BYOBW

Last Easter Sunday, we rode our bicycles all the way across the city to Potrero Hill, where we and friends attended the Bring Your Own Big Wheels Race. Several years old now, the big event consists of hundreds of people in costume, riding children’s Big Wheels vehicles (and all kinds of other things, like skateboards, trashcans, and coolers) down a super-steep, winding hill.

There were hundreds more folks watching, everyone crowded around various turns in the road, watching with glee as the racers crashed, got run over, or had their wheels shredded.

Totally bitchin’ way to spend an afternoon. What a fun event, what a fun city. After we saw enough of the races, we rode west to Dolores Park in the Mission. It had been oozing people earlier, and was still full but waning. When I returned from going to get a burrito and some beer, an impromptu dance party was going on, reminding me of New College wall parties.

Mission murals- Clarion Alley & otherwise

Clarion Alley (in the Mission District) has a bounty of fantastic mural art. Too bad some lame-o folks just had to tag all over some of them.

Dr. Kitten’s curly whisker

How long will it last for? Will it get any curlier?

San Francisco update

Hello everyone! So much has happened lately, so let’s get started…

At the end of January, Michelle was offered a job as the children’s librarian in Brisbane, CA (a small town just southeast of San Francisco, in San Mateo County). She accepted, with a start date of March 16, and we got to work doing all we needed to do– finishing up work, packing, finding an apartment, etc. The line between excitement and stress blurred, and our longing to see California friends clashed with the sadness of knowing how much we would miss our Florida friends and family.

The day came when Michelle, Dr. Kitten, and I got into our moving truck and hit the road. Taking I-10, we got to our new home in just five days, passing through Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and finally California. Saw some deer, rams, and bats in Texas (a bat hit our windshield at one point). Nice mountains and rock formations, some dust storms. Dr. Kitten was a champ, very well-behaved for a small mammal. (photos here)

Michelle had almost a week to get situated before her new job started– we spent that week unpacking and arranging our new small apartment. Our place is in the Outer Richmond District, on the northwest side of San Francisco, just over a block north of Golden Gate Park. We really like our neighborhood– it’s residential, quiet, and clean. Highly populated by a variety of Asian and Russian residents, and this is reflected in all the restaurants and shops around, where we have a crazy selection of eats– dim sum, sushi, Vietnamese pho, Indonesian, Burmese, Szechuan, Russian bakeries, etc. Regular grocery stores here are way expensive, but great deals on produce can be found at various local markets. I’m finding it surprisingly difficult to only prepare my own food– inexpensive good stuff is all around, and it’s so tempting for a food-lover like me.

So we’ve been here almost a month now, and have done a lot. Public transit is pretty cheap and covers a lot of ground, so it’s not hard to travel. We’ve spent some time in the Mission, looking in thrift stores, eating burritos, and having a picnic in Dolores Park, which becomes packed with people on the weekend. Also spent plenty of time in Golden Gate Park, which amazes me. It’s so vast, and has just about any kind of recreational space you could want– bike trails, exercise equipment, soccer/polo field, tennis, radio-controlled boat lake, fly-fishing casting ponds, big meadows with picnic tables and grills, etc.

This city is just bursting at the seams with events to check out… looking through the two indie/entertainment papers every week, I come across constant concerts that I just have to put out of my head, because I can’t spend $50 on shows every week. Luckily, there’s also plenty of free stuff to do, and exploring the city is entertainment enough.

This week, we are indulging a bit. Monday night we saw one of our favorite musicians, Bonnie Prince Billy, play at the Fillmore. Amazing show in a very classy venue. Tonight we’re going to see one of our favorite comedians, Neil Hamburger. Wednesday (April Fool’s Day), I took part in the St. Stupid’s Day Parade, which involved getting dressed up like an idiot and marching through the downtown financial district, venting anger at irresponsible economic behaviors while banging drums, throwing socks in the air (The Sock Exchange), giving out pink slips, etc. Michelle couldn’t make that one, because she had to work. (photos here)

Speaking of work, that’s going well for both of us. Michelle seems to be settling into her position in Brisbane, which has a tiny library. I started work last week as a substitute librarian in San Mateo County, and was surprised to get more hours than I expected, which really helps out in this expensive city. Thursday was Staff Development Day (a thing libraries do once a year where everyone gets together for talks and such), which was a good chance for us to meet other people in the library system. Everyone is so friendly and laidback, and the organization in general here is very casual, in a way that allows more flexibility in terms of staffing and programming. Just my first impressions…

And now we’re starting to meet some new people… while washing our clothes the other night, we happened upon a laundromat birthday party, and were nicely invited over to join the festivities (cupcakes and a washer full of ice and beer). Turns out everyone there is part of a group that puts on a haunted house event every year, so we may get in touch with them and perhaps do some creative work.

Soooo…. that’s where we are now. It’s a big change for us, and we’re still getting used to it all. While living in the city is fun, it is exhausting, and getting around eats up a lot of time. We miss all of our friends terribly– all our Florida friends who we just left, and our friends elsewhere that we haven’t seen so recently.

That’s all for now, but I plan on posting updates here as often as I can, so check back soon! I’ve got more photos to check out here.

been busy… or something

Either my blogthirst has been quenched, or I’ve been lazy, or busy, or just plain lazy. You haven’t heard from me in a while. Don’t get excited– this is not the epic blog post you’ve been anticipating. I’m just checking in real quick to feed my blogcat and water the plants.

Michelle and I have been busy– flew out to San Francisco to interview with a library system south of the city. Nice libraries, nice people. Michelle captured their attention, and has some follow-up interviews going on. Maybe we get to move out west after all?

We took a couple of days after the interview to visit friends and see the area a bit more. After beers at the Toronado, on the way to a diner in the Castro, we come upon a bakery showcasing their holiday tree, made entirely of bread:

Our friends took us a bit north to Muir Woods, where we saw the obligatory towering redwoods (quite nice), as well as these tiny ladybugs, amassed in huge numbers to keep warm:

I am actually flying back out that way soon, to take a written exam (part of another library system’s hiring process).

Elsewise, things have been good. Florida winter weather is spectacular, it’s such a nice time for long walks and just being outside in general. We’ve been blessed with several visits from friends who used to live in Sarasota, and who we miss and love so much.

Oh, yeah. And the administration that ruled by fear and fiat, that launched wars that have killed hundreds of thousands and hurt millions more, that smirked as it stripped US citizens of their Constitutional rights– this administration quietly exited yesterday and was replaced by an intelligent man who seems capable of representing the US while maintaining dignity and affording respect to others. I’m pretty hopeful about this, but I can’t shake the feeling that it’s pretty damn sad that the bar was been lowered so far that I’m just happy to not have a grade-A asshole in the White House.

Last night’s dream…

My wife and I are camping with a group of people in some anonymous place (we’re in a cabin, does that still count as camping?). As part of an evening’s entertainment, the two of us hold onto suspended ropes with our teeth, are lifted into the air, and spin around in synchronized circles with our eyes closed, arms out as if we are flying.

Later, in daylight, I look out the rooftop window of our cabin (which is like a tiny version of the wooden house I actually live in), and see that a few bears have found our group’s vehicles and are having a lot of fun with the wheeled toys. Obviously, I have left our rental car in neutral with the parking brake off, because one bear is having a grand time pushing the thing back and forth, ramming it into other cars, etc. It’s distressing to watch, but ultimately I’m just happy to be relatively far away from the bears.

“It’s a good thing we opted for extra insurance on that rental!” I exclaim to my wife.

“Umm, actually, we didn’t do that,” she reminds me.

Sheeeeeit.

Later, I am watching Disney’s animated version of Cinderella, although the end of the film features an extended abstract psychedelic lightshow. I don’t seem to remember this part of the movie…. kaleidoscopic flurries of lemon-yellow particles swirl before me, growing brighter and more intricate, building to a powerful climax. Wow.

…and then I wake up in bed, the mid-morning sun reaching through the blinds and covering my face.

Halloween is fun

Michelle and I dressed up as Raccoon Mario & Luigi, wearing these great costumes she made a few years ago. Went to a friend’s art show/party in Tampa, which featured masks modeled after characters from The Secret of NIMH. Drank a lot of beer, danced a bunch, talked with friends. Went to work the next day after getting 4 hours of sleep, stared at a computer screen for close to 10 hours. Came home with these deep dark lines under my eyes, which took a week to go away! Shit, I’m getting old. More pics here.

Media Consumption Report: Comics & Music

Since finishing up with grad school, I’ve had lots of long-anticipated time to read and do whatever the hell I want. So here’s the first installment of what I’ve been reading, watching, listening to in the past couple of months.

Transmetropolitan, a science fiction comics series by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson. Spider Jerusalem is the protagonist, a kind of twisted future Hunter S Thompson gonzo investigative reporter. I’ve been reading a story arc centering on a US Presidential Election, with The Smiler coming up against The Beast, an incumbent. Very sharp writing, lots of future-fantasy drug use, plenty of telling truth to power. It’s been very helpful for getting me through the real-life Presidential campaign (it’s finally over!). Especially amusing is when Spider discovers that The Smiler’s VP candidate was grown from a test tube at a human farming operation only three years before, in an effort to secure a candidate that didn’t have any dirt on him.

Also been reading Joss Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men. I’m not real familiar with Whedon’s other writing work– haven’t seen Buffy, only seen the pilot of Firefly. His talent for real dialogue works well in an action comic that has a lot of soap opera interaction going on. Warren Ellis is now doing the writing on this series, and it’s looking decent so far. I just kind of wish that the costumes wouldn’t have to change every time a new writer & artist team comes on board. Also, they should get rid of The White Queen. That bitch’s haughty personality isn’t doing this comic any favors.

Music, music… I’ve been getting into some Glitch Mob stuff… Math Head, ediT, some others whose names I don’t know yet. Glitchy, hard, diverse… pretty much my favorite kind of dance music.

Aimee Mann’s latest album (Fucking Smilers) is stuck in my head a lot these days, and I can’t stop listening to it. She’s got a great husky voice, solid songwriting, interesting instrumentation (synths, trombones, harpsichord?).

After a handful of listens to Skeletal Lamping, the new Of Montreal album, I think it’s a winner. The songs are mostly cut up into short minisongs, and are damned catchy…. I can guess that maybe I’ll get real sick of them with too many listens, though. There’s not much real structure going on, just quick cuts and Kevin Barnes playing the character of a black shemale (groan).

Blitzen Trapper’s new one, Furr, shows off a pretty Dylanesque side, and it’s a good thing. I confess I do prefer the rockin’ bits on their previous Wild Mountain Nation.

Michna is one guy from Secret Frequency Crew, one of my favorite electronic acts around. His debut album, Magic Monday, combines Miami bass, lush synths, trombones, and a variety of live and programmed minor-key music to make a damn fine album. Highly recommended, yes.

Otto von Schirach is another electronic musician with ties to Miami. Oozing Bass Spasms combines a whirlwind of beats (more styles than I can really categorize) with scary/disgusting sound effects and ample vocal samples from porn films. Sometimes it gets a bit silly, sometimes a bit stupid, sometimes it kinda falls apart. But there are some solid ass-shaking tracks here, such as “Dance Like a Ho.”

Oh, and I keep coming back to The Devil, You and Me, the latest album by The Notwist, a German post-rock band. I believe this one makes use of a symphony orchestra, along with the guitars, bass, drums, and electronics. Less rocking than their last album, Neon Golden, but so much more complex and emotionally charged. It seems like every song has such an intricate and unconventional structure, moving from one place of sound to another seamlessly. I’m not very good at writing about this kind of thing, but if you can place any trust in some guy who blogs infrequently, go out and find this, listen to it as much as you can.

what’s on your holiday wishlist?

my friend showed this to me, I can’t resist posting it here:

a special election season message

I know, I know. This election season is exhausting, offensive, and nauseating. But take heart in the knowledge that you don’t even have to pick a candidate, because you have Vernon Twinburger already serving you…

(this message brought to you by Citizens for a Future Tomorrow)