2005-01-23 - 1:00 p.m.

On the internal soundtrack: "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

Monday, January 17, 2005

In lieu of actual content, here is me laughing hysterically because the head massager Poindexter gave his sister is more like a scalp tickler.

Being here is making me ferociously nostalgic. It is awful. I'm simultaneously elated and depressed. Aside from that, I've had a very good time with the family. Also, it is bitter cold back home so we could not have picked a better time to be here!

Saturday, January 22, 2005

Well, it looks like I'm going to have to break my one-a-day resolution. Between the unexpected vacation (which it turned out to be -- I got NOTHING done for work last week) and my work deadline on February 4, I have no idea how much LJing I'm going to be doing. I'm going to try to get a few posts out, but will have to figure out some other way (or time) to do the one-a-day resolution. I'm going to be working all day tomorrow. :( This is the part when procrastination bites me on the ass. :(

A few short notes before I try to write up What I Did On My Day At Berkeley:

- We got some snow. About 10 inches. We have used this as an excuse to be complete lazy slobs. During the day occasionally Poindexter would come over to me and yell, "SNOW!" or "IT WON'T STOP!" Although it eventually did. He shoveled our sidewalk and the neighbor's sidewalk around 4pm or 5pm, while I observed, brought him juice, and said, "Look at you go!". Unfortunately the little city snowplow come by around 8pm and PLOWED THE SNOW RIGHT BACK ONTO OUR SIDEWALK!!!!!!! That fucker! GRRRRRRRRR! Poor Poindexter. I'm thinking we can just shovel a path to the street and forget about re-shoveling the walk.

- Faecat, your socks arrived! THEY ARE SO CUTE!! I love the colors and they fit perfectly. They also feel good on my feet! Photos coming when I look less disheveled (see "lazy slobs", above).

- Speaking of hand-made gifts and not looking disheveled, here are a couple of photos, taken a couple weeks ago, of the gorgeous periwinkle scarf that Dulcevox made for me. I fell in love with the color in something else she had knitted, and was hoping it would work with my big blue bag. The color is close enough IRL that I can get away with it, I think. And the color makes me squeal and I wear it every time I wear a black coat.

Sunday, January 23, 2005

So, I drove up 101 to 80 and across the Bay Bridge. I've never been on it, and I was impressed with it, especially the suspension part. I got a better look at it from the air when I was leaving SFO. Rhiannonstone tells me they're talking about naming it after Emperor Norton, which I think is an excellent idea.

I liked Berkeley right away. It has the same kind of grid streets and small houses (lots of bungalows and Spanish style) on small yards that I loved so much in San Jose. Rhi was sitting on her porch waiting for me, and I yelled "HI!!!!!!!!!" through the window and then she helped me park in the scarily tight space behind her building. I still can't believe I didn't hit anything.

We went to a marvelous Thai place and stayed at our table in the restaurant long past being finished, gabbing about all sorts of stuff. As we left the restaurant, I said what I had been thinking the entire time -- "You are SO CUTE!!! You should be Cutie of the Day!" But she insisted that she didn't photograph well, so you are just going to have to visit her and see for yourself. She's very pretty, she's got a fantastic smile and has what I'd have to call a twinkle or a sparkle about her. And I like her voice.

Either Rhi just made me very comfortable or I am getting more used to meeting people IRL -- I didn't have that feeling that I was "interviewing" like I have in the past. We even got into some ribald comments here and there and I think there was a reference to porn at one point. I believe I said something along the lines of "it sounds good for people who like to chew on each other all the time", referring to Jessica Simpson's line of edible fragrances.

After lunch, around 2pm, we started walking. We walked almost continuously until 6pm, with only a few stops in a few stores and about 20 minutes in the pastry shop. As Rhi said, we walked around 6 or 7 miles, possibly more. It just blew by, and thanks to my magic shoes -- my $200 boots from Nordstrom that I felt so guilty about -- my feet didn't even hurt after all that. I no longer feel guilty about the $200. Stylish knee-high boots that I can walk all day in!? Wow.

In the first hour of the walk, I got to see Rhi's cheese shop (and was too full of Thai food to do anything about it) and a homemade pasta place that made me whimper. I was also blown away when she took me to a used bookstore stocked entirely with SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY BOOKS. I've never seen so many such books in one place. I had to force myself out of there lest I end up spending the whole day in there.

I remember I liked Shattuck, from what I saw of it in between talking to Rhi -- it looked like a fun place to walk around and shop. Then we started heading toward the hills, up to Telegraph to meet Terry. Along the way I noticed some rosemary flowering with little tiny purple flowers. Somehow I've never seen rosemary blooming and it was very pretty.

We passed more than a few homeless people, which spurred a few conversational topics. I mentioned that I was curious to know what they were saying, but I can't understand them. When I ask the person I'm with, they always say "It doesn't make any sense", and I have to yell, "I KNOW it doesn't make any SENSE, but what IS it?!" This led to a conversation tangent about mental illness in general, and how it seems to be something that spurs creativity and accomplishment even while it can cause so much pain.

Telegraph was what I had expected of "Berkeley" -- lots of fantastical fashions on the passersby, head shops, people selling handmade stuff on sidewalk tables. Rhi told me they have to actually demonstrate how they make the items in order to get a license to sell them, to avoid people just reselling mass-produced goods. I was extremely amused by some bright rainbow tie-dyed onesies that said "Berkeley" on them.

We sat down in a coffee shop and less than a minute later Terry walked in, looking quite dashing in his black shirt and stylish, well-fitting coat. He's very expressive and fun, and has a great way of telling a story. He told us a story about DiscoPete1 that had us in stitches but which I cannot repeat here, and I also got a huge kick out of the story of his e-mail address. After a stop in a huge used CD/record/DVD store that somehow did not have a used copy of "Sling Blade" for me, we commenced to more walking.

Highlights of the tour included (not in any kind of order at all):

- This incredible building, decreed My Favorite Building in Berkeley, that is now the First Church of Christ, Scientist:

With its run-down appearance, the multiple levels of roofline, and the vines (dormant now) climbing all around the front of it, it looked like it should be in an abandoned forest someplace. I was really taken with it. We tried to get in, but the doors were all locked. Apparently they have tours once a month, so I will have to plan my next trip to Berkeley around that. :)

- The "People's Park", which has the only public bathroom in Berkeley (I think) and has become dedicated to the homeless. There are a lot of homeless people in Berkeley in general, and I kept thinking, "Damn, better they be here than in Philadelphia!" The weather back home was below freezing while we were gone and it is about 15 degrees out right now as I write this.

- The rich people's neighborhood, wherein I think I only really had a chance to look at a couple of gardens. I love an overgrown garden, where it looks like it's been neglected for a few years, and Berkeley is full of those. Terry and Rhi were sure to point those out to me if I was too busy talking to them to notice them myself. :)

- Some sort of animal sciences building, which looked like a parking garage and was almost entirely underground. Terry said that it was built that way because of animal rights' protesting, and deliveries are made in a very secretive manner. Kinda creepy and cool.

Random snippets from the conversation included (and some of these won't make sense, so you'll have to ask them about it):

- The story behind Terry's e-mail address
- "Mistiness"
- How everybody felt about vomiting (I can't STAND it, and won't let myself do it, so my current streak is 11+ years)
- At one point Terry greeted a former student, who had invited him to play poker. I was amazed at the idea of being friendly with a teacher, since I absorbed that whole authority thing a little too well and could barely see my teachers as real people. Terry told an amusing story of one of his students who had a similar difficulty, and we talked a bit about the whole teacher-student relationship thing.
- When we stopped to eat -- Terry treated us to pastries and I also ate Rhi's leftover chicken because I was STARVING from all the walking -- I asked Terry about how he became a vegetarian. This led to a discussion about what sorts of foods work best with our respective metabolisms, and about how in the next 20 years Terry expects we'll be able to identify people's metabolism and body chemistry in such a way that prescribing drugs won't be a guessing game anymore. I am looking very forward to that day.
- How meeting people through LiveJournal allows you to find like-minded people much more quickly than any other method. After I stumbled over Poindexter's real name and online pseudonym, Terry commented how very "now" that was, addressing people by their "online names".

Near the end of the walk, we passed a couple of girls struggling to get a mattress into their building and up the stairs. We all sort of slowed down, watching to see how they were doing, and when they didn't appear to be making much progress, the gallant Terry leapt to the rescue. He grabbed the top of the mattress and the two girls grabbed the bottom and together they pulled that thing up two flights of stairs so fast I could barely get any pictures, but here they are:

I tried to lighten Terry's face -- can you see him smiling through the balusters? Perhaps someone with better Photoshop skills could bring out his face better:

And here we are on the third floor, at the door to the girls' apartment:

As we were walking back downstairs, I said to Terry, "It's moments like these that I wish I was a guy with male upper-body strength so I could help people out like that."

I had a fabulous time and did NOT want to leave, but I had dinner with my brother, husband, and longtime family friend waiting for me back in the South Bay, so I left about 6pm after a round of hugs and "that was fun!". I was a bit high on endorphins from all the walking and the good company and felt energetic for the rest of the evening, although I was asleep within two minutes of my head hitting the pillow. :)

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