Journals : 2002 : March
3 March 2002 | Link this
So far I've managed to get almost nothing from Thursday's list done this weekend. i've been busy, mind you. I just haven't been busy doing any of the stuff I was supposed to be doing...
I'm working on it today. Really. I have a lots of nervous energy from a weekend without Mark around. Must channel it positively. I even skipped my Sunday breakfast today; I didn't want to eat blue grits alone. That's the first sign of a hominy problem, y'know...
Anyway, I'll get started after I look at this again (link via Carroll). Great article...
3 March 2002 Later | Link this
I hate those weekends when I'm more tired at the end than I was at the beginning. And I'm not talking about the satisfied and contented sort of tired...
4 March 2002 | Link this
In about three and a half weeks, I'm off to the great Pacific Northwest with Mark. It will be almost five years to the week after my last trip up that way. That was a great trip, depite the fact that the Seattle portion was marred by the presence of a whiny and pouting ex-dalliance. This time will, I suspect, be much more pleasant, if for no other reason than the fact that I'll be in Seattle with someone who actually WANTS to be there...
I'm positively giddy at the prospect of a whole week with Mark. And at the prospect of a whole week out of San Francisco. And at the fact that I've found one of those rare appropriate uses of the word "giddy". My biggest fear is that, just like last time, I'll return so obsessed with the idea of moving up there (and with spending unmetered time with Mark) that San Francisco will seem even more dismal than it does now...
Interesting reading for your evening...
I may post one or two election endorsements later tonight; I'm getting a little tired on Winona's face below...
4 March 2002 Later | Link this
Avoided computer all night. Sat on butt, popped in new Chinatown DVD (finally) and watched it in its entirety. Wholeheartedly recommend this regimen to others as well...
I'm only going to offer the two election endorsements I feel particularly strongly about. I'm not a regsitered Republican (surprise!) and there's not much point in my having an opinion on the primary. So:
- Proposition 42: Yes. Couldn't be any simpler. The gasoline tax is the cornerstone of the federal and state transportation programs; these programs are the very reason for the existence of a gas tax. To suggest that voting "yes" would somehow eliminate flexibility in funding schools and healthcare is ridiculous; this money was never meant to be spent on schools and healthcare in the first place.
- Proposition 45: No. This may be one of the single most convoluted and cumbersome pieces of legislation I've ever read. Let's see if I have this straight. Term limits are the law in California. But we can waive that in certain instances by presenting a petition with a certain number of signatures. In support of the incumbent. It doesn't matter how you feel about term limits; this reads like nothing but a manual for disaster. Complete idiocy. I refused to sign the qualifying petition several months ago and I refuse to vote for it now.
5 March 2002 | Link this
I still declare, as I have for some years now, that there is no better meal available for less than ten bucks in San Francisco than a super carnitas burrito from Pancho Villa. There are probably damned few better meals available for more than ten bucks either...
Things I love today:
- Carnitas.
- Much easier parking in the Mission than there was a year or two back.
- The Osbournes.
- Him, a lot.
Things I hate today:
- Pollen.
- The Real World.
- The aftereffects of a super carnitas burrito from Pancho Villa.
- Moby. He's just fucking creepy.
6 March 2002 | Link this
So it was a crappy day (imagine me teaching a sensitivity training session ferchrissakes), but it got better tonight. I received a review copy of what I now refer to as "my book": the one above, where my photo was used on the cover. That was pretty cool. Looks like a pretty good book too; a little-known fact about yer humble host is that I was planning to specialize in Retail Location back when I was still planning to get an M.A. in Geography...
Then I had a quick phone conversation with Mark, which we don't do very often, maybe due to my strange phone phobia. So it still feels all "special". And now there's this bluegrass special on KTEH. So the evening's gotten much better...
7 March 2002 | Link this
I seem to be having one of those periods where I seem completely unable to answer simple email messages lately. Granted, I'm a little casual about it even at my best, but now my friends are even starting not to like me. And, as usual, there is precious little rhyme or reason to the messages which DO get a timely response...
So this is pretty much just a half-assed excuse to all the people I owe. I'm sorry. Please don't feel slighted. I started tonight and I'm tentatively penciling in tomorrow night for a big catch up session...
Yeah, I know. You've heard it all before. Starting in about 1998...
7 March 2002 Later | Link this
So I took this quiz (watch out for lots of annoying pop-up windows) and my results had no bearing on reality (nor on any of my answers) and I'm not posting them. So there. Your mileage may vary...
Unrelated: anyone under the impression that Chicago is "the windy city" obviously was not waiting for a 12-Folsom on the Embaracdero this afternoon about 3:30...
8 March 2002 | Link this
In about 18 hours I'll be in Los Banos, meeting Mark at the Wal-Mart (it's central and well-lit, after all). This means that (a) the 12-day separation will be over, probably resulting in much mushiness and gushiness in my next journal entry, (b) we'll be doing our first overnight road trip, meaning there may be really cool pictures and stories to follow, and (c) if I didn't answer your email tonight, it's probably not going to happen until Sunday or Monday...
Now it's late and I'm going to bed knowing much more about the Gabors than I did an hour or so earlier...
8 March 2002 Later | Link this
OK. I saw another site promoting itself as "best internet website". Now just what kind of website is there, as a general rule, other than an "internet website"?
I'm off to the money bank now, and then maybe to a food restuarant to get something to eat...
8 March 2002 Still Later | Link this
Wow...
10 March 2002 | Link this
Stories of Los Banos, Salinas, Castroville, and Watsonville coming tomorrow, maybe. Also: stories of love, noisy neighbors, spiders, child abuse, neon signs, chorizo, Steinbeck, artichokes, and more...
Hmmm. Seems I like travelling with Mark just about as much as I like doing everything else with him. He's passed every test so far, and this was a damned important one...
11 March 2002 | Link this
Exciting pictures and text about this weekend's road trip to Los Banos and Salinas...
And since Mark, Shane, and Lauren all posted theirs, I'll 'fess up too. I'm equal parts e.e. cummings and Maya Angelou, which sort of works for me, I think, if I have to be a poet at all. I've also decided that this is just about enough of these things for a while...
Take
the Which Poet are You? Quiz - brought to you out of boredom and
pretention!
12 March 2002 | Link this
Sometimes you just find the coolest stuff when you're looking for something else...
And it strikes me that there are currently way too many graphics and not nearly enough text on my front page right now. The balance usually swings in the other direction, so it's probably OK, but it's also something I need to work on...
But not tonight...
13 March 2002 | Link this
I finally got it. By that I mean this chest cold and flu-ish thing everyone I work with seems to have. And I want to thank them all personally for coming into work contageous. Really...
It came suddenly, over about three hours this morning. Since I'm not allowed to take anything for this, I'll just sweat out the fever, the chills, the aches, and the cough which makes it all about ten times worse. I started by sleeping (sort of) for about four hours this afternoon. I may do so again tonight and tomorrow...
I'm not pleasant to be around when I'm this sick. Especially when there's not a bloody thing I can do about it...
15 March 2002 | Link this
I pretty much haven't gotten out of bed for two days., and I just about can't remember the last time I felt this fucking miserable...
16 March 2002 | Link this
I won't say that I feel great this morning, beacuse I surely don't. But I think I may have arrived at the point where I can drive to the Safeway and get some decent food in the house. And maybe even sit upright long enough to answer some email...
Dammit, this is not how I wanted to spend my weekend. I should be curled up watching cartoons with Mark right now...
18 March 2002 | Link this
This is getting on my nerves. I feel like I'm sort of floating in a foam, not quite connecting properly with anything. Lest anyone worry, my problem is physical, not metaphysical, and I think it's mostly result of the still slightly present death flu, combined with the fact that I haven't really had a cigarette in five days...
And yes, I am using the fact that the idea of smoking makes me nauseous right now as an easy way to get through those first days of nicotine withdrawal, thanks. At least something good should come out of this whole thing...
But I sure do feel fuzzy-headed, even though I think I'm at least close to healthy again. I can't quite concentrate on things. Sounds seem kind of muffled. And everything smells funny. I wouldn't look for any exciting revelations or profound thoughts in this space for at least another day or two...
Yeah, as if...
It needs to be Friday and I need to be answering my door and seeing this face right now. An unplanned two-week separation is even worse than a planned one...
20 March 2002 | Link this
The Grapes of Wrath. I've seen it more than ten times. I have it on tape. But I'll still sit through the damned thing every time it's on TV...
Apologies for the lack of updates this week. I'm working on on it. Really...
25 March 2002 | Link this
Major US cities I'd most like to live in if family, climate, and economy were not factors:
-
Chicago
- Baltimore
- Boston
- Seattle
- Portland
- Detroit
- Pittsburgh
Major US cities I'd probably consider living in given the right set of inducements:
- Los Angeles
- Minneapolis
- Atlanta
- Washington
- Richmond
- Denver
- Kansas City
- New York
- Philadelphia
Major US cities I can't imagine ever wanting to live in:
- Phoenix (or anyplace in Arizona)
- Miami (or anyplace in Florida)
- San Diego
- Houston (or anyplace in Texas)
- Salt Lake City (or anyplace in Utah)
- Norfolk - Virginia Beach
- Albuquerque (or anyplace in New Mexico)
- Oklahoma City (or anyplace in Oklahoma)
- Nashville
- Las Vegas (or anyplace in Nevada
26 March 2002 | Link this
Rest well, Dr. Scholl...
In response to a request for elaboration about yesterday's list of cities I might like (or hate) to live in, I'll offer the following bits of info on what I do or don't like in a city. And if some of this sounds familiar, that's because it is, but I don't think the original essay is posted anymore...
I like cities with a distinct urban "feel', but this is a subjective thing. Some people think "urban" means Times Square in New York or Union Square in SF, but I'm more inclined to give that designation to ares like the Outer Mission or Brooklyn. I like a little grit and a certain reality. I don't do tourist traps nor malls...
I also like cities to have texture. By texture, I'm not referring to successive waves of gentrification which have turned interesting working class neighborhoods into cutesy little boutique zones. Texture refers to a mix of building ages and types. It means things like diners and hardware stores rather than shops selling nothing but ironic greeting cards...
I don't like places which, like so much of the sunbelt, appear to be nothing but stucco and plastic, all of it seemingly erected last week. I'm not fond of "upscale" places, nor of large and visble "gay neighborhoods". These places tend to be exceedingly boring and bland and superficial, and full of similarly boring and bland and superficial people I don't want to share the sidewalk with...
I like places with enough of a literate and collegiate presence to support good bookstores and good, cheap restaurants, but without that annoying and overpowering "college town" syndrome. That's also why I tend to like bigger cities; they can absorb a large university presence without being overwhelmed by it...
I like places where transit is a viable option, but not the only one. I'd like not to have to drive, but I'd also like to be able to do so when I feel like it. I like some density, but not so much that it makes completing the simplest task a nightmarish challenge...
I am completely unconcerned with being around a large "gay community", nor do I care much about "cultural opportunities" like the opera, the ballet, etc. I judge a city based on its good and cheap restaurants rather than its four-star "fine dining" experiences. I want a five dollar meal, not a five dollar cup of coffee. And I'm more worried about having an easily-accessible Target or Wal-Mart than a Macy's or a Bloomie's...
And when I get bored with the city I'm in, I'd like there to be lots more within easy driving distance...
Hope that begins to clear it all up...
26 March 2002 Later | Link this
OK. I'll play too. How well do you know me? (Quiz closed; link is to results.)
And if I were all of you, I'd be very careful about giving these people an email address...
26 March 2002 Even Later | Link this
I've been interviewed both live and via email over the years, and email interviews are always more taxing than I think they're going to be. Maybe because I actually have to worry about spelling and punctuation...
27 March 2002 | Link this
Less than three days now until the great Pacific Northwest excursion. A whole week with Mark and none of it in San Francisco. Needless to say, I'm excited. I may not come back...
This trip is a pretty significant event for me. I always travel alone. Always. And the fact that I've found someone with whom I'm sufficietly comfortable to take a week-long road trip is a pretty major thing. There's no telling what I might feel comfortable enough to do after this...
And on an unrelated note, all the last-minute programming changes at UPN and The WB are making my life a living hell lately. It would be nice to get through one entire week without having to make major changes to my station sites on 48 hours notice. Especially since I'm going on vacation and will be very annoyed by the prospect next week...
Last but not least, I'm about to go satellite and finally sever the last of my ties with the pond scum at AT&T. I imagine that will start yet another wave of telemarketing calls (this time from the cable division) which will invariably receive very rude responses. I think the last time they called me about long distance, I replied that I wouldn't use their service again if the only other option were carrier pigeons...
28 March 2002 | Link this
New rant on free speech over at Planet SOMA, if you're interested...
29 March 2002 | Link this
Congratulations to Shane on his first gallery show. If I were anywhere within a thousand or so miles of Kansas City, I'd go. Come to thingk of it, I think the last gallery show I went to may have been in Kansas City too...
But I am going to be leaving for Portland and Seattle tomorrow with Mark. It's sort of snuck up on me in a way and i have an awful lot of stuff to do before leaving, from laundry, to bill-paying to house-cleaning, to maybe dinner at Tad's tonight with Dan, Jamie, and Sarah...
What all that means is that this will probably be my last update for several days. And that most of the email in my inbox probably will not get answered until I get back. Why no, as a matter of fact, I'm NOT going to spend my vacation in front of a computer, thanks...
I was going to close out the test (quiz closed; link is to results) before departing, but I'll leave it up for your amusement. Gotta go make some room reservations now. See you all in about nine days, probably with a big smile on my face...