csix // chuck dwells here

So yesterday I forgot that it was my mom’s birthday. Worse, they were having a celebration at home and I didn’t get out of the office until very late.

At someone’s wise suggestion, I picked up flowers in Glen Park on the way back. I walked in, the fact that I was late was glossed over and all was forgiven.

It made me think of other times I had to do a make-good. From making up for lateness and offending people to accidental affronts and cockblocks, we’ve all been there. My penance has run the gamut from dinners and lunches to coffee and beer (particularly).

In the end, everyone’s happy and all actions are accounted for. We do what we can.

Every weekday I drive along San Francisco’s waterfront to get to the office, and I always look to the rocketship at the end of Mission street. For some reason I decided that if there was a bird perched on the warhead, it was gonna be a great day. If not, all bets are off.

I’m not particularly superstitious. I don’t knock on wood or throw perfectly good money into water fountains. I do the salt-over-the-shoulder thing , however, because the consequences involve me being undead. Which is unsettling. But anyway.

I don’t think it matters either way, because less than three minutes after passing the rocketship this morning I got cut off by some speeding jackass in a van and went on to flip him off.

Yeah, it’s gonna be an interesting day.

I tend to keep a lot of my receipts. Not because i’m a pack rat or anything, I just like to hold on to certain memories.

I mean, some receipts I can do without. Like the six times a week I get coffee. Or every tank of gas. Random trips to Target. Who cares?

But the important ones, even if I lose them eventually, I’d usually find again later and they’d trigger a great memory. Like that time we went to go eat and had foie gras. Or When I got you that really cool present you still use today. Or when we visited an establishment in Vegas whose receipt only had the letters “SR” at the top. Yeah.

Because some things are worth hanging on to, if for a time.