Journals : 1998 : Part 5
10 November 1998 | Link this
I'm home. I'm not wildly excited about this fact. 'Nuff said...
Is it possible to have jet lag when you DRIVE across the country? I sort of feel like someone hit me really hard with a big stick.
Anyhow, it was a great trip. The details and pictures will follow shortly. Thanks to Erik and Bob, Carroll and Scott, David and Davee, and Bil and everyone else who put up with me. And thanks especially to Luby's Cafeteria for keeping me fueled with fried okra all the way home.
I'm going to bed now. My own bed. That'll be nice...
11 November 1998 | Link this
I know what you're thinking, but I promise I had absolutely nothing to do with the protesters who hit Mayor Willie Brown in the face with a pie. Mind you, I completely support their protest against the "economic cleansing" of San Francisco. And I completely support anything which makes Emperor Willie the Pompous appear foolish.
I'm just pissed off that I didn't think of it first.
There are, as yet, no pictures or journals from Road Trip 98. However, I have added a Statistics page, with some useless information, "best of" items, etc. Look for the real scoop within the next couple of days.
I'm going back to bed now.
12 November 1998 | Link this
So I've posted the first couple of pages of journals from Road Trip 98, including the SF to Cheyenne and Cheyenne to Indianapolis pages, along with the trip "stats". It is most flattering that so many people are interested in seeing my dusty old vacation slides...
I've been back in the rut known as San Francisco for two days now and I'm not enjoying it. I miss places with heat that works. I miss my friends from the road. I miss White Castle, dammit.
Still catching up on the email. Still catching up on the business. Still feeling like absolute shit, but loving the Count Chocula I smuggled in from Minnesota.
And, alas, still just as disillusioned with San Francisco...
Supreme Idiots:
In 1986, the US Supreme Court ruled that Americans have no right to privacy in their bedrooms in a case involving two consenting male adults in Georgia. This week, however, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that Georgians do indeed have this right to privacy as they overturned the state's sodomy laws.
Here's the catch: this time around, the case involved an adult male who was fucking his 17-year-old niece. What this all means is that fags aren't really worthy of privacy, but when the law won't let Bubba pork his brother's daughter, it's time for some serious action!
Of course, the new ruling also makes us sodomites "legal" too, so it's a good thing. I guess the "designated idiots" here are mainly the '86 Supreme Court. But somehow, my impression of the state of Georgia isn't enhanced all that much either...
Stripping Idiots:
OK...imagine you're a Bay Area mother in with a 15-year-old daughter. Your precious progeny wants a particularly lewd male stripper at her birthday party. Even though he's fondling the girls' breasts and going in their pants, you allow it to continue. You don't want to "embarrass" her in front of her friends, after all. At the end of the show, the stripper bares his willy, prompted by a big tip.
Now imagine you're a judge who has to decide who's the bigger idiot. Is it the mom for letting it happen? Or is it the stripper for thinking no one would get pissed that he was feeling up 15-year-old girls? Hard choice, huh?
13 November 1998 | Link this
Finally finished posting everything through the Detroit segment of Road Trip 98. There's lots of pictures, including the disturbing but exciting demolition of the Hudson's building in downtown Detroit.
Link du jour is Wishbone, where you will be treated to the job from hell and a really nice response to a crypto-capitalist.
Check out Webzine98 Saturday night at the Transmission Theatre. Look for a rare Planet SOMA - Schismatic convergence in a setting other than a greasy burger joint.
14 November 1998 | Link this
Webzine 98 has come and gone, so the annoying animated gif is history. The biggest highlight for me was actually meeting a flesh and blood rendition of Larry-bob, after two year or so of web/email convergences. I also saw, but did not touch, the semi-legendary Justin Hall. He was dressed a bit like a Mormon missionary. I was mildly frightened by this.
I've decided now why I occasionally hit the neighborhood queer bars on Saturday night even though it's traditionally my least favorite night to do so. I think that if I can make it through two beers amidst the Saturday night idiot fest on Folsom Street without killing someone, then I must have the strength to survive another week in San Francisco.
17 November 1998 | Link this
Link du jour: Infiltration, "the zine about going places you're not supposed to go". Great stuff. Great pictures. Great links. Truly a site after my own heart.
While I'm at it (and avoiding coming up with anything new of my own), check it this well-worded article on why Californians pretty much have no right ever to use the term "storm". I think I said some of the same things last winter. I haven't seen anything resembling a storm (or even a good rain) in six years here. It's a little creepy.
Lastly, was Sunday night's "Simpsons" (the hippie episode) thoroughly lame and a complete waste of George Carlin's voice? Or was it just me?
20 November 1998 | Link this
I am dragging. I hate this; I'm not really sick, just worn out and feeling pretty unwilling and unable to do much of anything. I'm not sure if it makes me feel better or worse that my roomie says he just got over the same thing and that it's "going around".
I'm always amused by the way California food editors think Southern people eat. In this week's paper, I read something about how to prepare a "traditional Southern Thanksgiving meal". One of the most important dishes was something called a "beet and kumquat salad". Yeah, right...
A congealed salad with canned pears, Cool-whip, and marshmallows maybe, but a "beet and kumquat salad"??? Give me a fucking break.
Road Trip 98 now includes the stretches from Detroit to Milwaukee and Milwaukee through my arrival in Minneapolis.
24 November 1998 | Link this
Wow...I've discovered that Planet SOMA is now linked by the Advocate as a gay resource. I'm not sure whether to be flattered or horrified. I think I'll choose "amused", particularly given all the less than complimetary things I've had to say about the Advocate over the years.
Guess their marketing department wasn't consulted...
Another great discovery today came as I looked for something in "the drawer". Every house has one; it's that place where stuff lands when you don't know what else to do with it. Didn't find what I was looking for, but we have masking tape. And chopsticks. Who knew...
Road Trip 98 now includes the first parts of the Minnesota story. Seems it's going to take me as long to get the trip online as it did to actually take the trip.
30 November 1998 | Link this
$3.50 a pack, my ass...
Since giving up smoking was not an option this weekend, seems the next best choice was a Friday night road trip to Reno to stock up on cheap Camels. It was a good excuse for an extra unplanned road trip anyway. And now I'm set through Christmas and my annual visit to Mom and Dad in North Carolina.
Thanksgiving feasting at my traditional gathering of expatriate North Carolinians was a blast. There are no pictures, but I believe I have some leftovers from last year.