Flower

Walking along Land's End

It amazes me that all this is a ten minute drive from my place in the Haight. This past Saturday, Scott and I made a short hike along Land's End to get away from the urban and reconnect a bit with the primordial. It was a vacation without really leaving the city, and much needed.

Sunday champagne brunch at Jim & Aaron's

Quiche. How gay is that? And I made it! (Okay, Scott helped out a lot).


Party in motion.


The amazing view.





Friends.

Crazy talk

The denizens of the Mission District are an eclectic bunch. It's a very "urban, gritty , colorful" kind of neighborhood, ie it's mostly poor, black and hispanic people. Also, because this is SF, Asians, too. Basically, not a lot of white people, which is fine by me, being from the Chocolate City myself. Anyway, it's an endless carnival of humanity, making for an entertaining walk each morning to work. (Yes, I am now gainfully employed if you didn't know. I am sorry if I have been out of touch with some of y'all, but hey I been busy.)

So this morning I hear a deranged homeless woman talking to herself: "He makes me look like a lunatic in front of the whole world!"


It was very unclear who "he" was, but I just love random hyperbole, and really appreciated her use of the word lunatic.

Inappropriate non-stop hotness

Amid all the coverage of Blackwater's shenanigans, this picture naturally caught my eye. I mean, I know it is totally inappropriate to be checking out a hot guy, when we're talking about major scandals, and fuck-ups involving loss of life, etc., etc., but c'mon, you know this guy is hot. I have had some personal experience with Blackwater, as after Hurricane Katrina, they were EVERYWHERE guarding shit and keeping us all on lockdown. Needless to say, they have some foin personnel. Made for some great eyecandy for the boys when they'd roll past St. Anne on their humvees. Ah, to be in New Orleans in the fall of '05: it was like the wild west of non-stop military, and civilian militia hotness.

Okay, so I realize that I've been in SF over two weeks now with nary a posting covering what's been going on and what sort of trouble I've been getting myself into. The main piece of news is that the job I thought I had when I got here turned out to be a bust-at least for the short-term. My potential employer did suggest that things may work out in the next couple of weeks. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm scrambling to put together a short list of super-sexy design firms that would like to hire a really smart, really competent designer who would contribute considerably in various and unexpected ways to the quality of design output, and thus the bottom line. So for the next few weeks it's interviews, interviews, interviews.

Of course, with the Folsom Street Fair and Love Parade coming up this weekend, and the Castro Street Fair next weekend (and the tons of parties, bars and shit to do in this town on any given day/night), there'll be plenty of distraction and excitement. I just hope the money don't runned out before I get my firs' direc deposic.

So long Big Easy

Okay, so I made the move. After a four-day journey through the American Southwest, I've finally arrived in my new hometown. I got into SF last night around 11:30, only to realize that I had no idea how to get to Dominic's place in the Haight. After a few abortive attempts, I ended up near the Castro, and was able to navigate over a few hills and find the right neighborhood.

I ended up parking over night on Haight Street, and got up early this morning to move my car-the first in probably many times I will have to do this until I find an apartment that has parking. Today I am going to be running around, sorting out various moving requirements, but hopefully later on I'll post pictures from my trip, as well as some of the things I encounter over the next few days I adjust to my new surroundings.

Walking in San Francisco

Those sea lions that everybody goes to see.

View from Telegraph Hill.

Coit Tower.

On the way to the bridge.

On the other side.

Here's a few pictures I took this week. On Wednesday I walked over to Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill, and yesterday I walked across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County. The views of the bay were exhilirating. While it was sunny, the wind was intense, so I basically froze my butt off. I couldn't believe all the tourons on the bridge in shorts and t-shirts. The walk across is 1.2 miles, and I listened to my iPod (various house remixes, a little Madonna, and some reggae), taking me about 30 minutes to get across. On the other side, I found the "Lone Sailor". (Obvious jokes regarding said sailor's continuing lone status omitted.)

Afterwards, I walked back across the bridge, and took a bus through the Presidio. I met up with my buddy Charlie and had some awesome Chinese food at Dragon Well in the Marina District, and then several pints at local watering hole. That evening, I went to the Lonestar Saloon, and ended up networking a bit with some friendly bears, in the process learning that Guadalajara has an amazing gay scene.

Sunday at the de Young Museum

A view through the grove on approach to the de Young.

The observation deck at the de Young affords a 360° view of the City. This photo is taken more or less toward the north I think, over Golden Gate Park. The museum was design by Swiss uber-starchitects Herzog & de Meuron, and consists of a "digitized" copper skin that shifts from solid to porous and back as it moves over the structure.

The roof suggests the undulations of landscape. These undulations also occur between each of the three linear forms, producing courtyards/light wells that penetrate and break up the overall mass. The tower itself appears as a vertical twist in one of the horizontal forms, reaching up above the museum to capture the view.

In addition to the sexy building, the museum's collection was pretty decent. The permanent collection's 20th century American was very strong, particularly in sculpture (I am way into 3D works), and I really liked the Ed Ruscha pieces which included collages of landscape images and texts, as well as overlays of SF and LA streets. I am not yet familiar enough with these CA cities to really understand the particular juxtapositions, but that's only a matter of time.

Oh, one aside. As my friends and I were leaving the museum, we passed by three meatheads sitting on a bench. I overheard one of them call us fags, which really surprised me in SF. Of course, I was too shocked to react other than give them a confused, "what the fuck, douchebag?" look, which quieted them down. I really don't understand why people expend their energy on being bigots.

the Castro

View over the Castro

Just got into SF this morning, on a ass-crack of dawn's early flight from New Orleans. I am so happy to be here. This is going to be a great break from the Big Easy! I'm job hunting. Wish me luck!