“What’s Planet SOMA?”

“Some website. S’posed to be good for ya. Wanna try it?”

“I’m not gonna try it. YOU try it.”

“I’m not gonna try it. Hey, let’s get Pigdog!”

“He won’t read it. He hates everything”

Narf, narf, narf…

“He likes it! Hey, Pigdog…”

I’m off to Fresno for the weekend now. There may be side trips to exotic locales like Clovis and Los Baños and Modesto. There will most assuredly be thrift stores and diners and cheap motels. I have not yet decided whether to add drama to the lives of another couple, but if history is any sort of predictor…

See you tomorrow.

This was just plain creepy. At about 6:00, I walked up to the corner store to get a pack of cigarettes. The owner was watching the news about the earthquake in Turkey. We commented on how awful it was, and as I walked out, I just happened to utter the following words:

“We’re gonna have another one here before you know it.”

About ten seconds later, we did. The owner ran out of the store to tell me. It was a small one. I didn’t even feel it. But things were shaking and quivering inside the store. As I walked home, I noticed some neighbors talking about it on the sidewalk. I turned on the news. Channel 4 was already into its predicatble hype mode.

I predicted an earthquake with precision accuracy. And I didn’t even know I was doing it at the time. Much better than last time.

Things I love today:

• Safeway Select Grapefruit Soda
• The Safeway at 7th Avenue and Cabrillo
• The fact that, after tonight, I will finally have every episode of “The Streets of San Francisco” on tape, including the one filmed near the aforementioned Safeway.

Things which suck more than usual today (which means they suck a whole lot):

• Microsoft
• Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Microsoft Active-X

Happy Birthday, Dad…

No, he probably won’t see it, since my Mom is still learning the ins and outs of accessing the web. But I thought it was a pretty cool “concept shot”. I have one of my Mom too. She’s standing under a sign which reads “motherhood”. A maternity store, I think. Shortly after we took these last January, mall security told us we had to stop taking pictures. We were so ashamed. Really…

My Dad’s birthday: another family event expedited by Federal Express. When my parents send me presents, they use regular mail. They plan ahead.

Things I love this week:

• Fresca
• Rosemary’s Baby
• Chick-Fil-A sandwiches, which are even better after two days in the refrigerator.
• Joe Orton

I sort of left town. I just didn’t spend the night anyplace. So I still haven’t slept anyplace other than San Francisco since January. That’s absolutely terrifying. Next weekend for sure. Fresno calls…

As for this weekend, I pretended I wasn’t in San Francisco by lurking in the Outer Mission on Friday afternoon. I took a lot of pictures. I had lunch at the Chick-N-Coop Hoffbrau, which is a story in itself, soon to be told. And then I explored Pacifica some more. I keep thinking that there’s some excting part of Pacifica I haven’t yet discovered, and I keep being disappointed.

Today, I made one of my “huge circle” day trips, from San Francisco to Tracy to Stockton and Lodi to Sacramento and home again by way of Fairfield. This was mostly a thrift-shopping and picture-taking excursion than anything else. Final score: one very ugly shirt, two commemorative plates (Oklahoma City and Nebraska), and four very turquoise dishes. All for under ten bucks.

The best part, of course, was dinner at the Chick-Fil-A in Fairfield.

Other memorable moments:

• The old guy in the Cadillac in Tracy who opened his door to reveal he was listening to ZZ Top at the loudest possible volume.
• The new road in Sacramento which connects Arden Way and Garden Highway. In a brilliant move, it’s been named “Arden Garden”.
• That hot dog from the AM-PM in Galt. I’ll be remembering it for days…

I may expand this day trip later, but right now I’m going to bed. I may drag my ass out early and do another one tomorrow…