well, hello there officer

Saturday night, my friend Dave celebrated his 30th birthday. Barbara and Scott made paper Dave faces on a stick; a concept that was not new to me but had so much more entertainment potential than I ever could have dreamed.




After a dinner of reasonably priced, passable Italian food on the patio at Bocce in North Beach, we met up with my friend Jason's devil-themed going-away party at the Buddha Bar in China Town; a musty hole-in-the-wall bar on the corner of Grant and Washington, next to dim sum places and schlocky souvenier shops, run by a crazy Chinese binge-drinker who takes cigarette breaks instead of orders when the mood strikes.

"When they said cheesy soft rock, I'm thinking like Culture Club or Madonna. This is not what I was at all expecting." - Johnny

After an hour or so of molesting Dave's paper faces at Buddha, Angela, Jen, Mattia and his friend Johnny and I split for Japancake, a party thrown by some fools from Pancake Playhouse, the Burning Man camp that whips up pancakes and churns out the cheesiest of soft rock hits in the morning both on and off the playa. When the breaks and progressive house stopped at 3 AM, the smell of fresh Krusteaz permeated the air and "Angel of the Morning" emanated softly from the speaker stacks. I slow-danced with my friend John, keeping the junior-high-dance requisite 12-inch distance between our groins and shiftily glancing around the room. Then, Whitesnake. I rolled around on the floor like Tawny Kitaen on the hood of the car in the "Here I Go Again" video.





*****

Two weekends ago I went to a renegade party on a hillside on public land in the center of San Francisco. To avoid arousing suspicion, we shuttle to the location on a bus with blacked-out windows, wear no glowy or flashy things and have folks on standby ready to pass on the "cut the record" signal to the DJ should any vehicles appear on the road below. There are several close calls and false alarms before the plug is finally pulled.

As the officer ascends the hill with his flashlight, most of the 150 of us duck to the ground and fall silent, convinced if we're quiet enough and hide, he'll go away. Some scramble into the trees. The officer comes up over the edge of our makeshift dancefloor, pans his light across our squinting faces.

"Whoa. My God. Oh my God." he mutters.
"Surprise!" someone (I think maybe me?) screams.
"Happy birthday!" someone else shouts.

We begin a united chorus of "Happy Birthday" as the officer stands there, dumbfounded. Mouth open. He laughs. We laugh. Party over.

Find your happy place

For the 4th of July weekend, my sister Erica, nieces Nicole and Jessica (12 and 8) and I hopped in my car and roadtripped to Disneyland, AKA, "The Happiest Place on Earth." It was our first family vacation together since we went to Hawaii in 1997 shortly after Jessica was born and I graduated from college.

After the long, remarkably pleasant drive down 101, through the beautiful oceanside towns of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, we arrived at the Hilton. Much to our amusement and glee, there was an Anime Expo going on at the adjacent convention center and many of the attendees were staying in our hotel. The front desk clerk assured us we'd chosen a good weekend- normally there were only pharmaceutical conferences and Kiwanis conventions that were not nearly so colorful. We were entertained daily by the lobby parade of outrageously adorned expo attendees. Erica and I gathered inspiration and mental notes for next month's Burning Man.



Enough people must have been scared away by the prospect of going to Disneyland on a holiday weekend that, aside from the complete mayhem for the nightly fireworks display, the crowds were managable. We were pleasantly surprised by the smooth drive down and the relatively short lines for the rides. We hunted for Hidden Mickeys and entertained ourselves checking out the demographic cross-section that makes up the crowd at Disneyland. Jessica asked before getting on every single ride whether or not it would be scary, and was sure to pre-confirm the intended seating arrangement before boarding (jeez, that kid can be a lot like me). We all watched aghast as one woman accosted Pluto in an attempt to get him to pose for a photo and had to be removed by his bodyguard. Favorite rides were Indiana Jones and a sneak preview of the new Space Mountain, which has been under construction for the past two years and is set to open officially on July 15. It's pretty much like I remember it from when I was 13, but the visuals are a bit more impressive. Anyway, it's damn fun!

(Unrelated aside: I also got a sneak preview of the new Harry Potter book that one of my customer's co-workers had cracked open. This is apparently a huge no-no in the publishing industry, so even though I don't give a hoot about it, I did feel quite priveleged while casting an illicit lingering gaze over a few of the volume's some-odd thousand pages prior to its July 16 official release.)

Speaking of work, this selling business comes naturally to me in some ways (meeting new people, getting excited about something I am passionate about) and not so naturally in others (learning not to take no for an answer). I am working hard, driving an average of 150 miles per day, visiting customers, prospecting for new ones (I just sold to a six-store chain based in Sacramento) and getting more and more excited every day by the wonderful things that are happening as a result of our success. Tomorrow night we're having a party to christen our new 3600 square foot office space and celebrate our big move out of our tiny space in the basement of the Bancroft Hotel where we have nearly gotten buried under the piles of new product that are coming in every day. Things are happening quickly and I'm loving every minute. Except for the ones when I feel really sleep deprived and have to keep ordering Americanos at Java Detour to keep my eyes open.




Jai was here for 10 days en route from the Philippines to Tennessee and will most likely be back for a few more days in August. It was such a joy to see him again. Went to Stacy's bachelorette party and had a lovely time partying with the girls. Spent a lovely evening at Eleanor's house in Davis (near Sacramento) for her engagement party; Barbara and I will be bridesmaids in the wedding. Lots of outdoor concerts, barbeques and summer fun when I'm not working. Heard from loved ones in London that all are well after last week's bombing disaster. Life goes on and on and on...

internet down, boo!

My internet has been down for over a week and my roommate is the only one who knows how to fix it. She'll be back in town Saturday. Right now I am in an internet cafe doing work so no time for blogging. New post coming soon.