Week In Review

So.
Still drinking the decaf.
Saw a grown man by safeway wearing Scooby-Doo slippers, sitting on a bench.
Speaking of Safeway: Let me just say that the people working at the Potrero Safeway are the nicest people. They are always helpful, and when I could not find the pears or the batteries the other day they helped me out and were very gracious.

There's something nice about walking down a hallway and smelling a friend's cologne. And you say to yourself, "M. must have just walked by." It's nice.

Very hot day today. Potrero Hill, haven of corrugated tin and flat concrete was sizzling. Breathing was hard. Concentrating on work was hard.

I was bored so I took a look at Learning To Love You More to see what was new. What a cool project, I encourage everyone to take a gander.

A Decaf Coffee Week

I have been on the decaf coffee for a week now, and it is treating me well. I have still been having one or two teas a day (and there's caffeine in there, people) but sticking to the decaf coffee. I discovered that Cafe du Louvre near my house makes good decaf cappucinos (and, shameless plug for them: they have been in the 'hood about the same amount of time as Miss K. and I, so I like to support them. A perfect place to read, write, play chess and look at foreign fashion magazines, check email, listen to music.... I reccomend it) and even bought some decaf beans the other day.
Thanks for the support!

Decaffeinating Myself, One Day At A Time

It is day two of my decaffeinate-a-thon. I have been drinking only decaf coffee and am trying to only have one or two teas a day. I felt nice and relaxed last night, which is hopefully partially due to cutting back on the caffeine. It's been years since I tried to do this, we'll see what happens. Hopefully I will feel less nervous and jittery, have a normal pulse and heart rate, and be able to pass the blood donor screening without a hitch (They usually make me sit and have a glass of water and need to take my pulse 2 or 3 times before letting me donate). And maybe it will keep me from attacking newspaper boxes and phones. My fingers are crossed (and they are not shaking...)

I took the 38 with Miss K. this morning, which got me to the 22 later than usual. We had a new driver who honked the horn a lot. No kids and no loud people, no boomboxes, no McDonald's breakfasts, no fights. Just one old man licking his fingers, and the semi-paralysed guy trying to extract his bus pass from his pocket with his mouth (it worked).

A thought:
Blood banks are really low on blood right now. If you are able to donate (physically healthy and not prone to fainting at the sight of needles) you really should. Contact your local American Red Cross or Blood Centers of the Pacific for details on where and when you can go. It is quick and easy and does not hurt. And you get a snack.

Bus Report #20

You know it's Monday when:
-The 38 never shows up, and when it does it is 15 minutes later than normal.
-The 22 shows up and it is an unfamiliar driver.
-A man dressed head to toe in red leather sits beside you, legs splayed out, eating a Little Debby Snack Cake. His outfit matches your plastic Frida Kahlo lunch sack.
-You notice that the back door of the bus looks as though someone tried to punch it out, or perhaps someone's head made contact with it at a high speed.
-You go to buy your newspaper from the paper box and the box eats your nickels. And you proceed to kick, punch, rock and shake the box until it spews nickels all over the sidewalk, and M. gives you quarters to use instead and only then, ONLY THEN, after you have kicked the newspaper boxes' ass does it decide to ante up and give you the paper.
-And you almost spill coffee all over the desk.
-And contractors are calling you every five minutes so that you have spoken to V. 5 TIMES AND IT IS NOT EVEN 9:30 AM YET.

Bus Report #19

Today the (in)famous bus driver pulled up at the stop, and I got in. The bus was completely empty, and he said, "I'll give you 20 bucks if you'll drive the bus."
To which I replied, "Trust me, you don't want me driving your bus." I am not even licensed to drive a car. So a bus, which is much bigger than a car, that's a no-no.
Yet he persisted. I continued to decline. I had my own private bus for 3 blocks and then some people got on. The mean face lady, some students at AI San Francisco and some kids going to summer school.
I said hello to my favorite sweatshop lady.
Down on Market Street, they were running one of my favorite historic streetcars: it is yellow and green and shaped like a boat, and completely open on the top. they have garlands of colored lights and flags around it. It made me very happy.
A quiet day so far in Potrero Hill. Downstairs a moment ago, all the guys were sitting around the coffee cart, and when New Girl and I walked past them they looked at us guiltily. I called them on it, and G. said they'd been talking about me. Yeah, right. But they were definitely guilty about something.

I finally figured out how to play CDs on this office computer. Today I am listening to:
The Pernice Brothers, Yours, Mine and Ours
Cordero, Lamb Lost In The City
and
Julieta Venegas, Aqui

Enjoy. I know I do.

Rilo Kiley Show, Bottom of the Hill, 7/30/04

So Friday night was the sold-out Rilo Kiley show at the Bottom of the Hill. The Teacher's Pet and I had tickets, so right off the bat we were better off than the 15 or so kids who were already camped out outside at 6:30 PM (with doors not opening until 8:30, poor bastards...)
We kicked around Potrero Hill for a while, ate burgers, walked up the hill and read magazines at Farley's. Back at the club at 9:30, where we stood outside and purposely missed the two opening bands. And watched people try to score scalped tickets, and watched other people pull up in cabs and cars only to go away again.
Tired of standing up and listening to some of the strangest opening bands I'd heard in a while, we sat in the car and listened to the radio for a bit.
Back to the club at 11 PM. It was packed, and hot, and full of people. We were both feeling mean and immediately started talking about how All Ages and 18+ shows should be outlawed, etc. There were more black sharpie X's on hands than there were stamps. Really. There were some girls sitting on the floor in front of us, which was highly obnoxious considering the club was packed tight and people were trying to move through the crowd. And the boys standing in front of us were tall, and wasted, and did not seem to know or care that there were people standing behind them. Grumble, grumble, grumble.
The band came onstage and we all started clapping and whistling.
I don't remember the set list but they played a good selection of old stuff, really old stuff, and stuff that Teacher's Pet and I assumed was from their new album. It was great.
We had to move to another part of the room because the wasted boys were annoying us to no end. I managed to get us a spot in front of some really tall people and in back of some really short people.
The sound was a bit off, and Blake Sennett gave the techs some evil looks. All in all, though, It was pretty excellent. As always Jenny Lewis looked sweet and sung strongly. Jason Boesel looked a bit like Waldo in his striped top. They had a friend play trumpet on a few songs and he was very good, too.
But I was annoyed at all the people singing along. I did not come to hear them, I came to hear the band.
Also annoying were the people who obviously had no idea of the club etiquette, cutting through the middle of the crowd instead of staying far against the wall, the people who talked through the quiet songs and the people who kept yelling for them to play 'free bird'. Wasn't that 'joke' dead twenty years ago? I mean, seriously, come on!
But the new songs were beautiful, and often heartbreaking, and I can't wait to sit down and put on their new album and actually hear the songs (and be able to hear the lyrics clearer than in the club).
Long live Rilo Kiley and long live the Bottom of the Hill.