“good food and intellectual dialogue and a strenuous workout with minimal emotional distress.”

for [...]]]> it seemed convenient that the holiday no one wanted to talk about, least of all me, happened to occur on the same weekend of president’s day and lunar new year. i think it gave us all a certain degree of comfort, but still.

“good food and intellectual dialogue and a strenuous workout with minimal emotional distress.”

for the seventh year in a row, last friday was the collective birthday celebration of christian, stephanie and irene at Miyake in Palo Alto, best known for its sake bombing ritual and party-friendly atmosphere.

it’s remarkable to think that my college friends and i have been coming here for seven years straight, sometimes with a group big enough to fill the restaurant.

it’s now one of the few times during the year that i get to see all my college filipinos in one place. we’d been through a lot together in the Kasamahan filipino club back a the University of San Francisco, but our lives keep us apart more than ever before. engagements, babies, people moving away. we try.

i saw my brothers at the end of the night back at the Chili’s in san bruno. just like the other filipinos, i don’t see these ones together all that often, so the drive was worth it, even though the two previous dragon rolls didn’t leave any more room to eat.

the next day was week two of my third season of dragonboat at lake merced. more new faces, lots of optimism, a very familiar face and a relatively good practice ensued, though i did have my issues with the day’s particular coaching. ha, dragonboat drama…

that sunday was february 14. officially lunar new year and… that other thing. after a long morning on the books, i headed to the San Francisco Pillow Fight at justin herman plaza to take some pictures and likely run into some people.

i ended up finding diana and nikki and jay and anthony, and we watched the ensuing violence. let’s just say that some people have aggression issues, and it got scary at times, but the profusion of down feathers made the spectacle worth coming to.

afterward we headed into the mission for dinner and hookah, ending the night relatively early because i had to be up at 5am. still, i had the most intelligent february 14 i’ve ever had, technically i got to spend it with two women, and the whole day ended up being a lot more entertaining than i originally predicted it to be. win. win. win.

my president’s day involved driving brian to the airport at 5am, but McDonalds was offered (and accepted) as payment forthwith. i had a late afternoon run along embarcadero, followed by attempts at fine literature.

later on, Tarusan the older and I tried the locally vaunted carne asada and carnitas fries, respectively, though i still don’t find the endeavor particularly compelling.

good food and intellectual dialogue and a strenuous workout with minimal emotional distress, the last of which made the difference between this and last year.

a good weekend? sure.

“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 & [...]]]> 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.

“to know me is to have a brew with me… using big words helps, too”

apparently my archive on the old University of San Francisco servers has [...]]]> it’s a bit late, but happy new year. or, since chinese new year is coming up, then amen to that. either way it’s 2010 and i’ve got work to do.

“to know me is to have a brew with me… using big words helps, too”

apparently my archive on the old University of San Francisco servers has finally exploded and I’ll need to rebuild it. but we’ll get to that when the time comes.

it’s been a busy month, as usual, but the new system is in place and it’ll be easier for me to update. and it doesn’t screw up when you use different browsers! that’s a good thing.

anyway, let’s get to it.

a nice benefit of having an architect brother is an innate ability to relate to architects. so, since i met half of his old work crew sometime in 2009, brian coming back for vacation prompted another happy hour at EZ5 on commercial street in san francisco.

it was fun to meet a few new people and talk about architecture and distance running and inappropriate dancing. but it was just another night at EZ5. happy hour with people you don’t work with can still be pleasant if you know what you’re talking about.

the next day, in a further attempt to expand my ‘web of evil,’ as some of you have called it, i joined sally and hendrick and tiffany for a volunteering day. while we were supposed to be helping poor families get a nice holiday meal,  there were just way too many volunteers to be effective.

so, i did what i do best, which was to take pictures. i think i did a good job of capturing it all, from the agony of children forced to sit upon santa’s lap in front of the forebodingly crooked christmas tree to the ecstasy of  biting into buttery biscuits and gravy. i won’t comment on the cupcakes, because i simply don’t do them, though their attention-gathering capacity can’t be denied.

what also couldn’t be denied was the birthday of glen park resident Phat Joe. i headed down to kilowatt on an otherwise debilitating night and had a drink. i also met the photographer of last year’s animal erotica photography display at 540 last year. the word “zebracock,” appropriately, found its way into the conversation.

further up in the week i caught a showing of Avatar with my brothers in 3D and IMAX and all that crap. it was a pretty good $17 headache, to be honest. but getting the brothers cadiz together for any event is rare enough, and the movie was good, the company even better.

soon after came christmas with the cadiz family, for the first time spent in half moon bay rather than at our childhood home in san francisco. with my niece around, things were a bit different, and i’ve come to realize, only now, that christmas is more for her rather than for the adults.

the day leading up to the event was stressful enough, with all of my shopping taking place int he three hours prior to meeting my family at church, but it had to be done, and was somehow accomplished.

thankfully my gifts were well received, though i did come to one conclusion: with 90% of women, you can’t go wrong with chocolate, cookies or picture-framey stuff.

new year’s eve for chuck was a bit more quiet than usual. i didn’t attach myself to any huge party or private gathering, opting to take susana’s advice to have curry as my last meal of 09 and proceed to watch the fireworks, where i ran into aprille on the waterfront.

the fireworks were passable, given that trees and the ferry building clocktower obscured much of the view, but it did the job and soon i was on my way out to the marina to see horace and karin and the accountants and software engineers of the south and east bay.

to give you an idea of the situation, the moment i walked into Circa there was a patron pinned against the bar by security guards, presumably for a billing issue, and the entire floor was a mess of confetti and the jagged plastic shards of broken champagne flutes. but it didn’t keep anyone from enjoying themselves. happy new year, indeed.

i did call it early, though, because i had to meet my family the next day for dimsum at rincon center. as usual, attention was paid to the baby, with her “high fashion” h&m dress and all, but the soup cart nearly going into the main fountain also provided some entertainment. this brunch was the eldest cadiz brother’s gift to all, and we all dug in.

i wondered why the sesame balls were so goddamn good, and i found out later on that they were on the list of7×7 magazine’s top 100 things to eat in San Francisco before you die. while i’ve cut my ties to the yelpers and yelp-ish among us, for reasons related to attention-whoring, among others, i had to admit that yank sing made a pretty damn good sesame ball.

a few days later i went down to mountain view to meet the new homies at Sushi85, where $25 gets you unlimited sushi, and it ended up being pretty good. except for the stuff slathered in weird yellow sauces. americanized rolls continue to confuse me.

immediately after, i came back up to the city for stanley’s 21st birthday, spent mostly at holy cow getting him drunk [and watching him get his spoon on] before ray2 and hendrick and i had some grub at vcaf back in the richmond. it was a long night, with lots of food, lots of driving, and some big spending, though none in vain.

about a week later happened to be dede & amanda & brita’s birthdays, spent at the flat in potrero. i’ll admit, it was nice to have a dignified, adult dinner party, for once, though elements of the college years did make an appearance.

the food was incredible and it was fun catching up with the stanford crew, even if i wasn’t able to have the Accidental President grace them with his presence.

the second tuesday into the new year was tim’s last night hosting trivia before he shipped out to arizona. it was another entertaining night at The Bitter End, whose employees and patrons reinforce its reputation as the best bar in the country.

so we all signed a card [which apparently wasn't big enough], sung a few songs, won the damned thing [as usual] and split a few pitchers. overall it was a great sendoff, because i wasn’t able to make his official goodbye party. but it was enough.

that weekend, brian also came back to san francisco for my dad’s 60th birthday. in the month preceding we’ve got into the habit of going to various hipster coffee shops in the mission district, from fourbarrel to ritual coffee roasters, with a stop in japantown to check out the new building.

i have to say it’s a satisfying experience to get a cup of coffee at any place where the line goes out the door, as it routinely does at these places. the wifi and instapapered articles and company made the time pass easily, as did the discussions on the origins of our species [specifically mating habits].

i also took the opportunity to give my last christmas gift, with a night spent mostly in north beach at the secret epic bakery before the bohemian cigar store and the outer sunset. i put extra effort into my gifts for a reason, so “fluffage” was important. along with acquired tastes.

either way, to know me is to have a brew with me, whether it’s beer or coffee. using big words helps, too.

and it’s been a long and debilitating winter in terms of fitness, so i was glad to get back in contact with the captains and coaches and officers of my beloved dragon boat team, Ripple Effect, as we planned our 2010 season and outlined our specific goals for world domination.

i did have to pop 3 benadryls just to be able to exist in Kristine’s house for a few hours, but i did fine, and i aired my grievances as best and as clearly as I could when the time came. of all things i’m looking forward to this season, even though i know i’m gonna get sick of everyone after a while. 7 months of the same people will do that to you, but not quite yet.

the next day had me on the road picking up a giant tiramisu from north beach and a huge container of malabon palabok for my dad’s 60th birthday. in the rain. i got down to the house in half moon bay soon enough, prepared the bruschetta, and got ready for the onslaught of relatives.

their arrival was actually a welcome break from any of the usual cadiz family birthdays, as every family event since the birth of my niece has been dedicated solely to her. it was nice to have other people breaking up the attention and speaking as adults, rather than everyone devolving into an “OMG THE BABY IS SO CUTE” kind of kindergarten stupor.

the food turned out great, with universal love for the cake, though i could’ve done less with people claiming a little too hard to know of my secret epic bakery. i also could’ve done away with the mandatory spate of family pictures, though those couldn’t be avoided  under any circumstance.

as for entertainment, my niece kept stealing my phone and ipod, and we watched Paul Blart because despite the presence of a bootlegged copy of Avatar there was a certain individual who fussed at having not seen it. under normal circumstances i wouldn’t mind, but the opportunity to see a $17 movie for free, specifically this one, doesn’t come often, especially with everything else at stake.

anyway, as the night wore on i was finally able to beat Modern Warfare 2, which has actually made me feel a bit guilty about playing games where you shoot for sport, though the story was compelling enough. the drive back up devil’s slide wasn’t bad,  so even though the day was mixed, i received the patriarch’s approval, at least for another day.

and a couple days later i was finally able to see Avatar again. i met the stanford crew at B  Restaurant after a harrowing journey through yerba buena gardens, and my ticket ended up being free because the group had a spare. so, i spent it on popcorn. i told eric to get me a box of whoppers, and i proceeded to devour the entire thing.

but i doubt i’ll see a movie in 3D ever again, given how you’re punished [with a headache] for looking at something [blurry] on the screen that the director doesn’t want you to focus on. subsequent viewings of any movie are to take in those details, and apparently james cameron doesn’t want us to. but i absorbed enough to be good on this whole universe of Pandora at least for a while.

mixed in with all those albums are a few things that were harder to recall:  the development of Chuck as a competent cook [though not a chef, lawl], being out with clients, and celebrating thin Tim’s birthday with no human being within a mile coherent enough to remember what happened.

we also celebrated the birthday of Noah “the frank” at The Bitter End with Jimmy and met some new friends at Vessel. and, of course, spent a night catching up with Rob, his Accidental Presidency, as he came back on vacation from med school. Lucky Chances was a must on that particular night.

speaking of which, it’s nice to catch up with people from ages past, from those who you weren’t exactly sure you were dating to those you wished you had, along with the ever-present but still amusing psychos. at least the food was good, as well as the scenery.

among other adventures i finally finished the series of Cthulhu novels by HP Lovecraft and have moved on to Dracula, spending more and more long nights at various Starbuckses delving into this newfound fascination with gothic horror. goosebumps novels, comparatively, ain’t shit.

so, now we’re caught up on 2010. you probably saw the pictures on facebook already, but if you can’t view facebook from wherever you are i’m glad to accommodate.

anyway, i’ll get to this thing more often in the new year, that’s a promise. and away we go.

the first big event since the last time was, at long last, the wrap-up of the 2009 dragonboat season. it took a damn long while, i’ll admit, but the planning and the unnecessary need to make [...]]]> 35 days! yeah. it’s been a long, cold month. meanwhile, i’ve been playing a game of circumstances. let me explain.

the first big event since the last time was, at long last, the wrap-up of the 2009 dragonboat season. it took a damn long while, i’ll admit, but the planning and the unnecessary need to make our banquet nice like Space Dragons did make it better than last year’s slumber party. awards abounded. the food was passable.

but something was missing. maybe i felt like i was gonna get a bigger award. maybe it was how my date to the damned thing didn’t work out. maybe it was the frustration of escaping a crowded club, taking the absolutely wrong roads, ending up in alameda, then accidentally coming back across the bridge.

whatever it was, i needed some calming down, which was achieved only by a malt and patty melt at orphan andy’s at 5am.

so i had a while to stew it over. what usually helps is to be around some new people, to seek a different crowd. fortunately, AiLin’s birthday at Dave & Buster’s was that friday. the food was good, they had beer, and i couldn’t really complain otherwise, other than a few somewhat awkward moments brought upon me.

the next night was jamie’s birthday at element, and it was good to see some old coworkers that are still young enough to celebrate these things. the theme was pork/bacon/pigs, which included a roasted lechon and bacon-sprinkled donuts. it was bacon overload, to be honest, so i actually showed some restraint.

afterward i met keip and dan at kezar pub, where we discussed the viability of going to college in wisconsin and told of the funny chinese names we knew over some pizza. “forever wong” and “harry wang” were a hit.

thanksgiving came later in the week, and it couldn’t come soon enough. if 2008 was a down year, this was supposed to be better. and it was, in a lot of ways, but there’s still plenty of work to be done, and a lot of things i wish i could’ve handled better.

those things, however, didn’t involve food. i made an appetizer of tuna pintxos, which were a hit, and brought a studebaker cheesecake from andronico’s. it didn’t take long to catch up with the rest of the family, so, predictably, we got to spend 90% of the remaining time taking pictures of Claire. apparently it’s all we do until the next grandkid pops out.

afterward, we went to see the independent films being shown directly on the walls of Coit tower it was interesting, but it was also quite cold.

unlike the rest of america, i didn’t overeat the day before, and i didn’t spend anything on black friday. one of the better lessons i’ve learned in 2009 was to disregard the american tradition of overconsumption. so, there i was, content in my frugality and un-gluttonousness, watching a whole bunch of football.

being content is rare, in general, so i reveled in every second i could before the next social event.

…which came the next day. alma had her 30th birthday party in san jose, and it was an 80s affair. fortunately, i had a throwaway blazer in my trunk, so i put it on and rolled up the sleeves to look like don johnson from Miami Vice. it came full circle wen i walked in the door and Phil was dressed as detective tubbs.

again, alma and miguel never fail to throw great parties. lots of interesting people and a ton of pictures.

that night i made it back into the city just in time for the tail-end of kristine’s birthday party [or what was left of it] at bruno’s. the celebrant and her girls were falling asleep and only drinking water, her useless boyfriend sat there and took up space, and i started to get really bored. so, i did what i do best, and i started yapping.

i got sufficient entertainment out of it, and headed home. sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands.

early the next tuesday i heard some horrible news about a high school friend of mine. So-Youn passed away in Morocco recently and her local memorial service would be that night. while i didn’t talk to her all that much, her sister was a good friend of mine and i can’t imagine losing a sibling.

so, off to the service i went, and fortunately i did run into a few people i knew. it wasn’t the greatest feeling in the world to find out that someone died so young, but her contributions to the peace corps and to her family & friends preceded her. i did lose it at some point, as anyone reflecting back on such a great life would, but i think we can look at the positive effect she had and try to move forward as So-Youn would like us to.

i did end up making it to trivia tuesday afterward, and the beer and loads of pringles took at least some of the edge off of the night. well deserved.

that wednesday the dragonboat team decided that they loved each other too much to not see each other again until next season, and had a potluck. 30 people ended up coming. suffice to say, i was glad to see them.

not having the time to make anything, i picked up some appetizers from Marnee Thai [overpriced, but it was on the way] and we watched the final-final version of the team’s year-end video. it’s nice to know that about 65% of the photos came from my camera.

we also started planning stanley’s 21st birthday. to start, raymond is in charge of strippers, i’m bringing alcohol, kristine is choosing the venue, and mike is bringing the midgets. it’s gonna be awesome.

with a renewed need for a new crowd, the next night i helped dave and his oregon duck friends secure a table at R-Bar for the Oregon vs. Oregon State matchup, with the winner going to the Rose Bowl. this being my first Oregon game at an Oregon bar, i came to one conclusion: Oregon fans are nuts.

at some point it was impossible to move due to the crowds. scott armstrong showed up to start his birthday celebration, but the majority of the night was spent drinking bud light out of readily available tall cans and emulating the sound and the fury of Autzen stadium as best we could.

we closed out the night at the bars on Polk, and i pulled away before they headed to Kozy Kar, enjoying the company, the manhattans, and the thai fried rice. these were awesome people.

i caught my fourth movie of 2009 that friday when we watched “Up in the Air” at the sf center. it’s good to see movies where a character has such a parallel to your own life, especially when it’s done well, and even more so when it contains the eventual transformation. go see it. dooo eeet.

that weekend was victor’s birthday, so i met him and the girls at Swig. even though their initial request, upon my arrival, was “where else can we go so the guys can meet more drunk bitches?” we ended up sticking around until they kicked everyone out, including Mr. Carreon.

i’d recommend against going to Lori’s Diner under all circumstances, however, since it’s overpriced even compared to Mel’s. we might as well have gone to lucky chances!

i didn’t have huge expectations for that night, given that the last time i partied on nob hill was the “we will party proper, there will be many bitches” incident from 2007 which followed a daft punk concert. but it was a good time.

the workweek seemed to fly by, with a visit to trivia tuesday and an interview in campbell on friday.sudden hunger at 8pm landed me at sam wo, and we ended up in the marina for dessert. let’s just say we couldn’t quite agree on what the ideal of “the one” versus “the best one at the time” really was. you know what i’m talking about. yeah you do.

things were looking up for the weekend, which started with jacinda’s birthday party in menlo park. though an important piece was missing again, the old crew was back and the newbies kept it interesting.

and yesterday i dropped by the tail-end of the dragonboat team’s fundraiser at sports basement [bought some running gloves] and then headed to tanforan for christopher’s birthday. one thing remains clear: i don’t hang out with my filipinos often enough.

fortunately, most of my november and december didn’t require consolation or validation after said events, but sometimes you need it in one form or another. i used to turn to video games, now i turn to ‘my peeps.’

what do you do?

so, shall we?

most people know [...]]]> alright, let’ get to the details, it’s been a busy month. and as much as i say that i intend to update this thing more often, i keep getting dragged back into the void. i’m not even going to worry about specific chronological order this time, but you’ll get the idea.

so, shall we?

most people know that i do freelance work, which doesn’t exactly keep me chained to a desk from 9-5. i’ve always been into print and web advertising, and eventually wanted to get into making commercials. i started to take a community college class in broadcast engineering, and fortunately the program has the best equipment in the bay area.

as expected, the class is pretty motley, all ages and backgrounds, but they’ve come together and we seem to be learning a lot. lighting, camera operation, audio, the whole damn deal. twice a week isn’t too much to sacrifice for some kind of self-enrichment.

[either way i hope this class will make me more useful on a set than the last time, where i just kind of stood there like a bumbling idiot.]

a few weeks ago brenda finally had a goodbye / heave-ho party for her trip to thailand. though she won’t be gone quite for good [to be honest i already thought she left and came back], i don’t see her and the crew often enough anymore. let’s just say that there’s no party quite like an inner-sunset party.

with some kind of urgency, we immediately followed the sunset and blackthorn gatherings with a trip to north beach. when things started to drag,  i ran into some teammates for tiffany’s visit back to the city, though her pending friend request likely means she was too inebriated to remember me. the basement of bubble lounge was also, really, really sweaty.

either way, my network kind of assures me that if things start to suck, i’m just one “hey charles what are you doing here?” from turning things completely around. the receipt of drunken texts also helps to lighten the mood.

we also resumed the elementary school reunions. it was interesting to see everyone after 13 years ago, but this time all the petty differences were forgotten and we were just a bunch of adults having a great conversation. though i’ll admit, these conversations usually went “so what happened to so-and-so?” followed by either “doing well” or “had a kid” [or in one case "is incarcerated"].

it was a great time, and good to see how they were all doing. well, except maybe one. i mean, the purpose of a reunion is to reunite, right? you can silently stick to a corner at home!

i did catch one last giants game before their season ended, the series opener with the chicago cubs, caught, of course, with my chicago homies. we made a few friends in the stands and had a lot of pretty good beer, even if the game didn’t exactly turn out as planned for the locals.

if you’re not on a date, i’d suggest sitting in the bleacher seats, as adventures (and beer) abound.

the biggest deal in the past month, though, was the treasure island dragonboat race. a whole weekend of nothing but saltwater racing in san francisco bay. it started with a party at b-bar at yerba buena, which wouldn’t have been a bad venue if the weather was, you know, hot. but it wasn’t. we made do.

i ran into a lot of old friends, made some new ones, and had a great time. the pictures were incredible as well. and my boat eventually got a gold medal. no complaints. even my niece got a present!

[and the food was pretty good, even though i was unnecessarily tagged on 54 'replay all' emails during its planning process. ugh.]

it was all topped off with an interesting afterparty at o’neil’s, a bar, involving underaged children and lots of beer and food and yelling. maybe it wasn’t the most elegant way to end the weekend, but it worked for some.

i also got to see some friends’ band perform at a couple of venues. i first caught late nite drive at el rincon in the mission, and shortly after at grant & green. maybe i’m not exactly into indie rock, if not classic-y rock, but i’m there.the company made it worth it, the pictures made it worth remembering.

unfortunately i missed flyhead’s last show at blake’s, but i’ll get to that in a minute.

the latest epic story is from this past weekend- i was supposed to see an air show, go to a get-together, see flyhead at blake’s, go to the mission for nancy’s birthday shindig, and wake up all hung over on sunday.

let’s just say that none of it went exactly as planned, and at some point i lost my ID. walking 30 blocks back to my car up above the broadway tunnel was fun. so was explaining to the doormen at blake’s that i was really 26 and couldn’t find my ID. along with receiving some misdirected text messages.

things ended well, however, with a great late dinner and a trip to bob’s shagtastic house of donuts. i actually ended up finding my ID at the goddamn donut shop.

[herb-crusted ahi tuna and/or pastry tends to make everything better, regardless.]

so i guess it’s really all about how you compare what you went in with, and what you came out with. on your own scale. you don’t need to drop a grand a night to have an epic weekend.

[the niners don't need to win, either, though that would certainly help]

i mean, you’d think we’d change after all these years, right? i guess we have, [...]]]> so i’ve been getting into the habit of meeting with people i hadn’t seen since high school and beyond. coffee here, lunch there. and it’s been surprising how similar everyone is to their former selves. physically, conversationally, and just plain essentially.

i mean, you’d think we’d change after all these years, right? i guess we have, just not in the stereotypical high-school-reunion-look-at-me-now sort of way that i was hoping for.

so, shall we?

the rare chances mike comes by with the baby are important- seeing this little girl, in pretty much the same mold as her father, learn and adapt and communicate, is startling, comforting and fascinating all at the same time. she’s my first direct niece, and at only 1.3, she’s already acting like a 3yr old. and pronouncing words.

i briefly joined in julian’s bachelor party that week as well, though before the, um, ‘paid’ portion of the entertainment began. presidential suite at the hyatt, lots of booze, it made for an interesting night, though i’m pretty sure it got more interesting after i left.

the next night i actually stayed through the interesting part. five friends of mine had birthdays concurrently celebrated at bruno’s, alongside a friend’s sister’s bachelorette party. the pictures can pretty much explain it all. pretty much.