SWEET DANGO

#1399 www.starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com

…consider: uniform versus multiform. Multiform means having many shapes and forms. (I’ve been wearing the same jeans jacket and pants for a while, a uniform. Am liking that.)

…urinated publically the other day, altho’ discreetly, in a doorway in the middle of an alley, no one else there – especially no police there – not even a bicycle officer could have appeared suddenly and quietly. Looks like the doorway had seen some urine in its time. No regular facility easily available, and I’ve had practice in this procedure.

I’m engaging my abdomen, the core, on a regular basis. See so many with no relation to it. Conscious, constant engagement and awareness, me, in general.

Into Whole Foods, for items from the bulk bins. Eye caught by a “Vision Optimizer” bottle of pills – my eyes can use support. A little less than a dollar a day for a month’s supply. Am using them more lately, consciously, boldly, even.

About twenty-two bucks spent for whole foods from Whole Foods – olive oil was nine bucks, and four for soy sauce, so that was half the expenditure – they’ll last a while and do me good. Pound of organic raisins for oatmeal for about three – nice being able to be generous with those. Buck and a half for about a third of a pound of pumpkin seeds – good for males. Pound of quinoa, organic, for about four.

Guy talking on the radio about the commodification of sex, how the media promotes this, in subtle ways. I’ve been affected by that, for sure.

Among the whole foods I bought, two were Paul Bragg products, out of Santa Barbara.

Sexual fantasy: a thirty-something mother, an eighteen-something daughter, and a twenty-something lady friend of the mother and daughter…

Statistics textbook on the ground, left it – too big, and also not interested in the subject. Plus, have a whole lot of books already, unread. Friend the other day offered me two hardback Dune books, recent sequels or prequels, only a dollar each, but passed on them for the same reasons, too much to carry, and didn’t want ‘em. But almost took ‘em just to get the guy some money. Just lost his job, but seems to be doing okay.

Guy walking in front of me, his swinging right arm making a funny sound, vinyl of his jacket was rubbing. Oblivious to this, or didn’t care. Left hand was in his pocket, so that arm wasn’t moving.

Green-clad marchers a block down from where I was walking – St. Patrick’s Day. Wasn’t interested in seeing any of the paraders. Some streets closed off.

For sale on the street, The Neon Bible, John Kennedy Toole’s OTHER book, and The Nectar of Instruction, a Hare Krishna text, by big guy Prabhupada. Passed on these as well.

Almost drawn to a yard sale, but resisted that temptation. Don’t need more books or music right now, the main things I’d be interested in.

Bought sheets of nori seaweed – redundant phrase, “nori” covers it. Taking in a lot of that lately, and also kelp. Sea vegetables, highly mineralized.

Print copy of The Dharma Bums I requested awaiting pick up at the library, but I’ll pass. Got deep into the audio book not long ago, that was enough. Have myself been an exponent of the “Zen lunancy” discussed in the book.

Phrase on the radio: “sustained behavioral change”. Related to “movement” about turning lights out in order to save energy – done by significant numbers of individuals, and also by municipalities, cities, of lights in buildings and other structures.

Guy on radio talking about the U.S. needing to rejoin the world community, a community it’s recently snubbed, in the Bush era, it was meant.

Pronunciation of the word “Maccabees” on the radio the other day I questioned – shouldn’t it be on the first syllable, not the second?

Guy I forgot I knew, bought socks from him on the street – was needing those. Said he was in the hospital for two months, managed to avoid having his foot taken off, what the doctors wanted to do – diabetes, I guess. Said they scraped his bone instead. Harsh. Told him that maybe he should improve his diet. A couple of other people I know have the same condition.

Garage sale, went through the books. Nearly bought a paperback collection from British publication The Tatler, featuring Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. Had heard of this but never read. Also there, French version of The Stranger by Al Camus, and a Seventies Cosmpolitan sex and relationships advice book. The Tatler collection light, but just didn’t want it that much enough to carry it.

Out yesterday without the little black pack that’s been on my back every day for weeks – really felt, literally, a burden lifted from my shoulders, liked that feeling. Thought that I could get around pretty nicely, lightly, with just the clothes on my back and a card with money on it. How to arrange that? Could that be a destiny for me? See www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destiny.

posted by Velcro # 12:09 PM

Saturday, March 14, 2009

#1398 www.starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com

…recently delivered three of a friend’s books to a bookstore – on consignment there, I guess, and they’re selling…got a few bucks for that work. Could use more of such paid activity, or some interesting volunteer work. I like to be online no more than four hours a day, and that leaves me several hours to fill on any given day…

One-legged guy sitting in front of a church, panhandling – not faking his condition…and sign for software classes: “Learn it all. Learn it fast. Learn it now.”

“Annie”, name of an alley between Market and Mission. Also, one named after Ambrose Bierce. Seen on my way taking a shortcut off of main streets to get to the bookstore. And another street in the area named after a writer, Stevenson – didn’t know it went that far east. Made me think of a name of a character: Annie Stevenson.

Found a pair of jeans, clean, tho’ a little big. Can always use another pair that fits. Then big sign in front of the Jewish Museum, with ART, MUSIC, and CULTURE writ large in white, and “shop” and “eat” in smaller, thinner black letters. And: ordinary plastic file box selling for ten bucks. Evidence for the line in The Graduate about the future being in plastic.

Ran into a fella who dances at the Powell cable car turn, with his new bride. Didn’t wear much when he was doing that, but he tells me that now, due to his new married state, he’ll have more on. The union within the auspices of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. He was very sharply dressed, uniquely, in a very pulled-together suit. A person of style.

Then three hombres taking up the whole sidewalk, annoying, but I circumvented them…into a place where I use a computer – medieval-looking Catholic brother out of the elevator, with a long brown garment, sashed…

E-mail from a friend who said Hotmail was, without much notice, deleting some user e-mails in the SENT category. This has caused consternation in some quarters, but it doesn’t bother me. Tho’ I DO store information I want to keep in their system – a reason to transfer that onto a flash drive.

Little black pug straining at a leash – could see the appeal of that type of dog, their cute tenacity bigger their physical size.

Possible catchphrase for a character: “I’ll see myself out.” Not sure of the context. It comes up at www.phrases.org.uk – someone figures it’s not a very common saying anymore. Could be something for Annie Stevenson…

Sign posted inside the just-closed See’s Candies on Polk, about how Warren Buffett maintains unconstitutional wars for profit, and how the Twin Towers takedown was sponsored by Enron and only designed to look like a terrorist act, but was actually an insurance scam – the names Silverstein and Gold-something associated with this…

Handwritten page for lost keys – someone had found ‘em and was wanting to get them back to the owner. Going above and beyond, nice of the finder…

On the radio, a speech by Arnold Schwarzenegger – repeated at least once, but missed it.

Losing a little steam on listening to De Kooning’s bicycle, an audio book about the art and writing scene in the Hamptons at the far eastern end of Long Island, but pushed myself to listen to the last part of one of the discs, got a few notes from it. Description of Jackson Pollock’s work method, his domestic life with a woman. Drank too much.

Death of an Annenberg woman at some advanced age. Patrons of the arts. Lenore. Poe woman name…a search on “annenberg illuminati” brings up something. Annenbergs into media, reminded of The Plug-In Drug, about television: www.mariewinn.com/plugin.htm. Discussion of the effect of TV watching on how children relate to the real world.

Some actor on the radio interviewed, referring to some TV show I didn’t know, didn’t get any of the references. Really out of the TV/cable habit, have better things to do with my consciousness, or at least OTHER things…

Topic in sound clips from the show the actor was on – urban crime drama, talk about “buying corners”, “taking corners” – corners of city streets, by drug dealers…and…Briticism on the radio: a “range” of chocolates, not a “line”…

Friend gave me a shirt as a gift but gave it away almost immediately, not my style – it was short-sleeved, for one thing. And a pullover, strike two. And it had two color components, yellow and white, strike three. But I accepted it graciously, as if I liked it.

More grounds for annoyance, like those three sidewalk hombres mentioned above: someone in a car, warming it up, letting the engine run – noisy, polluting…

Heard Michael Tilson Thomas of the San Francisco Symphony on the radio recently, liked his vocabulary, would be worth looking up interviews to study his language. The language of musicians can be interesting…

Sometimes I have time to fill and sit in coffeehouses for up to an hour – I drink enough tea in my crib, and am not really a caffeine fiend, so a good coffeehouse option would be hot water and lemon and honey, and pay the price of a cup of joe. Better for the digestive system.

Been lately carrying a fat roll of ones and fives, secured with a rubber band…in the back of an Iceberg Slim book there’s a glossary that features a name for such an amount of cash - could be a “boodle”. Makes me feel like I have a lot…in Iceberg’s world, a way to make it appear that one has more money than one actually does – put the biggest bill on the outside. Doing good with my greenbacks of late…

posted by Velcro # 3:52 PM

Thursday, March 12, 2009

#1397 www.starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com

…scanned through a Roy Walford longevity book the other morning – his basic idea is contained in the acronym CRON, which stands for Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition…

He mentions the classical Seven Deadly Sins – he figures that in terms of longevity, the one to give up is gluttony. Humor in Walford’s text – he says that if one must have some sinning, then replace overeating with lust. He cites Dante, his Comedy, who said lust was, of those seven, the least deadly…

Walford also says agricultural humanity has existed for only the last ten thousand years, while the Paleolithic hunting/gathering lifestyle went on for a million and a half years – this in relation to diet…so…the cereals and grains diet, he’s saying, is a very recent innovation, and not necessarily the one most suited to longevity. The Paleolithic food list, Walford says, consisted of meat, vegetables, nuts, fruits, not much grain.

Walford also connected with that Biosphere 2 project – he folds into the text I scanned dietary data gleaned from that…and he also mentions the benefits of “the Okinawan experience” – apparently people in that part of Japan are very healthy and long-lived.

Another example of Walford humor: he’s talking about ice cream and other sweets, how they appeared on some “food pyramid” he looked at – “They do not belong on top of a food pyramid. They belong on top of a tombstone.”

Mention also of the glycemic index. Here’s a link from Oregon State University: http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/foods/grains/gigl.html.

More subtle Roy Walford humor: he concludes a chapter about supplements by saying that the stress of analyzing them over the course of a month has aged him two months…

Cute sight: guy carrying a small child, the child’s little arm around the guy’s shoulder. A monkey backpack on the child only added to the cuteness level. And more child stuff a little later, a girl walking a pretty long distance from the group she was with to throw a juice box away.

Mental exercise lately, determining the compass directions of a “bearing” I happen to be on, such as being aware of crossing to the sunny WEST side of Polk, going north. (Global Positioning Satellite definition of bearing: “The compass direction from your current position to your intended destination. Bearing is used to describe the direction of a destination or object.” Related idea, “heading”: “The compass direction toward which a traveler or vehicle is (or should be) moving.”)

Then the usual stroll up the street…stroll/street, same prefix – both derived from a Sanskrit root? On Indo-European root? Art gallery on Polk, paused in front, looked at a postcard for the current exhibit – didn’t much care for the work…but did a Moroccan-Tunisian up the street – five bucks for homemade hummus…then bought tofu, nori sheets of seaweed – dietary sanity…

Thought of a book to read: Gary Snyder’s The Real Work. Here’s a scholarly essay on Snyder: http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/s_z/snyder/selby.htm.

Event at CounterPULSE mentioned on the radio about “remanufacturing”: http://events.sfgate.com/san-francisco-ca/events/show/86286105-local-remanufacturing-our-way-out-of-the-recession - last night, but the topic continues – and here’s the Wikipedia for remanufacturing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remanufacturing. First sentence of this entry says it’s “the process of disassembly and recovery at the module level and, eventually, at the component level.”

Phrase from the radio, about the American economy, politics: “…table set with a banquet of pork…” In a story about “earmarking”…which is, I guess, money set aside for a particular use, like a building, not just for construction. (See “pork barrel”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_barrel.)

Another radio phrase, not a new one: “faceless bureaucrats”…and a misuse by a radio commentator: “knockdown, dragdown” – for some political fight. Should be “dragout”…

Thought of the word technocracy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy_(bureaucratic) – “…a form of government in which engineers, scientists, and other technical experts are in control.”

Phrase: “data streams”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_stream. Would like to look at a glossary of similar tech terms, computer tech terms…

Eight-year-old boy knew that Eddie Matthews, former big league baseball player, had five-hundred-12 career homeruns, because his father is such a fan of the game. But recent steroid scandals are tainting the father’s desire to share his love of baseball with his kid. The child was beginning to investigate suspicious homerun totals.

Wordplay on the cover of the current SF Weekly: “faux-star reviews” – about how ratings in Yelp and hurting and helping restaurants. These reviewers said to be mostly obnoxious twenty-somethings. Not a good thing – the ill-considered whims of these people could decide the fate of some businesses…

Kearny and Post, four jaywalkers, including me, brazenly crossing in the middle of a block…then up into a library, usual online thing, then out again…whole lot of somebodies jogging for some reason, maybe some cause…couldn’t, frankly, keep up with ‘em, even if I wanted to – I’m a cat, not a pack animal…have got a bicycle again, need to get on it and give my cardiovascular a workout…

On the way back to my crib, into a grocery store for something to eat – busy, even at express checkouts, had to choose the least of two evil long lines…

posted by Velcro # 12:28 PM

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

#1396 www.starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com

Decided to push myself a little and head to another computer last night when I could have more easily just gone back to my crib for the night. It’s this little extra effort that can make some difference, at least in terms of output.

Tenderloin area state of mind: I CAN be a little theft-minded - construction worker had left a bag of some kind out where it could more easily be swiped. Wouldn’t do that, but it’s the kind of thought that has occurred to me, due in part to the place I lived several recent years.

Downhill into the T.L. proper, presence of types more distinctly associated with the area, to be anthropological, such as a skinny black woman talking about someone taking her “dope”. Dope fiend in the flesh. Here’s the Urban Dictionary’s set of seven definitions for that term: www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dope+fiend. First two are expected, for the heroin or crack user. The third compares being a fiend for dope to being fiendish in love. The next one, new to me: jail slang noun for a Snickers bar. Also, can be used as a verb, meaning to con or manipulate. The final two refer to marijuana, not the harder white powder drugs.

Eddy and Jones, two beat cops standing at an intersection, otherwise I surely would’ve crossed jauntily on the red. Then a little later, two more cops with a handcuffed suspect, one of the officers looking through guy’s small papers like they were playing cards.

Pinkish sunset to the west, after I’d done my online thing…had among other topics researched “the superconscious mind” - site I selected to print material from equated it with the more-familiar subconscious mind, but the “super-“ prefix would suggest an elevation, height. But the writer figured it was the same thing. (That sunset…the day I’m considering, saw the bluish rising of the sun, witnessed that, and also the pinkish setting one, was up and about at both extremities.)

Major police action as I walked back uphill north to my crib - along one block, several parked squad cars, many officers standing around. Overheard some radio communication - suspect on the loose. Little kids at a corner playground, oblivious to the law being enforced.

Have out from a library some university James Joyce expert’s twenty-four half hour lectures on Ulysses. Really no way at this point to understand the book without such guidance, too many timely references that over a hundred years later cannot be instantly comprehended. Not to mention all the oblique parallels to the original Homer.

Radio on, back in my crib - something about politicians at the State Capitol figuring the economic situation will get worse before it improves. And Obama’s opposing an Arizona nuclear dump site, so it’s unclear where future waste will be store. And anniversary of an Islamic terrorist train bombing in Spain - mention of how the country used to be Muslim. More locally, protest was held downtown in conjunction with the fiftieth anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising against China. Usually see events like this on my walking around town, but missed this. Usually just, like Dionne Warwicke, walk on by…

Ongoing project in my crib, putting collected articles and other papers gathered the last decade and more into boxes for storage and easier future transport to another location - this last move, don’t wanna repeat the exertion of that, having to lug thirty pounds of papers in a duffel bag - getting them into small boxes I get free at the post office.

The Bernie Madoff case - getting punished for his financial nefariousness. Here’s an up-to-the-minute collection of news about the case from The Wall Street Journal: www.online.wsj.com/public/page/bernard-madoff.html. (The guy’s last name, pronounced “MADE-off” - could be the basis of a mildly-humorous e-mail to a friend who’s following this - can write that Madoff MADE OFF with a lot of money, at least for a while…)

Then, sleep, then this morning…heading back into the Tenderloin for a 7am appointment. Guy walking across an intersection with tiny little steps - old, sick, body not working well. Many people in the area ill in body, mind, spirit, or all three. Paused at a posted flyer for a stolen scooter. Five exclamation points in addition to the capital letters. “Leavenworth” street name spelled wrong - me, The Proofreader at work and play.

Guy sleeping on the sidewalk - it was a chilly morning, no blanket. Woman I passed asked for a quarter, didn’t give it to her. Went to my hour-long appointment, out again…guy on his hands and knees, probing into a sidewalk crack, probably FOR crack.

Then towards the first online time of the day - ran into a guy I knew from a place I’d lived, then ran into another guy from the place I’d lived in before that. Not much to say to either. Have met quite a few these past eleven years and more in San Francisco…

Thought of The Nigger Bible, given me by a friend. Basic idea in that: that for black people, “the Word” of Christianity is not for them, but “the Experience” is. Here’s the Wikipedia for this: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nigger_Bible. One of the several books I’m reading carefully now.

Got to a coffeehouse I like on McAllister to wait about an hour until the library opened. Scanned through what I’d underlined in the book I had to return, by longevity expert Roy Walford, about diet. He believes to live a long and healthy live, one must restrict calories while maximizing and balancing nutrients. He mentions Coenzyme Q10 - says it’s manufactured by the body and doesn’t need to be taken as a supplement - he quotes a scientific study on it and says “the only apparently beneficial activity was an improvement in arterial tone in old rodents.” And another idea from him, that laypersons tend to overpredict and anticipate advances sooner than they happen, while experts underpredict. Example was how non-scientists at the beginning of the 20th century figured that by the year 2000 there’d be colonies throughout much of the solar system. As an underprediction by experts, Walford mentions how Bill Gates said no one would ever need more than 64 kilobytes of computer memory. Billy G. really missed that one…

posted by Velcro # 5:54 PM

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

#1395 www.starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com

…out these days before dawn, before seven in the morning, tho’ there’s the start of light blue to the east...on Geary, a motorcycle cop stopped a driver, mesmerizing set of lights on the officer’s ride, like the spaceship in Close Encounters…

Passed a laundromat I used to go to, waved to the guy who runs it. My usual joke to him was, “Got any quarters?” – because he was always the source of change for his machines, must have hundreds of the coins…

In the middle of an audio book about the East Hamptons art scene – eastern end of Long Island, about a hundred miles from New York City – called De Kooning’s Bicycle – ‘cause the painter was known to ride his two wheels to some site he liked to work…Jackson Pollock also there for a while, comparison made between him and de Kooning and Gaugin and Van Gogh, two other notable artistes working in close proximity…

Albums discarded on the street, glanced over ‘em. Picked up a Wendy Carlos synthesizer one called Digital Moonscapes – post-op Walter – featured tracks titled after various moons, including our own Luna, plus Ganymede, Europa, from ’84. Also, there was a Joan Baez one, featuring “No Expectations”, written by Jagger and Richard – Richard without the “s” that he later added. Carried the disc for a while before setting it upright somewhere.

Using a speedreading technique lately on the books I’m reading, putting a pen’s tip on the line and moving it fast, keeping the eye and mind moving. Recommended in “Accelerated Learning Techniques”, a tape set I’m listening to.

Cold in the mornings, tho’ sunny, so usually seek out the warmth of the unshaded sides of the streets…up an elevator to a set of public computers I use – voice of the lift said we were going up. Made me think of a character in something, a smart elevator, that you could have a conversation with. Obvious joke by it after being asked how it’s going: “Well, you know, life’s up and down…”

One of the books I just bought, for a dollar, Facts of Love and Life for Teen-Agers, by one Evelyn Millis Duvall, from the late Fifties. I’m pretty much still at that stage in many ways, the teen stage, I mean, not the Fifties. Maybe this book will give me some good guidelines for behavior.

Then…later, took a leak in the library’s restroom, and left without washing my hands, which I usually skip after urination. Heck, just touching my THING is all, don’t need to rinse my hands after that. But doubtless someone noticing this would find it completely objectionable. Then bought a usual item at a usual place, a piece of fried fish, buck and a quarter. Felt like I was given a small one – reminded of the Marilyn Monroe line in Some Like It Hot, about always getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop. I mean, there’s a whole big stack of fish there, and I’d swear the person seeks out smaller pieces to give me.

Iraq news: twelve thousand Americans and four thousand British leaving by September…

Out on the street again – more sun and warmth north on the west side of Powell than east on the north side of Ellis…cap shop on Powell – liked a baseball style one with two scorpions, one red, one white. Red Monkey brand. I’d buy it…

Meyerovich gallery on Post, picked up a brochure for a friend I see every couple of months – she lives outside the city, I pick up items for her from the metropolis. Also there, ground level, a 1954 Picasso drawing that caught my eye. Something about the Spaniard’s style does that…

Mailman carrying a box of soda cans – he was wanting to put it into a box for letters, seemed to be struggling, I moved to help, but he got done what he wanted. Made me think, looking at others around – most oblivious to someone in need like that…

Been online three, four hours a day lately, keeping on top of e-mailing with a few, posting at the blog, researching various topics…

Speaking of double scorpions, liked the little glass scorpions as part of the window display at the Bacca Da Silva store. Nothing I’d buy there for myself, but like the two-scorpion symbolism of their logo…

Into the new Candy Darling store for ten malted milk balls, a dime each…then, bright magenta hat on a toddler, holding Daddy’s hand, needing that support…

Thinking lately that I could wield cash well now – putting that into my subconscious mind, and superconscious mind, whatever that is, wanting that desire fulfilled. Not necessarily for myself, that expenditure of money…

Hyde and Bush, vehicle turning my way, slowed my pace down in front of it…

Vatican recent statement against the Obama okay of stem cell research – destruction of human embryos happening…

Guy in a car asked where Bush was – the street. Thought later I shoulda said: “Back in Crawford…”

Wanting something sociable to do in the evenings, something not costing money…

Seems like I’m buying buck bags of Fritos chips every day, need to lay off that…

Buck-25 can of split pea soup, an okay enough thing to eat. Clerk asked if I wanted a bag, I said no, “save the trees…” Then thought later, should’ve made that singular, “save the tree”, the one tree left. Tho’ my attempt at humor seemed to have been lost on the clerk. But that won’t stop me, generally, from doing the same again…

posted by Velcro # 6:26 PM

Monday, March 09, 2009

#1394 www.starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com

…woman on the street panhandling with two cats. One of them facing into the sun, eyes closed, as peaceful as if it were in a sheltered garden.

Haggis in a can at a Scottish goods store window, but the vegetarian haggis in a can next to it topped that. Not into meat generally, and especially not organ meats, innards. Know a fella who relishes, like, sweetbreads.

Gallery of art open for perusing, but passed it by…many of these places in that area surrounding Powell Street. Hardly have the wherewithal to purchase magazine reproductions. Free online versions fine enough for me.

Millennium Tower, new residential building in the city - could be used as the setting for a movie, have the structure be an integral part of the plot, like Nakatomi Plaza was in Die Hard. Here’s their site: www.millenniumtowersf.com/. Have the building be intelligent, like HAL in the 2001 spaceship, for one thing. (No, not entirely new ideas, but, heck, a unique shuffling of what’s been done could work.)

Six or seven what I took to be German male tourists standing on the sidewalk after, it looked like, a meal. Late lunch or early dinner. Linner? Dunch?

Aussie rucksack in a store window continues to get my attention - eighty bucks, which is steep. Plus it’s not as commodious - not to mention as spacious or as capacious - as my current backpack. Also, don’t care for the leather parts. But my current bag’s showing signs of wear. Several exterior pockets can make up for the lack of interior carrying capacity.

Couple walking hand in hand. Not getting a whole lot of contact these days along those lines. None, in fact. Hard to come by.

The Candy Darling candy place closed this day I passed, otherwise I would’ve bought a few malted milk balls, stimulate the store’s economy a bit. See www.yelp.com/biz/candy-darling-san-francisco - also, name of one of Andy Warhol’s “superstars”: www.warholstars.org/stars/candy.html.

Sunday afternoon, Cup-a-Joe, Nob Hill corner coffeehouse, the day earning its name, solar warmth, the bounty thereof, being enjoyed by several in outside seats. An Academy of Art University location nearby, surely the place gets much biz from the students.

Bought a moving sale Brahms CD the other day…found a Handel one the other day on the street. Classical music pun: “I can’t Handel it, what you may be Haydn from me…”

Public radio news: deadliest suicide attack in a month somewhere, General Motors could possibly be helped financially by the Canadian government, Raul Castro putting his own people into power in Cuba while brother Fidel’s are being displaced…

Phrase “overeager Seventies Method actors” used by someone interviewed on the radio, don’t recall the context, but like the phrase, the simile. (Oh, come to think of it, guy was a writer, and he took to creating on some subway train to be able to convey the feel of that environment - so that’d be a Method way of writing…)

Chris Cornell on the radio, of grunge band Soundgarden - clip of a representative song, realized why I didn’t care for that whole Nineties Seattle sound. Guy’s new work is called Scream - clip of a Beatles song with Paul McCartney screaming. Discussion of how Paul got that from Little Richard - Cornell emulates them.

Radio bit about the final episode of The L-Word…didn’t see even one of those…know Jennifer Beals was on it - that would’ve been a reason to watch. Audio clip, two lesbians talking, discussing wanting to have a baby with a black guy as the father. Show said to have a “participatory quality”, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show - would be shown at lesbian bars, where it was fun seeing it with many others, not just alone at home.

The word “stupa” occurred to me for some reason - www.peacestupa.org/what_is_a_stupa.htm - text quoted there says that those who don’t have the karma to actually see the Buddha require such structures “as a field for accumulating merit.” Pun: badly-designed one would be called “a stupid stupa”…

Katy Perry…reminded of her - recently heard another song called “I Kissed a Girl”, not her version…had to look this up - guess it’s one by Jill Sobule. No grounds for a copyright infringement lawsuit here, I guess, same titles can be used for different songs. Madonna did that a few times, like with “Cherish”…

Clip on the radio from a David Duke rally in some town in one of the Carolinas, related to the great increase in the Hispanic population there. Mention of heritage being lost, white heritage. Could see Duke’s point. But…the Hispanics were simply being, like, Darwinian, outbreeding the whites. Some of the white folks didn’t like the living habits of some of the Hispanics - mention of law enforcement involved in getting a sofa moved from a porch of a house back inside.

Liked a radio program about scientist/writer/meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn - very into “mindfulness”…see www.umassmed.edu/behavmed/faculty/kabat-zinn.cfm - wrote a book a while back called Wherever You Go, There You Are…spoke of the “calm and gentle undulations in the depth of the mind”…compared the mind to a storming ocean, with the depths peaceful below the turbulent wave level…

Same show, discussion of the Dalai Lama, how he was really, really PRESENT, to anyone, whatever their social ranking. Mention of “kundun”, which is the name of a movie about the Lama - Hello, Dalai, well hello, Dalai, it’s so nice to have you back where you belong - but also a Tibetan word meaning “presence”…

Title for a Katy Perry something: The Purr Version - she likes cats, and gets into sexual things in her songs…

Stem cells in the news lately - Obama Administration okaying research. But the Vatican, the Pope, is saying such science is “deeply immoral”. Can see the Pontiff’s point - search on “stem cells illuminati” for something about this…and…radio news, the global economy shrinking for the first time since the Second World War…

posted by Velcro # 6:30 PM

#1393 www.starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com

…thought the other day of the “delusions of grandeur” idea - here’s something about different types of delusions: www.answers.com/topic/delusion - the grandeur kind is indicated by “an over-inflated sense of self-worth”…used to work at a bakery called Grain D’or, and a guy there joked about the similarity between that name and the delusional malady of the mind, said the phrase “delusions of Grain D’or”…

Moving sale near where I live, bought two CDs for a buck each - a Queen collection, and a Brahms - and a 21-speed Trek bicycle for fifty. Guy moving back to family in Massachusetts - been in San Francisco since the mid-Seventies, lived with his “partner” all those decades, partner just died, so it’s time to move away…seemed real sad about the loss…has a GREAT-granddaughter back east, so being with her and the rest of his kin may ease him…the kind of gay man who had children, despite his inclination…said he was paying just seven-50 for his big apartment, and that the landlord would up it, after extensive remodeling, to nearly four times that…

So, back on wheels, me…took the Trek for a little Sunday morning spin ‘round the hood - a gateway to exhilaration, having a bicycle…nearly 400 new, got a good deal - not much wear on it, treads thick on tires, shifters fine, and it came with a Kryptonite horseshoe lock also…

Then on foot, out and about, heading to the library’s noon Sunday opening - passed guy on the street I knew, gave him a dime and three pennies, all the change I had, and he said that was bad luck…which makes me wonder where that began…there’s this: www.bartleby.com/81/16422.html - but doesn’t say much about why that number’s so ill-received…says this belief is “anterior to Christianity”…

Passed a Tenderloin Indochinese place, big round table with a family all around, eating lunch together, a nice scene…

Had eight minutes until the library opened, walked to the farmers’ market to pass the time, get a dollar’s worth of something…passed the Asian Art Museum, which was formerly the main library - thought names of old English authors in stone on the sides had been obliterated, but some were still there: Plato, Emerson. And someone named “PLVTARCH” - “PLUTARCH” I know, but “PLVTARCH”?

Selected a Fuji apple - 40 cents…heading out, mother called to a teen boy, who did a great, graceful one-80 pivoting move in place, turning in her direction, a move I sometimes do…she asked where he’s going, and his friend next to him says: “Places unknown!”

Had to wait a bit in front of the library until the gates opened - cute girl smiled at a friend, went over to talk to him - moccasins were a nice fashion touch on her, nice thighs, not too skinny…

Did my online thing, then to make copies…message on the machine, tech-speak: “Please enable the external control device.” Meaning, put in the copy card.

Then out on the street again, a Mr. Mom with little child, offering a bottle, saying “I have some milk for you…”

Back to the farmers’ market - that first apple was so crisp, not too sweet, had to get another…some informational flyers on a table, one called “Vitamin C and Thee”, from some community college educator - 60 milligrams of it recommended. And bought a bag of loose broccoli, a good deal at forty cents. Tho’ pretty fibrous when cooked…

Then down Market - at Taylor, a choice of continuing on Market or heading into the Tenderloin, which I did - shorter path to my destination.

Stopped at the Exit Theatre - poster for Pure Shock Value, a new comedy show, associated with the Killing My Lobster troupe…full-length play, actually…about three friends in Hollywood “who discover just how low you have to go to get to the top…” - see www.killingmylobster.com - here’s something about the production: www.sfweekly.com/events/pure-shock-value-1361477/ - looks like fun, a live show I could actually sit through…

And paused at Rasputin’s on Powell at one of a recent Motown series of posters - for their 50th anniversary, I think - they feature photos of the musical artists along with a quote from a famous song. This one was Martha and the Vandellas, and the line was about that “invitation across the nation”…here’s something from “across the pond” about the five decade anniversary: www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7823394.stm - Berry Gordy photo - label started, it says, for 800 bucks in his cellar…”Motown”, Detroit, not what it was - recent Rolling Stone article about how badly it’s doing…

Up Powell, I was very amused by a guy walking a dog, which had a cat and a rat on its back…cat subsequently jumped off and walked alongside the pooch, the rat remaining a passenger on the canine conveyance…gave the guy a dollar for providing this unusual spectacle…

Passing Macy’s, faces of women inside being painted, street level. Went inside to take a short cut - thousands of square feet devoted to the business of beauty…

Into a non-public library I go to, did my online thing again. Took out an audio book called De Kooning’s Bicycle, about the painterly and writerly scene out on the east end of Long Island, in the Hamptons, by Robert Long: www.bookslut.com/nonfiction/2006_03_008128.php - me, not so into the Hamptons, De Kooning, or Jackson Pollack, who was also famously out there in the area considered, but it’s really keeping my attention, and I’m taking notes as if I was in a college lecture hall. Should be able to filter some of the material into something…

Out on the street again, heading back to my crib…paused at a shoe store to look at colorful rain boots, including one that combined a floral motif with a pink animal print, and another pair featuring newspaper front pages. And also colorful pumps, ones that would catch the eye of Warhol, who had a thing for shoes.

Up the street, guy sitting on the ground with a very cute little dog, and a sign: “WE ARE HUNGRY”. That tugged at me a bit, but didn’t give him a dollar. Got to watch my expenditures if numero uno’s gonna have cash for the entire month. But not long ago gave five bucks to a guy on the street with a guitar and Marshall amp. Then coming out of Banana Republic, folks with big bags of stuff bought, so someone’s doing their patriotic duty to the economy and buying…

posted by Velcro # 1:14 PM

#1392 www.starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com

…bar without a sign on Geary attractive to me – in a totally non-drinking mode now, but it’d be a place to stop before my mandatory 7am A.A. meeting at Jones and Ellis if I’m out of my crib’s door early – just did this morning the third of the required twenty meetings I must attend. Opens at 6am, this place, I believe, so I could stop in there to read, have a Coke, chat with the hardcore early drinkers, put some money in the juke box, if they have one…

Video store poster for some Spanish-language porn movie called Mechanic Sex – Los Mechanicos – featuring Erika Moreno…looked up her name…Spanish sites…name included in some Star Wars location…and also, from multi-cultural San Francisco, Korean restaurant, unique feature is use of “hot stoneware” for something…

Ran into guy on the street just fired from his job – glad to see he’s able to stay at his lodging, has time to set up government money…did the wrong thing to an employer, the last straw of many…

Madonna lyrics on my mind, vis-à-vis Katy Perry’s likely knowledge of them. Such as this from “Material Girl”: “…if they can’t raise my interest/then I’ll have to let them be…” Money/sex metaphor, play on words…Katy does that also in a song from One of the Boys…something about guys needing to be able to afford her, but the cost isn’t money, but real love…

From NPR, Turkey says it’s ready to serve as an exit route for U.S. forces leaving Iraq…and Lady Hillary, in Geneva, to participate in some fresh start in relations with Russia…”breaking the ice” phrase used…

Goji berries at a Larkin Vietnamese herb store – looked too dry, as well as probably not being organic. May buy a pound of ‘em at Rainbow for about fifteen bucks – a good nutrition-to-cost ratio. Berries, just about any kind, a thing people need to eat more of…

One of the Tenderloin A.A. attendees had a two-inch addition to a heel of a shoe – birth defect, I guess.

Waiting in front of the library for it to open, three others in the jeans top and pants outfit that I’ve been wearing constantly lately. A tribe of a kind, four vertices of a fashion triangle.

St. Anthony’s lunch line nearly up to the St. Boniface church halfway up around the corner. Wasn’t planning to go anyway, been preparing my own meals.

Friend e-mailed me an article about “the Secret Government” – originated with the Rothschilds, the banking family, years ago, it said.

Recent purchase: a fifty cent hardboiled egg, and a dollar package of baking soda – using that lately to make my teeth whiter. Wondered if there’s some drug use for baking soda…”stepping on” crack to make it seem like more actual product than is really there, maybe. (Expensive egg – can get them for 39 cents at another place.)

To Whole Foods off Van Ness, seven bucks spent: a buck-50 for ten “food-based” vitamins, “travel size”, and organic bulk quantities of raisins, buckwheat, and oats. (The vitamins contain milligrams of spinach powder, micrograms of vanadium…do such small amounts make a difference?)

Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the radio recently, interview – Supreme Court Associate Justice…not a FULL Justice? A Clinton appointee…dropped the names of Franklin Roosevelt, and Justice Felix Frankfurter of, I believe, the FDR cabinet – and hot dog magnate in his spare time. (No, just kidding…)

From a store closing in my ‘hood, half price, a Mona Lisa postcard for a friend, and six prismatic smiley face stickers for a younger friend, kindergarten age. Sorry to see the unique little business close…hardly was open anyway, but liked it…

A daddy walking with a little toddler, just getting her legs…

Warhol at the de Young, on for another three months. Not sure if I’ll get out to see it…

Stockton and Bush, major hole in the middle of the road, a real danger to bicyclists.

Thought of the Penn/Douglas movie The Game when walking down Stockton Tunnel steps – scene filmed right around there.

And a bit later, Saturday afternoon, three in line for a Lumiere movie…

Joke about 12 Angry Men, in line with the economic downturn – remake 7 Angry Men, can’t afford twelve. Or 7 Miffed Men – can’t even afford anger…

Easy to reset my three timepieces for Daylight Savings – actually, my cell changed automatically, one clock radio needed just a single button push, and the other two button pushes. Arizona, Hawaii, no changes…

Listening repeatedly to two “Accelerated Learning Techniques” tapes I have out from a library – positive message first thing in the morning, no drama…phrase “learning revolution” used…says images and emotions affect the subconscious mind…

Phrase from somewhere: “adults motivated by the anticipation of rewards…”

Decibels from a trash truck approaching the painful…out at 6:45am, darker than the previous day, when it was 5:45…iambic pentameter line thought of: “…interpretation of the visible…”

posted by Velcro # 10:46 AM

Sunday, March 08, 2009

#1391 www.starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com

…near the Hastings campus on McAllister, woman with three big, fat textbooks, resting ‘em on a fire hydrant. Them law students have it tough in more ways than one…went into a Tenderloin sandwich store that’s really popular, very often a long line in front - not busy so had a chance to ask about this, only three customers in there. Didn’t get a clear answer - no need to ask, I guess. Tofu option, may go for that one day.

On the radio, nearly four thousand applicants for just a thousand jobs, somewhere. And a North Korean satellite launch, but some think it’s obviously a missile test.

Possible pun: “abasement” and “a basement” - “…there was abasement perpetrated in a basement…”

Doing laundry, Billy Idol song lyric came into my mind: “…nice day…not for a white wedding, but a…dark laundry…” Still sunny on a late San Fiasco afternoon, but just somewhat warm. Springtime, for Frisco, and Germany. (Mel Brooks reference…)

Had four paperbacks with me to pass the time while waiting for my duds in the suds: one about the power of the subconscious mind, by a Murphy, Roger L. Simon’s The Big Fix (set in modern L.A., compared to Hammett, Chandler, the classic gumshoes), Billion Year Spree (by Brian Aldiss - a history of science fiction - he figures the genre begins with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein)…and Armageddon for Beginners, by an Australian Biblical prophecy End Times guy. (Here’s a site with the same title, but with a different perspective: www.thenutgraph.com/armageddon-for-beginners.)

Aldiss in Billion Year Spree, part about Eddie A. Poe’s place in the history of science fiction. He says the raven-haunted writer put a lot of his time’s scientific discoveries into his stories. Also, Aldiss notes that Charles Baudelaire was really into Poe, which I hadn’t picked up on. (Whole lot of good language in this Aldiss - such as “calumnies”…or maybe that was from a Poe work - sounds like a Poe word, a 19th century one - it means: a false and malicious statement designed to injure the reputation of someone or something.” Put that into your daily vocabulary mix and impress friends and family…)

Over to the market across California Street while my threads were washing - buck and a half worth of chocolate almonds tempted me, and I fell - about six cents each. Thought of a line for a female character, line of prose: “She began to view them with an accelerating degree of utter contempt.” (But…does “degree” accelerate? It would INCREASE…hmmm…needs work…WWPD - what would Poe do?)

Then around the block to another store for another snack - had a good idea, put those four paperbacks into the back pockets of my pants to free up my hands, which is the usual condition I like…paperback books, a pretty perfect design for information/entertainment transmission, cannot evolve farther. But could see getting one of those e-books at some point, like the new Kindle 2, but I can see the point in a joke about such gizmos that The Onion recently printed, something like: “Here’s a new device that makes it harder and more expensive to read…” - and…here’s a related Onion item making fun of Kindle Version 2-Point-Zero:

www.theonion.com/content/infograph/the_new_kindle.)

Commercial space at Fourteen-72 California still available - friendly size, small, like it. Fantasized a bit, visualized a while back, about how I’d use it…could select goods to be sold out of there - books, incense, non-perishable foods, music. Sell mainly online, tho’.

Price increase, apparently, of those 99 cent bags of chips, to a buck-29 - 30% overnight increase. Bought one of the old less-than-a-dollar bags of something, but those will probably be off the shelves soon. Good reason to give up over-salty snacks. And for sure, the increase in the amount of goods in the bag won’t completely reflect the higher cost.

Song I like thought of recently for some reason, Ini Kamoze’s “Hotstepper”:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS8UHOFk-KI . Actually, full title is “Here Comes the Hotstepper”…catchy number…to Wikipedia: “dancehall” is its genre…”extrapolates” part of Wilson Pickett’s “Land of a Thousand Dances”…featured in Robert Altman’s Pret-a-Porter…stands out, for me, among tunes of the Nineties…

In the laundromat, copy of Awake! - glanced through - article about water shortages around the globe…uses quote from Revelation about thirsting for “the water of life”…

Other guy doing his clothes, absorbed in one of Neal Stephenson’s big novels, laughed out loud at one point at something he read. A brother hardcore old-fashioned reader…

Leaving with my clean stuff, went back once to check the dryer to see if I’d left anything. Reminded of an obsessive/compulsive friend who must always check, more than one time, when leaving someplace, to see if anything was left.

During sleep, or some half-sleep state, thought of a possible new name: “Nos Ostros” - as in the Spanish word, “nosotros”. Currently using a slight change on Charlie Parker, “Parlie Charker”…

Play on the words “swore/swear” in a Katy Perry song: “…and I swore way too much/I swear you didn’t care/’cause we were in love…” Way with words has she…

Frederick Forsythe, novelist, on the radio the other day, talking about being in Guinea-Bissau recently on the very day a leader was assassinated - straight outta one of his books…said he was “dodging bullets” in Africa forty years ago but wasn’t wanting to be there again…here’s an article from the “Beeb”, the BBC: www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7921847.stm.

Walking on the street the other day, stopped at a real pile of trash…I’m one that can find something okay, usable, in stuff discarded, but this was a real challenge in that department. Then past a corner store, widely-smiling Arabic guy in Western dress, talking to a comrade in native garb…and at Hyde and Post, a “ghost sign” on a building for something named Owl, and an actual smokestack, a remnant from another era…

posted by Velcro # 1:50 PM

Saturday, March 07, 2009

#1390 www.starplane.blogspot.com sweetdango@hotmail.com

…Opulent Temple Massive - Treasure Island music event - happened yesterday -

www.opulenttemple.org/archives/000138.php - "a playatastic gathering of the community" - Burning Man thing, that's the community, I guess, referred to…some gigantic "Serpent Mother" sculpture involved in an important way…involving "the Flaming Lotus Girls"…guy named Carl Cox is headlining, if that's the right word. He says this about the event: "This isn't a festival, it's a gathering of people who're here to find out about themselves, be who they want to be and feel completely free. I've never experienced anything like it. The amount of creativity and spirit is just unusual and there's a real sense of community amongst people who don't even know each other." (More about the Serpent Mother: www.spectrum.ieee.org/nov06/4698.)

On a less dramatic note, a personal note, am using lavender incense, have started burning sixteen sticks I bought at Rainbow. Took me a while to pick that particular kind, out of several. Here's something about lavender: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender. Now I'm thinking it may be too femme for a guy, but maybe not…fairly sweet fragrance, for sure.

Walking down a Tenderloin street, older white guy's comment, to no one in particular, about it being like Mexico around there - all the Hispanic types in the 'hood, he meant. Read recently about Aztlan, which I take to be a name given to Mexico and currently-U.S. territories north of there. Also, this: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztl%C3%A1n. It says it's "been used as the name of speculative fictional future-states that emerge in the southwest US or Mexico after the central US government suffers collapse or major setback…" A collapse of some kind happening now…

Pose of the area I was in: "The Tenderloin Parking Meter Lean"…am practiced in this posture…

The "Van Ness Avenue Greening" - sign for this seen on that busy street. Here's a link to a Department of Public Works site about "enhancements" being done to Van Ness:

www.sfgov.org/site/sfdpw_page.asp?id=69848.

Title I thought of for something: Cinema America…"cinema" and "America" have pretty much the same letters, so put together it's a euphonious phrase. (Well, on a search it came up for this site about movies: www.cinemaamerica.com/.)

Overheard line, woman on a cell phone, walking: "They're gonna take David's proposal to Genentech for funding."

Line for someone: "They occupy a particularly noxious niche…"

One-point-eight million dollars obtained for auction of Gandhi possessions.

Guy I e-mail mentioned something taken with psyllium seed husks for internal cleansing, but he couldn't remember what it was - later I thought it may be bentonite, as here:

www.eytonsearth.org/bentonite-psyllium-colloid.php.

Recent Civic Center protest for and against the approved ban on same-sex marriage…actually, myself, didn't know how that vote went. Saw some of the event when passing. Much fervor on both sides of that one.

Heard on the radio the idea that the U.S. economy is "starved of cash" due to too many people saving their money and not buying things. But the profits of tax preparers H & R Block "surging"…

In Mexico, "spiraling cartel violence…"

Currently at the Lumiere movie palace, The Wrestler, Milk, and Phoebe in Wonderland. (The last one features the younger sister of Dakota Fanning, Elle, I think - yeah, this says so - born in 1998: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elle_Fanning - already been in several movies - was in Sean Penn's I Am Sam at the age of two…)

Looked briefly at an issue of Muscle & Fitness magazine at Walgreens, because of the Bruce Lee cover. Article specifically about his abdominal muscles.

Stone Foxes, Bhi Bhiman, Strangefeather, and Telegraphics - flyer up for their Red Devil Lounge show - this happened last night - liked the design, retro Sixties. Seven dollars in advance.

Defensive pedestrianism: guy walking towards me, seemed to have a weird little attitude, so I took slight evasive action long before he was close. Then a little later, guy moved right in front of me, too close - seemed focused on something across the street - looked like someone who'd been up too long, his move wasn't intended as provocation. Still, thought later I should've made a graceful, obvious move to avoid him, to hiss left, that he wouldn't have expected - not threatening, but perhaps a little surprising to him. I'm aware on the street.

Then two police officers talking to a gesticulating fat man who was sitting on the ground in front of them. Turned after I passed to see that they were cuffing him.

Passed a garage owned by a German guy I've known for a while, signaled to him with my upraised left arm - looked a bit like a "Heil Hitler" salute, but not totally, didn't feel that would've been a good joke.

Waiting on a friend to come down from his place, pink balloon bouncing down the street - symbolic? Balloon used in Fritz Lang's M.

Wanted information from my friend about A.A. meetings in the area - he for sure is an attendee sometimes. I had to do twenty meetings in forty days as punishment for two public drinking citations from the police.

Was with my friend for a while - bought him a coffee, and a very overpriced cream-filled donut, buck-50. Only for him, his choice, not something I'd buy for myself, and especially not at that ridiculous price. Also, he went into a Tenderloin Catholic church and kneeled to pray for a few minutes, and I joined him, coffee cup in hand. And I didn't take off my hat, either, which I guess I should've done.

Then, having parted from my friend, through the U.N. Plaza artisan market - have cash lately, like spending it - spent a few minutes looking through dozens of two-bucks-for-two ear ornaments that were spread out on a table…picked a blue-colored one made of five separate faux gems. Seller wanted to give me a little bag but I said I'd be putting one of 'em right on.

Then down on Market - guy I knew sitting there. Didn't owe him money but I asked him if I owed him a dollar - he said yeah. But when he asked for a second buck I turned him down - getting greedy. He likes his vodka, and it costs him two for it. But I have my limits to my spontaneous generosity.

posted by Velcro # 3:03 PM