so, i heard chinese new year is a big thing in san francisco. like, fer real. but we’ll get to that in a minute. here are five more things i’ve noticed this week:
- an albino pigeon resides at the end of taraval street, it does not know fear
- the new java beach by the zoo is really cool, except for the bloodthirsty killer tigers across the street
- the city and county of san francisco has books of maps that dwarf an adolescent child
- johann’s latest stir-crazy phenomenon, beer-cheese fondue, is for the win
- at 2am, taqueria el farolito becomes the new asian capitol of san francisco
so the week leading up to the chinese new year parade was suitably busy, soaked in equal parts hookah, rain, grease and garlic powder.
the end of the week wrapped up well enough, with johann throwing an educational poker night at bistro taverna in sunnyvale, preaching the gospel of poker while smoking hookah and, surprisingly, being served alcohol. while the heat lamp proceeded to burn a hole in the left side of my face, we had at it and learned of the horrors of growing up in rural iowa.
[or i should say "growing up in iowa," because being rural is a given in those parts]
the next day i took a walk through filipinotown and we ate at anthony’s world famous Tu Lan restaurant [my assertion that free food will follow an inquiry about anime still holds true, at least from noon to 2pm on fridays].
afterwards, i was shown the map collection of the city and county of san francisco. apparently it’s run by giants. never before had i flipped through a tome so ancient that upon completion i expected to know how to shoot fireballs from my fingertips. i mean, imagine.
that night, brian and i discussed the pros and cons of flickr over a few plates at Naan, then i got through the driving rain for johann’s horrifyingly realistic basura blanca [white trash] poker party.
and jess got it down to the exact details. the mustache. the pregnancy. the mullet. the cap. the glasses. and the freakin’ gold tooth. i didn’t who the hell i was talking to for at least twenty minutes.
we all ended up taking turns with the mullet, then with cigars, a few beers for a tasting, and finally we called it a night, though some costumes were still more hard-fought than others.
so, after a productive saturday morning [which included being served for a lawsuit involving a shitty auto body shop and someone else's equally shitty insurance], i settled in at the new java beach at the end of sloat.
problem was, i forgot that the chinese new year parade was that day, so i parked at a train station, headed downtown, and missed the performance of my old high school jrotc drum corps by a good 45 minutes.
i’d say the nostalgia began to kick in, since it’s been about nine years since i’d been in the parade, which was fun, scary as hell when people throw firecrackers at your feet, and a great experience overall. [just make sure to pee beforehand.]
after forcing my way around and through the crowd, i got to sacramento & kearny and set up shop, running into the old dragonboat team performing as members of Loong Mah.
john/johann [a different one this time, this is key] got me a prime seat in the bleachers before i met up with the stanford intermediate ICU nurses at murphy’s pub.
we partook in some greasy chinese food from next door and hung out at spec’s for a but before i headed home, or so i thought. with swollen feet and aching knees, i settled into my seat on the last train home and returned to my car.
instinct made me drive to see mr. phelts and co. at homestead at 19th&folsom, so we headed in, had some peanuts and a few beers, met some great people, traded some seinfeld-esque stories and finally, finally called it a night. eric and lorelei passed on the 3am tapsilog, so i picked up a shrimp super quesadilla at the most asian taqueria in san francisco before i myself called it a night.
and today, church, lit candles for the recently passed, brunch, bacon, book, chocolate, tigers, and, well, yeah.
the ox in the zodiac is meant to inspire succes through fortitude and hard work. hopefully those of us from the year of the dog can keep up.
[one more thing i learned from the parade: life needs more karate chops]
