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SWEET DANGO
ANOTHER SET OF WORDS FOR YOU TO READ -/THEY QUALIFY AS LEAF AND BRANCH AND SEED...
Thursday, August 31, 2006
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Started finally to get to maybe ten thousand little cards I’d written notes on in years past – have ones from about ten years ago that I wrote in L.A. Handwriting them into a spiral notebook. Got so immersed in the process that I forgot that I had a coil in a cup of water – that started boiling – not supposed to use water that hot with yerba mate tea. Twenty-five lines a page. Ten thousand lines would be a good round number – that’s four-hundred of those pages.
Called Comcast to see if I’m okay with them. Owed ‘em nearly a hundred-and-50 bucks for months. Yeah, it’s okay – can begin service again anytime.
Comcast deal – forty bucks for the first three months, with expanded basic plus Showtime. Would prefer Cinemax, with Passion Cove. Googled on the name: this quote from a reviewer at the IMDb site:
“The erotic program is well-produced; it isn't sleazy, nor does it come off aimlessly. I like it because it has a healthy attitude toward sex. Unlike some other cable adult series -- past and present -- "Passion Cove" has a good look to it (never too brightly or darkly lit), and the scripts are above what you'd normally anticipate from a program of this genre (for something truly hideous, for comparison's sake, think of the stuff that's aired on Showtime, like "Hot Springs Hotel" and especially the neurotically lifeless "Red Shoe Diaries")
On the radio, arrest of a polygamist leader, in Las Vegas. Had fifty-thousand in cash on him. Utah sexual misconduct charges.
“Disaster science specialist” on the radio about what went wrong with post-Katrina rescue. Has a Louisiana State University affiliation. On Fresh Air.
It’s the 29th of the month, two days left until I get money, and still have something in my checking account, amazingly, tho’ it’s just a dollar and 22 cents. Called Bank of America to see if the money had been put in already – no, but got a little solar plexus jolt to hear the electronic voice say “…one…”, for that buck. Expecting one-hundred-and-thirty-something about 3am on the first.
A man who lost a lot in Katrina said the thing he missed the most were his own notes on the back pages of about two-hundred books that were destroyed. He loved the books themselves, but those could be replaced, but not so easily those notes, if at all. Very painful loss, he said.
Robert Smith, a fella I know from the Tenderloin computer center, recently gave me a copy of A Short History of English literature. Goes into the Seventies. Got that specially set aside to read in at random. And the newest Rolling Stone, with the
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Dylan cover. He’s got a new album, Modern Times, his 44th.
Back from the computer center, after dark – hotel friend D. out there, with a bunch of street regulars. Surprised that he was out so late – well, he had some painkillers he’d been prescribed and someone had gone to sell ‘em, and he was waiting on his money. And I don’t think he’s moving anytime soon – tho’ I’d gotten Internet information for him about apartments in Mojave, the California town. At least he’ll wait until he gets surgery out at Fort Miley, the veterans’ hospital, that on his knee. And he wanted to buy me a beer or wine, but I have this entire month been away from that, and glad of it – a good change for me. Mainly wanting from him the 28-inch Hitachi I’d let him use. He says when he leaves he won’t take anything with him, and I do want it back, get that Comcast again on a big screen.
Upstairs, slipped a birthday note under neighbor Prince’s door. Neighbor S. had told me about the special day and I wrote a full-page note in enlarged Algerian font – an unusual effect, print-wise. Mentioned his desire to visit Egypt, thanked him for help in the past.
Rosalinda, a supervisor at the computer center – she picks up the pages from the printer to hand out. When my one to Prince came out, wondered if she thought I was sending it to the music superstar of the same name, some strange fan letter.
Raisin-pecan bread that was free in the lobby – ate that over the course of two days – solid loaf, heavy. With yerba mate tea, a lot of that – I’ve been having, like, ten cups and more a day these past days – beats eating. And continuing through the Paul Theroux audio book about his African overland safari. And leafing through that Rolling Stone – article about Daniel Pinchbeck. Into psychedelics, very…kinduv a current Terence McKenna, like that. And noticed photo of Keith Richards, barefoot, walking along a beach, with wife and daughter.
Googling on Pinchbeck: current title is Breaking the Head Open: a Psychedelic Journey Into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism. Wikipedia entry…born in ’66. Tribal group ceremony participations in Gabon and the Ecuadorian Amazon. And this: “Through his direct experiences and research, he became convinced that the shamanic and mystical view of reality had validity, and that the modern world had forfeited an understanding of intuitive and supersensible aspects of being in its pursuit of rational materialism.”
And D. had said that our mutual hotel friend Patrick had already gone for his trip to L.A. with his kids, all of them to roadie for the O.G. punk band The Lewd. Googling…they’d performed at the famed Mabuhay club on Broadway in San Francisco in 1980…Patrick good friends with them, apparently.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
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Was looking at the Chronicle entertainment section the other day in Odd Fellow brother P.’s office. Really cute dancer behind Conan O’Brien at the Emmy Awards, just perfect face, color photo – kept looking and looking.
And: little article about the Global Language Monitor – first time I’d heard of it – tracks media and analyzes the words. Recent survey of television words – “Wikiality” is one, referring to “reality determined by majority vote”. Example given: Pluto removed recently from the list of official planets. Taken from the Stephen Colbert cable program.
Googled on the GLM site – list of the top ten words of last year: “wiki” is an Internet buzzword derived from a Hawaiian word for “quick”.
Was in P.’s office the other day – he was transcribing a voice message into his computer related to A., a building employee, who’s been accused of hitting one of the guys who hangs out in front on 7th.
Waiting for P. – saw among the papers on his desk a copy of the Castro Theatre’s latest movie schedule. (Wanted to mention that I just Googled to check the spelling of “theatre” for that San Francisco venue – sometimes it’s the other way. Am lately obsessive, for some reason, about mentioning each time I Google on something. For my own information.)
John Carpenter’s great They Live is part of a three-movie night, October 6th – it’s the last on that bill, starting at, appropriately, midnight – or a minute before, actually.
And Yellow Submarine will be shown another night – free John Lennon sunglasses to be given away. And Spacehunter another night, in 3D, even.
P. gave me half of his chicken chow fun, tho’ I am in general avoiding eating much lately, and I think it shows. For health purposes. Ate down those chicken corpse pieces – my choice. And was out on the building’s roof about then – looking west toward United Nations Plaza. Thought of Serpico for some reason – I think some of the folks in the Tenderloin figured me for an undercover police officer. There were three police cars down on the plaza. And above, fluffy white clouds moving east, southeast, to the best of my estimation. Then noted the flag on top of the building, where it was moving – yeah, southeasterly.
Called guy Patrick in the hotel – phone disconnected.
Got five bucks from P. for work I’d done, using double-sided tape to attach
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surveillance photos of the guy involved in the street altercation issue with A. to pieces of paper – evidence for a court appearance. On the way down, talked to A. – he mentioned annoyance at those who buzzed the bell too often. He said that some were, like, a half hour late and were bothering him by, futily, trying to gain a few seconds. (Googled on that form of the word “futility” – got one of those red lines beneath it that indicates possible incorrect spelling – yeah, it’s okay.)
At the Antiques and Artisan Market – not that many tents.
Triangular wooden cabinet for sale, 45 bucks. Almost too big for me, but I like the design. A principle of my life is to not own anything that I can’t easily carry.
Had an hour to wait until the next computer – this two days ago as of this.
Fresh Air turned on in my room – some clergy woman who’s pulled back from full-tilt Christian poverty. Wearing colorful clothes now, and is saving some attention for herself, not just giving-giving-giving to everyone.
That new residence south of Market on Brannan – applying for it, but most likely won’t move. A bit out of my price range – within it, tho’.
Saw a little cat on the street the other day – named “Tricks”. Owners feeding it from a can, which was as big as his head. Was attracted by the sound of its mewing, stroked its little body a bit.
Rosalinda at the Computer Training Center on Eddy critical of Burning Man – three-hundred-some bucks now – too organized, corporate. She’s soon heading to some Black Mesa event, Native American, I guess. Googled – a Hopi and Navajo thing, looks like. New Mexico. And nearly took a Barry Malzberg science fiction paperback from the CTC free shelves, maybe to give to Patrick at the hotel, but decided against.
Googled on Malzberg, to the Wikipedia reference. Got this: “Malzberg's writing style is highly distinctive, with frequently long, elaborate though carefully constructed sentences and under-use of commas, conveying an uneasy impression of the narrator's careful, conventional thought masking increasing desperation. Most of his science fiction books are short, present-tense narratives concerned exclusively with the consciousness of a single obsessive character.”
Paid two-70 for two hardboiled eggs, a can of tuna, an avocado at the store across from the CTC. Guy wanted me to take another egg to make it an even three, but I didn’t want a third one.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
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…was at the computer center in the Tenderloin the other day and one of the regulars there, Robert, turns to me and mentions, pretty much out of the blue, You Are All Sanpaku, one of the bibles of macrobiotics, written by George Ohsawa. Had this once…just Googled on the name, and got this about what it means: it “describes a condition in which the white of the eye can be seen between the pupil and the lower lid as the subject gazes directly forward. This condition connotes a grave state of physical and spiritual imbalance. The sanpaku is out of touch with himself, his body and the natural forces of the universe. Symptomatically, sanpaku can be recognized by chronic fatigue, low sexual vitality, poor instinctive reactions, bad humor, inability to sleep soundly and lack of precision in thought and action.” Yikes…I might be borderlining on this condition, maybe…
And: hotel friend K. was there then also – he was excited about that day’s free food giveaway next door to the computer center at the Cadillac Hotel. He suggested that I get in line too, but I wasn’t into it. He said I should get in line anyway and get the stuff for him, but I just wanted to focus on what I was doing on the computer…
And…was a bit later at a corner market, almost succumbing to the sweet siren call of a tub of Haagen-Dazs mango ice cream – nothing like I should have. There’s a Vanilla Fudge at another Tenderloin corner market, Wa’il’s, the usual place I buy at, but have also managed to resist that impulse…
And…guess I’ll, at the beginning of the month, get a new hot plate to replace the one that stopped working. Saw one at a bargain store across from the hotel for fifteen bucks, which is really steep – Walgreen’s has ‘em for ten…
But…what I didn’t resist was an evil can of corner market chili…I think it was the prominence of the name “Walla Walla” on the label, as in the onions used in the chili from southeastern Washington, that drew me in. A very dense substance – tasted okay, but the meat…am avoiding mammal flesh. But, if the label is correct, there was substantial nutrition in the can: 40% of your Vitamin A, 40 of iron, 16 of calcium. Plus a lot of sodium, too – no problem getting enough of that…
And…on the radio about then, news from the Middle East war. The Hezbollah said to have an “organic relation” with the residents of Lebanon. Guess they can blend well into the populace. Googled on the name – got a Wikipedia reference: it means “party of God” in Arabic. Also, it’s “a Shia Islamist political party…comprising a militia and extensive front programs for social development. It was formed to combat the Israeli occupation following the 1982 invasion of Lebanon.” And scrolling down and down, there’s a whole lot more in the entry, for the curious – more than you really want to know. The Internet, amazing, all that information at, literally, the tips of one’s fingers…
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And: more about that can of Walla Walla onion chili: the text on it says: “Tantalize your taste buds with this delicious combination!” But I think that first verb should be “satisfy”, right? Unless you’re standing there at a corner market in the Tenderloin staring at the can without enough money to buy, fantasizing about how great it would be to get spoonful after spoonful of the stuff into your mouth…
And about this time flashed back to pulling the Odd Fellow handcart back from the Staples south of Market with the hundred-and-two binders I’d bought for Brother P. Was walking along and had made a call to T-Mobile or Bank of America, trying to settle accounts. Then, talking to the operator, a lady, in my direction comes my transgender friend Raychell, or Raechel, or however she/he spells his/her name, and the first thing she says is that she’s got seven dollars worth of speed, and do I want to buy it? I’m sure the operator heard this and I was thinking she was already thinking not a whole lot of me for not being able to pay my right straightforwardly, geez…
And: had on my mind the recent book The Female Brain. Heard about this on the radio and also saw a review of it in the paper. Something made in it of how men are more into the visual sense than women, particularly in terms of sexual images. Thought back to the young women depicted in the Tight magazine, a copy of which I saw selling cheap on the street. Guess it’s true about how men respond more to erotic pictures. Consider all the dozens and even hundreds of girlie magazines there are out there – not as many with naked men, I’d say. And the demographic of buyers of those probably includes a lot of gay men…
And…back in my room…got to watch the amount of incense I’m burning in that small space – have concerns about negative effects of breathing it, and there’s also the eye irritation that happens sometimes…and, speaking of eyes, that made me think of something my friend Keith said about the new Superman movie. Guess he got a bootleg copy…he told me there’s one scene where the Man of Steel gets a bullet aimed right at his eye and the special effects show it bouncing right off. That was a new idea to me. Keith said it was pretty impressive…
And…was listening to John Updike on the radio recently, from a recent appearance at the Herbst here in San Francisco. Liked his self-deprecation, as demonstrated in his line in response to his interviewer: “My point, Steven, if I have a point…” He’d been disgressing at length…
…and the interviewer was no slob in terms of literary references. He rolled the name of William Faulkner’s fictional county with surprising ease: Yoknapatawpha. Googled on this – it’s pronounced “YOK nuh puh TAW fuh." And liked Updike’s use of “baleful” to describe computer screens…
Monday, August 28, 2006
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…and was out on my bicycle a few days ago, very early, unusually early for me of late, near to 7am heading up from the Tenderloin to North Beach and my destination, the star of Vesuvio…
Passed by Lefty O’Doul’s, and surprised it was open at that hour…and up through the Chinatown Gate, my usual entrance when heading to that part of the city…
And got to the famed bar. Just me and the bartender for most of the time I was there. Ordered a Guinness pint but barely had any of it, just a few sips. Have fulfilled my intent for this month of August of two-thousand-six and have barely had anything alcoholic – just two Guinnesses in a bottle the first week, and that’s it. Well, kombucha has a trace amount of it due to its being a fermented beverage, less than a half a percent, but I think the health benefits outweigh the minimal alcohol content. I’m talking about staying away from the liter-and-a-half sizes of Carlo Rossi Sangria…
And…when leaving Vesuvio – not there even for an hour, I’d say – got a call from Odd Fellow brother P. – he wanted me to call our mutual friend Patrick about coming in to work...so punched the digits and got him on the line. He said he’d gone with his kids, I believe it was, to the new Cliff House out there near Ocean Beach – had had, in fact, sturgeon. I made a joke about science fiction writer Theodore with the same last name as that fish. Patrick had once given me a copy of one of the fella’s novels…
And it was a bit after seven that morning, leaving North Beach…called my friend Cathead, who was about that time commuting into that area from out in the Avenues. He was still on Muni way out there, he said – or maybe he just didn’t wanna see me then…figured to meet him at the Financial District coffee shop he frequents, I think, on a daily basis – very much a creature of habit he is…
And…thinking back to that time at Vesuvio…had to borrow a pen from the bartender since I couldn’t find the one I thought I had on me. And took my pint to a table in a warm part of the place, the top of which had an very interesting collage design, including a yin-yang emblem. And got to transcribing some of my digital voice notes, without much of that Guinness pint, as I said. On the way out, brought the glass up to the bartender and said
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that I just didn’t feel like having it. Expensive waste, since it’s 4-and-a-half there, and I tipped a buck. But the literary ambiance can hardly be beat…
And…then back to the Tenderloin on my speeding two wheels, mostly downhill. Passed the Hilton there on Ellis – some tourists with tons of suitcases. Had at the time noted to call them “assholes”, but have changed my mind at this juncture…and then to Wa’il’s corner market for something to eat – a usual meal of two cans of Starkist and one of sweet peas. He was joking to a guy sitting there about prison rape by a guy named Bubba. Wa’il has a very…salty sense of humor, a very - what’s the adjective? – one…
And had some more cash than usual then and was thinking of purchasing the five dollar bag of turkey I’d noticed before. But upon examination, didn’t seem all that much better than the dollar kind – processed into thin slices the same way, not full-on unadulterated meat…
And then to the room…turned on the George Stephanopoulos memoir. Liked his use of the adjective “Sisyphean”…can’t recall now if it’s pronounced “sis-IF-ean” or “SIS-i-FEE-an”…
And a bit later, out on the street again – you know I had money ‘cause I bought a chicken taco in the ‘hood – always get the same thing at this particular place. And then it was three bucks and a quarter on an Odwalla…and had two hours until another computer. Up into the room again – on the fourth floor, someone had written “4 BLOCK NO SNITCHES” on the bulletin board with a felt pen. Prison reference…the hotel’s a first stop for some just out…
And had a Chronicle book review section I’d picked up at the taco place. While waiting there had read an entire article on a new book about the history of blue jeans. The reviewer said the author didn’t get enough into the politics and economics of the famous, iconic item of clothing, in particular regarding offshore manufacturing , and the conditions under which, like, Vietnamese and Thai factories operate…
And about then more of the Stephanopoulos audio book…there was an Ickes – pronounced “ICK-ease” – a Clinton aide. Recalled a relative of that one in the FDR White House…political lineage…
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…and recently got a postcard from Former Lady Roommate b. from Fort Collins, Colorado – she and her husband, Odd Fellow brother P., were in Colorado for a trip. Cute young girl pictured on it, very healthy, great complexion, smiling, holding up a bunch of healthy asparagus spears. And those also displayed a healthy complexion, tho’ of dark green…
And…was on my bicycle around that time to get a new box of tea from a Little Saigon herb store I frequent. Heard a Madonna song from out of a car – I think it was “Material Girl” – looked over – looked like two gay boys in there, and the passenger-side one was looking over at me. Had on a red shiny bracelet on a wrist, and my tropical-colored hat…might be misperceived as gay by some…
And…as a little gift about this time, gave to hotel friend K. five bucks and change for the chewing tobacco, the Copenhagen kind that he likes so much. When I have money I spend, well, mostly on myself, but I share it around. Haven’t been saving any…and: about money – around the time described the abovementioned P. wanted to give me an extra ten for something I’d done, but didn’t take it. He’d already paid me a lot and didn’t necessarily take what was offered additionally…
And…in that George Stephanopolous memoir I’d been listening to recently, he uses the word “Zen”, in the phrase “Zen spin”. Sometimes his job in the Clinton White House required him to offer a re-interpretation of one of the President’s comments or a story related about the President. He sometimes just let things go without spinning, which he thought was the Zen way…
…and…was in the Odd Fellows lodge hall one evening at a time and day I’m normally not, about 7pm, to insert pages of a document in binders. Was only gonna do a few of ‘em but P. said he’d give me twenty bucks if I got all hundred-and-two done that night, so I pushed myself and got it done. I’m something of a major slacker, unlike former Marine P., who’s been well-trained to keep going…
And…it was recently Ray Bradbury’s 86th birthday…and, and: the Chinese town that’s a major producer of buttons for clothing I mentioned in the last posting? The radio reported that they love the chadors worn by Muslim women because they have so many buttons…
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And…was up at half after four one recent morning, unusual for me these days. Radio on – Barry Bonds had just hit another homer – only thirty more to tie Aaron. And was in the mood for some animal protein and called up Mr. Pizza Man to order in a salmon dinner. I used to work a solo graveyard shift a while back and frequently called them to get a 3am piece of fish. But apparently they are no longer happening 24/7…
And that morning was out the door on my bicycle into the still-dark streets at 6am, on the way to Vesuvio, maybe get a Guinness pint, handwrite some notes from my digital recorder. Cinematic steam out of Tenderloin manholes as I rode by…
…and east on Ellis, passing the Coronado Hotel across from Glide Church – remembered just then that friend Keith worked the graveyard hours and stopped to see if it was his night – it was, and I was there for a good forty-five minutes. Always easy to talk with him, since we share many interests in terms of entertainment media…
He has a digital camera and he showed me what he’d just recorded – one of the residents going whacko – he had the look of a speed freak and was outside the hotel gate pacing around, talking fast to no one in particular. And on the hotel’s own security camera, higher point of view, he’s out on Ellis with a big sharp pole that he’d brought out from his room. I mean, the thing was a good eight feet long, nearly a foot in diameter, one end sharpened. Keith said he could easily have impaled someone on it…
So eventually the a black and white drives up and deals with him – when they pull up they run over that pole and snap it in two. The guy’s handcuffed and resists a bit, and one of the officers grabs his long hair and gets him into the car…and: Keith showed me a copy of As a Man Thinketh, a “timeless classic” of wisdom. Glanced through it, looked very worth reading. Keith has read a lot of this type of book and said this was the best…
And also: Keith said that the Coronado, unlike where I’m living, is used to “stabilize” many who are just out of prison. The pole guy may be one failure of that plan. And when I was standing there in comes a guy, another case, who told me, for some moronic reason, to back away from the wall I was leaning on. I complied, he walked on – no trouble ensued…
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…from the news the other day, about the Middle East war: “…the bombers simply switched tactics.” – first thing I heard when I turned the radio on. And snipers were shooting at pilgrims somewhere there…twenty killed, three-hundred wounded…
And also on the radio: the Crest Research Institute, established in China, to tap into that huge market of billions and billions of teeth. They are figuring that tea-flavored paste will sell well to the Sino consumers…but: it was reported that Chairman Mao wasn’t into brushing his teeth – his reasoning being that tigers never brushed their fangs. Just Googled on this…there’s a quote at one site about something else that was on his mind: “To read too many books is harmful.”
And while we’re on the subject of Chinese and communism, Googled on the term “capitalist running dogs” and got this from Wikipedia: it’s considered a “pejorative political epithet”, and Wikipedia has tons of them named and defined. The one I wanted is described in another form, “running dog of the imperialists”. From the entry: “Refers to enemies seen as doing work against China for the benefit of, or on the orders of, capitalist countries. Used globally to refer to anyone seen as serving Capitalism or the wealthy. Almost always used by native-language English speakers sarcastically, jocularly, or in a humorously-altered form.” It also says to refer to the entry for “Lackey”…
…well, I’d recommend the above site for a lot of interesting information – there’s, like, “banana republic”, a term coined, it says, by O. Henry…and more about China I learned that day from the radio: that 60% of the world’s clothing buttons are produced by one Chinese town…
And the morning I’m describing, was eating leftover rice from hotel friend K., who’d given me a lot the previous night. I don’t have a hot plate just now – the one I was using had conked out after many months of steadfast daily service – so am not cooking anything in my hotel room – got a little coil for tea’s hot water. And added the ultra-organic miso tamari I’d bought at Rainbow to that rice – just a few drops is all you need. And had also leftover blueberry cookies, also from K.
And: news of the death of the man, Joe Rosenthal, who snapped that picture of Marines at Iwo Jima raising the flag of victory on Mount Suribachi – he’d been living at an assisted-living center in Marin County. Googled on this subject…the page is titled “The Picture”, with several photos taken before and after the famous one. The guys were in “Easy Company”…40% casualties up to the day of the photograph. The original, first photo had a lot more of the sky – the famous one was cropped…
And…that day, got myself over the the Western Addition computer center, did my
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thing. And also typed out file folder labels for Odd Fellow brother P. on the electric typewriter there – harder and harder to find those anymore – the main library has just one. Word processors are essential for this blog…
And got a call about then from my Former Lady Roommate…our former high school classmate Rich was mentioned – she’d heard he was going back to school to study radiology – had heard it was gonna be anaesthesiology. (Had to Google on that to get the correct spelling…geez, if I had to pay for these searches from them they’d be even bigger billionaires than they already are, and I’d be even poorer.)
And my FLR – we got onto the topic of the Mechanics’ Institute library here in San Francisco. She was once a while back gonna buy me a year’s membership – it’s a bit…what’s the word…”privileged”? Something like that…hafta pay to join…Googling on this: it’s 95 bucks a year – not bad – thought it was way more. But I didn’t take her up on her offer. The free public library serves my needs…
And FLR also said she’s getting fat…her husband, the aformentioned Odd Fellow brother P., isn’t into tofu and green tea and she’s basically, I think, eating what he’s eating. And furthermore, she isn’t doing that intense Bikram yoga that she was into just about every day back when we were together…
And…done in the Western Addition, to the Odd Fellows lodge – P. had an assignment for me, to get to a office supply store and secure a hundred-and-two one-inch binders in a neutral color, these for the two-hundred-some pages each of a document for a seminar that was coming up.
So got that task done. My voice recorder must’ve been full that day, ‘cause I have no notes from this…had to ride to two different stores south of Market to locate enough and at a reasonable price. Then pulled a handcart out to get ‘em…notable was a mural in tribute to underground comic book artist Vaughn Bode near the Staples I bought the binders at. His Cheech Wizard and other fantasies weren’t my favorite, but I enjoyed his memorable very imaginative and colorful work…Google and you’ll find a lot of stuff, a lot of examples of his prodigious creativity…
…there’s a site run by his son Mark. Photo of Vaughn – geez, looks like how I’m looking now: the tank top, long hair, necklace, and little body fat. Tho’ he’s got a top hat that he’s tipping to the photographer and whoever sees the picture – I’d never wear one of those…and: died in San Francisco a few days short of his 34th birthday – it says of “a mystic experiment gone wrong.” Hmmm…not good…and: there are words of praise from the likes of fellow fantasy artists Moebius and Bernie Wrightson. And a quote from a Beastie Boys song that drops Vaughn’s name. (Just Googled on cause of death: autoerotic asphyxiation, says Wikipedia...)
Sunday, August 27, 2006
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…and: more from the recommended Candy Girl by Diablo Cody. She includes a list of the kind of songs preferred by certain strippers, and what those girls were like. For example, if she performed to Erotica-era Madonna she was likely to be a “methadone clinic patron”. If the Eagles were used, she likely had an “ugly face, nice hair”…
And: wondered about the spelling of “Sacagawea”, the Shoshone woman who helped the Lewis & Clark expedition. It came up because a patron gave Diablo a dollar coin once as a tip, and she “pretended to put it up her butt.” I guess as a comment on the guy’s stinginess…
And: as I’ve noted before, the pop culture references made in Candy Girl are good – there’s a tribble mention related to hair in a brush. And two new strippers at one place she worked are compared to the “butchered twin girls” in The Shining…
And…from the George Stephanopoulos memoir All Too Human: Rush Limbaugh was commenting on George’s youth by portraying him in a visual on his TV show as a little baby. George mentioned this to him and subsequently he got the upgrade of being depicted in short pants…
And…on the radio, someone mentioned the manuscript of On the Road being itself “on the road”, exhibited in a traveling show going around the country…
And: got to get myself to the Juicy Lucy organic juice bar on Columbus for wheatgrass ounces…
And, also from Candy Girl: she uses the verb “shitcanned” – also used by my Odd Fellow brother P., a former Marine, the kind of word they would use…
And also: included among the ten worst songs to strip to, says Diablo Cody, is that Midnight Oil one about aborigines. Had to consider this for a while – is it “Beds are Burning”? Googled – yeah, it’s about returning their tribal land to them…
And: learned about a device called a “window rider” used in some peep
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show-type establishments. It’s a dildo with a suction cup that attaches to the glass of the window separating customers from the performers…and: another pop culture reference in Candy Girl: the “Mia Wallace” wig she wore for a while…
And: when she was working at a peep show place – different from stripping – she had to wait until the customers themselves masturbated before doing it herself, to avoid being busted by undercover police, who were not likely to masturbate…
And: about half after eight one night, got a call from hotel neighbor K. – he said he’d made a pot of rice that turned out nice, and would I want some? Told him yes and I went to his room . Needed flavor for that and he handed me garlic powder, which really retained the bite of the root…
And spent about an hour and a half in the care of his hospitality. He likes to talk and we discussed various topics…tho’ they don’t immediately come to mind…but what I noted subsequently was his showing me his birth certificate – his mother was Australian. And he discussed his various health issues – he was worried about a lung condition, which might have been unavoidable, congenital…
And was out of there with additional food, including a container of blueberry cookies, and a recent National Geographic – he has a subscription. (Haven’t read it yet…don’t need much more new information. Glanced at a picture in back of some guy in a place like India, close-up of his feet, which were in shoes with dozens of nails in the soles, sticking into the flesh, geez.)
And: K. also had a library copy of the paperback of Elie Wiesel’s World War II concentration camp book Night. Not light reading…and also noted that K. had told me that his father was “a man of iron” who considered him, K., to be weak. My father thought the same of me, I’d say…
And then back to my room. Remembered that on the way to K.’s met a neighbor in the hallway who asked me if I wanted any weed. Told him I just had fifty cents, but that was no problem – I could get a joint for that. But I decided to keep the money – am not smoking that, anyway. Only grass I plan to do is the juiced wheat kind…
Saturday, August 26, 2006
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…and headed over the other day to replenish an absolute essential of my existence these days, a specific Bangalore incense stick – headed over to the Tobacco Barn head shop-type place nearby on Polk and bought two packs, ten sticks each, for five bucks – they don’t charge me tax. And on the way out of that place did something I usually don’t, banged my bicycle against a display and nearly knocked a lamp to the floor. It got bent slightly, but the proprietor, tho’ not overjoyed with this, didn’t charge me…
And this was a Sunday afternoon, not yet dark – passed the Bambuddha Lounge – many twenty-somethings out there on the sidewalk…and riding back to the hotel, there was friend Edward, who flagged me down. He had a bag of food, probably free stuff he got somewhere – he offered me a container of cottage cheese with fruit in it – unlike Nixon, it’s not a food I like at all, and turned it down. And he had other fruits and vegetables, but didn’t take any, tho’ it was nice of him to offer…
And we walked and talked a bit…told him my new used bicycle needed a few adjustments – he said he could probably do that for me. And he told me something about WD-40 oil. I had been planning to get more of that but he said that in actuality that was good for removing oil, so it was therefore not the best for lubricating chains and other bike-related issues…
And Edward got to the hotel, and I decided to keep on and take a little ride, towards Powell. The sidewalks that Sunday afternoon were very full, practically wall-to-wall in parts, and the streets were jammed with cars also. Headed up to Geary and then west on that popular, gallery-lined boulevard to take advantage of the incline to get in some cardio work, but the wind was threatening to remove my backwards tropically-patterned cap so just turned my wheels in a southerly direction back to the hotel…
And into the room. Got some of the incense burning – had those two packages stuck in a back pocket as I rode. It is definitely rough-hewn, not very delicately-made like some. But I like that. Front desk guy Vic noticed this on a stick I’d once given him and he said it was “falling apart”, but I like coarse appearance, at least on incense…
And…just stumped Google!!! Yes, three exclamation points, since I cannot remember when that last happened. The search was for “incense-caused (2 of 2) starplane.blogspot.com
cancer”. I’ve been burning so much of the Bangalore sticks lately in the enclosed and comparatively small space of my hotel room that I was wondering about the effects of so much smoke on my lungs…well, repeated a search on “incense-related cancer” – that brought up exactly fifty-seven hits, but none obviously on incense as carcinogenic – quite the opposite, in fact – it’s use for helping with cancer, aromatherapeutically-speaking…
But then scrolling down, there is one that mentions the cancer risks related to incense. Benzene and carbon monoxide emitted at high concentrations…several studies show links to illness. Yikes…the box the sticks come in say they use essential oils and other natural ingredients, but…hmmm…
And elsewise: the San Francisco Mime Troupe will be having their final shows in the city on September 2nd, 3rd, and 4th at Dolores Park. Saw their very first show of this season this year there…
And: just today filled two empty Carlo Rossi wine jugs with water to use them as exercise devices – for the shoulders and arms in general, and for adding weight to twisting movements to hit the obliques on the sides of the stomach. My streamlining continues daily…
And: have been very good about not eating excessively salty or sugary junk foods. Tho’ got a big pound bag of tortilla chips the other day and mostly ate ‘em myself – shared ‘em with Vic at the front desk when I brought ‘em in – he gave me part of a chocolate cake they had – mighta been a birthday cake for someone. And did the nutrition numbers for that bag: the entire thing, tho’ for certain not the most-recommended source of phosphorus, contained 96% of the day’s needs for that mineral. That made me think of a reference in the Donovan autobiography I’d just read – he said when he was once down in Mexico the waters were so sparkly in the sunshine for that superman due to the high phorphorus content…
And…have finished the funny, smart stripper memoir, Candy Girl. Much recommended…like much her pop cultural references, like to Kentucky Fried Movie…and this about holding her then-boyfriend-now-husband’s daughter’s hand when crossing the street – she felt like “…things were moving too fast and I needed to see other toddlers.”
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…recommended reading is Diablo Cody’s memoir about her life as a Minnesota stripper, Candy Girl. At one point she’s working in another facet of the sex industry, just sitting in a booth while people pay to see her – and they can also, y’know, do their things. Liked it that she’d be in there reading, she specified, Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung, the collection of Lester Bangs music reviews. A girl after my own heart…
And: have gotten over losing that flash drive I was using to store these blog postings – lost it in a recent bicycle accident. It was good being so on the edge of data storage – floppies being so 20th century, don’t you know. Cost me thirty bucks – might get a replacement one of these days. Missing that friendly flashing green light that said it was absorbing the information…
And checked my wristwatch Casio when I was taking the replacement rear bicycle wheel a few blocks west, on the other side of Van Ness. It was eleven-eleven that morning. Recalled a hip kind of beverage place near where I’d once worked a few years ago that was named after those numbers because they are numerically-significant for some – having to do with “light workers”, “spirit guardians”…
…Googled on this idea to be more specific and got this at Crystalinks.com: “Physical reality is a consciousness program created by digital codes. Numbers - numeric codes - define our existence. Human DNA - our genetic memory - is encoded - to be triggered by digits at specific times. Those codes awaken the mind to the change and evolution of consciousness.” Makes sense to me. Pythagoras said all is number…
And also this from the same Website: “About number 11 - 11 is double digit and is therefore considered a Master or Power Number. In Numerology - 11 represents impractical idealism, visionary, refinement of ideals, intuition, revelation, artistic and inventive genius, avant-garde, androgynous, film, fame, refinement fulfilled when working with a practical partner. Eleven is a higher octave of the number two . It carries psychic vibrations and has an equal balance of masculine and feminine properties. Because eleven contains many gifts such as psychic awareness and a keen sense of sensitivity, it also has negative effects such as treachery and betrayal from secret enemies.”
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And…continued to walk with the wheel and tube that needed inflating. Noted a bus ad from the new Gap campaign that includes Natasha Bedingfield as a celebrity model – I subscribe to Rolling Stone and that’s where I first saw her for this. Am planning to start up buying music discs again, and whatever of hers that has “Unwritten” is one to get. A criteria for a song for me is that I can listen to it over and over, and this one fits that bill absolutely…
And: thought about this time of the Silver Surfer reference in Donovan’s autobiography, The Hurdy Gurdy Man. He was into those Sixties comic books – there’s the Green Lantern mention in “Sunshine Superman”…
And on the way to the Shell station west of Van Ness stopped at the Walgreen’s on Eddy – had to get double A batteries for my digital voice recorder. Was expecting to hand over four bucks and change for a mere six, but lucked way out ‘cause they had a sale – ten for just three and change. I mean, that’s about the Costco price, thirty cents each…
And…was about then reading in an Odd Fellows explanatory brochure that Brother P. had given me. There is a women’s group within “the Order” called the Rebekahs, and printed there was their creed, which includes a “Sisterhood of women” reference. There’s another creed which is repeated every meeting that only talks about males, which women attending say also – thought this needed changing. But was assuaged knowing that the Rebekahs has that sisterhood reference for their own get-togethers…
And…have been listening to the audio book of All Too Human, the George Stephanopoulos memoir about his Clinton White House years. There was this inadvertent line of iambic pentameter about the Vince Foster suicide: “…inherent inexplicability…”
And also this: “Every President is Nixon until proven innocent.” The legacy of Tricky Dick continuing to be felt…
And: there was the history-making handshake between Arafat and Rabin in the Rose Garden. Clinton had to prepare for the possible kiss that Arafat might have bestowed by practicing a bicep grab to prevent that unwanted Palestinian smooch…
Friday, August 25, 2006
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…walking down to the library the other day – ran into a woman I knew from the Tenderloin computer center and we walked a bit together and talked. One thing was about how the supervisor at the center had told my hotel friend K. that she didn’t want him to talk so much. A bit less direct than that, but that was what she meant. And I agreed with her about that, since a recent time he was saying this and that, and pretty loud – me, I am wanting it basically silent in there, and the sound was distracting me. Well, this woman I was walking with thought the supervisor should, in her words, “get the stick out of her ass”.
And: walking towards us on the other side of the street, hotel desk guy Vic, who saw us. Afterwards was thinking that maybe Vic would be thinking that the woman was my ‘girlfriend’, geez. I mean, the woman’s okay, but she has, like, a ‘beard’, practically, and is overweight on top of that. It’s alright just talking with her sometimes…
And: that computer center supervisor had that day given me a little packet of soapless soap she’d got in Hawaii. Tho’ it was actually made in China – close enough. Nice gift – not sure why she was so kind to me. Tried it out in my room – a little inch square slip of paper that dissolved upon use…
And: at the library, got twelve heroic couplets, pairs of rhyming iambic pentameter, written out for a friend’s Website which features her digital photographs and quotes from the famous. Easy enough to do. ‘Too’ easy…since then I haven’t done many of these. A bit too facile…that is, “arrived at without due care or effort; lacking depth”. Altho’ it’s also defined as “eloquent; expressing yourself readily, clearly, effectively”. Maybe I’ll get back to ‘em if I get a new inspiration, a new vision on the pictures…
And that day checked out the eighteen-and-a-half hour George Stephanopoulos audio book memoir ‘All Too Human’, about the early Nineties Clinton White House. Have already been through this once and am in the middle of a second listening…
And on the radio about this time, an interview with PF Sloan – no periods in those initials. He wrote the anti-war song “Eve of Destruction”, and has new music out, or a new book. He also did vocals on “Little Old Lady from Pasadena”, which I didn’t know. Apparently he had problems with
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hypoglycemia for years, then went to India, changed his diet – maybe not necessarily in that order - and recovered. He was a young guy in the same L.A. Sixties music scene that I’ve recently been reading about in the Donovan autobiography…
And then, sleep, and the next morning. About half after nine, a blues harmonica from outside…and got back into that Stephanopoulos audio book: “When Hillary was angry, you didn’t always know it right away.” But Bill Clinton’s was different, “more of an impersonal, physical force.”
And there was a reference to Clinton making a pay phone call. Was thinking – didn’t they have cell phones then? Then Stephanopoulos is using one. So it musta been Bill making a call to one of his women (besides Hillary) in a way that would be difficult to trace…
And speaking about Clinton’s women, one was, says Stephanopoulos, the “sweet, sweet Connie” mentioned in Grand Funk Railroad’s “We’re an American Band”. She also subsequently, after flashing her breasts at Bill in some hotel lobby, brought a lawsuit against him…
…and…changing the subject…am stocked up on Bangalore incense sticks, and also double A batteries for my digital voice recorder, so I can have an easy mind about my supply of those two essentials at least. Have got about fifty bucks left for the last week of this month for whatever else…
And…all the Washington, D.C. stuff in the Stephanopoulos memoir – my friend Mike just moved back there. He e-mailed me his novel to read…haven’t gotten to that lately…
And…am continuing to go through collected papers and articles, tossing out whatever I can let go of. Have got many brochures from Odd Fellow brother P. and wife and Odd Fellow sister b.’s trip a few months back to Europe. There’s one I examined – for a museum in Dresden. Learned about one August the Strong, a potentate of the early 1700s who reportedly transformed that German city in terms of sculpture and architecture…
And, back to the Stephanopoulos book: there was this inadvertent iambic pentameter: “Too bad that wasn’t really possible.”
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…and was walking with a broken bicycle wheel over to the Mission the other day. Noted the Glam-a-Rama! store…a hair salon and meeting place for a certain community: ”transgendered safe” says their Website. Eye caught by a light purple wig in the window – very stylish…
And nearby, the Femina Potens location – they promote women and transgender artists…a “grassroots” non-profit art gallery and performance space. Also, into the “D.I.Y.” philosophy – “Do It Yourself”. Wikipedia says of this ethic that it means you don’t pay a professional for services or goods, and is “loosely tied to punk and various anticonsumerist movements, in as much as it amounts to a rejection of the idea that one must always purchase the things that one wants or needs from others.”
Well, was deviating from that ethic that day – got to the little independent bike store on 16th just east of Mission and ‘paid’ the guy there thirty bucks for a new wheel, that instead of trying to fix it myself. Well, the spokes were broken, I didn’t have the tools, or the expertise. The price for that used rear wheel was okay – had called up Road Rage, another bike shop, and they were wanting eighty-five just for a new wheel, let alone the cluster of seven sprockets, geez…
So got what I wanted, started heading back north to the Tenderloin. A hazy gray day it had been, but the sun was coming out, and the jeans jacket I’d put on wasn’t necessary…
And noted a poster for the new Jason ‘The Transporter’ Statham movie, ‘Crank’. Looked like just the same sort of character, expensive suit, gun in dangling hand. Pretty exciting stuff, probably – saw both the ‘Transporter’ flicks on Comcast when I still had that – really good movie martial arts…and in real life, black guy crossing on a red near Market, shouting at the honking cars…
And there was the prominent dome of City Hall. Thought of Philip K. Dick’s idea that Rome still exists, that it’s an illusion that it’s the 21st century…and in the plaza in front of that big hall, a cultural event – couldn’t figure out just ‘what’ culture, tho’ – maybe, my best guess, put on by the local Pakistani community. There were plenty of food booths, tandoori cooking. And even cotton candy, all-American…
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And got up near the hotel – there was Marion, a guy sitting outside another hotel – showed him the wheel I’d just payed thirty for – the previous day he’d said he might’ve had one for me, but he had never called…
And into the hotel – there was Walter at the front desk – I said hello but he didn’t respond, totally ignored me. I thought this rather rude, but I should know by now that he’d just rather not have the tenants say anything, just ask for mail if it’s there, and that’s about it…
And got upstairs, used my D.I.Y. crescent wrench to get the new wheel on, and it looked okay. Have been riding it for many days since and it’s been working just about perfectly, coinciding with the shifter settings for the seven sprockets on the previous wheel…
And got into the Donovan autobiography I’ve been reading…he and all four Beatles and their women and entourage went on a trip to India to see the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. At the Delhi airport there were wild monkeys capering about…
And then a bit later out on the street again…a woman in front of me warned her friends that the “po-lease” were – or maybe it was “was” - coming down the wrong way on Leavenworth, the better to catch lawbreakers – have seen a black and white perform this tactic before…
And speaking of lawbreaking, around this time jaywalked across Eddy, and there was Prince, hotel neighbor and former tenant rep, doing the same, and I pointed to him and told him of his criminal act…
And there was guy I know, Patrick, sorting stuff for sale on the street…and about this time also ran into K., a friend in the hotel – he said he was concerned about a call he got from a guy who wanted to buy a software package he had. He didn’t want possible problems from a stranger…
And noted the ‘Tight’ magazine that Patrick had for sale – barely legal girlie models in more-than-suggestive poses. In subsequent days had thought that perhaps I should have bought this. And flashed back to something completely different I’d seen for sale on the street, the paperback of Herman Hesse’s ‘Beneath the Wheel’. Another I might’ve bought, to good effect…
Thursday, August 24, 2006
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…back to the Donovan autobiography I just read, quotes and ideas from it. Well, the singer was “initiated” by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the Sixties. Next up that day for the Transcendental Meditation treatment were the Grateful Dead. When the Maharishi heard that name he is said to have said that he thought it’d be better if they were called the Grateful ‘Living’…
And: about when Donovan appeared once at the New York offices of music mogul Clive Davis, he writes: “A secretary gaped as she saw me floating through the corridors in Arabic robe and bare feet.”
…and…walked over to the Mission recently in order to try and get a replacement rear wheel for my bicycle. I’d had that accident involving a truck and had mangled the original wheel – fortunately, it was just that and not a mangling of my ‘leg’…
And used money I had set aside, twenty-six dollars total, to pay two people I owed, and have owed for several months. If I was “Honest Abe” Lincoln or someone of that moral stature, I wouldn’t have done that. Wouldn’t have borrowed the cash in the first place, even…
And walking south to the other part of town, broken wheel in hand, guy approaching with a wheel in hand also. Asked him if he wanted to sell it. He took a few seconds to respond, and I thought he was one of those individuals, and I don’t blame ‘em, that don’t answer when a stranger says something to ‘em. But he eventually did, and smiled, saying it wasn’t for sale. I mean, no need to be so unfriendly, right?
And: on the way to the Mission, to the particular little independent bicycle shop I’d bought my latest two wheels in, stopped at the upscale market on 8th near Howard for eight ounces of rejuvelac. There was the cute girl at the checkout I’d noticed before. And saw that she had the same very friendly smile for everyone, intense eye contact, all that…
And when in line to buy my lactobaccilus-rich drink, a woman behind me said to the guy in front of me, a friend, that when she was at this store she bought the weirdest things. I looked down at her stuff to verify. A container of tuna salad was included – I said that that didn’t seem so weird. For weird, I said, she should go to Rainbow…
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…but she said she’d bought, like, ‘breakfast sausages’ that day. Yeah, that ‘could’ be weird, under some circumstances. Maybe she was trying to be vegan. The place does indeed have a heavy meat component, so unlike the militantly non-carnivorous Rainbow…
And then was out of there, heading south and west. Was taking a voice note about the checkout woman’s cute, round ass and experienced a strong solar plexus jolt when passing a parked car – there was a guy in there three feet away I hadn’t seen. But he looked like a Spanish-speaker, anyway, turning to deal with a little kid in the back, and he hadn’t heard, or if he had, didn’t care in the least…
And then passed Rocker Guitars on Howard near 10th. Wouldn’t feel at all at home in there. Recently had half a great notion, or a quarter note of one, to get an electronic keyboard and learn some songs I like, play ‘em myself, but haven’t taken any action on that, and probably won’t…
And farther on, a guy taking down a poster of a vodka ad…thought for a second he was putting it up. There are so many of these advertisements up around the South of Market, but I’ve never seen them being put ‘up’…
And paused a little while later at what I thought was an authentic Fifties car wash sign, a display of retro ads. The logo said “Best Hand Job in Town!” Took me a while, studying these, to realize they were most likely of very recent vintage, parodies. Another one was for a bar and the racy joke was that you should go in there for a “Stiff One”…
And then turning south, on South Van Ness, near 14th…reminded of L.A. friend Alfie, whose mother had lived in that area a few years ago – visited her once there in Alfie’s company…and checked out the untranslated Spanish of a restaurant menu. Not catering to tourists, but the real ‘raza’. There was a ‘caldo’, a soup, called ‘Siete Mares’ – “Seven Seas”…
And for cuisine of a different sort, a block down, the Walzwerk East German restaurant. Studied the menu: “Cold Hot Dog” for dessert – what is up with that? An actual sausage for dessert, ‘zum Nachtisch’? (I have a bit of ‘Deutsch’.) Maybe a ‘chocolate’ one. But the Germans are ‘really’ into their wieners, so it’s not impossible…
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…and more quotes from my recent reading of Donovan’s autobiography, ‘The Hurdy Gurdy Man’. He wrote: “Knew instinctively I should present the Bohemian Manifesto to the world.”
And: “The trip with mescaline is softer than LSD. Ever so slowly the Paradise appeared before me.” (This from a trip to Mexico.) And: during a London police raid on his home, Donovan went to the kitchen for milk. An officer said: “Quick, men, the LSD’s in the milk!”
And: Donovan said the police sergeant who was involved in his arrest said it was just his job, and wanted an autograph for his daughter, this before the singer was released into a cold London morning…
And: George Harrison called to offer him ten thousand pounds that morning to help with costs relating to the bust…
And: Donovan and Paul McCartney hung out…Paul came up with these lyrics for the music that would eventually turn into “Eleanor Rigby”: “Ola Nu Tungee,/blowing his mind in the dark with a pipe full of clay/no one can say…”
And he added: “Songwriters sometimes sketch in the lyric with any old line, then come back to it.” And: The “sky of blue and sea of green in our yellow submarine” line was written by Donovan…
And this error in the text: “…encouraged Led Zeppelin to express himself with images and sounds from our Celto-European roots.” He was probably referring to Jimmy Page, who also hung out with Donovan back in the Sixties…
And: have been thinking yogically recently. Flashed back to a guy I knew in a house I lived in in Berkeley in the late Seventies, Roger. I’d often hear him in his room doing a “Breath of Fire”, inhaling and exhaling rapidly…
And: thought it was a mistake in that Donovan book when “Jimmy Hendrix” came up. But turns out that that was how he spelled it when he first came to England. Also, about his fame, “...nobody had taken a blind bit of notice” of Jimi until he got to Europe…
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And: someone somewhere in the book was offered payment in Nubian goats, which I thought was funny…and: more than once Donovan says he did musical stuff way before the Beatles did, who got the most credit. For instance, the phrase “love, love, love” was used in a song of his before “All You Need is Love”…
And this quote I liked: “My music is gentle and soothing in its affect on the listener, encouraging a reflective mood.” Not sure about that use of “affect”…shouldn’t it be “effect”? “Affect” is “feeling or emotion, especially as manifested by facial expression or body language”.
And: Donovan was a dog person – he had an Afghan hound. This represents a ‘very’ big difference between the two of us – not only do I much prefer cats, but I especially am not fond of ‘big’ dogs like Afghan hounds, and what’s even worse, big very ‘long-haired’ ones, such as this breed is…
He mentioned the Afghan hound in describing a move he made to a new home. But he also brought along two Alphonse Mucha prints, which were popular in the Sixties – I could see having one of ‘those’ up on my hotel room wall. And he also mentioned bringing along a lot of books, so there again Donovan and I are kindred spirits…
And this I noticed: he has the line “look on yonder misty mountain” in “Epistle to Dippy”, and “the road went over onward” in “To the West and the South” – Tolkien influences. Several instances of this in Led Zeppelin tunes as well, mythological material, and British…
And this quote: “I was, in fact, presenting certain thoughts of musical, visual, and sensory harmony, in a time-honored way to center the mind and contact our higher selves.”
And, about his song “There is a Mountain”: “Again I fused two seemingly impossible combinations, Zen and Caribbean music.” And liked this, Stevie Wonder’s praise in ‘Melody Maker’ magazine: “Out of sight; he’s just out of sight.” Donovan said “…praise from Little Stevie is praise indeed.”
And about the Maharishi at an L.A. lecture: “For my part I could not but like this guy.”
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
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…and: the recent bicycling accident I had – damage only to the rear wheel, and none, lasting, to myself. But then thought of something: I hadn’t considered until some time later: the possible damage done to the parked car that I’d been squeezed up against. Possibly a scratch on its side…
And…was listening to the ‘Fresh Air’ interview program the other day – guest was Tommy Chong, Cheech’s countercultural comedy partner. He’s got a new book called ‘I Chong: Meditations from the Joint’, about being busted for selling marijuana-related paraphernalia. He admitted that, despite a career built on mentioning illegal drugs, he had never before had this level of trouble with the law and had never been arrested…
But he was in a very low-…uh…low-‘what’ facility? I mean, he said there was only a chalk line around the perimeter that the inmates could not go beyond, no stone walls. And he said he aligned himself with the Native American religious faction, took part in sweat lodges…
And recalled from an episode of ‘E! True Hollywood Story’ about Cheech and Chong, their early years together at a Canadian strip club – Cheech had been up north to avoid the draft. And: Chong said they rarely performed under the influence of weed…and even went as far as to say in his interview: “Life is better straight.”
And thought it was funny that a fan had approached him to say that he thought ‘Born in East L.A.’ was his favorite movie – but Tommy wasn’t in that one. And: he and Cheech are making a new one…Tommy thought ‘Grumpy Old Stoners’ would be a good title. Marijuana ‘salve’ to play a part. And police sergeant Stadenko is still chasing them…
And…had been listening to an audio book by a pair of professors teaching Dante’s ‘Comedy’…mention of how the poet reconciled the three-part nature of God with His unity. Thought of Buckminster Fuller, all his stuff about triangles…
And…on a more personal note. Am still having negative feelings about a guy in the hotel. Making me feel better, imagining that he’s the guy on the ground in that ‘Dirty Harry’ scene at Kezar Stadium, Harry having shot him down and then stepping on him. Imagining this guy getting that treatment
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puts a smile on my face. Sortuv an asshole…
…and…noticed that the Donovan autobiography, ‘The Hurdy Gurdy Man’, had not been proofread entirely well. He wrote that “the original village of Los Angeles” was “Alvero” Street – that should be Alvarado…
And this quote from him: “The feminine side of the male had not emerged from its chrysais, due, no doubt, to the patriarchal Christian culture of the previous two thousand years.”
And this about how music was recorded back in the Sixties: “In those days it was considered normal to record three tracks in three hours, an album in a week…”
And: “Over the years many fans have told me that my music settled the terrors of ‘bad trips’ on acid.”
And this from Donovan about meeting Andy Warhol in the Sixties: “Andy was a difficult person to talk to. In fact, more than difficult: he didn’t say a word.”
And also: he felt that the banana used by Andy Warhol on the cover of that Velvet Underground album was in fact inspired by the “electrical banana” in the song “Mellow Yellow”…
And another quote: “Shame on music writers who should be encouraging ‘music’, not fame.”
And a writer said this about Donovan’s choice of eye wear: “…wearing spectacles that have apparently been made out of red bicycle reflectors.”
And more from the singer about himself: “To many, I was the embodiment of the New Age movement, Mystic Studies, Alternative Healing, Self-development, and Yoga.”
And he said that on the ‘Sunshine Superman’ album there were none of the protest songs popular at the time: “My quest was now to engender a feeling of love and compassion.”
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…my Baptist Christian friend Mike was kind enough and concerned enough about the state of my soul to spend over four bucks to Priority Mail me several evangelical publications. Have only so far looked at the covers. One features Georgia governor and U.S. senator Zell Miller’s article “Confronting Moral Decay”. Thought that “Zell” was “Zen”, which would’ve been more interesting to me. Another story: “King David’s Palace Found?” And: “Road Map to Peace or Highway to Antichrist?”, this superimposed on a map of the Middle East and a photograph of soldiers marching on a desert’s flat plane. I’ve in the past read literature of this kind. Wasn’t raised in that church like Mike was, and it really doesn’t affect me so much. But he means well. He “walks the talk” in terms of being a good Christian, I’d say…
And in other publications I’ve been reading lately: a 1970 ‘Playboy’ I bought on a Tenderloin street for a dollar. The pictorials of the nude women are very, very tame – I really ‘did’ buy it mainly for the text, including a long interview with scholar, poet, and novelist Robert Graves – a source of knowledge I naturally gravitate to more than, like, Zell Miller. A quote from Graves: “…the only moral code a man has is his sense of honor, and few still that have nowadays.”
And a quote from a book about psychic awareness I’ve been reading, about how those who have become skilled in the use of that: “…you will rarely be fooled by anyone’s words or behavior. You will feel just what to expect.” And also, on psychometry, the use of hands to intuit information: “…you can scan with your hand and sense with your solar plexus.” This can be used for as simple an act as selecting a piece of fruit…
And: the author says there are four different psychic types. The “Feeler” category seemed to fit me – these types don’t like tight clothes and, for example, when reading something, they would prefer to be propped up on comfortable pillows in bed rather than sitting bolt upright at a desk…
And about this time, this afternoon a few days ago, there was hotel neighbor Edward knocking at my door. Wasn’t into seeing him then and didn’t answer. He went out onto the fire escape and I heard him shouting down to a guy on the street in Spanish: “Hey, ‘hombre’!” And he also said “Praise the Lord!” about something. Another Christian in my life, a Catholic one. Means well enough, like my man Mike. Both concerned about the state of my soul…
And was out on the street after this…saw former hotel tenant rep Prince walking towards me, crossing in the middle of Eddy, as ‘I’ was doing. Pointed at him and joked: “Hey, you jaywalker!” And also there about then the former Sixties San Francisco teen hippie chick who is now, in her early fifties, “turning tricks” in the Tenderloin. Always smiling, tho’ – have talked to her a little, seems like a happy person. That day I was wondering why she was looking down against traffic – seems like she’d be facing the ‘oncoming’ vehicles…
And then over to Al’s Palace of Fine Junk…asked him about bicycle parts – I was then still
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seeking a new rear wheel to replace the one I’d mashed in an interaction with a truck and a parked car. But the man doesn’t deal in any bike stuff. And asked about a TV/VCR combination he had – am sortuv in the market for that. But the VCR part of the one I was pointing at didn’t work. And Al was pretty busy just then – he’d been talking to a guy before me, and a third guy was waiting to ask him something…
And then heading to a usual destination, the library. Got yelled at by a moron in an unusual-looking convertible, probably the total prize of his grotesque life: “Dumb ass motherfucker!” was his comment to me – apparently he thought I was oblivious to the traffic – well, I ‘was’ stepping off the curb like the Tarot Fool card off the cliff. But for sure I was aware of the passing danger. He was already a ways away down the street but I shrugged in his direction to ask, what’s the big deal? I mean, I navigate through heavy traffic on my bicycle…
And: got to a library terminal, attended a bit to the aforementioned Mike’s novel, ‘A Temptation to Hate’, which he had e-mailed me to read. Got stopped by his use of “baby stepping” – couldn’t go farther than that. I took it upon myself to proofread his text, and I’d say that, in terms of, like, the standards of ‘The New York Times’ “style book”, there would need to be a hyphen between “baby” and “stepping”. E-mailed him back about this, even including an example from a Googled Website. Well, maybe I’m overstepping in terms of focusing so much on these seemingly little mistakes. Mike said he just wanted me to read “for content”, so I’ll go with that. But I’m very aware of even misplaced commas. Hard to ignore what I consider missteps in his text…
And then off the computer, selecting from the audio books. Took a lecture on Dante’s ‘Comedy’ by two scholars…and then back towards the hotel. Amplified rap coming from in front of City Hall...and checked out the stuff for sale at The Fence at Turk and Hyde. For two dollars got a great nearly new pair of Levi’s, the pants I’ve been wearing for the past several days, in fact. A woman there named that price, then the guy with her wanted a dollar more, but that was more than I wanted to pay. I put ‘em back then he, complaining to her, said he’d take my price. Felt slightly bad about this and said that if I saw them in two weeks, when I had more money, I’d give ‘em an extra dollar. Trying to do the right, Christian thing…
And then to Wa’il’s corner market for food – two cans of tuna, which supplies the day’s protein requirents. I used our regular “Good morning!” line on him – the joke is that that’s the greeting to use, despite it being the middle of the day. And he was curious about the Dante lecture tapes I had – he thought it was a movie. Yeah, kinduv the ‘Pulp Fiction’ of its time…
And into the hotel…front desk man Vic asked if any of the kung fu books I’d brought him from the library were due. Had brought him, like, a dozen and more. He had taken it upon himself to get a karate book from the shelves on his own, so that’s good – I think I’d done my good deed to bring him the several to start off. He’s been studying kung fu for nearly six months, and he says it’s doing him real good…
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
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…was riding back from Rainbow the other day and got a little too cocky, trying to squeeze through between a parked car and a big truck, and was thereupon, my bicycle was thereupon, squashed somewhat – came away with a mangled and non-functioning back wheel with broken spokes, a twisted handle bar, and a slight hurt to my left knee. And lost my little flash drive memory unit in the bargain, geez...
Took me a while to get myself together enough to carry the damaged wheels back to the hotel. The guys in the truck stopped and waited until they saw I was okay enough. I told ‘em it was ‘my’ fault, anyway, since I made that cocky attempt to get through a tight place…but least my black corduroy pants, probably the best non-jeans pair I’ve got, didn’t get ripped, tho’ I’d fallen on the knee…
And subsequently made a call to the Road Rage bike shop. Wasn’t happy with the eighty-five bucks wanted for a replacement wheel – and that was just for the wheel without the sprocket cassette. Wasn’t gonna pay ‘that’ price, no way…and was glad I could still walk on the leg that I’d hurt – same one as was injured in the bike accident a few weeks previously. But since this second fall, nothing wrong with it, no limping…
And then walked back to where the accident happened, near the library…looked around for that flash drive, which I had been using to store the blog postings. Hadn’t had any other use for it to share or transfer that information, but I was definitely using it, and had paid over thirty bucks for it. I checked all around the ground but it wasn’t there…an unexpected and total transfer of that information…
And then into the library to get to what I’d been intending to do before the run-in with the truck – to the 15-minute Express terminals on the ground floor to look over the postings I’d just done, make corrections…looked on Craigslist for bicycles on sale – three nearby being sold in the Nob Hill area. And near me, using another terminal, a subvocalizing woman who was getting on my nerves with the sound she was making, reading a lot of stuff from her screen…
And then back walking up to the hotel, a trio of Tenderloin types: old guy walking with his pants hiked way up his waist – nothing like a ‘GQ’ model. And he had a Santa Claus type of bag around his shoulder also. And a guy on the ground, leaned up against a wall, drinking his Steel Reserve. And walking jauntily, a thin, muscular white guy, no shirt, plenty of tattoos, maybe an Aryan Brother on speed…
And near the hotel, guy I recognized who I knew sold bicycles – asked him about my
need for a 26-inch wheel – he said he might be able to help me and I gave him, name of Marion, my cell number. He said it was his 68th birthday and I joked that, well, the
way I saw it, on people’s birthdays it was ‘them’ who gave the presents…
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And into the hotel – there was tenant Ron, concerned about another guy near the front desk who, he said, was always checking the mail of others. More joking from me: told him that, hey, Ron, ‘I’ already got your checks and cashed ‘em. And from the lobby shelves, picked up a book called ‘You are Psychic!’ I’d noticed before…
And also got a new credit card offer, confirmed, it said. Still owe Bank of America about five hundred on their card, tho’ I was tempted to get this second one – not too smart. A choice of designs: a leaping dolphin, a closeup of a lady bug, an eagle’s head, the Constitution, Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’.
And into my room…gave a little attention to the plant on my window ledge I’d found in the hallway, a little Brita filtered water. It’s not thriving, but it wasn’t in such great shape when I’d found it…
And got into that psychic book, after putting my damaged wheels down. The author was one Pete A. Sanders, Jr. – a ‘summa cum laude’ M.I.T. grad in biomedical chemistry and brain science – a real dummy. He’d been accepted at Harvard Medical School but chose instead of pursue research in “higher sensory powers”, and eventually founded Free Soul, an educational program in Sedona…
So, the man says he could see auras; in one case, “…brilliant light blues with flashes of dark reds…” Quite a show. He said that the blue indicated a “basic calm personality…”
And: was waiting on that Marion’s call – he’d said it’d be fifteen minutes until he got back to me, but it had passed that. He’d also said something that made me think he was no stranger to dealing in stolen bicycles – something about it being hot around the Tenderloin lately in terms of law enforcement and that the business wasn’t that open. I guessed I could look the other way enough to get a replacement 26-inch wheel cheap. And I wasn’t gonna go up to any room, either – he’d have to bring the thing down to the street…
And continued reading that psychic book. Ol’ Pete Sanders said of an employment counselor he’d instructed that “…he felt and found job openings for his clients even before the jobs were announced.”
And he also wrote this: “Many of your negative feelings – tension, depression, anxiety – are actually not yours at all; they are other people’s feelings that you are picking up.” Geez, what would that portend, what would that fortell, signify, for sensitive souls in the wild and weird Tenderloin? And: also this advice about crossing your arms in front of your solar plexus: “The extra mass of the arms helps to buffer the Psychic Feeling bombardment.” – with those capitalized words…
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…my former English teacher – ‘a’ former English teacher of mine, that is – I’ve taken a few classes in that subject, but ‘she’ stands out – has begun a Website of her own at lajensen.blogspot.com, featuring digital photos she’s taken along with accompanying short quotes from various worthies, including painters, poets, psychologists, choreographers, film directors – you know, the usual suspects. I’d recommend this virtual gallery as one to include on one’s daily cyber-rounds, as she is adding daily to the hundred-and-20-some images she’s already got displayed…
Today’s quote is from “Giorgio de Chirico – Greek-Italian painter 1888-1978” – she – Laurel – also includes a bit of biographical information. Have heard of the guy – Googled – the Wikipedia entry says: ”an influential pre-Surrealist”…’Love Song’ from 1914 looked immediately like a Dali to me – glanced down the article that came up – yeah, Salvador acknowledged the guy’s influence…and as a young man, Giorgio studied in Munich, got into the works of, like, Nietzsche. And on and on…plenty of information for those interested…a 1958 Thelonious Monk album cover features a 1915 painting called ‘The Seer’…
And: have been coming up with heroic couplets – that is, two lines of iambic pentameter, rhymed, technically speaking…and the one for this image: “Mysteriously normal sanity/discovered by cerebral clarity.” Laurel says she likes my rhyming couplets, so that pleases me…
And now, back to our regularly-scheduled programming. Altho’ I have added another layer of editing to the contents of this. I first take voice notes on my small digital recorder, and ‘had’ been transcribing them directly onto the blog postings. But in the last few days I have begun first handwriting these notes onto paper, and selecting from those. This should make these postings a bit more concise and precise…
…and was listening to the radio the other day – KQED, the only station I listen to, for the intelligent talk. I’m by myself a lot, in my hotel room, so I like it as an alternative to whatever’s rocking and rolling in ‘my’ head. So, the news I thought was interesting was the recent revelation out of Germany that monumental novelist Guenter Grass has admitted he was a member of Hitler’s Nazi Waffen SS. Tank division, Dresden – he was seventeen. Now, talk about a publicity stunt!
Well…the audio book of ‘The Tin Drum’ is there at the library, but, geez, not sure if I wanna inflict that description of World War II on my psyche. Am currently enjoying the memoir of George Stephanopoulos, ‘All Too Human’, about his time in Clinton’s White House in the Nineties…
And…for some reason, Quentin Tarantino’s line about “Dick dick dick dick dick…” at the beginning of ‘Reservoir Dogs’ was stuck in my head a few days back. Have
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watched a lot of movies, especially the recent twelve months and more when I had
Comcast and was tuned in, like, twelve hours a day for weeks on end for some of that year. So often experience these sort of sudden “flashbacks”, sometimes triggered by a random word or thought…
And…am continuing to throw out collected papers, and keep some for future reference. Got rid of an ad for the Ananda Fuara spiritual vegetarian place in the Civic Center area on Market – awarded “Best Fake Meat Sandwich” by, I think, the ‘Guardian’. (And I’d recommend the “Prana Life Force” tea – it contains skullcap, not an ingredient you find in Lipton’s…)
And similarly, in a similar spiritual/energetic line, quote from a book on natural energy I have: “Stretching upward energizes the body, especially when accompanied by yogic breathing.”
And: out the door to get to one of the computers I use…noticed the new young, blonde, lady case manager for the hotel. There are a few real ‘cases’ in the place and I hope she’s not too young and too blonde and too lady for them. The hotel’s not nearly as bad in terms of some of the residents as some others in the Tenderloin, but I know for certain there are more than a few subhumans – er, I mean, ‘residents’ – that can be a problem…
And: did my usual thing at the computer center in the Western Addition. Part of my new ‘modus operandi’ for this blog is to ‘not’ include so many repetitious details of my existence…but noted something of interest – “racist white fraternities” came up as something Googled on by a previous user of the terminal I was on. It’s the Western Addition, and the community served by the center is a largely a black one…
And then out the door…figured I might as well get a cross-town bicycle ride in and get over to Rainbow. In the park across from the center, a daddy walking hand-in-hand with his little girl…and: got into a little bit of reckless fast movement through the traffic. Often withdrew my voice recorder from the right rear pants pocket where I always keep it to take a note – some of the…uh…assholes in the cars, well, at times I imagine that it’s a small but powerful handgun, useful to plug the crania of motorized imbeciles, such as the nitwit that day in what was nearly an SUV, talking on a cell phone and feeling it acceptable to violate a red…
And south towards Rainbow – the freeway at Duboce and 14th – geez, that had been torn down, now it’s up again? And into the New Age market…toothpicked one of the free samples from the “Mixed Olives Medley”. Treated myself majorly to 13% of a pound of the organic walnut butter – somewhat shocking at twelve-80 a pound, not including the 30 cents for the plastic container to put it in…
Monday, August 21, 2006
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…riding by the Asian Art Museum a few days ago, a sleeping dog on the lawn that drew my attention, on its slide, in total blissful slumber. I’m entirely a cat person, but seeing that sweet canine that day made me appreciate that companionship…
And passing the Little Henry’s Italian place – guy in the hotel likes it – he’s of that extraction himself, fixated on ‘The Sopranos’. Outside then, five police motorcycles. Guess that would be a five badge rating for the place…
And pedaled my two wheels up the beginning of some of a Nob Hill incline before heading back to my room, get in a bit extra in the way of cardio…and waiting for me, bread that had been left in the lobby, delivered by a charity, made from kamut, an ancient African grain. And liked it that it was not only organic, but the three ingredients were only that grain, salt – probably ‘sea’ salt – and water. Don’t need yeast, or sweeteners…
And then the evening, then sleep…about two in the morning, awake – ejaculated for the first time in a while, via the manual. No porn to aid that process, just thoughts. A guy on the street had been selling a copy of a magazine I’d never seen before, ‘Tight’, featuring pretty young pretty models, but I hadn’t bought it. Would’ve enhanced that experience…
And then the next day, leaving the local computer center. A blind guy I knew, talked to him. He sometimes went to the center to listen to jazz out of the KCSM college station via the Internet…
And not long after that, a hooker in pink hot pants near the hotel. Actually, not too worn, kinduv cute. But to consider how many customers there have been through ‘those’ portals, “served” McDonald’s-style…
And up to my room – was enjoying Hawaiian papaya slices from Trader Joe’s that had been left in the lobby – they have a lot of enzymes, a thing I’ve got on my mind frequently. And in the elevator, guy with a discarded chest of drawers. He told me he planned to disassemble it and make a set of shelves out of ‘em, “whenever I got ambitious.”
And in the mail that day, a Medicare notice – it cost thirty-two bucks for the x-ray of the lower leg I’d had at St. Francis Medical Center a while back –
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didn’t seem like a lot. The notice said I may be billed two bucks and change.
Have gotten notices like that before – have never had to pay…and: to safeguard my identity from theft, ripped off my Social Security Number from the two pages before tossing ‘em…
And about 4pm that afternoon a few days ago, police knocking on my neighbor’s door, inquiring about his recent house guest. The officers said they weren’t there to arrest him – not sure what the law enforcement visit was about…
And had on my mind a product I’d seen at the Rainbow Grocery – a twenty-five dollar bottle of a drink containing sea buckthorn berry. The label said that Genghis Khan had fed the fruit to his men and their horses to make them strong. Might treat myself when the first comes around – looks pretty potent. And: coincidentally, on the radio, heard that in the year twelve-27 on the day described, a few ago, the Mongol leader had been born…
…and later that afternoon, fire trucks across Eddy, arriving for a situation at the Central Towers apartments – for once, not in my hotel. And was outside in the hallway to check on this. There was neighbor S., who’d had that police visit earlier. Joked that he hadn’t been taken away, and he said that no, since he fights very hard. He wasn’t entirely joking…
…and…on the radio news – don’t have a TV now – might get one again with full-tilt cable at some point – on the radio, news of a suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey case – some Petaluma connection – the guy had lived there…
…and a Petaluma mother was interviewed, had said they she had felt really safe there. But…what about that previous case? Yeah…thanks Google: Polly Klaas…the one Winona Ryder helped with, since she’d lived in that town as a teenager and had had kidnapping fears herself as a youth…
…and…out again later…on the side of a Muni bus, ad for a Sausalito art festival. Geez, you’ve seen one art festival, you’ve seen ‘em all, Marin notwithstanding…and at the library, Googled on blushing…I feel like I do that a lot. It’s a response of an excited sympathetic nervous system…got to calm that down. Not drinking helps, I’d say…
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…and back to the Bibliohead bookstore on Gough in Hayes Valley. Was on my bicycle and had paused to check out the paperbacks in front. While I was standing there, two young girls passed, then returned – one picked up two of the free books in a basket, then continued on. One looked back at me and I caught her eye. I’m likely too old for them, but I’m feeling somewhat more together these days – it’s been three weeks since I’ve stopped drinking all that wine I’d been doing. And there’s only a bit of song in the form of recorded music. That leaves the “women” aspect of that trinity…
And picked up a copy of the latest ‘Onion’ at Bibliohead. Cover story about Jessica Simpson’s campaign for awareness of her breasts – classic ‘Onion’ satire. And got on my bicycle and rode on south, heading to Rainbow. Around there, remembered the former location of the Psychic Eye bookstore – my Former Lady Roommate and I went there very often – one of her favorite places to look in – a lot of occult, New Age, witchy material there…
And it was good to be in the Hayes Valley area in general – I can get so stuck in the down-and-out Tenderloin – I like being in a higher-rent area, even if it’s just passing by on two wheels…and then, rode on, drawn by the inevitable magnet of Rainbow…
At a point on Mission near South Van Ness, the bike’s kickstand was loosening, and I just pulled it off and left it on the street. I liked it, but it was tending to come loose too frequently – it had been from my previous bicycle anyway, and didn’t seem to attach too securely to the new one…
And: parked and locked the wheels outside Rainbow – first thing to catch my eye, a seventeen dollar tea pot. The one I have now has a lid that’s split in half, and the handle broke off as well. It’s a cute one, but I wouldn’t mind replacing it with a nifty new one from Rainbow…
And: got myself a three buck bottle of “Miso Master” miso tamari – I’d been needing a soy sauce type of flavoring…and a bottle of Grainaissance amazake (with coconut) – thirty cents off from the usual buck-99. And two small blocks of organic tofu in the bulk section. And also sampled one of the “French Cinnamon Cardamom” olives. In other words, experiencing the Rainbow Grocery world of alternative eating…and then to the checkout – wrong time to be there, the lines were so long. Put that olive pit into a
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planter – recycling it. Guy in line behind me asked if the tofu was halvah – they ‘did’ resemble that Middle Eastern food. But he didn’t seem to like halvah much – he said it tasted like chalk…
And experienced another aspect of the Rainbow experience, the sticker shock – over six bucks for what I’d bought – fifty cents each just for those small blocks of tofu – but felt these were worth it. A handwritten label on the tub they come in favorably compared the protein value to that of steak…
And took my stuff to the seats near the door, ate the tofu with the intense drops of the miso tamari – a lot of flavor in just a single drop. Back to my Japanese culinary heritage. And the amazake is also part of that…
And getting up to leave, turned quickly to throw the amazake plastic into the recycle bin – did this in front of a woman who was right there, leaving…felt that it might’ve seemed a bit rude to her, that sudden movement so near…
But I had a few minutes earlier been very considerate of the space of another woman who had brought stuff she’d bought to the eating area – looked, frankly, homeless, pushing a shopping cart, not smiling, putting her purchases into a backpack. But I was aware of her and stood up to let her get through when she was entering and exiting…so, it’s like I’m ‘not’ rude, wasn’t later being rude to that woman described above…
And then outside, on my bicycle, heading back north. A passing yellow convertible with two prize assholes in it, real loud music – talk about lack of civility…
And near to the library, yet another instance of spatial differences – woman driving with others in a car got, I felt, into my space, and made it known to them with my movements, and made a face also. These appeared to be gentle folk, unlike the prize assholes in the convertible, who seemed like brutes who would’ve beaten me down if they sensed disrespect…
Then past the Bill Graham. Sign for a ‘GIGANTIC LAND AUCTION!” Reminded me of what former hotel tenant rep and current good neighbor Prince said to me about buying property if he won millions in the lottery – that and heading to visit the land of his ancestors, Egypt…
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