the wrong shoes

i put on shoes fully expecting that at some point during the day i would be relaxing in a spa chair having a pedicure. this did not happen. instead i ended up hiking around land's end in platform sandals. no, not my brightest move, but i was expecting a spa chair.



it was unusually clear out, the fog was but a fine misting and instead of obstructing the view, gave everything a sort of pre-sunset glow. i started at the golden gate bridge, then moved on to land's end park.



i'd heard that sutro baths were really cool to explore- of course i forgot that i was wearing the wrong shoes until i started down the hill. why am i moving so slowly? oh, yeah, i don't want to fall and die. so i didn't get much exploring in, but i did get an amazing sunset.





i can't wait to go back and really explore- with the right shoes, of course. who knows, maybe i'll even go fishing.

happy birthday america

i fully expected to spend the entirety of today recovering from a hangover. unfortunately, my liver ate it's wheaties and i woke up feeling pretty ok. so time for plan b- check the internet. luckily yelp had a thread about free museums- the de young and the legion of honor to be specific. i'd been to the legion, so i packed my bags and headed to golden gate park and the copper twisted monolith that is the de young.



i really liked the de young. it is a beautiful building, with little gardens and courtyards in odd places. the art ranged from early american to african to more contemporary collections- which i liked. it lacks the stuffiness of the legion.

for instance, here is some sort of mayan thing from guatemala. if i had bothered to read the sign, i could tell you what it is, but i couldn't be bothered (had to save my reading for the next trip)



here is a more modern piece from mexico. thought it was purty.



this was purty too. i think it was a boat.



this, though, was one of my favorite pieces. it is called "anti-mass" and it is made from the charred remains of a church.




the outer skin of the de young is made from copper, so with time it will turn green and "blend" into the scenery. i'm looking forward to watching the evolution.

in search of... Lunch

I tried so hard to have a nice lunch today. I wanted to try this bbq place out in NOPA that I'd heard good things about. so after I left the office, I hopped on the 38 where I was crammed next to a woman wearing her own urine like it was channel no 5 and lurched down geary to divisadero. I then walked several blocks in the 58 degree gloom only to find that the light at the end of my tunnel, the bbq mecca I sought, was closed. as in not open. as in I just spent twenty minutes actively not throwing up to get to a bbq place that was closed.

ok. regroup.

the 24 was trugging down the hill, so I jumped on- worst case, I'd just take it home. best case, I'd get off at market and try los flamingos- a mexi/cuban place I'd also heard great things about it. so I got off and started looking for los flamingos. I found an amazingly quaint little 'hood right in the middle of all sorts of less than quaint 'hoods. treelined streets and adorable homes and storefronts. I was in the duboce triangle. I had died and gone to gay heaven and it was fabulous. unfortunately, los flamingos was also closed. what the fuck? I guess it was later than I thought.

well fine. I was out of options. I was also out of blood sugar which meant I was no longer capable of making decisions. so I just kept walking until I hit the tracks of the N. I got on. I got off at 9th and irving, thinking that here would be a myriad of lunch places and I'd just pick one and eat and go about my day. but with the draining of my blood sugar, my resolve was also gone. eating alone is not something I am good at, so trying to find a place that was both interesting and not intimidating was difficult. eventually I settled on a peasant pie at peasant pies. it wasn't bbq, but it was warm. and after wandering all over the city and freezing my ass off, I needed something warm.



next time, i'll check the hours...

july 1

growing up in florida, a july night meant sweltering heat and mosquito bites. you were going to get hot and sticky- and not in the good way. you were going to be uncomfortable. the best thing you could do is stay very, very still and hope for a breeze.

tonight, july 1, i saw a woman in a coat and a scarf.

and i wished i had her scarf.

pot melted

walking through the mission i spied, with my little eye, a mariachi in full regalia, guitar slung over his shoulder, enjoying a waffle cone filled with delicious indian ice cream.