since it’s only gonna go faster and faster from here, i might as well post more regularly. like next week. i’m foserious. shall we?
“nothing makes you feel slightly more important than you are than a white tablecloth meal.”
on a very sad and rainy friday night came the last show (for now) for mr. sankin & ahern’s band, the Dubious Ranger. since i’ve seen limited action with scott and james in recent months, i thought a night would do me some good.
we ended up as part of alia’s sequin party, because such theme parties are common in these parts, and even before we partook in the festivities at the Red Devil Lounge, we were already in good company. mister haas showed up at the right time, as well.
later in the week was the blessing of my sister-in-law’s new dental office branch. the usual filipino fare awaited us at Tselog’s, and my niece took full advantage.
there’s something about these family parties that grounds me, keeping me reminded of how important your past is to your future. even if that involves an explanation by your brother as to the benefits of using suspenders, a reminder of the secret lives of dentists or just another excuse to eat 20 pieces of lumpia shanghai.
the night after, the entourage for the upcoming Pabalan-DelaRosa wedding met for the first time, and for some reason i was asked to attend, though my actual degree of participation in the wedding is suspect.
though i thought that the bar, rather than the dessert shop, would be the center of the night’s activities, the conversation at Tart to Tart lasted well into the night, until the yawning began in earnest. still, it was good to catch up with Lucy from high school and discuss the drama of 1999. so. long. ago.
the next sunday i met the old prom date for brunch at duboce park, followed by a trip to Uncle Boy’s burgers in the richmond with james. predictably, the menu at Uncle boy’s featured both lumpia and turon.
talking with these people always leaves me feeling more intelligent afterward, and i needed all the mental capacity i could gather for the dragonboat team’s first informational meeting of the 2010 season, over at mission cliffs.
how they managed to pack 40 people into a walk-in-closet is beyond me, but i was already having a hell of a time trying to remember all of their names and not re-use the same jokes when people who’d already heard them were nearby. but at least the turnout was great.
the next day after an interview in the gulch i met my last best corporate homie downtown for lunch, and after a protracted debate we went to Seasons. nothing makes you feel slightly more important than you are than a white tablecloth meal.
[this makes me want to spread a white tablecloth on my own kitchen table, though eventually it'll fall victim to soy sauce, olive oil and fish sauce staining.]
i took a walk afterward, making the obligatory stop at acme bread before circling back. herb loaf ftw.
the next saturday was the first dragonboat practice of the season, and thankfully the weather stabilized as the morning wore on. there were a lot of new faces, and apparently some old ones, so despite the rain there was reason for optimism.
hard to believe it’s the start of my third year, and that it all started when i walked by a graphic designer’s desk and inquired when i noticed that it wasn’t exactly our work that he was progressing on. it’s gonna be a long and fulfilling seven months. that is, if my arms don’t fall off.
later in the day i met with some elementary school peeps at tanforan mall for a meal and a movie, which is now becoming a monthly tradition. we’re so different that we wouldn’t hang out any other way, and it’s the traumatizing bond of a parochial education that brings us together.
[oddly enough, we watched another bible-related movie, Book of Eli, which i liked.]
that night was rose’s birthday dinner, also at tanforan, so i got to catch up with her and her friends. i also realized exactly how small this world is, for better or for worse.
superbowl sunday was spent in daly city with the dragonboaters. the best part had to be the food, with mr. tsunekawa’s crab fondue and the salt & pepper wings. i’ll have to thank whoever called ahead and ordered wings for getting the tray ready!
the game didn’t matter to what was a majority 49ers crew, though i was hoping for the colts because half of my old world of warcraft homies were fanboys.
on the two tuesdays in between i made a stop by the bitter end trivia night to see exactly how things turned out since our favorite host left town, and things seem to be going strong in the post-keane era. though for the sake of my kidneys i’ll stop bringing pringles.
…and so here we are. at the start of a new season of dragonboat, of trivia, of a wedding planning and of traditions great and small [though mostly small]. usually you only get worked up over something before it starts, when the optimism comes to full boil and before things get all complicated.
here we go.
