IF THURSDAY, AUG. 29, IS WAS YOUR BIRTHDAY

You will take a great many risks this year and you will succeed in most things you do, but there will also be times when, to put it bluntly, you will fall flat on your face and look rather foolish.
But that’s okay because everyone who takes chances makes the occasional slip-up - it’s those who always go with the odds who are to be pitied.
Life’s a game.
Enjoy it.

Missed the last train

Bagdad Cafe, Noe & Market. Castro District, 1 AM.

"Happy Birthday" said the girl in the glitter top.

I looked around.

"Who's birthday is it?" I asked the hungarian waiter who had a slovenian/yugoslavian accent.

"Ohh, over there.." he waved vaguely in the direction of the restrooms "the guy with the girl."

Geez. The neat, anal lookin dude? *sigh* A Virgo livin up to the stereotype.
Man, he looked like a prick.

"Vy do you ask? Iz it your birthday too?"

"yup."

"You are serious."

"yup."

later


"Ah. Zo. What are you doing for your birthday?"

"What Im doing now. Have a nice breakfast, just enjoy the day."

"Zo. You sit and contemplate the year gone by and think of the year ahead, eh."

"Nah. I just enjoy the day."

"Ah. Nice."

"Its my day." I smiled, not wanting to seem like a stereotypical Virgo.

Later, he came and put the check on the table.

"Happy birthday. The coffee iz on us."

"Why thank you. Thank you very much."

"Our pleasure."
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I was gonna wander SF while I waited for the morning train, take a few images.

"Ahh, I would not advise it."

"Why?"

"You know, so many homeless people about. People on drugs. You wouldnt want anything to happen to that camera."

"Hmm. You might be right."

"Look. You are better off indoors. You can stay here. We are 24 hours, 7 days."

Earlier in Oakland, George had been as concerned about me wandering the streets of San Fran.

"It is no problem. We get people, locked out of their cars, passing the time. It iz no problem."

"You think?"

"Pshaah. Not a problem at all."

"Ok. I will. Thank you."
---







The Bagdad Cafe.

Great food. Good service. 24/7.

I highly recommend it.

San Francisco, randomly































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Laugh Out Loud Quote of the Day

Pam writes

FEEL free to criticize the writing that I get paid for. I wouldn't stop you. I owe it to my readers to be kicked in the face if I start serving them garbage.

But acting like Mr. God-of-the-Written-Word and criticizing the writing I do only to please myself is like complaining about the way a prostitute masturbates.

Heheh. She *is* funny when she's irritated.

It feels weird to do my surfing on Pacific time.

Before my coffee and donuts too.

Stories heard

As the Mac proggies find new ways of effing up my images.. ("The images cannot be rotated without trim as the ratio is not a factor of 8" - Graphic Converter Plus.. "Save images at JPEG compression of 5?" - Photoshop 7 , when Ive ALREADY done all that and all I just wanna do is rotate the *^%$$#% images. GAH!) lemme relate a few stories..

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"At least the commute got better", Fred said with a bitter laugh as we drove through the light traffic up the peninsula freeway.

The tech downturn and recession hit the area hard. Not as many nice cars are evident, the tech ads arent as pervasive downtown.

I have conflicted feelings on that I, I said. On one hand, it seems like suicide to go into an area when the economy is depressed. On the other hand, I was kinda rooting for a recession, I admitted.

Fred was silent for a bit, thinking of a way to explain the reality to me. Finally she said, "I would say maybe 40 percent of my friends lost their jobs. Its been brutal."

At least the traffic is lighter.
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Average August High Temperature for SF 64.2 degrees

But its &%$#&* AUGUST, I whined.

"Well, in October we will get a brief heat wave. And in the winter it'll rain a lot, so by the spring everything will be green."

Im learning a lot about fog and chilly weather. In SUMMER.

No wonder the last time I was here, in the fall, people kept saying it was the best time of the year.
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"Cali is different" I opined...

"You have no idea just how different" said the talkative man on the bus. "The politicians are especially wild."

"Why?" I asked sleepily, hoping he would shut up so I could get some sleep before the next 'rest stop'.

"Lets see. The mayor of Oakland, who used to be governer, is gay, and one of his former lovers is in a sham marriage. And that man is the current governer."

My bullshit detector, dampened by sleep deprivation, didnt go off. So I believed him.

Funnily enough, in the golden daylight of California ... it doesnt seem so far-fetched from what Ive seen so far either.