Heinold's on Jack London

I noted on the eleventh of January that I went to the East Bay on Friday.  I noted that though I had wanted to do some things I decided that I was late and simply grabbed some beers and left.  I spent some of the ride thinking about twitter friends filtering me.  I missed the turn at 41^st and went through the woods to the Polo Fields.  A friend of mine had messaged me.  She had lost her bike and I had to call her to check on our plans for the next day.  I boarded at Civic and sent my Bike Party friend a message saying I was late.  I sat next to some girl with a hat like my own that New Era made.

There were 7 of us at W Oakland when Ian got in including a friend of a guy with a sound system and two guys with playa names—one was the organizer for the ride.  We stopped at a liquor store and headed out past the Transbay Tunnel entrance.  I had a conversation with the music guy about starting a “No Bike Party” page because the ride was a patch for the canceled East Bay Bike Party ride.  The organizer led us to the pier at the end of Port View Park and we saw some guys on bikes but they didn’t care for or have any interest in Bike Party.  We ate carrots and almonds and I gave my shoe salesman friend a beer.  We then followed the other group for a bit down 7^th to Harbor View where we interacted with crane operators at the Matson Terminal.  The shoe guy gave a beer away and another operator made comments to us.  He thought of those guys as brothers since they are union.

We headed towards Adeline but took the dirt to Embarcadero West.  The roadie had some trouble with the terrain.  We ended up at Heinold's on Jack London Square.  Salesman guy and I got beers and we ate my Bike Party friend’s chips and peanuts.  From there the guide led us down the waterfront.  We lost the roadie for a bit and had to wait.  We followed the waterfront passed the pools for a number of motels and ended up at Union Point Park.  We stood around on the top of the structure there listening to Henry’s music.  We then went to Fruitvale where we split up.  Three of us then rode to Civic and I rode home and was in bed at 1230.

I was up at 6 the next day and sent a message to my poet friend down south saying I would contact him later in the day.  I left around 715 and headed to Embarcadero.  My companion for the day beat me there and bought me a sandwich.  We went to Peets where I got a cup of coffee.  I tried to send the tickets to her using the wifi there but had trouble and we bumped into one of the Bike Party people I had invited there.  I got a call from two of the ladies that were coming then but we were waiting for his wife and my companion outside.

We had to rush to get to Pier 33.  Upon our arrival I got the tickets and let everyone, five people, except my companion board.  Then, checking with my her, I discovered that she didn’t have the right departure time.  I said bye to her and rounded everyone up on the boat.  One of the ladies was a Canadian that just moved from Santa Cruz and her friend was a psychologist in Menlo Park.  The last one was someone I had met through someone in Portland.  One of the cyclists was organizing a bike ride for her birthday and her husband was just getting over the flu.  At the dock I received a message from my companion indicating that she was on the next boat.

After watching a ranger talk, the ladies continued on the tour and I went to get some coffee from the book store.  Then I followed the cyclists around.  After that I went down and got my friend and we went looking for the ladies.  However, we ended up looking through the prison at the displays (ie the escape, cells, photographs).  We went to the dining hall and two of us climbed to the hospital and looked at the porcelain flowers.  Then we stepped out to the lighthouse and I checked with one of the ladies and it turned out we had miscalculated where we would find them.  It turned out they had gone on the natural history tour.  They came up then and the rest of us waited while they looked around the prison.  We took photos of the city and waited.  My friend got a great photo of a humming bird.

When the ladies came out I discovered they had missed the porcelain flowers so I took them to the hospital where we saw the birdman exhibit, listened to Tibetan music in the mental ward, and wrote post cards to specific dissidents in the dining hall.  Mine went to a man in Kuwait.  We descended to the lighthouse then but our group had moved on.  We found the cyclists but they were headed to the industrial shops.  We continued to the Historic Garden and found to my friend in the rec yard.  After a short walk up the stairs to the main prison, she went to visit the dining hall.

The main exhibit was mostly flat panels of Legos depicting images of incarcerated democrats around the world like Nelson Mandela and Liu Xiaobo.  We walked around staring until my companion had returned to find me.  I noted that there was a giant dragon kite filled with symbolism.  We all sat out front then and I ate my sandwich.  Then three of us went below to see the last exhibit which could only be seen through the newly sealed windows on the guard’s parapet.  The shattered glass was still visible beneath the panes.  It was a flying machine of some kind made from pots and pans and other objects mass produced in China.  When we finished the cyclists went to another part of the island and the rest of us headed to the dock.  On the boat we sat talking about bikes and other stuff.  After that At the dock we said bye and then my companion and I walked up Midway to Grant and then ate at North Beach Pizza.  I showed her a couple of other alleys on the way.  I also texted my poet friend about the memorial he was at and then we stopped in at Al’s apparel.  I looked at swatches and my friend bought a new dress made of vintage fabric.

The poet texted to come to the memorial so we I got on a bus and when we got there I saw a lot of people I knew.  We went in and I tried to order but I noticed someone I knew so asked where the poet was.  I introduced him to my companion.  I interacted with a bunch of people and they all seemed to recognize me.  Some I hadn’t seen in years.  I interacted with a lady who I was able to identify as a classmate from the first or second grade.  My poet friend showed me the elegy that he had written.

I said by to him around then and we boarded a cable car.  My friend, a manager at a spa had said she got off at seven so we stopped half way to meeting her at a mini park in Russian Hill where we had quiet conversation.  After that we walked to the top of Nob hill where the Spa was.  The manager came out then and we descended to the Nite Cap and talked about our day.  We also talked about Sketchfest and I asked her about her date.

The three of us went to Kaka then and passed the Great American and the new hospital which was being built.  We talked about new movies then we walked our manager friend home.  We continued walking.  I was in bed at 12 but didn’t get a lot of sleep.  I was full and tired and had had a few drinks.  All of the walking had been a bit much.

On the day that I wrote this I ended up hanging out in the afternoon with my companion’s room mates.  One had gone to the same HS as my brother and we talked about who we knew.  He gave us some cookies she tried on the dress from AL’s.

We went to Flore then on the F Line and saw a protest over chickens at the whole foods.  At the café we talked about my last experience there in 2008.  We discussed her work experience and job offers.  I thought the café was a bit loud so we went across the street where she and the barista discussed roasting.  She urged me to figure out where I wanted to go because I wouldn’t have a lot of time to go on a trip since I would likely get a new job soon.

Later, back at home I did some catch up.  I made plans for the Edwardian Ball.  I noted too that I would have to call my older sister about traveling since I didn’t know how easy that would be.  I went up and sat with the parents.  Dad was watching the TV spew lies and mom wanted to read.  I read the paper and ate soup.

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.