That raging inferno is my birthday cake. Damn, I’m old…
On the other hand, I might not have had the wind to blow out 40 candles a year ago, back when I was still smoking…
I’ve got to be honest: despite the fact that it affects me personally, I’m having a really difficult time summoning a healthy amount of outrage about yesterday’s California Supreme Court ruling. Here’s why:
- The court had almost no choice but to rule the way it did. Gavin Newsom DID overstep his authority, and since the City and County of San Francisco ultimately had no authority to perform these marriages, it was a near certainty that they would be ruled invalid.
- The court was NOT ruling on the Constitutionality of same-sex marriage in general, but on the legality of San Francisco’s implementation of it. In other words, the opinion did not state that banning same-sex marriage is OK, but that it is NOT OK for municipalities to decide for themselves what is and is not Constitutional, and which laws they will or will not abide by.
Ultimately, I believe that the California — or US — Supreme Court WILL rule that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, and I believe that this will be the correct decision. Hell, even the opponents believe this, which is why they’re trying to mutilate the Constitution with an amendment…
But yesterday’s ruling in Sacramento had nothing to do with any of this. We engaged in civil disobedience. We knew it, the mayor knew it, and just about everyone else knew it. The very nature of civil disobedience is that it involves violating the law in an attempt to draw attention to the problems with that law. By definition, there are also legal consequences, and I sort of bristle at the the idea of people who knowingly broke the law to make a statement becoming upset at being told that we did in fact break the law. That was sort of the point, wasn’t it?
All in all, we did a good thing. Gavin Newson did a good thing. But it wasn’t legal. Not yet. The court was correct. And that’s why I didn’t feel compelled to march nor to feel too terribly outraged just based on this particular decision. It’s slow and tedious, but that’s how the legislative and judicial process works. And generally it DOES work. Eventually…
Unrelated: I decided to post the notes I’ve been keeping about our Dish Network Dish DVR 510 nightmare. Read this page if you’re thinking of getting one…
In less than 24 hours, I’ll be in Hawaii. Who saw that coming?
Apologies for the lack of updates lately and all, but I’ve just been too busy. If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t sent my aunt in North Carolina a “thank you” card yet either…
I’d never been to Hawai’i. In fact, it had never been very high on my list of priorities. But there was a wedding involved, and I just couldn’t resist the thought of visiting — not to mention doing it in — another state, one of only two which is ever farther west than my own…
Mark and I dragged our asses and our luggage up Seventh Street to the Civic Center BART station at an unspeakably early hour so we could make it to the Oakland airport and catch our rescheduled flight to Kahului. The airport was from hell (who knew there was an even worse option than SFO?), but the flight was just fine. Aloha may be one of the last airlines that actually takes care of its passengers…
We picked up three hours flying west, thanks to that time zone thing, and arrived a little before noon. We got our car, drove out of the airport and were immediately greeted by a Costco and a Krispy Kreme. Just like in America…
It didn’t take us long to find the Longs (for water and snacks) and our hotel (for the elimination thereof). The hotel was budget, but nice, with sort of a faded 1950s glory and a window unit air conditioner which eventually cooled things down. And it was a friendly sort of place. After checking in, we looked around Kahului and got lunch at a burrito place in a strip mall near the Wal-Mart. I sort of liked that we were obviously staying in the “locals” part of the island…
Later, we me KC and Galen at their resort, and they frolicked in the ocean and on the beach while I desperately sought shade. I only do beaches in the fog and at night, and find them to be wretchedly miserable places to spend a hot sunny day, and I don’t apologize for that fact…
Afterward, we had a group of about eight for dinner at a nice Thai place in Kihei…
Wedding day. After a breakfast involving lots of Spam and rice (two scoop) at the hotel coffee shop, we went to the local Wal-Mart for flip flops and assorted casual wedding gear. We also did the quick drive-by tour of Kahului…
The wedding was really nice. Miraculously, a breeze seemed to appear just as we hit the beach, even making the temperature bearable. As Mark said, a casual and unrehearsed wedding is a good thing since everything is very informal and nothing really can go all that wrong…
Dinner Friday night was at Humuhumunukunukuapua’a, which is much easier to cut and paste than to type (or pronouce). It made for a wonderful dinner in the tiki hut, with lots of food, the occasional toast, and even a dance from the bride and groom…
Afterward, we went back to out own hotel and played on our own cooler and darker beach…
This was our day for touring the island. We’d planned to do a big circuit, but there were time constraints. So we visited Lahaina, which is nice, if a little too much like Fishermans Wharf…
We started the drive to Hana, but we realized about a half hour in that it was pretty much just another winding road, and that it was going to take forever but not offer sufficient benefit for the time invested, so we aborted and headed back to Kihei to say goodbye to KC and Galen, and we watched the sunset from the correct side of the island…
We were pretty much determined to get local food for dinner, and we found it at Sheik’s in Kahului, a typical Hawaiian plate lunch sort of place. We liked. Muchly…
Afterward, it was back to Foodland (just because we could) and home to the hotel, so we could get up very early and fly back to Oakland…
Like I said, Hawai’i was never high on my list, but I’m glad we visited. People were friendly, the wedding was beautiful, and Spam was plentiful and cheap. Next visit, though, we’ll probably do Oahu. I’d imagine it’s a little more to our liking…
As I’ve often said, journal-keeping (and I’m not talking about the relatively disposable online sort) has always been a good form of therapy for me. When something’s bothering me, the act of writing about it helps me to organize it and recognize it as something I can deal with and work on. I may know quite well beforehand what the issues are, but I very much need that process of fine-tuning and rearranging…
It may have something to do with the fact that I’ve always had an easier time communicating with others via the written word. Evidently, I communicate better with myself that way too…
Your mileage may vary…
I’m sweaty from the heat, sniffly from being perpetually in front of slightly dusty fans, and dehydrated and groggy from not having been able to sleep for the past three nights. I feel like my entire long weekend has been wasted. So, if I hear one more moron on TV (or anyplace else) gushing about the “nice, warm, sunny weather we’re having this weekend”, someone may die…
I hate September in San Francisco…
I’m typing today to the sound of loud saws and hammers. They’re working on the four-unit apartment building next door. It doesn’t phase me as much as it might, because they’ve been working on the same building with the same saws and the same hammers for TEN FUCKING YEARS…
Think I’m kidding? No indeed. I’m quite serious. It all started about 1993 or 1994, a couple of years after I moved into my apartment, when they extended the back of the building and enclosed some balconies, turning the air shaft which provides the windows for my living room and bedroom into a very narrow tube. This wasn’t a problem; I’m not a big fan of overabundant light, although I think my downstairs neighbor was less amused. Actually, I think the city was a little miffed too, as certain permits hadn’t been filed…
For the next decade, the construction continued off and on, sometimes much more “off” and sometimes much more “on”, but always there lurking in the background. Almost any time I sit in the living room during the day on a weekday, I hear the workers chatting away, since the deck where they evidently spend most of their time is about eight feet from my window. This chatter doesn’t really phase me either, since I also hear it at night from the very loud residents of said building. Once or twice when it extended past midnight and was accompanied by (really bad) music, I even called the cops…
Today, it’s a little noisier than usual. We heard some pouding late last evening too, which suggests to me that the noisy residents themselves might be doing some of the modifications. They’ve done enough pouding and sawing over the past ten years that they must have gutted and reconstructed the whole goddamned building at least three times…
Hmmm. I wonder if they have the proper permits this time. Maybe I should check into that…