Ah, my first weekend of graduate school. Set in a picturesque Waldorf school outside of Santa Rosa, the studying begins. There’s always time for karaoke, however. A nice surprise to find that the Richmond bridge, about 20 minutes north of where I live, sort of looks like when you cross the bridge from Bainbridge Island onto the Olympic Peninsula. With the partly cloudy skies this weekend, I briefly felt like I was in Seattle. A nice fix, but I’d welcome anyone sending a 1/2 pound of Vivace Espresso.
Cleanse ends at Galerias
I’ve entered the sixth day of my cleanse, and it’s been difficult. I just sent in my checks to the IRS and my accountant, so a great burden has been lifted from my shoulders. I’m thinking of ending the cleanse this evening and having a nice dinner – I don’t know why, maybe it’s the pressure of finishing up all homework this week, but my mind is not in the place it was in early January, when a lot more is at stake. My weight has leveled off at a nice 180-181. Still, who knows how I’ll feel later tonight… I mean, it’s only one more day of a seven-day cleanse. Shouldn’t that be easy to do?Dinner at Galerias with Kimmay. Food never tasted so good.
Olympia, in a can
I feel like shit today. It was probably the can of Olympia from Sunday night – it feels like a thick cloud in the front of my brain. I’m taking the next 9 days off to finish all of my homework, and having another cleanse. Why, oh why did I drink beer from a can?
The jealous boyfriend
This cleanse, the war, and the weather are affecting me in sluggish ways. I went out for pizza and karaoke last night with my brother and his wife. The atmosphere of the bar was really depressing, and offered me new insight to whether this is the best use of my time.Tonight I met a gentleman, and when I use that word, I don’t mean that at all. I would characterize him as extreme-low-self-esteem-and-jealous-boyfriend-man. At a birthday party tonight, I talked to a woman tonight, for the sake of conversation, without realizing I was under the watchful eye of her jealous boyfriend, who let me know rather directly that she was off-limits. He was almost mob-like in his delivery – and waited to tell me later on in the evening because he wasn’t sure if I was gay or not. He asked me if I was, and I honestly thought he was gay – and when I said no, he let me know that she was with him. I still had a great time with everyone else, but the experience reminded me that there are men out there like that, and that there are women who probably don’t know another alternative.
NYC “inevitable”, say Seattleites
A big gathering at Molly Maguire’s tonight, and I meet two more people who are moving to New York. Something’s catching.
“You know him. He was the guy who used to walk around downtown capturing crows in a cardboard box – the guy whose girlfriend led him around with a dog collar at the Catwalk?”
Overheard on Capitol Hill
Pundits are declaring the Iraq war “inevitable” again, and the terror alert has been reduced to “Elevated”. I think I’m going to turn off the media for a couple of days for a well-deserved break. Like homework, for instance.
The upside of phlegm
I’m finally finishing up five days of a flu bug that’s going around Seattle. Hacking less and less each day. How pleasant.
The cleanse has severely curtailed my tolerance to alcohol. I had a glass of wine with dinner, and then later on had another one at a icky-snooty bar with friends, and ordered a third, but couldn’t drink it. I used to be able to work with a whole bottle. Ah, well – at least this has an economic benefit.
C’etait Toi
I’m meeting with some people from the Green MBA program at New College on March 10th in Santa Rosa.After seeing a play called ‘Ballyhoo’ at Rebar, my friend Camille and I head to a restaurant named Toi (pronounced ‘toy’). The DJ in the lounge has just started, and most of the guys in the place look and dress like Matthew Perry’s character, Chandler Bing, from ‘Friends’. Two exceptionally-scantily-clad women dance together on the tiny dance floor, which leads me to believe they might have been hired to draw people in.
Outback Mountain Ramjam
From now on, it’s two drink maximum per evening. I so didn’t want to break my no-hangover vow this year. Last night I went out with my friend Jeannette, and a couple of her friends, for happy hour at a steakhouse. Not much for vegequarians.At least we left the steakhouse to sing karaoke at the Comet Tavern. I belted out “Black Betty” by Ramjam (where are they now? One-hit wonder.) I think the taps were unclean at the Comet. I only had two pints of Guinness.
Sakani to ’em!
Sakani! What a fiery orator, and co-author of “Taking It Personally”. She reminds me of why I cherish the weekends at New College – lively discussions accentuated with a variety of fascinating speakers. Tonight I hung out with Laura and a gaggle of her friends at a bar in Noe Valley called the Dubliner, but the real fun was when we all went out to a bar in the Castro called Lucky 13 – it reminded me as a collage of several bars that exist in Seattle, like the Tractor Tavern, Molly Maguire’s, the Comet Tavern. I loved the vibe, and they had a great jukebox. If I take up drinking as a hobby again, that’s where I’d want to practice. And it’s right down the street from the Mint.
NLRB at RNM
I connected with several students today – Natasha, Yusef, Gerald and Jeremiah – over lunch at a Pakistani restaurant. That felt good, and those connections made me really feel a part of the city, almost as a resident, and no longer as a stranger. The afternoon found me nodding off during the last hour (sorry).Diana and I have dinner at a totally-out-of-place-in-the-Haight restaurant called RNM, a French and American fusion establishment. I eventually got into a conversation with a couple sitting next to us – it turns out that the guy sitting next to me works for the National Labor Relations Board – and talked about the rise and fall and present status of the labor/union movement. I didn’t expect that.