I had a dream last night that PMT were visiting me, but my house was falling apart so I had moved into a tree house above it. I felt pretty lucky to have the treehouse, but it turned out all my friends picked this inopportune time to come visit me. It was like I was throwing a huge party for everyone I've ever known, except they all showed up uninvited.

I was happy to see they all managed to get drinks from the rubble below before climbing up, but the more of them that showed up, the more trapped I was at the far end of the tree house. I kept wondering what they were all doing there, then it hit me. You came here to meet Paul, didn't you? That must be it. I decided I needed to get out of there and get a drink myself, so I pushed my way through the crowd and climbed down. That's when I discovered Terry had been stuck downstairs the entire time being bartender. People were still asking him for these crazy drinks and he was doing his best to accommodate with the meager resources left in the hollow shell of my house.

I knew I had to buy more drink fixings quick and asked him what I should get. He rattled off some mixers, ending with "white coke." I wasn't sure if I heard him right even after he repeated it a few times, but figured it would make sense once I got to the store.

I think I know what he meant now. Unfortunately, they were all out.

Ok, enough with the freak-out rug userpic, I'm switching to something more soothing!

I had a weird voting experience today. I didn't get all the pre-election crap you usually get in the mail the last time I registered, so I registered again. They convinced me to sign up for an absentee ballot, even though that seems like a waste of paper to me and I'm not really keen on killing more trees.

Anyway, my boat-load of election materials arrives on cue and I fill out my cheat sheet and head for my polling place at the playground next door. I also had the brilliant idea to unload my Halloween candy by dropping it off there in a bag labeled "Thanks for Voting!"

Maybe my 5.6 pound all chocolate variety pack threw them, but the volunteers seemed to think I needed my absentee ballot to vote. So I go back to the house, transfer my cheat sheet answers to my absentee ballot, then go back. They fuss around a bit and decide they have to write "Surrender" on the envelope and put it in this special bin. That seems odd to me, but I sign my name to say I voted and go on my way.

Five minutes later, one of the volunteers tracks me down. Turns out writing "Surrender" on the absentee ballot makes it void, so now I have to go back to the polling place to fill out another one. I'm thinking, the only thing that made sense about the situation up until then was saving paper by using the ballot mailed to me. But now that one is "void" and I have to fill out another one. That is so fucked up.

Anyway, there was a time [inlink]twisted,5[/inlink] when I enjoyed throwing curve balls at election booth volunteers, but I am so over that now. Those guys have enough to worry about without me throwing a wrench into the works.

p.s. - some guy named Adam, identifying himself as being from the Democratic party, just stopped by to make sure I voted. Hell ya! Twice!

"A review, survey, or contemplation of things in the past."

I spend way too much time in retrospection already. And the rest in anticipation. Which doesn't leave much time for whatever the hell is supposed to come in between. Wow, that sucks.

But I'll indulge one more time.

Halloween in the Castro:

Hard to describe - kind of like SF itself. Better to experience in person.

I wish I'd been more prepared. You'd think the anticipation stage would have taken care of that, but unfortunately I'm also a consummate procrastinator, so all that planning is mostly putting off grandiose plans until the last minute. Maybe I shouldn't have spent Halloween day poking around San Jose until Paul was done with the conference that day. Makes a good excuse, but I know damn well it wouldn't have made any difference!

I can't believe I didn't get a single trick-or-treater. What's up with that? And who's going to eat all this candy?

Hotel TV:

If you tend to overdose on retrospection and anticipation, just spend 10 hours in a hotel bed watching TV. That'll cure you! And if that doesn't work, try Salvia (see below).

Salvia:

No comment. BTW, who the hell is going to eat all this Halloween candy? I am in big trouble.

(e:Iriesara) :

I'm so glad you came up! I hope it was worth changing your flight for our 15 minutes at the Monterey Aquarium. OMG, I still can't believe that.

p.s. - There is so much more to say, but this damn Halloween candy is calling out to me...

(p.p.s. - new user sound.)

I had a weird dream [inlink]paul,4711[/inlink] in super slow-motion the other day. The universe as I know it was tearing open to reveal a new one. My field of vision was literally folding open from the center of my head like being in a flip-book with both sides peeling open at 15 frames per second. Slow enough to recognize I was being pulled into oblivion from both sides like a "split vertical out" digital video transition, but fast enough to know there wasn't much time left. I could already feel and see the tips of my fingers being diced away in time with the relentless "tic tic tic" of each flipping frame like an old movie reel.

I realized the new "real" universe was infinitely bigger than my imaginary one. I couldn't believe everything I thought was real -- including me -- was really just a fabrication of my mind. How could so many intricate and intertwined perceptions not be real? Why make me "sentient" if it wasn't going to be real?

I watched the receding edges of my world moving inward. I noticed a candy wrapper on the rug (damn rug!) next to my hand and wondered how on earth so much detail -- all the backstory to that candy wrapper and the rest of my life -- couldn't be real. Then I saw (e:Paul) sitting on the rug (damn rug!) beyond the candy wrapper. He was smiling at me like he knew something crazy was happening, but he was totally ok with it. I wasn't sure if I was still projecting him as a figment of my imagination or if he really was real.

In some accounts of my dream, I clutched a finger of his outstretched hand and said "you're really here!" Things were getting hazy again at this point after being crystal clear in the middle of my dream, but I do have a vague recollection of that. In any case, eventually I managed to wake up and synch my body back to my own reality time enough to get the wrapper off my new Little Britain DVD so we could watch a few episodes.

I sure am glad not to be a speck on the butt of a flea in a larger universe! For now at least, haha.

A few more pix from the past week.


Castro on Halloween


Firecrackers? Or gunshots?


Monterey Aquarium


Tea tasting


Golden Gate bridge engulfed in a sudden mid-day fog


We use the photo op anyway


Bright sunshine 10 minutes later at the beach


Soaking up 15 more minutes of sun before heading to the airport


There's still more to see. Come back soon!


Naturally Pookie is despondent now that (e:Paul) and (e:Iriesara) are gone. I'd better take him for a walk while it's still sunny out. Maybe it'll cheer me up too. Otherwise, there's always sushi boat, haha.

Peace out and safe travels!

From yesterday...

::Download Flash Video::

I've never been there myself, but I'm sure google maps can help.

I can't believe (e:Paul) arrives tomorrow! It's about freakin' time!

I wish my guest quarters were as well-appointed as (e:PMT)'s. Hell, I wish I had guest quarters! It wasn't until Friday that I even had a sofa to sit on. Although I do have a killer rug. Granted, it's no white shag carpet [inlink]paul,4659[/inlink] BUT, I did manage to get my white shag pillow pup out of storage. I hope (e:Paul) isn't allergic to it, haha.

Ok, the weather here has been over the top fantastic for longer than I can remember. PLEASE let it last at least a few days into next week!

Today I got some of my crap out of storage in an effort to make my place more hospitable. Sounds easy, but as I may have mentioned, all my crap is loaded into two crates until some happy day in the future (theoretically) when those crates will be delivered to my home and I'll move the rest of my crap in. The thing is, until then, they're like two mini moving trucks that have to be fork-lifted everywhere. Which means all the stuff inside has to be packed fairly securely. So taking anything out means unpacking to get to it and repacking what's left.

Anyway, here's a cell phone pic of the rest of my worldly possessions. Doesn't look look very impressive, does it? I wonder if it's worth going through all this? If only I could remember what all I have in there.



Well, I know somewhere in there is still a TV and a sewing machine. I couldn't get at either of those, among a few other key items. Anyway, plenty of costumes have been hobbled together with safety pins, tape, and a hot glue gun (damn! where's my hot glue gun!) And lucky for me, there's a sewing lounge in my neighborhood if I get desperate.

Oh yeah, Mr. C asked me if I noticed how radical some of the Lower Haight Street Fair flags were. I kind of did, but now that I look closer at the two pics he took, I see what he means. I guess I do need this guy! How did I miss that? And what digital camera does HE have? Are these pics better than [inlink]twisted,457[/inlink] mine?





He also sent me this pic from Clarion Alley of Joe Twisty and the little bugs he makes. It's so funny to compare notes after the fact, since we never did hook up that day. I'm not sure what this says about me, but that suits me fine.

There's so much going on right now - I keep thinking I hope it keeps up while (e:Paul) and (e:Iriesara) are here. I'm sure we'll find something to do. ;-)

Mr. Coffee is turning out to be a great source of for what's happening around town. His recommendations for this weekend include SF IndieFest's Rock n Roll Horror Show at the Rickshaw Stop. Unfortunately I can't make that since Friday is the annual pumpkin carving party at [inlink]twisted,72[/inlink] Brenda & Kathy's. Can't miss that!

And he says there's "a bunch of bands for a kite-flying thing at ocean beach on saturday." Might have to check that out if the weather is good. I grabbed my kites out of storage just in case. Saturday is also the March of Light Halloween parade which swings down by my neighborhood. Good phototgraphy practice for Halloween night shots.

Oh yeah - my ex floored me today by saying he might be coming for Halloween too. Ha! That would be funny. What are the odds? I kind of doubt if he'll make it on such short notice, but you never know.

Tonight I'm off to see She Wants Revenge with Placebo at the Warfield. Larry says I've seen 35 shows with him this year so far (he likes to keep stats on stuff like that). He's way ahead of me, and will probably clock more than one per week by the end of the year. I did see about 10 shows without him, so maybe I'll catch up with him after all, haha.

I know I've been posting like gangbusters lately what with testing out the new cam. Judging a digital camera by the way the pics look at 72 dpi / 400 pixel maximum width doesn't make much sense, I know. BUT, that is the basis for my happiness, nevertheless.

I could probably judge them "in context" just as well on Alamedalink. But it's just too lonely there. Doesn't feel the same.

Anyway, I may not always comment on all y'all's posts. But you're always in my thoughts. ;-)

In no particular order, and off the top of my head:

(e:Leetee,233) - omg, THAT is an adorable pic! Congratulations on winning second second place! And I hope you whip those morning delivery guys into shape soon.

(e:Mrmike,187) - holy crap, I almost walked into my bedroom and sobbed after reading your last post. Wish I could deliver a care package in person! Feel better soon!

(e:enknot,40) - (this is going a ways back, but I wanted to say something) CONGRATULATIONS ON LAUNCHING YOUR NEW EXTERNAL SITE!

(e:Theecarey,300) - LOVE the title! and would love to see some pix, although I know it's hard to frame interior room shots. But especially - good luck exploring your next step! More to say, but this is a comment, after all...

and last but not least...

(e:Paul,4690) - I am shocked, SHOCKED! That (e:Terry) did not win! It was definitely rigged. Or Buffalo is not ready for that much raw sexuality.

I think that's all for now.

I just found a dead bird in my upstairs kitchen sink, and a live one banging against the skylight trying to get out. I don't know how or when they got in, but I feel badly for the dead one I didn't go up there all weekend. I did manage to shoo the live one out the living room window though.

It really kind of shook me up. I don't like finding dead things in my house, or uninvited live ones. Finding both seems like a bad omen. Or at least, bad weather proofing, haha. I'd better make sure all outside openings are plugged up.

It's kind of ironic I'm planning to set up fake flying bats for Halloween. I'm not going to get as elaborate as my friend Steve does (see flying bat apparatus below).



I hope my battery-powered disco ball motor will do the trick. I just realized it's going to be hard to turn it on and especially off with all those bats swinging from it. Oh well, I'll figure out something.

The reason I was going upstairs today was to haul out some more items for my bulk pickup tomorrow. Unfortunately, I hit my quota, so I have to dispose of the bale of hay by another method. I decided someone else might want to use it for Halloween so I posted it on craigslist. Any takers?

Update: Too late. The fake bale of hay got scooped up for the Haight Street Halloween Hootenany this weekend. Sorry!



p.s. - I cannot believe (e:Paul) will be here in exactly one week! Unless he succumbs to this stubborn illness or his eyes pop out in-flight. Ok, now I'm freaking myself out again.