thar she goos agin

i'm moving back to los angeles on aug 28. it will be exactly one year, three months, and 13 days since i moved to the bay area and a lot happened in the short year i was here. ups and downs, highs and lows... i remember being confronted with a question before moving, "why?" my answer, "because i need a challenge." sure, moving from los angeles to san francisco doesn't sound like that much of a challenge, but given the changes this city has undergone the past 5-10 years, and the effects of those changes, even to the most minute, it was a challenge. add to that personal accounts of hardship, and you're in for the time of your life. not to say this is the reason why i am moving back to los angeles. it is just where i'm paving my path at the moment. i love san francisco. i wish i could be here longer and who knows? maybe i will be back, but los angeles is calling loudly, and right now, i need to answer.

...and while i look back at the lot of things that happened, i walk away with great lessons. mostly, be careful what you ask for, because it will be given to you at a speed and rate you might not be able to keep up with. i also learned that despite hardships, we are resilient beings. if you don't give up and accept that you don't have control over many, if not all, situations, things WILL fall into place, and trust in what comes next. mostly just trust yourself and the universe.

and now, some memorable moments:
-guy walking his pig on a leash in the outer sunset
-naked guys on bikes on haight
-the smell of piss EVERYWHERE (well, except pacific heights)
-poop on the sidewalk (except pacific heights)
-the most beautiful gay mens
-going to a 28-hour party thingy at public works (i think i only made it to 5 hours)
-omg the food
-the nature omg the nature. i want to marry it.
-being able to walk EVERYWHERE
-working for the fine arts museums of san francisco
-terminal 2 at SFO

i could go on. there are just too many memories.

advice for an aries

does all this sound like sound advice for an arien woman such as mineself?
because i would totally sell my soul on ebay, and have chain-smoked (after exercising)...

- Don't make nasty comments about yourself behind your own back. 

- Do play soccer in bunny slippers at dawn in a supermarket parking lot with a gang of sadomasochistic stockbrokers who've promised to teach you the Balinese monkey chant. 

- Don't decorate your thigh with a sloppy tattoo of the devil pushing a lawn mower. 

- Do wear a t-shirt that says, "Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most." 

- Don't glide into a bar, scout around for the person whose face has the most pain etched in it, and ask that person to come home with you. 

- Do eat ripe organic strawberries that have been genetically modified and irradiated, and do chain-smoke Marlboros as you peddle your exercise bicycle, and do wander through a garbage dump while listening to Mozart on your iPod. 

- Don't get hooked on the fantasy that there are only two kinds of people, those who align themselves with the forces of light and those who align themselves with the forces of darkness. 

- Do start an organization called POMP (Proud Owners of Multiple Personalities), dedicated to erasing negative stereotypes about healthy non-schizophrenics who enjoy being a community of many different selves. 

- Don't lie on a floor surrounded by wine-stained poetry books, crumpled Matisse prints, abandoned underwear, and half-eaten bowls of corn flakes as you stare up at the ceiling with a mad gaze, muttering gibberish and waving your hands as if swatting away demons. 

- Do run along the tops of cars during a traffic jam, escaping from bad guys as you make your way to a helicopter that takes you to a spot hovering over an erupting volcano, into which you drop the Buns of Steel video. 

- Don't put your soul up for auction on eBay. 

- Do write a cookbook filled with recipes you've channeled from dead celebrities. 

- If you come upon a lamp with a genie in it, don't wish you had a magic wand. 

manger

this is a bit overdue because i've been "distracted".

anyway, i always think that when you're with good company, the food always tastes better.  xobreakfast.com came through for a visit a few weeks ago, which meant i got to eat, and eat well.

some of the places we visited:
gregoire's, outerlands, the mill, dandelion chocolate, trouble coffee, ici, tartine

i want to try every single dish at outerlands. gregoire's was superb. the mill: i would like my coffee made everyday by the barista that made my coffee that day. also, i didn't think i'd ever pay $7 for toast, but i did. it wasn't as good as the toast at trouble coffee, but the coffee at the mill, the coffee!!

i've had chocolate from dandelion, so i tried the frozen hot chocolate. it was a dose of creamy, rich, cold chocolate goodness that day. i think i downed it in less than 15 minutes.
 

... and whatnot

a weekend trip to point reyes meant taking a quick stop to tomales bay oyster company and hauling your picnic over to tomales bay state park to shuck the oysters! i've not eaten so many different oysters in one day that, i think after my sixth one, i was done, but i kept eating them. heh. when am i soon going to get another opportunity like this was the reasoning behind it. i also learned to shuck the oysters that day. there was no blood and i did not hurt myself.

the smaller oysters are my favorite. the bigger ones were kinda hard to take. i think it's the texture. there really isn't that much flavor, but so, so great with lemon, truffle oil, and tabasco sauce.

looking forward to the next one...