Seventh Floor had Soundscapes

On 28 August I wrote that I was at Café Soleil writing and then I went to the hardware store. When I got back quiet time was over. The apartment was a bit of a mess so I tidied and did dishes.

My friend and I went to a neighbor’s house where dinner was being served.  I noted that while we ate there was music and I asked asked our host about it.  We moved to the living room and had whiskey. Our hostess started to be by herself with us and my friend too. The host told us about how they were going through a lot of stuff at the job.

They gave us a bunch of stuff and we walked to the apartment. Then we wound the house down. My friend wanted to be alone so when my old classmate showed up we went to the french fry joint before going to Shotwell's. We sampled beer and I played pinball. We saw Mellencamp on an autoharp. We walked through the Mission to the apartment.

My friend was asleep and slept all night. Next morning my old classmate went to his thing and I made noise in the living room. My friend interacted with him and then went running when he left.  She returned and we made plans to go to four barrel. We left a bit later and we didn't get pastries. I had a 2nd cup of coffee. We agreed to get rid of the table. She went for quiet walk and I got the cards and got rid of the table. I had chai on the way back.

At the apartment I made sandwiches. My friend chipped away at the mantle. I was really tired. She and I ate and right before quiet time I unscrewed the mantle so I would be able to put putty on it.  I want to SFMoma then. My old classmate was on the fifth floor so when I got my ticket I went to find him. The stuff we saw on that floor wasn't permanent. I liked it a lot. There was Lichtenstein and Mondrian. The sixth floor very but was similar.

The seventh floor had soundscapes. One was mechanical. One was a single take of Scandinavian guys collaborating. It reminded me of Arcade Fire. There was one piece that was just a large pool with a lot of bowls floating around.

My old classmate looked at all the stuff. I caught up to him and we spoke to each other via the canned telephone. We went down to the sculpture garden and then got ready to go. We saw a giant sculpture at the first floor on the Howard side – ship metal. We looked at the permanent collection.  We went to Shields and rapped with the bartender. He had just opened. We talked about bar names.

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.

Grated Zucchini and Eggs

On 20 August I wrote that I rushed home from four barrel to be myself. By 11 I had tidied up and cleaned I had started some laundry and couldn't finish it. I wanted to be in the East Bay to see old classmates at five.  However, they called off as soon as I was getting ready.

I checked with my friend. She was really helpful. She told me that her aunt was going to be staying in Alameda.  I rode to the inner Sunset and then took a six to Quintera. Then I went to Taraval Taylor's. I dropped my pants off and went to mom and dad's. Then at my parents’  I retrieved a sander and my mail – also some sheet music. Mom engaged in some victim blaming about pedestrian behavior. Later I had a long talk with her about my interactions with my friend. She said they were going to vacation.

I took the seven to Cole Valley and picked up some dowels. Riding down to the apartment was difficult as I had no bungee. However I made it with a couple of stops. I wedged it with a thing in my bag.  I finished the laundry and then I headed to Alameda.  On the boat I had brought a beer with me.

At the house dinner was served – it was very noisy – about 6 o'clock the meal was chicken, plums, zucchini – it was a lasagna. It was very delicious. My friend was bonkers.  I offered to wind the house down and when we were done we looked at pictures from grandma. About two hours later we had set up in the attic and the the others were in bed around 11.

Around 630 I made a disruptive noises in the kitchen until everyone showed up.  There was grated zucchini and eggs with a caprese he salad from the garden. I really liked it. They even made me 2 cups of coffee. I ditched out after a while and left my friend in the kitchen. It was quiet time anyway.

When I return to the living room a short bit later it was no longer quiet time and her aunt was leaving. After that I have to keep the noise down in the kitchen because we were packing. Also everyone was gardening and gave us a bunch of veggies – apples.

We agreed to take separate modes of transportation. I left too late because I had looked at the wrong schedule for the ferry. My friend beat me to the apartment. She started quiet time and I went to the hardware store.

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.

Cake was Being Presented

On 13 August I wrote that the day before I was up at 645. My friend and I had to just go to BART.  I was really nervous because we had gotten up so late. The train left Jack London Square at 9:15 and it was 810 as we headed to Civic Center. At 12 street I felt we were doing better. Unfortunately, we stopped for coffee and Blue Bottle is notorious for being slow.

At the station the train hadn't arrived yet. However, I only was able to buy the tickets and the printing took too long. I quit and ran outside. We barely made the train.  The conductor told us we were in their ticket system which was ironic. Some of the Bike Party people from the East Bay were getting on at Emeryville. I was effusive.

We had quiet time at around 950 and it lasted until we got to Fairfield. I got our bikes together and we tried to be quiet about it. At Sacramento I said bye to the bike party people. They remembered my name. We packed up and visited the station. I was alone for a bit. We went to Evangeline's in old town.

I cut some fresh air is Charlie looked at the costumes. She came out and told me to buy a gift so I did that. After that we rode down the river. I try to get a photo of us in the bridge but there is a bunch of problems with the bikes. After that we rode the 25th.

An old acquaintance greeted us at the door. It was great. The dog was crazy so I let the ladies talk and went outside. I soaked my feet in the pool. I played fetch. When I returned inside the ladies were talking and drinking. My old acquaintance said that her hubby was on his way with whiskey.

We sat for another 45 minutes while the ladies shared clothing. I took that as a cue to refactor the bags. In the meantime my friend was dealing almost continuously with noisy chaos. The dog had come in and the door was open. When the hubby arrived I was re-packing the bags out front.  My friend’s new clothes were in there.

We left when they were on their way out. We had an easy time finding my old college classmate’s. The afternoon was quiet. We parked in the driveway and I noticed there were not a lot of people around. However I saw a lot of people I knew.  Especially from my recent trip to Hawaii.

We slowly got to see everyone. I had already had a bunch of whiskey and then I had vodka tonics and margaritas. They were good. I went swimming. I tried not to be a wallflower but avoided interacting too much with the birthday boy for some reason.  I did give him our present. It was a gag but worth it. He said the “you suck” memo pad would get him in trouble at work.

We had tacos and then we had a few other things to eat. A bunch of old acquaintances were there. I made all this noise with a lady and her mother.  I used to know them really well. That was nice. The other birthday boy and I had a conversational distraction. Their younger brother said he would come to stay.

The cake was being presented when my friend and I got ready to go. That was a bummer but people understood. We were tired.  We rode through Land Park and over to city college. We found our hostess' house pretty easy. We set up and wound down. Her fashionable associate showed up for about an hour.  We said good night. There was a lot of noise that night. It was a new room and place.

In the morning at six I was up until 830 we hung out in the living room. At first I thought I was too loud but our hostess is normally up at that time. We had her delicious coffee and I went to the market for milk. I took a picture of Sutterville road and posted it to Twitter.

I started quiet time and left the ladies to talk. My friend shared a lot about me with her. After that I had a meal and packed. Our hostess gave us some clothing. I noted that as I was packing the bike was unbalanced because of this new stuff. When we left it was OK though.

She showed us how to get to Broadway past the brewery. We went to the antique show and they quietly walked around while I watched the bikes. That was a breath of fresh air. They saw a fellow fashionista.

We had missed the noon train but we had a lot of time for the next one. We stopped at Safeway and our hostess voiced her approval at my new role. When my friend came out we said bye to her and road to Amtrak.

We zigzagged and I thought we were safe on our path. At the station we rebuild our bags and went on the train. The conductor insisted we sit upstairs. We hung the bikes and settled into a four seater before I went to the café. It was pretty loud there. We had our snacks all the way back and it became quiet at that point.

It was quiet all the way onto Richmond BART but noisy until 16th. We had to transfer. We walked back to the apartment and took time bringing our stuff upstairs.

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.