Year of Fearless Living Party Train - Weekend #5

This weekend was more mellow than last weekend's DJ Shadow show at the Hollywood Bowl, but it marked the first time I went up to the bay area without telling my parents, who love to monopolize me if I'm in town.

I spent the weekend in San Francisco visiting Candice and Aubrey and celebrating Simar's birthday. This was a completely spontaneous trip as I booked my ticket on Tuesday to leave Friday after Aubrey suggested that I come up. That's been my thing lately...if it sounds like a fun experience, I'll do it. Along with my reverence to synchronicity--if I hear about a movie, book or place more than twice, I'll explore it because I figure it must be significant. Like having a conversation about Sexy Beast one day, and then two days later, some people sitting next to me started talking about Sexy Beast (rented it). Or Rie telling me that I have to see this movie called Kamikaze Girls last week, and Simar and his roommate talking about the film this morning. I figure, it's all input, and right now, I'm a sponge to the universe.

I landed late Friday after being delayed for an hour on the runway, because SFO had issued a ground stop due to low cloud cover. We headed over to a wine bar (SF loves its wine bars) for tapas and strong drinks. I noted that men are better looking in San Francisco.

Saturday we headed to a place called Mama's for breakfast, which is known for its hour-long line and amazing eggs benedict with toppings such as shrimp and crab & avocado. We stopped by a store specializing in whiskey and scotch, where the employees all greeted you wearing kilts and were quite knowledgeable. I learned that some men prefer their scotch very peaty and so smoky that it's chewy. We got Simar a bottle of 12 year Highland Park that's supposed to be really chewy.

We caught a matinee of 1408 with John Cusack that was scary but lacked a well fleshed out theme and story, though the scene where Cusack goes ballistic on a mini-fridge was worth the ticket alone. I would have loved to have been there when they filmed it.

We had a quick dinner at a place called Street which specialized in house infused vodkas (fig, cucumber, black cherry, etc), where I had a lemon basil martini that was amazing, before heading over to Simar's house for his party.

Simar lives in a 4 level townhouse with 4 bedrooms. He and his roommate make music for video games, so they have their office/den in the basement, then their bedrooms and studio on the 2nd floor, front door and more rooms on the 3rd, and living room/kitchen and huge balcony with an amazing view of the city on the 4th. I think my place is nice, but Simar's place is ridiculous. It was like everywhere you went was another room or another floor to explore. I didn't really know anyone but a soma, some vaporizer action and 3 beers had me people watching contently. At one point Simar was holding a cardboard box with "Fragile" written all over it. We asked him what was in it and he said, "Have you seen Se7en?" We said, is it Gwyneth Paltrow's head, and he said it was a dead chick. We said, no seriously, what's in the box. He said, a dead chick. Then he proceeds to tell us that one of his friends works in a lab that experiments on baby chickens, and she had sent him a dead chick as a joke. He took out this furry yellow chick that didn't even look real, and then tried to get everyone to pet it. Truthfully, it kind of made me feel sick and sad, so I went upstairs and had a cigarette with some people on the balcony.

I must have passed out at some point laying in Simar's bed and listening to the Barbarella soundtrack, because Aubrey came and woke me up at 4:30am and we went home.

We didn't get up until close to 1pm, so our plan to hit a jazz festival was scrapped. We did hit a place called Cafe Gratitude which serves raw organic cuisine. I had the pad thai which was basically a salad with strips of zucchini serving as the "noodles" and a chocolate mint shake made with almond milk that was pretty awesome. I think when I stop partying non-stop, I wanna get serious about a strict organic diet combined with regular yoga or pilates. I think I would like to do that soon.

On the plane ride back, I tried to visualize what kind of man I want in my life right now, so I can be more specific when I put it out to the universe. I want someone strong, courageous and balanced. No more cowards and weak men. Someone I'll recognize right away when he smiles at me. Someone with depth who will understand the things and messages that I've been getting and communicating. I want to meet the person I felt out there in 2004, whoever it is that I'm talking to in that poem I wrote during the rainy season that year.

Then I thought about Baron Davis and I thought, yeah, that would be fine.

Next weekend, I'll be in Phoenix. This trip came out of the blue. I thought it and I booked it, all probably within a 2 minute span. How fitting that I'll be traveling to a city named after the mythical creature symbolizing resurrection and transformation. Also, I am looking for someone who embodies the element of fire, so I'm excited to see what Phoenix has to offer me.