Bathroom Wall

 

: girls in Giants gear with a half filled handle of Bloody Marys; "Rally. Get up and catch the 38. Rally!"; the bus fills with more truants; "Mix hard liquor with champagne..."; avoid downtown by waiting for the 33; it's broke down and the wait is long; listen to Kristin Hersh: Crooked on repeat; meet SC, she's dressed like Alice Cooper; her and WF are hanging anatomy drawings and I thought she was an undergrad with that black dyed mess of wild hair; she made pumpkin cookies that were like cupcake tops; we all go to WF in LB's truck; the X-Files theme plays through the store; outside, a dog in a giraffe suit looking depressed; we take pictures, SC as Alice Cooper and me in my werewolf mask; CB walks out the fire exit and sets off the alarm; LOL; eat lunch for dinner, make lemon honey tea, go to Thee Parkside; start of rain; meet up with NB, he went to the Giants parade; SC, NB, MB and I in the bar; "Do you know what they call people from Tampa?" What? "Tampons!"; walk the rain to the 33; 6 minutes and 70 minutes; a small dog named Frankie, an irate man wrapped in the Philippines flag; Castro is Saturday night busy; a group of wasted and angry good looking people; continue listening to Crooked; at home make apples and cheddar, pour a glass of wine, watch Buffy; TH comes home and we play each other duets back and forth; "This Endless Love", "Islands in the Stream", "Up Were We Belong", "Whenever I Call You 'Friend'", etc

Label GMOs

: cloudy headed; Trader Joe's for tea, lemons; return the overdue camera; carry hot lemon and honey in the rumpus mug; chat with NB; "Got bit by a pitbull trying to drink my beer.";  compliments on my haircut, you look so suave, you like someone's dad; watching the registration numbers is like election night; internal arguments; AP and I get lunch at Wolf's, Bi Bim Bob; putting out fires; downtown three 38s before a 38L; the long haul west; Fresh and Easy for coffee, breakfast, lunch, and dinner; walking home in the mist, arguing out loud, catch myself, apologize; microwave a chicken and kale; watch FOX while checking Facebook and thinking about NaNoWriMo novel; excited to get started; TH comes home while I watch Friday the 13th; "Did you get a haircut?!"; so many election pamphlets

Packaged Laundry

 

: on the couch with tissues, orange juice, and water; check work emails; Modern Family, the Halloween episode; drop off laundry; Dawson's Creek, I've never seen this show before; cultural references fade and break away; make frozen Mediterranean pizza and doze off watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer; read A Feast for Crows under my snowman blanket; pick up the laundry wrapped in blue paper;  make miso vegetable soup; it's getting dark; Paranormal Activity 3

Black & White

Folsom

Game 7

 

: rain in the morning, levels off; listen to A.C. Newman: Shut Down the Streets; chat with AH about our weekends, video games and distractions; "Here you go Davey-Dave!" Don't call me that; I ignore him, the California rude; take the 33 to Clement; go to 540 and wait for NB; Game 7 of the NLCS playoffs, Giants vs. Cardinals; the excitement of a crowd; straight bars are tense, men act unnecessarily macho; I think of wolf packs; an older man with four terrier puppies on one leash; "What's he doing in there? Taking a shit?" He says behind me; guy leaves the bathroom and says to me, "I was taking a shit." I didn't say it; Mirror Pond beers; a Latina lesbian thinks NB and I are together because we're talking hometown gossip; she buys us drinks, she's rowdy and drunk; Should we let her? I ask. "It'd be rude to turn her down."; the Giants win 9 to 0; "I have a court date." For what? "Drug dealing."; NB and I walk to Ju Ku; another beer and fried Japanese tapas; Our waitress H is from Nagoya; NB takes a cab home; at home, everyone is up and we're jovial.

Blue

 

: have the the story files open but nothing comes out; watch Nashville; AD makes French toast, I make coffee, C's preparing for tomorrow's FailCon; they're crispy, delicious and raw; dust off table surfaces and the sewing machine; the floor is an air current pattern of dog fur; between now and later; walk down Geary, left on Park Presidio, right on Clement; slow meandering cars, waiting in the road to park, car horns; move through Goodwill; browse Green Apple; stop at Russian Bakery; the counter is chocolate and fruit pastries; get an eclair; leftover sausage soup C made and Irish bakery bread; the eclair while watching football with TH;watch the Giants vs. Cardinals game with TH; at the end of the 6th we go to Volcano and make it back for the start of the 8th; watch The Last Exorcism; love the combination of spicy, delicious curry and a cool autumn evening; it's raining.

Mister Monkeybags

Projection

Vet Tech Appreciation

: get lost on my way to SM's work; wandering Florida; brown leaves, kids on bikes; old San Francisco home, industrial warehouses and modern condominiums; "Who are you here to see?" "SM." "And what is the nature of your visit?" "We're having a romantic tryst." "One moment please."; help SM bring a box of goodie to the Pacific Brewing Company; a tin house projecting the Giants vs. Cardinals game on the corrugated tin wall; drink tickets, roasted brussels sprouts, french fries, pizza, olives, chicken wings; talk with M who knows GH and AB; he gives me his card; SM's coworker J gives me a ride home; she has a beautiful and large dog with giant paws and a friendly disposition.

Roman Candle

: 7:45pm, a roman candle across the sky from Bayview to SoMa, sparking above the Takahashi building, the bulb burning white and flanked by a faint green, sparklers for a tail; take the bus to 5th and Townsend, walk towards Howard; Chinese ladies run across a busy street for the bus, surprises me the risks these women take to catch a bus; two men on the corner, smoking a cigarette; at SG's door I begin to text her; at the intersection, one of the men is standing at the passenger door to a car, he's yelling then he throws a punch; a bleached man, tubby in a graphic T steps out; they argue as the light turns green; the car drives off and pulls over, they argue on the sidewalk; from SG's place I see the argument has grown in population and they have moved to All Star Donuts.

Drink Love Bear

 

: on the 38, listen to Kristin Hersh: Sunny Border Blue; wearing green striped UniQlo polo; dinner at A2, rice plate with egg, maple smelling Chinese sausage and cucumber; take the 10 downtown, read Inferno; listen to Kristin Hersh: Sky Motel; at home, wash dishes and go to bed too late...

Night Church

 

: cold, gray morning; coffee at Peet's; walk down 10th, left on Folsom; my office is damp and cold, outside hot and steamy; EM says, "The computer servers are in the same room as the dryer ventilation. It's like a steamy jungle in there."; SC and I walk to her car and then get coffee at Papa November; "Could you take these off my hands?" girl says about a plate of scones; two buses pass but I decide to walk downtown; call MK; the city seems so busy, people walking the opposite direction; Fresh & Easy; make microwave chicken and kale, cheese and crackers; two episodes of Doctor Who, A Town Called Mercy and The Power of Three; go back to 90s sentimental; videos of The Verve: "Drugs Won't Work" and Tori Amos: "Spark"

Not My Dad

 

: wake earlier than I wanted; calculate 6 hours; wget coffee at Emma's; group of five go to the dim-sum brunch at Tian Kong; do a load of laundry; my shoulder's sore, slap on some Salonpas; go out for curry, today I want Volcano spicy level; watch Pedro Almodovar: The Skin I Live In; upload phone pictures.

Fillmore Sidewalk

Market

: SC makes me stand in an empty parking space outside the 15th Street gate; we go to Whole Foods; what goes on a sausage; case of beer, saurkraut, beet salad; Painting & Drawing BBQ in the Hooper courtyard; it's getting cold, dark purple clouds; start to get a migraine, my vision is patchy; once I leave, it's fine; stop in the office, I like it here late at night, no one around; take the 10; run into SH; she invites me to ST's closing, "It's right there," she says pointing behind her; the security guard is glassy eyed, must've just smoked a joint; karaoke in Mark Wolf Gallery; bright colored paintings, one reminds me of an anime backdrop; sing "Don't Rain on My Parade" and bring the house down; drinking too much wine; sing "Love Shack" with KD; more wine; sing "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift; the ladies' bathroom is 40s marble and fixtures; leave without saying goodbye; home talking to CP, I'm so tired...

Golden Girls

 

: on the 38 the woman in front of smells of cat food and I feel guilty; man sits in front of her smells of old, cheap cigarettes; she moves; homeless guy smells of deep, deep garbage; foggy brained; dig into work; distracted by the Giants game like many of the people in the WF cafe; take my lunch home with me; abandon the 10 downtown and hike through traffic and darkening skies; read "Inferno", listen to Janet Jackson mix; watch History show on the Earth's influence on the human body; how our species arose from a small group of thousands of survivors after a super-volcano eruption; Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?; Project Runway season 11 finale part 1 of 2; Golden Girls episode, Dorothy's rich sister from California comes to visit; "Didn't we watch this together the last time?"

Shoes

 

: Rockridge feels like another lifetime; trees are brown paper leaves; autumn in Oakland; nowhere to sit so I cross the street to the Korean church and sit on the steps with the tree and bird droppings, cigarette butts; just like my old breaks; read more "Inferno"; pass the old apartment on Manila, again, like a lifetime ago; reading my draft of Tarumaezan while eating yesterday's lunch;  workshop tonight is postponed; get home tired, watch TV; Modern Family and then Nashville; check my balances; I haven't paid my portion of the cell phone bill in 3 months! I wire the money

October Inside

 

: 38L; a Brazilian boy with a skateboard sparks a pipe before getting on, his comic book tattoos strangle his forearm, listen to X "4th of July" see how we are; coffee from the Papa November truck; I'm inarticulate, foggy-headed; the 33 to Amoeba; buy A.C. Newman: Shut Down the Streets; at the produce market two Mormon footballers block the aisle; grab onion, blueberries, red pepper; a drunk homeless man mutters at the boys, "Mitt Romney... Life happens... murmurmurmur..."; a worker tries to talk to him out the store; onion and pepper egg scramble and buttered toast, idea largely came from a passage in Eileen Myles: "Inferno"; Hunger Games playlist I made, Stevie Nicks: "Secret Love" and Nick Cave & Neko Case: "She's Not There" watch Doctor Who: "Dinosaurs on a Spaceship"; write M_____'s story, edit passage about snow; I like the light over the stove.

Psychic Readings

A Dog and TV

Chinese Pop Star

Bi Bim Bab

Bookline

Fire in the Belly

Lampshade

Starlight