The Way to Heirloom

On the twenty-sixth of July I wrote that I left early for the doctor.  VTA was a bit late and on CT I worried that I would miss the BART train I needed and later the 28 that I wanted.  I called the clinic line twice.  However, once there everything was fine.  I saw dad at Patelco and he said my brother was at my Uncle’s house.  I saw the doctor then and we talked a bit.

I went home and posted then.  Later I looked around the house but eventually caught a 48, which was a bit sketch at one point, and took San Pablo instead of Miraloma.  I got a bit lost on the ride down.

My uncle was easy to talk to.  My brother was sitting in the living room with him and my sister-in-law.  The dog didn’t bark.  There were trinkets on the table and knick·knacks on the mantle but most traces of grandma were gone.  She was entertaining and I noted that my uncle was in ok spirits.  He said he wanted to go to Thailand.  That was a breath of fresh air.

We looked at the car and my sister-in-law sat on the motorcycle.  We told him we wanted the car.  I looked at the house on the way out.  My sister-in-law insisted I give everyone a hug.  My friend had told me her German friend was ready to meet so I headed to BART.  On the ride I was surprised to see a bunch of people that I normally commute with.

I got off at 16^th and at my friend’s her house I found that she was nearly done.  I left her alone for a moment and then we walked to her friend’s hotel.  The place was beautiful and the girls clearly had a lot of catching up to do.  On the way to Heirloom we randomly bumped into my friend’s old boss.  We couldn’t find a table so after looking the rest of the neighborhood over we settled on Tradesman.

We bumped into another old coworker on the way in.  She had stuff to do so it was just three of us when we sat down.  Her friend was very proper but wasn’t precocious.  She clearly wanted me to engage Tango but wasn’t pushy.  I tried to get my friend to share a flight of sparkling wine with me but she had her own ideas.  The GM gave us a talk and I accidentally chided the server.

My friend shared her meal with me and it was all very expensive.  We got ready to go and I thanked the staff.  On the way out we bumped into people again.  We then dropped her friend off at the hotel and stopped at the Uptown.  There I told the bartender about a mutual friend’s wedding photos.  He told me that he was serving on Saturday night.  I went to bed at 1230.

In the morning of the next day my friend let me know that she would see her friend.  I went to Flax with her because she needed to get pencils.  I left her then and met a mutual friend—a biologist at Blue Bottle.  We were going to the baseball game.  My buddy, the fourth person in our party—was late.  The biologist and I went to the Ferry Building and chatted for about 30 minutes while my friend was delivering pencils.  She showed up and I was alone for a bit and then we rode the promenade to the Marina and met my family.

I noted that there were too many people there to list.  There were my nephews and the my older brother’s neighbors.  I noted that an old friend—a conservationist—was there and he noted that he was working on Idaho projects.  We ate some of his food.  I introduced the biologist to everyone.  The boys were making trouble in the playground.

The three of us went to the bike valet then.  I introduced the valets to the girls.  When we went to the marina.  My buddy still hadn’t arrived.  I went in and got my Pence Gnome, got my reentry stamp and headed to the valet again where I found my buddy about twenty minutes later.  He said that he had been sick earlier in the day but once we were seated with a couple of beers he was fine.

Mom said that my friend and I were interacting when I sat down and immediately mom told us we were in the way of her view.  She moved over a while later.  I got beer a couple of times and tried to sit with the parents and others.  My buddy got a food that was not the best and I sat next to my nieces.  The sisters were sitting nearby.  I wanted to take the girls to the lounge but gave up.  Bumgarner hit a homer and we said bye to each other when the Giants won.  I led my party to the valet and said bye to the biologist and my buddy.  My friend and I raced to the Ferry and were the last to board.

We were trashed and made jokes with other people on the boat.  My friend’s boss wanted to hang out so we coordinated with the my brother’s party.  We went to Fat Lady and had appetizers.  Later my brother sat at the bar with us until his neighbors texted.  My friend and I went with them until her boss texted.  So we went to Plank and sat there for a bit.  I made a reservation for bowling lane and then the others showed up.

We had food and Bowled for the next two hours.  I was on everyone’s after two rounds.  My friend and I rode to 12^th after we left and we caught the next train with my brother to Civic and then we helped him catch a train home.  We had an incident with a Lyft driver but much later we realized that the guy may not have been a Lyft.  I was asleep at one.

In the morning of the day that I wrote this I took some time to be alone and when I met with my friend later she had made plans to meet her German friend.  We went to Blue Bottle then and said bye.  I rode a dangerous ride to the Ferry building and when I arrived I had trouble finding my brother.  The Marathon had just ended and it was crazy.  It was only a bit before everyone said bye.  I texted an acquaintance in Sacramento to tell him about the conservationist.  I also texted my friend, got the bike and went to 24^th BART for a cup of coffee.

I was writing in my notebook until I ended up on the phone with my acquaintance in Sacramento who let me know about some jobs.  My friend and her German friend came in at that point and said they would go to the Ferry building so I left on a 48 and descended to my younger sister’s house from Twin Peaks.  I had an alignment problem on the road but found my brother-in-law in the garage at the house.  I had tea with them and then said bye to them and stopped at the bike shop to look at the bike.

I rode home then and used a new bottle of grease on the bike before making plans with mom, dad and my friend to have dinner at Celia’s.  Later she showed up while mom and dad were at church and we met them for dinner.  I finished typing when I got back to the house.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.