of shortages, outages. Craving chicken and beets. Eat on the grass in the shade of the Metro PCS billboard; one of the hottest days; wander to Trader Joe’s and BB&B for a vegetable peeler. Utensils these days are swollen and heavy. Crowded store, everyone behaves like they’re the only ones there. Myself included. I put back the packages of lowly salted almonds and organic dried cranberries. Single guys don’t push carts, they carry baskets or nothing at all; Now, how the hell am I going to get home?; walk towards Market, lady in short shorts and white halter, “Excuse me, can you do me a small favor?”, pass a street littered in debris, smells like urine, comparing Tokyo to San Francisco; catch the 6, “I just didn’t have the mind for Folsom this year… nakedness throughout the city, it was great… “, the bus is depressing, girl reads handwritten notes from a journal some of which are highlighted, a young and hobbit-like couple fawn over each other, we pass boarded shops in congested street traffic; a bottle of Yellowtail Cabernet, microwave dinner like a grandmama on Hoarders; Dexter and Desperate Housewives. R. and I chat in her room over wine before pouring into our beds.

Dario

: it’s early but that’s OK. I slept too much yesterday. Take a shower and avoid shaving. Not interested in my clothes; N Judah to Embarcadero, I like his golden knees and I like his orange shirt and thick wrists, corded; Rockridge outdoor festivities always competes with Folsom Street Fair; E. meets me at Hudson Bay with Dario; we walk him around the block before going back to Manila and seeing Nagamuko; drive to her new apartment building, a 4 unit, old-fashioned, reminds me of Nana Libra and Nonni’s place in Saxonville; brass and crystal fixtures, a lever that pulls and closes the downstairs door, mirrors and prints left behind, an iron shadow in the hardwood floor, scattered ventilation masks and tea cans, armoires, plastic wicker patio furniture, an empty bottle Smirnoff left on the porch stairs; we leave Dario in the car while we go to Rudy’s; Pixar tore up the secret garden in favor of an office building that looks like Sylvan; Pancakes Deuces Wild, coffee, side of bacon; pulling boxes from the pantry top shelf, sticking to the paint. “How did I ever get these up here?”; “He’s a tomcat, a mouser."; S. and S. are in the backyard, sipping Scotch; she cuts his hair with clippers, we talk Mercedes MacCambridge, Johnny Guitar; Scotch and homemade cookies; Polaroids and old photographs. We were babies; On the way to San Leando BART, “I’ve been listening to that remix: they be rapin’ evry’body up in here. Hideja kids, hideja wife”; Sun in my eyes; Man, red-faced and a red sweatshirt wearing nothing else; Safeway for coffee, yogurt, cereal and other supplies; Walking up Haight run into J. and his boyfriend J.; How do we not have a vegetable peeler?; Tuna sandwich, Project Runway and Top Chef: Just Desserts.

Takahashi Building

Red & Gold

: AIDA on the jumbotron at AT&T Park, spread on blankets with 7-Layer dip, $20 Scotch, plastic cups of red wine; smoking outside the gates; the moon rises like a bomb going off, orange and bulbous; drinking beer in the car ride home, some kind of Kona blend.