Category: holiday

10/16/04 06:09 - ID#36393

Ghost of Halloween Past

Time to get motivated for Halloween again. That week at the beach threw off my seasonal time clock. I really do miss having a full-fledged Fall season. At some point, in the spirit of balanced reporting, I'll write up a list of all the things that suck about being in the Bay area, and that'll be on it. For now I'll have to be satisfied with (e:Matthew)'s [inlink]matthew,412[/inlink]glorious pix.

My local Halloween party hosts for the past 2 years aren't going to have a party this year, and the host from the year before that moved out of state. So we're having a Halloween party crisis here. I should just have one myself, but now I'm sorely tempted to go back to Boston/Rhinebeck NY where I know my friend Steve will be pulling out all the stops for his party, which defies description. Here are some stills from the video Steve made one of the years his party was at my house.


That's my ex-boyfriend, Mark (before he was my boyfriend) attaching the dinosaur head to my front porch. (Once a guy has screwed a dinosaur head into your front porch you might as well give it all up to him, right?)


Steve checking the angle.


View from the neighbors.


Steve & me. You can't tell from this still, but here's another of my infamous conceptual costumes. Silver base with a bunch of junk computer parts/media (resisters, hunks of motherboard, optical tape, etc. scavenged during my system manager days) attached to a clear vinyl overlay. People kept asking me if I was supposed to be Barbarella. You'd think I would have learned my lesson then, but no.

I was pondering the Boston vs. self-hosted party options with my music buddy last night (R.E.M. concert was great, BTW) and he asked me if I've been to Halloween in the Castro. I've wanted to do that since moving here. This might be the year.

Halloween in the Castro

Hey, will the Bot be able to give Site Status Updates during the [inlink]news,510[/inlink]outage? I'm going into withdrawal already.

Permalink: Ghost_of_Halloween_Past.html
Words: 363
Location: San Francisco, CA

10/15/04 08:13 - ID#36392

1,1229 lb pumpkin

That's a big pumpkin.

Permalink: 1_1229_lb_pumpkin.html
Words: 33
Location: San Francisco, CA

Category: music

10/15/04 02:59 - ID#36391

R.E.M. / Pixies

I'm going to see R.E.M. at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley tonight. I can't wait. It's a great place to see a show - I saw the Pixies there last month. Possibly the most magical convergence of a peak (in my opinion) performance, incredible setting, and crowd being totally into it I've ever experienced anytime anywhere. I was at the Saturday 9/25 show. Here's the set list if you're interested. Apparently they change it around for every show.

1. Debaser
2. Velouria
3. Wave Of Mutilation
4. U MASS
5. Ed Is Dead
6. Planet Of Sound
7. Caribou
8. Gouge Away
9. Vamos
10. Mr.Grieves
11. Cactus
12. Nimrod's Son
13. Blown Away
14. Holiday Song
15. Here Comes Your Man
16. Bone Machine
17. Bam Thwok
18. Subbacultcha
19. No. 13
20. Dead
21. Monkey Gone To Heaven
22. I Bleed
23. Tame
24. Hey
25. Gigantic
26. In Heaven
27. Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)
28. Where Is My Mind

Permalink: R_E_M_Pixies.html
Words: 145
Location: San Francisco, CA

10/14/04 06:47 - ID#36390

this just in / marine mammal rescue

Whoa. my friends just called me on their way back from the beach. They said I left too soon - they got to participate in the rescue of one of the sea lions that were frolicking with us. It was really amazing (the frolicking, that is). All of a sudden this sea lion's head popped up not 15' from me. He was just checking us out. Then he went and got his buddy and came back. My friends were giving me a hard time about having to experience the moment first hand instead of through the lens of a camera, so of course then I had to go get my freakin' camera and try to get a picture of him. I probably spent two hours trying to get a good shot of him and his (by then) two buddies. Not easy to do with my camera because of the shutter lag time.

Anyway, they got to name him so we can now track him. They named him Kolby since it has the initials for all our names (Kathy, Lisa, Brenda). Great, now I have a sea lion named for me and my homies. ;-)

I don't know when he'll show up, but look for Kolby here:




Here's the best pic I got of him. Maybe he was trying to communicate telepathically with me and I was too busy playing Nat'l Geographic photographer to notice. Damn!

p.s. - I know, I know -- I've seen more convincing pictures of the Loch Ness sea monster. But take my word for it, that's a sea lion.

Permalink: this_just_in_marine_mammal_rescue.html
Words: 277
Location: San Francisco, CA

10/14/04 06:46 - ID#36389

back to reality / traffic school

Permalink: back_to_reality_traffic_school.html
Words: 241
Location: San Francisco, CA

10/11/04 10:22 - ID#36388

NoCal

Permalink: NoCal.html
Words: 17
Location: San Francisco, CA

10/11/04 09:22 - ID#36387

Postcard from the beach

No, I didn't bring my laptop. Just a quick pitstop at home, then I'm driving back up to Stinson after a thing in SF tonight.


Looking left toward SF from the beach house.


Looking right toward Bolinas from the beach house.


On the lagoon side of the other house. A blue heron was standing on the neighbor's dock, and there are a ton of snowy egrets in the trees across the lagoon (also some cormerants, but you can't really see them in this pic.) Also saw lots of pelicans, but no great shots. Maybe later in the week.


Me this morning from the beach house. 11 October 2004.


Oh yeah - (e:paul) I stuck my toe in for ya.

Couldn't resist getting the scoop on the wedding while I'm here. Looks like a great time! Best wishes to the happy couple!

Permalink: Postcard_from_the_beach.html
Words: 150
Location: San Francisco, CA

10/08/04 08:42 - ID#36386

Stinson Beach

Time to get the hell out of Dodge and clear my mind. My friends are trying to convince me to stay for the whole week, and I just might do that.

The northern California coast is really beautiful and accessible. Just jump on Hwy 1 and you're hugging the narrow curves cut into the cliffs of the coastline with no barriers between you and the Pacific. It's just incredible. The beaches (near me at least) aren't built-up at all. And there are plenty of secluded spots along the miles of CA coastline where you can just pull over and claim your own private refuge.

Anyway, I can't wait. ;-)


Stinson Beach from Mt. Tam, October 2003

Permalink: Stinson_Beach.html
Words: 116
Location: San Francisco, CA

Category: politics

10/08/04 06:33 - ID#36385

unaffiliated

My mother always registered as "unaffiliated," saying she voted for the person not the party. Anyway, I liked the premise enough to start doing that too, although it's a pain in the ass and I can't imagine I could ever vote any way but Democratic. So why the frick did I do it? I don't know. Because I liked the fact that the option is there, I guess.

I still like the concept, and it was kind of fun throwing a curveball at the volunteers manning the voting booths, but in practice I've found I have to be very careful to check what it really means in my state every time I vote. Just when I thought I knew how screwed up the election process was, I find yet another way. (damn! didn't want to turn this into a rant. "La-la-la happy-place la-la-la...." Not working.)

All right, one last point, this time applying the logic I thought was inherent in the "unaffiliated" political label to sexual preference. Now that I live in the land of "pansexuals" and "heteroflexibles" et. al, it occurred to me: wouldn't it be refreshing just to be sexually "unaffiliated?" Fall in love with the person, not the gender? The rest is just logistics.

Crazy, I know. And the distinctions/labels do make it easier to communicate. But I still like the idea. Anything that widens the field for me right now sounds good.

<disclaimer> the above content is not in response to opinions contained in any other journals. just random musings. if I've offended anybody for any reason, believe me that was not my intention. </disclaimer>

Oh, and to top it all off, instead of politically "unaffiliated" they now label it "decline to state," like you're hiding something. ("La-la-la happy-happy-place...." Damn.) Anyway, I won't be doing that any more.

Permalink: unaffiliated.html
Words: 326
Location: San Francisco, CA

10/07/04 01:42 - ID#36384

In the Beginning...was the Command Line

(e:paul), [inlink]paul,2031[/inlink] wow, you aren't kidding about the social-techno freak thing. And I mean that in the most complimentary way. ;)

Has anyone read In the Beginning...was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson? I should preface this by saying I haven't read it yet, although it's been in my amazon wish list for a while. My lame-ass library doesn't have it, and right now my entertainment budget is largely limited to what I can check out for free.

Anyway, turns out it's also online. Ha! Now I can read it. This is really old school stuff, so may not be of interest to anybody else here. I'm still stuck on the Apple vs. MS wars.

Here's the link if anyone else wants to check it out:
(downloadable)
(text only)

Permalink: In_the_Beginning_was_the_Command_Line.html
Words: 169
Location: San Francisco, CA