Old man yells at cloud
Extremely busy and hectic weekend. My apologies to anyone who’s waiting for me to answer email. Tomorrow, I promise…
Sunday’s “Stop the Hate” rally in the Mission was indeed the put-on I’d imagined. Mind you, it was a serious event and serious issues were discussed and publicized. Essentially, though, it was a brilliant piece of street theatre.
Duncan’s here, I’m playing tourguide, and I’ll have somthing more interesting to say soon. Maybe…
My car is now legal again. I was a little tardy in taking care of my smog check and registration. Please don’t ask me how tardy. All the same, I can once again drive without fear of persecution (or prosecution) now that, as they say, the check in the mail. Not that I really stopped driving anyway. I just stopped driving near cops.
At least there’s now an event which has displaced the final episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the most exciting moment of my week. If you think that’s sad, you should ask me about the runners-up.
Next week will be better. My friend Duncan from North Carolina will be visiting. One of the benefits (and trust me…there aren’t many…) of living in a business and convention destination is that sometimes your friends get to visit and they don’t even have to pay for it.
Duncan and I work well together. We used to do things like leaving the house headed for fast food places down the block and winding up 90 miles away in a cafeteria in another state. This was a fairly regular thing and never seemed too unusual. No telling where we’ll end up while he’s here. I haven’t been to Fresno lately…
The way I’m doing things lately, I may WALK there…
Note to Duncan: you need not feel compelled to go to Fresno…
Note to self: shut up and go to sleep…
Sunburned again. And it seemed so damned overcast when I started. I went on another one of those urban mega-hikes on Monday afternoon. This time, I accomplished something I’d never done before: I crossed the entire width of the city, from the bay to the ocean, on foot.
I didn’t really plan it this way. I just started walking. And I kept walking and walking. Past Union Square and the Civic Center and onward through the Western Addition projects. I crossed Divisadero, where the honey-baked ham store sits across the street from the Jewish mortuary. I wandered past the old Sears store at Geary and Masonic and into the Richmond District.
By the time I hit Green Apple Books at 6th and Clement, I knew I wasn’t going to stop until I hit the Pacific. And I didn’t. I finally came to rest atop a hill amidst the ruins of Adolph Sutro’s mansion overlooking the sea.
Then I got on a bus and came home. I’ve spent the rest of the evening recovering.
Why do I do this? Mainly, because I can. Having a walkable city is one of the biggest benefits associated with living in San Francisco, even for a diehard road tripper like myself. Long-distance walks allow you to see things you don’t notice from a car or a bus. Seemingly dull areas develop unexpected nuances and textures.
I recommend it, even though eight miles may be a bit much. Maybe it was jut frustration from not getting laid this weekend…