Barfodder News, Updates, and what I've been up to.

I know, I know. I'm behind on the blog.

Cemetery Dance is sending the galleys this week, and Daniele Serra has done a beautiful Frontis Piece for the book. Have a looksie:



I'm still plugging away at Elements with Linda Addison, Marge Simon, and Charlee Jacob - which is proving to be a very dark journey (in a good way) for all of us.

Lets see...Last month and this month I did some traveling. Spent my little sister's birthday in Texas with the family, and then it was off to Waterwookie's wedding reception in Maryland. Which was kind of like a highschool reunion, along with several characters that I used to be in rock bands with before I moved to California in 1995. We all sat around with acoustic guitars (it took an hour to get them all in tune), and sang old butt rock songs. Unfortunately the only songs we all knew both the lyrics and the guitar parts for turned out to be either Skid Row or Pink Floyd...which was amusing in itself. It was a lot of fun, and it was great to see the old gang.

We stayed at my Auntie's house in Manassas, Virginia--which was beautiful and relaxing. We brought her and my Grandmama some fresh St. George cheese from the Matos Family Farm, and left a bottle of Longboard Syrah with a few Gisperts for my Uncle to enjoy, who was in St. Louis on a Harley road trip. Unfortunately the Muppet's grandmother of 98 passed away on that trip, so we had to cut it short and return home. She lived a very full life, I'm told, and passed away on her birthday.

A few weeks ago I mentioned the reading for Rudos and Rubes Publishing, which was a lot of fun. I read from their edition of The Guilt of the Templars, hoisted a few beers, and generally had a good time. John Shirley turned up, who I have not seen in ages, and it turns out he'll be giving a reading this Thursday night at the Edinburgh Castle, so I'm planning on heading to that as well.

My former editorial assistant from Spiderwords, Baine, is in town from Boston this week - we Bigfooted last night and then hung out at home, catching up over taco salads and champagne before he tripped the light fantastic over in the Castro.

Tonight we celebrate Michelle's birthday in Oakland (who also used to be my assistant back when she was a poor college student and I could afford her); tomorrow we celebrate Muppet Man's birthday in San Francisco.

I have finally given consent to get rid of my Liberace Meets Cleopatra style coffee table, which has lost its glass top and a leg in the war. I have always said I would one day get it fixed, but truthfully, I will never make the time... I put it up on Craigslist for someone who might want to refurbish it, but so far, I've had a lot of flakes make appointments to come and look at the table, that none of them kept. If you live nearby or have secretly lusted after (ok, ok--those of you who have loved it have never done so secretly) it for some time, drop me a line.

The new Liberace Meets Cleopatra coffee table will be this one, in case anyone thought I was toning down my taste in décor. I might even have a Happy New Gaudy Coffee Table party, come to think of it...once it's finally delivered.

Oh, and thanks to a coworker and former Macromedian, I finally got my new copy of the Adobe Creative Suite (yay!), which means the old Raingraves.com website will be getting an overhaul, and the revival of Spiderwords can begin...as soon as I get a new (used) laptop. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!

Labels: barfodder, family, friends, writing

posted by Rain at 9:47 AM

Birthdays and Weekend Colors

First...a very happy birthday to Baine. :)

With all that has been going on and as busy as I have been, Muppet Man and I decided to get the hell out of dodge this weekend for a trip to Napa and Sonoma. We got a cheap rate on hotels.com, and stayed in Sonoma where there was a restaurant inside the hotel, so we wouldn’t have to worry about going anywhere at the end of the day. Muppet Man took the cherry red Mercedes SLK out of the paddock, so we had fun zipping around wine country under some wonderfully stormy looking clouds, but never encountering rain.

The colors in wine country are astoundingly beautiful right now – rich yellows and reds contrasting with the dark bark of the vines, and a few tangles of over-ripened fruit that got missed in the harvest dangling off winding gnarls of arms…and up against a lush dark green on the mountains and hills, combined with a lighter green of the fertile land the vines sit on. Plus, many of the roses are still blooming at the ends of the vines – reds, whites, fire and ice. All profoundly beautiful and fragrant. The air smelled spicy.

On Saturday we went to these places, and picked up Lily_Dove’s wine shipment for her at Trefethen, then mine at St. Supery. Muppet Man signed up for Domaine Carneros, which was our first stop to taste some of their superb champagnes:

Domaine Carneros/Tattinger
Trefethen
St. Supery

Sunday we headed through Sonoma, with some free tasting passes from our hotel:

Imagery
Kunde
Blackstone
Chateau St. Jean
Ledson

We hadn't planned on Chateau St. Jean, but I saw a sign out front about their Pinot Noir having been released, and that was primarily what I had wanted to taste that day...so we ducked in. It's perhaps the most beautiful winery we've been to yet - gorgeous French architecture, wonderfully balanced wines...and the building is ensconced in beautiful French oak to boot.

We almost skipped Ledson, but had to check out the neat looking Bavarian Castle type architecture. The grounds were beautiful with little hedges sort of like an English maze, but the fruit flies inside the tasting room were overwhelming. We had to cover our glasses in between tastes.

Of course, we also picnicked and had some good Mexican food at Maya in Sonoma...though our dinner on Saturday night was unremarkable at the hotel, and maybe a little disappointing. Still, we had fun, got away from the city, and that's all that matters.

I did not buy any wine this trip, and was charged with keeping Muppet Man on a budget - which he adhered to very well, surprisingly. That man can sure go nuts on wine...but he didn't this time.

This will be a very busy week. I have an audiology appointment this afternoon (prior to my CT scans, as the mystery of what's going on with my brain still eludes doctors, and they attempt to rule out everything that can be ruled out. Meanwhile, the vertigo does not get worse, or any less).

Tomorrow, tarot readings.

Wednesday - cleaning!

Thursday, Turkey Day delightfulness at AccidentProne's, to which I'm dragging Muppet Man.

Friday, Seanie arrives, and I have the very fun task of showing him around my neighborhood - the last time he visited was well over 8 years ago, and when I lived in San Rafael. Saturday he departs, and I attempt to clean up some beaches.

I was going to head down to Santa Cruz with Lily_Dove and Thumbelina, but the red tides are still causing problems for surf down there, plus, there is a strong odor of oil, according to Old Surf Guy, which means it's moving in his general direction, which means me both angry and sad at the same time.

All our beaches are still closed...and dead sea birds are still washing up all around San Francisco.

On our way to Napa on Saturday, you could smell the oil in Sausalito as we passed the bay. No government ordered haz-mat teams have been dispatched. So far it's still been only volunteers (and most of them surfers at that), cleaning up our beaches. I swear, whatever presidential candidate moves to publicize and act first on this, will have a strong chance at my vote.

TheMissBlue arrives next weekend, too. I'm looking forward to it!

Labels: friends, oil spill, surfing, wine

posted by Rain at 12:22 PM

More Thank-Youses.

We had a blast at the Bigfoot on Friday…thanks to Lily_Dove, Smell Good, Muppet Man, Valicious, Midnight, xTine, AccidentProne, Baine, Not A Marina Girl, HotMark ™ and South Carolina…all for coming out to celebrate with me. Thank you for the thoughtful cards and gifts (even though I said no gifts…some of you brought them anyway, and they are all wonderful).

Thanks to my Dad, StepMonster (her term, not mine! Love her lots) and sisters for calling and wishing me a happy birthday…as well as to my Grandmomma, who had all her sisters and brothers over for dinner last night in Virginia and made them sing to me. Haha.

Thanks to Seanie and MissBlue who sent me wonderful cards and gifts…again to the anonymous Bruce Springsteen gifter, thank-you, I still don’t know who you are.

Thank you to everyone who sent me emails of well-wishes (there are too many to list) and birthday greetings, and those of you who have done so via LJ and Myspace...and especially to Debg, who made me a fantastic Lasagna dinner and amazing ladyfinger/Grenache torte (was it a torte or an actual cake? Whatever it was it was amazing) last week, with Zmayhem.

Thank you also to Muppet Man, xTine, Lily_dove, Smell Good, and Thumbelina for coming to dinner on Saturday night.

Also to MixerGal and Donnamite, who are making me dinner (belatedly) this Saturday night.

Sunday I relaxed and unwound, talked to family, and generally enjoyed the day. Lily_dove came by and we enjoyed a sunset glass of wine and portions of “Same Time Next Year,” that movie with Alan Alda.

All of you have made me feel so loved, and I adore all of you for it. (Even Alan Alda. LOL).

Labels: birthday, friends

posted by Rain at 1:37 PM

Thank-yous, and yous, and yous too.

Thank you to Miss Blue for the lovely “Dragorific” scarf. I can now walk Larkin street knowing my inner Drag Queen is now showing on the outside. LOL. I loooove it! I might also add that it is the exact color of the vampire red streaks I put into my hair last weekend. Double score.

Thank you to whomever anonymously sent me that Bruce Springsteen “Magic” record from my amazon wish list. I’ve been listening to it non-stop, and it rocks-out some kinda serious Boss butt.

Thank you to my grandmamma, who never forgets, and to all my friends joining this evening for birthday libations, as well as to the friends joining me Sunday for a paddle out on my actual birthday. w00t! You guys are the bestest.

Labels: birthday, friends

posted by Rain at 11:33 AM

Seattle and my (looming) Birthday

This will be a two-parter. 1) A briefing on my trip to Seattle. 2) Mostly for family and friends who keep bugging me about birthday and xmas wish lists. I don’t really have one…but I did take the time this morning to update my amazon wishlist for those who feel so inclined to read it.

1) Seattle

Friday morning I woke with a start, realizing my alarm hadn’t gone off, and jeezuzfook, it was 7am, and my flight had taken off at 6am. I called united, and was terrified that since I’d booked the flight on my miles, I wouldn’t have any other option other than the flight that got into Seattle at 1am Saturday morning…not optimal, considering I was already losing most of the day. United booked me on a 1pm flight, but I had to pay a $75 fee in order to guarantee a seat. Otherwise, I could fly standby…which wouldn’t work. I left plenty of time to get to the airport, but hadn’t accounted for the torrential downpour dumping on the Bay Area all day Friday, and it took me an hour just to get out of the city. I looked down and realized if I used the cheapy parking lot option I’d booked a reservation for…I’d probably miss my flight.

Another burst of expletives soared from my mouth as I realized…damn, I’d have to park at the airport. What’s worse, they changed the configuration at SFO so now you can’t just guide your car into Long Term Parking once you get up to the terminals…so I had to park in the HOURLY (yes, #!@$ me gently with a Chainsaw) parking, at a max of $33 a day. The bill came to $85 for three days when I finally got back on Sunday. Ouch.

What’s worse, when I finally got into the airport and checked in, my flight was delayed. I could have saved the money and the trouble… even worse, it kept getting MORE delayed. Like…four hours. Finally I hopped over to another United flight and got on standby for a 5:30pm departure. All that, and if I’d flown standby I could have saved the $75 to begin with…not to mention, the $85 for parking. Ugh. No Seattle trinkets for me.

JC picked me up from the airport and we headed straight to dinner downtown. He’d gotten a list of recommendations from having spent the better part of three days there already on business, so he was keen on checking out this place called Cascadia on 1st avenue. We didn’t have a reservation, were slightly underdressed, but the host still managed to fit us in to the last table available (which was still being cleared at the time). The service was fantastic, too. We had a 3 course pre-fix menu with a wine paring that was just out of this world - fresh pan seared cod with ginger marinated udon noodles, pumpkin bisque with some kind of anise froth that was just amazing, and we were so full by desert that we could only sample what was brought to us, though it was incredibly good - a coconut canoli-like spring roll that was rather phallic looking.

The next day drove into Seattle with Bruce Springstein's new album at medium blast (we are getting old, after all) and checked out the Pike Fish Market, wandering around through the various spice, fish, and flower booths. We walked all over town, and headed to Pioneer Square where we opted to take the historic "underground" tour, which was supposed to be littered with tales of debauchery and prostitution...but was mostly a history lesson (including the prostitution bit) on how seattle was built. Not much but a bunch of old junk and dank/dusty hallways for 90 minutes, but our guide was entertaining enough to keep us interested and clued in using our imaginations, more than the scenery.

After that, we were pretty spent on walking long distances, so we decided to drive over to the beach, as it was gloriously sunny and clear out (oh the irony). We walked along the beach, which was pebbly and pleasant, and decided to dip our toes and hands in the water to see how cold it was. I kid you not, the water was actually at least 10-15 degrees warmer than what I surf in during the summer months here in Nor-Cal. Weird!

We were getting hungry, so we headed back down to the Pike Market and hit Lowells for some fresh seafood platters (mmmm...fried clams, shrimp, fish and chips), which were so incredibly worth it. We thought it would be fun to try and find the Lighthouse that was recommended to us as a good spot to watch the sunset - but our maps were really, really bad.

After getting lost somewhere along Magnolia Park, we flagged down a park service guy in a truck, who was apparently pretty drunk, but gave us another map and another set of directions. After a few wrong turns, we found Discovery Park, and made our way towards what the signs said could show us the lighthouse. Unfortunately, it's situated on an Army Reserve, and the signs aren't really clear as to letting the average tourist know you aren't supposed to go there. When we passed through the gates, we realized we should probably turn around.

It was still early, but at that point we were too pooped to pip, so we headed back to the hotel and called it an early night.

Sunday it was back to the airport...and more delays for me on United, when we were told that our 11:45am flight had been postponed to 1:15 because a First Officer was delayed on a flight coming in from Denver...and there apparently was no one else on call to fly the plane.

I wandered around the little annex at SeaTac, picked up a copy of INTO THE WILD by Jon Krakauer, and have been enjoying it thusfar. All in all, it was a nice respite from the stress of the past two weeks, and it was really good to see JC again.

2) The Birthday Looms.

I've never been one much for gifts and such, though I have always loved anything anyone has ever gotten me or made for me, because I loved the thought behind it. I don’t really ever want anything, and often only produce a "list" of sorts for family and friends who bug me for one...and they have started bugging me...

My solution was just to update my amazon.com wishlist, as a guide for anyone who doesn’t already know I'm easily ployed with good company, a nice bottle of wine, or good cigar. You can look it up under my email address: raingraves "at" yahoo.

I see that n has updated his, for those of you that know he too has a birthday coming up...

Jack Ketchum is also another scorpio friend with another year looming. Last year I bought him a drink all the way from California at his favorite watering hole in New York. I do love what you can do in that town for people.

Oh, and to answer other folks' questions as to wether or not I'd thought about having a birthday gathering...I haven't. I might do an informal drinks thing on the 26th, and a Sunday paddle-out on the 28th. No real plan, to be honest. This year has just flown by...and being on the broke end of the stick after court, something low-key and free is always more my speed. :)

What I really want for my birthday is a publication date from Cemetery Dance on BARFODDER. A real one. Like, with galleys and everything!

Labels: birthday, friends, seattle

posted by Rain at 12:17 PM

Crystal on David Hasselhoff

This is what happens after dinner at my house.

We're not really sure where Lily_Dove's daughter gets her unnatural obsession with the 'hoff, but you have to admire her tenacity.

Labels: friends

posted by Rain at 1:08 PM

Dinner at the House of Cats, and Yeah, I've Been Busy

I’ve been very busy, so I’m apologizing in advance (and in most cases, this is actually after the fact) about not being responsive to email if I’m behind. The mountain got too high…but I’ll eventually get down the other end of it.

Had a lovely dinner with DebG and Amacker last night at the House of 14 Cats. We chattered over what was quite possibly the best damn meatball pasta dish ever, and the gals turned me on to Richard Thompson, which I’m listening to right now, courtesy of DebG's burn. Thanks again, Deb. I was also alerted to the the super secret (not) ways to snarf up and likewise share each others iPodery. After taking a photo for n, scarfing down some kind of Death By Chocolate and Peanut Butter with Crunchies and Mousse, I turned into a pumpkin and headed for home. Amacker looks positively amazing, by the way. And I got to feel the bolts in her left arm. Bionic Woman! Titanium is so cool.

I also rekindled my relationship with Tom, my estranged boyfriendcat, who in great machismo batted away Rupert and a kitten or two, whenever they got near me.

The evening went great until I noticed a parking ticket on my car, to the tune of $75, with the notation "Driveway complaint." My car was in no way impeding, in, or even sticking SLIGHTLY into anyone’s freakin’ driveway. And for a minute I considered knocking on doors and demanding a $75 check. Instead, I just took photos with my treo (that are somewhat dark) to contest it. WTF? Why people gotta be so aggro? I mean, I could understand if my wheels were over the white lines, but MF’rs, they were BEHIND them. BEHIND. Asshats.

and he gave her his last kiss goodbye…
And he gave her his Vincent to ride…

Keep playing that one over and over. Love it. Trouble is…I don’t know the names of the albums or the songs. I’m absolutely unawares…and yet, somehow, completely fine with that.

Also wanna get a copy of that Leo Kottke…

I’m ordering high volume discs so I can burn some of that Tommy Bolin Tribute stuff, among other things, for the gals.

Dick Dale on the 23rd – Red Devil Lounge. I’m stoked. Might host a dinner at Casa de Rainy prior.

Still waiting to hear from the agent in NY.

Surfs up Sunday – but prolly not in Bolinas, thanks to Whitey hanging around nearby…. Not that Whitey isn't always in the Bolinas channel...but I digress.

Oh—and to whoever the diligent wondergeeks who are editing the entry AccidentProne made for me on Wikipedia, thanks ever kindly. It’s looking better and better, though still incomplete. You guys are fast. And very cool (and not in that Weird Al way).

Travel is confirmed for Seattle the 12th-14th. It’s a shorter trip, so those who wrote in about a reading Thursday – I will have to defer to Friday or Saturday. I still plan on Denver and Texas in November – but I haven’t gotten the tickets yet.

TheMissBlue will be visiting at the end of November, too.

Labels: friends

posted by Rain at 12:20 PM

Tonight @ Red Devil, New Board, & Weekendery

Yanno…

Every time I go to Wise, I always have a good experience. It’s not the same as other surf shops; a little bigger, a little more in the “nice” category. If you have questions, even stupid ones, they answer ‘em. Sometimes they answer ‘em before you ask ‘em. For instance…how to put on a leash, and fins. Waterwookie instructed me via email on the leash business when I picked up that old board off of CL, but seeing as how the guy was so patient (and cute) helping me out buying the new board (my first new board!), I decided to just take it all in.

I called ahead yesterday to see what they still had in stock, since the sale is $100 off the cheapy brand Blue – not a bad choice for a novice, and the boards are glass, not epoxy. They had some 7’6s in stock, which was the same size as the old board, but I decided to move up to something more stable in an 8’2. Bigger is better, but I didn’t want to go too big. I picked the least girly looking board in the bunch, a black pinstripe on mostly white. It’s pretty light weight, easy to carry, and was only $350 or something nuts like that. He threw in 3 bars of wax for free, and took $10 off my leash, and the fins were included…so the whole thing cost me $400.35 – the exact amount I had budgeted was $400 (having gotten $150 for the old board and sold some stuff at the local thrift, and budgeted $200 out of this paycheck for the rest). The way I figure it, in real time money, I only spent $200 – which was what the used pintail cost me off CL too. It was a steal.

The fellah who helped me out showed me how to put the fins on, and how to move the center fin, how NOT to poke into the board getting the fins to slot in, and some tips on wiggling a bit, and tightening the screws. He took the price tag off with some solvent stuff, and asked me if I was going surfing. I had to reply no, that I was on my lunch break and had to get back to work, but that I was planning on Santa Cruz this weekend (if I can get some buds to go with me, which is looking grim). He laughed and said, “At least get your hair wet…looks good out there today.” I had to admit that the little crumbly fast waves at Ocean Beach not only looked surfable, but inviting. I had no idea that OB could even produce such smallness…but like the sirens entice sailors into the treachery of rocks, I knew better the beast that was beckoning… and went back to work instead. It really did look tame. And inviting. Despite no one being in the water…

The guy helping me further joked about sharks, saying that July and August seem to be the season when most people around here get bit.

Yikes.

Anyways…support your local surf shop, damn-it. Community and all that. I tend to spend my money where there is no attitude adjustment needed - and Wise has been the best experience I've had in that category so far. That's where I got my wetsuit...usually where I get my wax...and spare leash for the 7'6.

Speaking of support and local and community – MusicFairy’s band, Truxton, is playing tonight at the Red Devil Lounge. They go on at 9pm sharp-like, so drop in and check it out.

I’m thinking about getting back into Bikhram Yoga again, by the by. I’ve been doing good with the diet, and it’s time to incorporate some exercise that will help build strength and agility.

Tentative alternative plans for the weekend (because it looks like surfing won’t pan out, which is a bummer when you have a new board and are itching to take it out): Picnic on Saturday with Dr. Kaos and potential others; Napa on Sunday with AccidentProne (who is driving, yay), her in-town friend, and maybe Lily_Dove.

Psssst. Themissblue’s birthday is on Monday. Her gift is in the mail. :)

Labels: friends, music, surfing

posted by Rain at 11:02 AM

On the understanding that this may take me days...

THE RULES:
1. Leave me a comment saying anything random, like your favorite lyric to your current favorite song. Or your favorite kind of sandwich. Something random. Whatever you like.
2. I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.
3. Update your Blog with the answers to the questions.
4. Include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be asked, you will ask them five questions.


Deb Grabien asked me the following:

1. You and me and Mr. G: an evening on the town in San Francisco, no
strings, no holds barred, no financial considerations. What are we
doing
with it?

Wow – so many possibilities. I think we’d start early with dinner at your house. I hesitate to say that playing tour guide would be exciting at all – I mean, what’s to show him that he hasn’t seen here, that can be seen through the evening fog? Thing is with us three, we’d have more fun talking around belinis and/or good wine with the myriad of large felines ambling by. The only difference would be if I still had a dance partner in SF…or if one was visiting from Argentina. If that were the case, I’d organize a show at a local theater, as neither one of you has ever seen me dance (unless you count a dvd of a show at the SF Conservatory of Music I sent him…but I don’t think he ever got to watch it). Then we’d go to a cast party someplace…maybe at my friend’s Gallery (where they have bubbly), and chat the night away about dance, books, and rock and roll and why he stole Lou Reed’s look. (haha)

Seeing as how I can’t take either of you surfing. (see—that’s the look I’m talking about. You’re doing it right now).


2. Do you regret not staying with the rock and roll world?

The only time I ever regret it is when I go to see a live show. That surge of energy, the hum of the amps, the hot lights, the crowd – I miss being on stage. I miss my old band. I miss everything about feeling every note of every song I ever played in that moment. The beauty of this tiny pang of regret isn’t so much in ‘what could have been,’ as it is that it could still be…if I wanted to get back into it. I still have my voice, even if I don’t have my chops up on the guitar. Once a musician, always a musician – with a few thousand dollars I could always buy an old ’57 Gold Top Les Paul (or maybe a coffin burst…I miss those), hop in the car, and head to your place to plug into the boogie and begin the awful, arduous task of re-learning what I’ve let go. It’s not anything I want to do, though I’ve thought about getting back into a band with the voice.

3. Suppose you could take six months and go study guitar with any
guitar
great on earth. Who?

That’s extremely tough to answer. There are so, so many…for different reasons. If Randy Rhodes were still alive, for example – I’d pick him. It was Randy Rhodes and Jimmy Hendrix that first sparked my love of guitar and my yearn to learn. Joe Satriani maybe, right now, only because his was the first concert I ever went to (at 16), and I studied Surfing With The Alien to the point of exhaustion back then, learning this and that…figuring out his tapping…but his wide use of arpeggios and scales always seemed so very Mozart-like in his compositions, and there are so few Mozart-like people left who actually *compose* music, instead of just play it. Not to mention, learning to surf, I understand that record so much better now. “Always with me, Always with you,” for instance…is exactly like riding a wave on a summer day.

Actually…I take all that back. I’d study with the Gypsy Kings. I’ve always, always, always wanted to learn flamenco guitar. Or maybe Robbie Robertson…because he’s simple, fluid, and soulful.

Or the Edge…or Flea…ah crap. See what you’ve done? And I’m omitting the obvious ones based mainly on attitude alone (Ronnie Wood, for instance…Tommy Bolin because he’s long gone, and was so hopped up on drugs when he was alive that he’d never have been a good teacher. Dick Dale, too, but he always refers to himself in the third person and that bugs me).

4. One decision, one life-impacting change, that you made before the
age
of 21. You get to revisit it, and alter it. What is it? Why that one?

In the 4th grade, I was made to choose an instrument to learn in school. This was mostly to get out of an afternoon class (you got to miss it to study music). They made you try out all sorts of instruments to see what you were good for – some kids couldn’t blow into a trumpet, for instance, but I could. Some kids couldn’t finger a violin or make the bow work. But I could. I infinitely regret having chosen the flute instead of the violin…it would have changed how I approached the guitar in 7th grade, when I fell in love with it. It would have made things easier, I think…grander…more open of a learning experience. I might have continued with it, where I didn’t with the flute after 6th grade.

There are no other decisions that I made before 21 that I regret.

5. You're a poet. Three poets, genre or non, that you either admire
or
think are way overrated?

Lord Alfred Tennyson is perhaps my all time favorite, because of his Idylls of the King. I fell in love with Tennyson as a teenager, and have loved him ever since.

Carl Sandburg, because he wrote “Lines for Gene Kelly to Dance to” and gosh darn it, if you couldn’t dance to that poem read aloud. As a dancer, I appreciate that.

Clark Ashton Smith…because no one ever really got to read his poetry, since it was published in only 500 copies. I had the opportunity to read a rare copy one day at Odyssey Books (RIP) in San Rafael, when the owners had acquired one at a yard sale for $.50 (wow!). As genre stuff goes, it was early and innovative and no one was doing that sort of thing in the 30’s and 40’s. Not in poetry, anyway…not in poetry that got published. And…he was a hopeless romantic at heart.

Labels: friends, meme

posted by Rain at 10:32 AM

Volcomics, Death, Rock n Roll, and No Reservations

Some events for things that people graciously invited me to that I’m behind on mentioning anything about…



Volcom Comics ( = Volcomics)



Some of you may remember Fay (not too tough a code name to figure out - much like Sparkle's was - dang, I miss the old crew), who used to own Fuse (shout out to those who recall the Halloween party I hosted there - Celebrity Morgue...heh), and now owns Space Gallery on Polk. I was over at Surfline and happened to notice that the SF release party for Volcomics was going to be at his venue, and phoned him up to get details. That same day, my membership info arrived from The Surfrider Foundation, which included an International Surfing Day t-shirt, and lots of great info on saving our beaches. I put on the t-shirt, and headed down to Space. I ran into a few familiar faces and throngs of skaters, surfers, artists, writers, and general mayhem makers all behaving themselves in a peacefully energetic fashion. Good vibes were had by all. Not to mention, Volcom had made it an open bar, complete with live music upstairs. Nifty event - and I got a free first issue of the comic, plus a gander at a wide variety of art on the walls. I met some interesting new freaky people, too.



In the dance world, another set of tango shoes falls silent on the floorboards: Pupi Castello has passed away (last Saturday - I found out yesterday when checking the tango in-box, which I don't do very often these days). May he join all the other great Milongueros in the sky, to dance on clouds.



Some weekends back, Miss DebG held a BBQ after a photo shoot for the Survivors of the Summer of Love (which you can learn more about over at her Livejournal), which I attended. I'll pretty much go anywhere she tells me to, as long as she's cooking. We had a delightful mess of vittles (ok, ok, it was cuisine...but after meeting Bill The Cat, who does indeed look pretty much identical to the Bloom County Bill The Cat...I just had to use the term vittles), including Teriyaki chicken, roasted fall-off-the-bone pork (Bill's favorite), a cherry-fudge torte of sorts (yes, Deb, I know I'm getting this wrong), some kind of vegetarian bean salad that was quite good, tossed salad, and many Belinis. I had the pleasure of meeting Deb's rock n' roll friends (being in the presence of greatness is a huge understatement here), and being hypnotized by Zmayhem's sweat-pea of a baby. For some strange reason, that baby stares at me from the moment she arrives, until the moment she leaves. She has full conversations with my face in baby-talk, whether I'm looking at her or not. Everyone found it quite eerie, to say the least, but I enjoyed it immensely. To be the center of a baby's attention for an hour is a gift. To be the center of a baby's attention for 5 hours and not be the one feeding her...is priceless.



Last week the Nob Hill Grille fellahs gave me an advance screening promotional pass for two to go see No Reservations, which was a cutesy single-parent family-making feel-gooder with plenty of eye candy. I did not cry...though I think the actress that plays the kid is fantastic. Hot Mark (tm) came with, and we both assessed the movie as good, but not really anything we'd have paid to see. We walked to the Bigfoot afterwards, had a nightcap, and then I walked home. There is something so satisfying about being able to walk to all the things you'd like to do in an evening.



Well...back to the script grind. 3 down; 3 to go. Possibly 4. I found out they are using these to pitch to clients/companies looking to do more (or some) business with us. Yikes! No pressure there.

Labels: comics, friends, music

posted by Rain at 11:43 AM

happy birthday dr. kaos, & dime store updates

First of all, a very happy birthday to Dr. Kaos. May the woodland sprites bring you lots of lovely treats (and sweep your house of Black Widow infestations like the one you had when you lived in San Jose…shudder), and keep the leprechauns at bay. I do believe I’ve known you now for what…8 or 9 years? Why, just yesterday we were dancing to a Perki/Nando mix at Shrine of Lilith…and Midnight was in his Top Hat with hair down to his butt.

I cannot believe it’s almost August. Because right after August is September, and after September is October – and then comes November, possibly my busiest month this year, depending on how I work the whole thing out. I’ve got to go to Denver for my high-school girlfriend’s wedding, and there is the potential for a Thelma And Louis Southwest Tour with TheMissBlue, stopping off in Arizona to camp at Rockstar Ex’s, before landing in Texas for Thanksgiving. The whole thing should take us about a week.

This weekend was a lot of fun, but rather jam packed. Friday was the usual happy hour at the cigar bar with Lily_Dove and MuppetMan, (c)Superman, Snake Eyes, and the usual bunch. Later, Libitina joined us, and she, Lily_Dove, and MotoBlondeGuy (a friend of Lily_Dove’s) went for Sushi at Sushi Rika. My eye was really giving me trouble at that point, so I wound up begging off early and went home.

The next day I was supposed to have a look at a surf board from a somewhat flakey eBay Guy. He said it only had two small dime size dings that he’d had professionally repaired, but what showed up was two dings the size of the top of a redbull can, and he’d filled them in himself with Blue Steel epoxy – not the kind you’d want to use for a surf board but I would guess it would have been somewhat ok – but it wasn’t even sealed or laminated. I’d have had to take it to a professional repair place at $25 a pop, and told him so, since it wasn’t even water tight. He got angry and said, “Well, if you don’t want it then…” I think he half expected me to stop him. What a freakin’ baby.

He turned around in a huff and threw the board back into his truck, took his toy, and went home. This after telling me he’d lost his cell phone all week, then found it the morning OF the day he was supposed to be in the city and coming by between 11am and 1pm…which turned into 4-5:30…and then he didn’t actually get there until 6:15pm. Originally he’d had the board listed for $400+ on eBay as a collector’s item (and it wasn’t). When it didn’t sell I made an offer to him and said I could pick it up since he was local (San Jose) and he insisted on bringing it to the city. So my whole day was wasted sitting around waiting for this guy, and for a board that wasn’t what he said it was. Needless to say…I was glad to be rid of the whole task. The board isn’t even worth $100 at this point, after what he’d done to it.

I had dinner plans in the Marina with Fleur De Lys (no, not the restaurant – we went to Ace Wasabe). Afterwards, we headed to the Matrix, our fair Mayor’s fine establishment, and chatted away from the unwashed masses in a tidy little corner on a velvety lounger. The waitstaff was very attentive, and we weren’t bothered by horrible drunk marina boys on a mission, as we were out of the view of the meat market crowd. I dare say I’ve found a way to enjoy that place on a Saturday night. Fleur De Lys just got back from Italy, Cambodia, Europe…and had lots of stories.

Sunday I kept to myself, watched the History Channel all day long, reruns of General Hospital (and I have to say I am HOOKED on General Hosptial Nights) from the previous week to get caught up on my favorite Mob family soap, then caught The Notorious Bette Page (on demand) – which was quite a good little movie, even if the actress that played her was a little too thin.

Today I get back to the grind on two difficult scripts for branded content; one involving the Beckhams, and the other a major cosmetic company out of the UK. Fun, fun.

My apologies to TheMusicFairy (aka Charmless) – I did not make it out to see his band last night, though I had meant to. For those of you in LA – Truxton will be playing two gigs coming up this week…here’s the deets from the band:

FOR OUR LOS ANGELES PEEPS:

Wednesday July 25, 2007 @ El Cid (Silverlake CA)

Silver Needle (AWESOME band!)
Truxton
TBA

9pm 8 bucks
__________________________________________
Friday July 27, 2007 @ Relax Bar (Hollywood)

TRUXTON
Kinky Method
Lipstick Dynamite

8pm 7 bucks

Labels: food, friends, LA, music, surfing

posted by Rain at 9:34 AM

SIg Sheets for ILT rec'd...and the Art of the Fez

I got the signature sheets from Cemetery Dance via Norm Partridge today, for IN LAYMON’S TERMS, a Tribute To Richard Laymon. Looks like I’ll be busy with those for a while. Heavy, heavy box.

I hear from my friends in Buenos Aires that it’s snowing there for the first time in 35 years. That’s absolutely and absurdly frightening, and just another notch in the belt of odd weather thanks to Global Warming.

The 4th was fun; friends from the neighborhood, work, and Grille came to celebrate up on the roof, which proved windy, chilly, and a bit obstructed in view this year. Still, a good time was had by all. I promptly came down with the Martian Death Flu afterwards, however, and had to take Thursday and Friday off – plus stayed home Saturday mostly. Sunday I read cards at the Bigfoot briefly, ate dinner at a new Moroccan restaurant…which makes me wonder what Johnny Strike would think of it. Quite tasty, IMHO. The dishes were sweetly seasoned with spice, as opposed to spicy but sweet, which would be how I describe some Indian cuisine. Besides, there was a guy who greeted us in a red velvety Fez. Yes, a Fez!

Which reminds me of n, who once talked me into buying Acnalbasac Noom (He used to wear a fedora...but now he wears a fez...) because he thought it was a tango I should hear. (bad...bad n!).

Labels: food, friends, music

posted by Rain at 12:39 PM

The Speedometer Goes Up to 220.

Before I get into this one goes up to eleven, I must thank the Chocolate Fairy. The Chocolate Fairy has been following me around all weekend, actually, but this morning he/she (whoever it is) left a giant brick of Hershey’s natural flavanol Antioxidant Milk Chocolate on my desk. The Chocolate Fairy was also present in Napa – at St. Supery, as we were about to leave, the chocolate of chocolates, most gluttonously wonderful chocolate in dark and nut…showed up mysteriously on platters in the tasting room. I swear, this chocolate is like sex - Belgique, it’s called. Orgasmic.

Now. Back to business.

Muppet Man picked me up in the Aston Martin DB9 Volante, a beautiful midnight blue with navy blue and burnt orange leather interior. The flooring is actually carpeted in a matching shade of blue. Where there was the frame of the car exposed (like holding the windshield and visor, or the frame of the top, there was a taupe suede, which made the whole car smell like brand new tango shoes. The speedometer goes up to 220, and you push a button on the dash to start the engine, as well as change gears, unless you are paddle shifting from the steering wheel.

It goes fast. It goes up to eleven.

People notice the car. They want to inspect every detail of the car and who’s in the car. That’s an Aston Martin they mouth – and you can see the words fall out of their mouths onto the street and they just can’t stop staring. We couldn’t stop giggling. That car is sex on wheels.

It was mighty foggy in the city, but we had hope that the fog would dissipate after we got through the Waldo Tunnel, and as soon as we hit Sam’s in Tiburon for breakfast, it did. After Sam’s, we watered-up and headed to Artesa, where we had perhaps the singular worst winery experience I’ve ever had. It basically boiled down to one Bitch Queen of a woman who was clearly mad at the world because she has really, really bad hair…

We went to the club member’s tasting area, which is sectioned off from the masses in a small private area off the main tasting room. We waited for about 10 minutes before a second staffer came to greet us (insert Queen Bitch here), and she gave me a hard time for not having my member’s card on me.

"You’re sure you are a member?" She said.
"Yes – you can look it up in the computer, actually." I said.
"Oh, I will, don’t worry." She said, snottily. Then she continued, "If you really are a club member, what was in your last shipment?"
"Christ, I don’t know. I don’t open them," I said, genuinely sheepish, because I actually had picked up my last shipment at the winery AND opened them for a party, but couldn’t for the life of me recall what those wines were…as Artesa is not that memorable unless you are drinking one of their weird blends like Elements, with a discernable name.

She begrudgingly poured us our tasting. At one point Muppet Man wanted to try two cabernets side by side to see what the difference was between the Alexander Valley grapes and the Rutherford – not uncommon at any winery. She got pissy about it and gave us a speech about conserving glasses, and at this point Muppet Man thought she might be being sarcastic so he played into it giving her the benefit of the doubt…because…GOSH…it’s not like a winery would have extra glasses that they might have to WASH or anything.

Finally, she tried to give me attitude again, and I just couldn’t hold it in anymore after she said, "That’s good. You are conserving glasses."

So I said, staring her right in the eyes with that Scorpio look I reserve only for people I truly loathe or about to tear apart, "Yes, I am. Not that it should really be a problem. I mean, we are paying customers…and wine club members at that. It’s all about customer service, isn’t it, dear?" I could feel her butt cheeks tighten without even seeing it (the bar was too high) and her lips pursed at the challenge. However…she was sweet as pie to us after that. Sweet as pie. The only other time I have encountered someone being rude behind the counter at a winery was at Acacia – MixerGal and I have never been back since. I have had some very good experiences at Artesa, of course, and the other lady there was more than gracious, so I did still pick up one bottle of the Elements before leaving (if nothing more than to prove I WAS in the computer…but I did so at another station, near the gift shop, so as not to give her the satisfaction of wincing in my general direction).

After Artesa, we hopped back into the car and decided to stop in at Trefethen, where we did a reserve tasting in the back room with exceptional service by a lovely blonde lady and her daughter. This made up for anything prior… and her generous information and vast knowledge of the family, the vineyard, and the wines themselves was truly appreciated. She poured us something she nicknamed "Velvet," and I swear, we’d died and gone to wine-o heaven. There was a nice local-to-Napa couple next to us that we bonded with (as only wine-os do—over drinking copious amounts of wine and recalling the incidents there-of, reminiscent style) and they offered to give us their wine club discount if we were interested in buying anything (the wines Muppet Man was interested in were far too rich for my blood, money-wise, but they waved our tasting fee and in addition to the club discount, the wines he bought were such a steal). The grounds are also a California National Landmark…and beautiful in that French country style, inside and out.

After Trefethen, we hit old faithful—St. Supery, where we tasted the staples, I picked up a bottle of Rose and my standard 2001 Merlot was not available (sold out), so I went for a 2002 that is just as good. We saw the Chocolate Fairy and indulged (afore-mentioned).

Then it was time for dinner, so we headed downtown to The Martini House, another favorite and staple, but one that Muppet Man had never been to before. The new icon (if you are viewing this on LJ…if you are viewing this on myspace, that’s from inside the car) is from dinner downstairs, since we didn’t have a reservation and it was pretty early on in the day. We did a food/wine paring that was out of this world, and generally had a blast.

Unfortunately at that point we realized two things… 1) We were in a $250,000 car that Muppet Man had an insurance deductible alone of $20,000 for any damage, and 2) We could not drive it after drinking at dinner. We were fine through out the day since we’d paced ourselves with the tastings, pouring out the bulk after a sip or two, and drank plenty of water in between, but we mucked it up at dinner having had the food/wine paring, not even thinking about it. So we elected to cab it to a hotel where we could find rooms to check into. Since we elected to stay the night, we also elected to hoof it over to the Bounty Hunter for a few cigars and more wine.

We ran into the gal I’d met with Judge Clooney and The Boys the weekend before, from Plumpjacks, and had a great time chatting with various people and watching a strange girl from Arizona parade around in her bikini because her (new) boyfriend was inside chatting up other women.

"Can you believe he’d give THIS up for those girls?" She said, doing what I can only refer to as ‘s infamous "Panty Dance."
"Can’t argue with that," Muppet Man said.
"Me either," I said, and just watched the train wreck happen. Later, she gave me her phone number and said, "Call me!" Muppet Man shook his head.

The next day we piled back into the car and headed for home, stopping in San Rafael for brunch at Lundy’s Irish Breakfast on 4th street. It didn’t set too well with us, though, and after he dropped me off at home I napped, lounged, and dealt with a tummy ache for the rest of the day/evening.

Couldn’t help but think that MixerGal and Donnamite would have really enjoyed that trip (minus the Artesa experience, which would have driven MixerGal up a wall), especially Trefethen. I need to take them up there just to visit that one place, soonish.

Now is the time in San Francisco, though, where the hustle and bustle of Pride Week begins. (c)Superman’s birthday is today (Not that it’s an afterthought, of course – but Happy Birthday will be sung later at the Ox), I have a presentation on Wednesday to organize for, and Thursday is not only Solstice, but International Surfing Day. I really need to get back out into the waves…

Labels: cars, friends, napa, wine

posted by Rain at 12:18 PM

On Birthdays, Pirates, and Bond Cars

First of all, Happy Birthday to my lil' sis, Lindsey Rae! May dad make you breakfast and keep you in cordials (unless of course he's traveling, in which case hit up Unc).

I’m reliving a childhood happy place today by eating some red delicious apples and peanut butter, which seems to be a good thing, as I'm slightly hung over from the cigar bar adventure last night.

I took two pages of a story I'm working on to the bar and gave the guys a look. The general consensus was that its good - mmmm...piratey goodness. I'm popping my pirate cherry, since I've never written about them before. Monsieur Bullet will like this one a lot, methinks. Yarrrrr!

After a few martinis and cigars, Muppet Man took me to Tiramisu for dinner. Since the owner is a friend of ours, we relied on his discretion in regards to food and wine. Please to be noting: Handsome, smiling Italian men who own several restaurants will just keep bringing you food until you beg them to stop. After 5 courses, we begged. It stopped. But man, it was good!

Since Libitina is in Austin, she's asked me to ensure Muppet Man has a happy weekend none-the-less, so I proposed a trip to Napa, since the last time we all went it was a blast. "I think the Aston Martin is in the paddock this weekend," he said. Those are magic words, Aston Martin. The name's Bond. Rain Bond. How come Jim Henson never created a Muppet Bond? Nevermind... I promise to take pictures.

Lots of script editing was done yesterday for the day job, and most of that is out of the way. It’s swelteringly hot at the office. For some reason, they don’t air condition us down in the creative sector.

Portable fan. Portable fan. Portable FAN. Just need a PORTABLE FAN!

Labels: family, food, friends, writing

posted by Rain at 11:22 AM

Happiness is a Canopy of Trees with Spanish Moss on a Winding Road



As it turns out, Judge Clooney did have bad news regarding his father, but decided to make the trip to Napa after all. They flew in on Thursday, and I sent them information and directions for a party at St. Supery by way of my wine club membership. After hitting a record 12 wineries in one day, they descended upon the party and proceeded to enjoy themselves further, and procured a lovely bottle of the 2002 Dollarhide Cabernet for me as a thank-you.

Judge Clooney called early on Friday morning before I had even gotten into the office to ensure my attendance at dinner that night. After a long day at the office, various raffles and cattle calls for left over set pieces from the previous weeks shooting, (I actually came away with some glass bowls, dishes, candles, linen napkins, and glasses – but missed out on the furniture, pots and pans, and pillow sets) I stopped by my apartment to feed the kitties, grab my suitcase, and begin the drive to Napa via Marin.

I arrived while the farmer’s market was still going on down town, and strolled through it a bit on my way to the Bounty Hunter to meet The Boys for dinner. Notice I have taken out Bull Semen Boys; with two additions to their little club who are not in the Bull Semen business, it seems more appropriate to just call them The Boys (one is an OBGYN and the other is a Teacher). I wasn't particularly hungry, having had a big lunch, so we sampled wines the Boys were recommending, and I passed out some Gispert and Padilla cigars I'd brought for them. One of the Fellahs from last year brought me a Cuban Romeo y Julieta from his vast corporate travels.

Because of some kind of festival thingy, we could not get rooms in Napa or Sonoma, which kind of sucked, because we were doing the Sonoma tour the next day. We wound up staying at the Hilton Garden in Fairfield, which is a good 20 minutes from Napa proper, where we'd left one of the cars and planned to swap out mine for the rental so I wouldn't have to drive. We took the long way, winding up through Rutherford and then Calistoga, up and down the mountain again to hit a few wineries closer to Healdsburg and Santa Rosa. Since we had to swap out the cars, Judge Clooney and I wound up arriving at the 3rd winery the Boys had gotten to, and it was only 9:30am! We sampled at J Richioli, before hitting one more on the way to a party near Young's Market, where the best wine of the day was a rare pinot noir from a barrel that Randy Lewis himself poured, of Lewis Cellars. The Judge was egging me to go back for seconds, and he said, "I'll just stay behind you and ride your coat tails. He's more likely to give a beautiful girl seconds before some guy." Try as he might, the Judge did not score seconds; I did, however. So maybe he was right. Heh. We gnashed on little pizzas and cheese and crackers there, before moving on to Cardinale for a private tasting in one of their dining rooms that the Boys had reserved for us the day before.

We had little plates of delicate cheeses, and two of there famous cabernets. We chatted on the terrace for a bit, looked at the mountains through the telescope they have, and enjoyed the scenery of rolling vines, intermingled with charming little houses and lush greenery.

After that, we headed to The Martini House for dinner, where we met up with a gal from Plumpjacks that was at the Bounty Hunter the day before. She brought an exquisite Cabernet that we decanted at table, and despite the name of the venue, none of us partook of Martinis. I had an amazing halibut with ravioli in a gentle sauce, and we all split a few Beef Carpaccios. There was no room for desert, of course.

Later, we drove back to Napa to pick up Teach's keys from the Thursday night Hotel where he'd left them, and swap out cars again. They all had 6am flights the next day, so we nixed the idea of another late night, and I drove home after saying my goodbyes.

All in all, it was a lovely, lovely weekend with them.

Sunday I lounged and pondered some reality TV shows, grocery shopped, and successfully avoided the Nob Hill Grill, which has a penne pasta dish that calls my name each time I get down to that corner on my way to the supermarket. Got some writing done in the evening; still working on scripts. *sigh*.

Labels: friends, wine

posted by Rain at 10:36 AM

The Week in Type


Friday: Happy Hour was supposed to contain but I got there too late due to office calls and one surley friend who was on his way to Vegas, Baby. Blue Hair Michelle joined me, however, and we had dinner at the new and improved Nob Hill Grill. Please support this neighborhood place - they've really changed it up under the new ownership. The food is reasonably priced (for really good food in a diner atmosphere) and they have a great bathroom. I walked in early that morning and sighed. Big Hot Short Board Surfer was behind the register, and he asked me, "What can I get you?". I said, "I'm hung over. Bad." So he made me this amazing English muffiny goodness with sausage patties the size of burgers (I dare say it was homemade or butcher shop sausage - their ingredients are fresh and very good), some kind of fancy cheese, egg...and home fries. He plied me with brewed tea mingled with raspberry Torani syrup (though I admit this made me sick later because I drank two fast glasses of it there, waiting for the food). I told him he'd cured my hangover when I went to dinner with Blue Hair Michelle, and they were special-nice to us.

And then...Karaoke was suggested by Beastmaster. KILLED it with Sinatra and Patsy Cline. Blue Hair Michelle refused to sing and stated that I had broken all the rules of karaoke simply because I *could* sing and didn't tell them. Beastmaster sang U2 and was imminently disappointed that they didn't get to his second song. I have photos of this. Oh yes, I have photos.

Saturday: Impromptu dinner party at Casa De La Rain, when Libitina found she wasn't feeling well and we had to cancel our plans. Beastmaster made an amazing Italian pork dish (OMG - ground pork, bacon, garlic, onions, olive oil, marinara sauce... what's not to like???), made a salad and brought some Caprese fixins, which I put together. There was so much food just in these little items that only Thumbelina had room for desert (I made strawberry shortcake just for her). She promptly crashed out in the bedroom, and couldn't finish the end of The Never Ending Story.

I always love it when kids give you things they make, too. She drew me a thank-you card for her birthday gifts and then had me leaf through the book I gave her (The Wolves in the Walls) to find her picture waiting for me. She didn't stay up long enough for me to read to her, though, so we're saving that for another night. After she hit the hay, the adults hit the wine. We went through my entire wine fridge (12 bottle capacity and 6 bottles full) throughout that evening...and were up laughing and talking until 6am. (At one point around 3:30 we didn't have the heart to wake up Thumbelina for the walk her home, so we let her sleep until Morning). Midnight did a brief drive-by somewhere in the middle, and though Darkmas had been invited, he didn't have the opportunity to come.

Sunday: Recoup Day. Many re-runs of Carnivale (HBO). Midnight invited me to a BBQ, but man, I was toast, so no...couldn't go. Early bedtime; very content.

Monday: Surf report at Linda Mar was for head high to 1 foot overhead waves, so the Surfistas and I decided to go to Zeitgeist instead. Chardonnay met me, Brit Pop, and Midnight there. Other Joe showed up to chat, followed by Joetech and his girlfriend. About 3 and 4pm I got text messages from SnakeBite and Surfchitect telling me they just got back from Linda Mar and it was off the hook. Snakebite just bought a bandit board and has renounced his 8'4 long(ish)board. I now have the 8'4 privilege whenever I like. Yay! Surfchitect has also granted me borrow of his 9'2 longboard, which would probably be way more stable for me. I'm waiting to hear back on a hot Walden Magic Board - but it’s a 9'4 and would be a bitch to carry. Snakebite had already gone home; Surfchitect did stop in for a beer, and we chatted about the 2 waves he caught. Snake bite was catching everything with the bandit. Eventually everyone dispersed as the sun went winding down, and Brit Pop, Other Joe, and I headed over to Bigfoot, where we met up with more friends (Beastmaster included). Did not get to hang later with SnakeBite, though we'd tried to plan around my buds and his BBQing. All in all, a nice wind down to the holiday weekend. Promised dinner to him last night before he left town today, which was fun, as I got to check out the hot new board. It’s a shorty alright, but looks fast. Not sure I will do well with his 8'4, but anything's possible. I'm just so used to those big honkin' Sunset training longboards.

This week has been busy at the office, and PianoMan has begun to call me about my DUI case, of which, the trial is in July. Its going to cost $800 for that forensic expert to testify (ouch), and my entire bonus check is going to PianoMan (for his graciously reduced and nominal fee of $2500 for good lawyering. I don't know what I'd do without my Gay Mafia behind me). We have a good case building. [and people wonder why I'm always broke].

I heard from Judge Clooney today and it seems his father has taken a turn for the worse with cancer...he may not make the trip with the rest of the boys in a few weeks, but did indeed finish his Marathon. I'm very sad for him and proud of him at the same time. I hate it when tough things happen to wonderful people. There's been a lot of that going around this week.

This upcoming weekend: Surfing Saturday. Saturday evening is the Ox Crew Allnight BBQ; I will be reading tarot cards. Flasheley is up from LA; possible happy hour Friday. If surfing doesn't happen Saturday, Sunday is the other option...though I know I have some kind of obligation that day which escapes me. Catch up on short stories I owe to folks will likely be this weekend, too.

Labels: food, friends, surfing

posted by Rain at 3:07 PM

Cream Puffs, Wal-Mart, & Birthdays

You know it’s a tough day when I don’t make time to eat.

And then suddenly, the Legal Department shows up with large Cream Puffs from Beard Papa. “Everyone should have a cream puff,” says a Lawyer. “Cream puffs for all!”

And I had a chocolate cream puff.

And I am better now.

You know, as a child, we lived too far away to experience the reality of what shopping in a Wal-Mart is like. No matter how poor we were growing up, we never really shopped in stores like Wal-Mart, and it was generally embarrassing to admit you had anything on from a Wal-Mart in school anyway. It was one thing to be poor and shopping at Sears. It was another thing entirely to be poor and shopping at Wal-Mart. Now, as an adult, I find myself astounded by Wal-Mart’s creative concepts…of which, I am neck deep in at the moment. I never thought I’d work for a Wal-Mart. And yet…working on creative at this company seems to have made me feel as if I’m contributing to the economic demise of the millions of lemmings that shop at Wal-Mart (myself included once a year, maybe) for cheap, ill-made goods. I feel as if I’m wearing a blue smock, holding up signs that say, “Females, Single Mom’s, and ‘Other’” pointing at a large pig trough full of dollar items. No wait, that would be Target…

They do not sell large cream puffs at Wal-Mart. I’m not entirely sure why.

Thumbelina turns seven today. I will be delivering gifts this evening… I managed a copy of n's The Wolves in the Walls, which I bought at The Alexander Book Company, and I got a little note on my receipt that said I planted a tree with my purchase, which made me very happy. I also picked up a cute little sundress from Old Navy (though I really wanted to get her the black one with cap sleeves, she is much more of a pink-liking child, so I went with a cream and pink print instead), with a matching sweater-shrug.

I am still waiting on the gift I bought for , which I ordered Monday and should receive today or tomorrow.

This Saturday is the Beer and Oyster Fest. Mmmmmmm...Oysters...and our make-up surfing expedition, I wager.

Labels: friends

posted by Rain at 3:41 PM

Actual Details of Open Car; Insert Muppet & Tiny Girl

(this won’t give away ALL the answers, I think, to prior dialogue).

It was such a beautiful day on Saturday, I decided to pick up my wine shipment in Napa. I picked up Muppet Man and Libitina, and we loaded up two picnic baskets, two bottles of picnic wine, a few blankets, and road munchies.

We didn’t actually get up there until 2pm, so we skipped Artesa and went straight on to St. Supery; neither of which had they been to. For those of you who know (or who have gone with me), this is my standard Napa wine run. Given that they recently moved here from Atlanta, they still have quite a bit of exploring to do (and Muppet Man is a wealth of knowledge on French wines, but not so much on Napa wines).

We went up to the club tasting room, which is laced in gauzy white curtains, and not as busy to foot traffic as the big room downstairs. We were right at the end of the wine-bar, about to move on from the 2000 Dollarhide Cabernet to the 2002, when for some unknown reason, Muppet Man succumbed to demonic possession, and spewed a perfect mist across the bar that did not touch any one person, but did cover at least one full wine menu. Folks that know Muppet Man know this is a man who is never out of a fancy suit, is always the epitome of a gentleman, and has been known to smoke a pipe or two in a leisurely fashion. Never have we seen such a thing come out of Muppet Man as the Great Muppet Misting of St. Supery. Luckily, after the shock wore off (and the allergen subsided), everyone laughed instead of getting grossed out. When he raised his glass to take another sip, both Libitina and I backed away, which caused him to snarf. Again, we laughed at his expense, and again…so did everyone else.

It was right about then, that we encountered the 6 foot 2 Latino cowboy, complete in tight, tan, creased riding jeans and work-wear Stetson. As it turned out, this cowboy was the one who eventually checked us out downstairs when we picked up the wine. Libitina was scheming to get a bottle of that 2000 Dollarhide Cab at the Flirty Girl Price, but we weren’t entirely convinced yet that the Gay Guy Discount would not apply, which meant we’d have to put Muppet Man up front at the counter…but alas, I was the one with the club membership, so the flirty-flirty was left to me.

“We’ll take a bottle of the 2004 Rutherford Merlot at Re-order…two bottles of the Oak Free Chardonnay…and---“
“And a case of the 2000 Dollarhide Cab?” The cowboy teased.
“You’re cute,” I said, “But you’re not THAT cute.” I said.
“But…I wore the hat!” The cowboy said, wounded. “I thought for sure it would work!”

We all laughed, and verbally agreed that the hat worked for him, so as not to wound his pride along with the ego. Libitina piped in that I taught tango after inquiring where he was from (Mexico).

“I could pay for lessons with a case of the wine!” he said.
“You’d have to show up with the wine first,” I said.

…and we all laughed again. I love it how my friends will whore me out for tango lessons just to get a case of good wine.

We loaded up the trunk with the plundered vino-booty, and drove to Coppola’s Rubicon Estate next. will know exactly where this is going… I introduced them first to the Lemorange Tree (see entry for The Great Lemorange Heist). I explained that I must aquire at least one Lemon and one Orange from the Lemorange tree. Libitina said, "I can climb trees!" So of course, I said, "You should climb the tree. You are tiny and cute enough, that they'll like it." Climbing the tree would have been too conspicuous of course, so instead we tried for low-hanging fruit. I used a Jedi mind trick to distract the grounds persons.

These aren't the droids you are looking for. You are tired, and want to go home...

And a lemon was in Libitina's pocket-book post haste. Unfortunately, none of the Oranges were hanging low enough to pick. So we soldiered on, knowing that indeed - it is still left up to to snatch the mythical, magical Orange from the Great Lemorange Tree.

While sipping a glass of pinot noir, (Muppet Man had a glass of Rubicon, and Libitina had a glass of Syrah) we wandered through the gift shop to get my Carmine Thrifty Cigars, which you can only get at the vineyard (though they are made by the Avanti Cigar Company). Muppet Man tried on a straw Fedora, which looked very fetching. I tried on a cute little patchwork fop cap made by Christy's of London. Libitina said the hat had to come home with me, and I argued that I could find a similar hat for $6 at any thrift store - I'd done it once in Portland, and could do it again.

Then Muppet Man came over to argue her point, and I figured I should go look in the mirror. I did look pretty damn cute...and that was right about when Muppet Man snatched the hat away, while Libitina did her tiny-girl-best to distract me, as he bought the thing for me. "Happy Birthday!" He said. "But my birthday isn't until October..." I grumbled. "Happy EARLY Birthday!" they chimed in. "Besides, you drove." I decided it's best not to argue with a Lawyer, and thanked them for the hat, and wore it for the rest of the day. Where-ever we went, people complimented me on the hat. They were very wise to make me go home with it.

After Coppola, we headed to V. Sattui for a picnic. We stretched out on a sturdy wood picnic table under the shade of a beautiful tree, with lush green grass your toes just itch to feel, and were soon joined by the vineyard cat. The Cat is all black, with two very thick, stark white whiskers - one on either side of its face. "Now that's a black cat you could call whitey," I said. And the cat meowed consent. Contrary to what we thought, Whitey didn't want food. He just wanted some good cat-people type scratching and petting and lovin'. We obliged, and he remained with us for the rest of our picnic.

The drive home was gloriously light and airy. We dropped Libitina off at home, and headed back to my place for a glass of vino and to find suitable parking (as Saturdays in Nob Hill are notoriously evil for parking). Later, we walked down the hill to the Cigar Bar, where my hat received more compliments. We chatted and I half-watched the Holyfield-Riddick fight, which was really quite exciting considering Riddick never drops his shoulders when he throws his punches, so you can't tell what he's going to throw, unlike every other boxer I've ever seen. Not to mention, what a brick house the guy is.

It was an enjoyable evening, and not too late.

Sunday morning I was awakened by my apartment manager yelling right outside the window about someone parking in the parking spot that no one was paying for. Just at that moment, my phone began to light up: Muppet Man needed a "Car Buddy." Then he said, "Bring a scarf."

I rolled out of bed, threw on some suitable clothes, and began digging for some kind of scarfy thing...and all I could find was a bad babushka looking thing. You can't drive around in a convertible Porsche Boxster looking like a refugee. It's better to go for Jackie-O. But wait, I thought...I've got a new hat! And so the babushka was tossed, and the hat came into play.

We drove (albeit I was white-knuckled most of the drive) to Sam's in Tibouron for brunch, which was lovely. Had a split of Veuve Clicquot, Dungeness crab and jack cheese omelet, a bacon and cheddar omelet, home fries, and fruit. With a view of the Bay and surrounding hills, I spied a gorgeous southern style house on the hill with a wrap-around porch, and declared my undying love for it. Muppet Man said, "You would like that house. That's a famous Belvedere">Belvedere Landmark. It's for sale, too. Only 1.5 Million..." I said, "Champagne taste on a beer budget. It figures." Outside the city, that is by far my favorite house. Inside the city, however, 2323 Hyde, which sold for 15 Million, is still my favorite.

After, we wandered to a few shops looking for clothes for Libitina, and then wandered into Windsor - a little wine tasting place neither of us had ever heard of. Apparently their wines are from the Alexander Valley/Russian River, and though their prices are ridiculously cheap, they are incredibly good. Muppet Man bought a half case of a 2003 Alexander Valley, Sonoma County Cabernet, and a half case of brut champagne (yes, it was that good). They gave him $50 off, too. Yes, it all did fit into the trunk of the Boxster.

We drove to San Rafael for a quick peek into the Open Secret Bookstore's Mandela room, before returning to the City. We stopped at the Ferry Building to pick up some tacos from Mejitas for Libitina (at her request), Muppet Man's wine club shipment from the Wine Merchant, then headed back to their place for chatter, a sampling of the wine from the day's plundering, and to feed the tiny-girl. This went way into the evening hours, and at one point we all decided to make it a dinner event... which essentially became some delectable grilled bison tri-tip with Libitina's fancy chimichurry sauce, grilled asparagus in a balsamic reduction, and Yukon gold potatoes mashed with a yam.

"You do realize we've monopolized you for the entire weekend," Said Muppet Man. "Yes, but I enjoyed it!" I said.

When I woke up this morning I felt like I'd slept for a year.

Labels: friends, wine

posted by Rain at 4:37 PM

Karaoke, Eating Tentacles, and Tom Cats

Friday was a debacle; I was faced with three happy hour commitments. I really only made it to one of them – and that was mostly to get my Gay on, with Mad About Musicals as the theme (afore mentioned). We had Judy Garland running on the big screen – Cabaret playing on the stereo, and when the music stopped, one of our gals dressed in fedora and tie did a fantastic stand alone serenade. Marketing does not fool around – true to the theme of show tunes (and usually what the stars of said shows were doing before and after them), there was straight martini hooch with no mixers. Vodka and Gin…with a side of wine, lemons, and limes.

I skipped Jillians and subsequent invite from Joetech (which would have been right across the street, practically) to hook up with at the Ox, where (c)Superman, Chardonnay, Snake Eyes, and the usual crew were at it with Dice. We stayed for one cocktail, and separated for separate plans. and I hoofed it over to Encore Karaoke, where we met up with a few others and belted out various tunes of varying levels of goodness (subsequent to more cocktails). At some point the bartender was buying my drinks to get me to stay and sing more, and this was very dangerous. I decided to go home before I couldn’t walk the two blocks to get there. I have to say…as Karaoke bars go in this town, Encore was quite fun and polite. There was no attitude (like you get at the Mint), no snobbery, and even the bartenders and bouncers got up to sing here and there. I highly recommend it.

Saturday was such a beautiful day, I was out and about early. Stopped in to the new and improved Nob Hill Grill for a little breakfast, did some grocery shopping, and was generally lazy until hooking up with Stella (I’ve got to come up with a better code name for him other than his Cat). Now that I’m thinking about it, I will point out that he has reminded me uncannily of two people recently. In that way that you sit across from someone and stare at them, thinking, egads—they look like someone I know…but who? After properly stalking the music of his current project on myspace (what, you thought I was going to just give you a link? Tut, tut.), and looking at a photo of the band, I was struck immediately by a certain picture where he looks bizarrely like ‘s Nicky. Now, miss and I have some pretty interesting life parallels, and that particular annotation, like a footnote to a good book, was pretty spooky. Not in a bad way, but in one of those…wow…weird…sort of ways.

The second resemblance I discovered was over some very tasty Korean food on Saturday as we had dinner. There was a dish of some sort of bar-b-qued, large, tentacled thing – Squid I think – some octopi, a fried spicy fish fillet, and a very delicious marinated beef thing. Stella encouraged me to try the pomegranate wine – which I love – and sipping from this very dainty cordial glass (no, little sisters, not the FAMILY size cordial) I realized that Stella has a mop-fop just like n. Only his might just be slightly more unruly.

Both of these comparisons are compliments of course. And everyone loves n’s hair.

After dinner, we tried to go see Grindhouse at the Parkway, but there was a line for the couch seats (the movie theater serves pizza and beer, and if you get their early enough you can get a spot on these cute little couches with little coffee tables…so it’s like watching a movie at home but on the big screen). We decided to wait it out for the second show, and saw 300 instead. I was desensitized to the gore after a while, and really enjoyed the cinematography of this film. It was beautifully shot, and the special effects on the creatures were fantastic. I do love a good wolf-creature. Afterwards we giggled at the high school kids all done up in their Rocky Horror garb. Ah, the memories.

I drove home around 1:30am…slumbered peacefully, and woke to ‘s text message stating the Bay Bridge had collapsed at 4am. I don’t like driving over that bridge. It gives me the heebie-jeebies because every time I cross it I envision what happened in the 1989 quake, and one single car driving right over the collapsed portion, down to their death in the Bay below. I don’t know why I think about it, but I do. It’s the same thing with the Golden Gate bridge, but instead of collapse I envision all the people who’ve jumped off the bridge to commit suicide over the years (once I witnessed a woman stop her car in the middle of rush hour traffic mid-bridge, straddle the rail, and jump straight off. Just like that). I cannot for the life of me take BART without thinking and envisioning John Shirley’s short story, “Cram,” (Black Butterflies)and to this day I’ve only taken BART maybe…4 or 5 times in the 13 years I’ve lived here. Stella and I had just been discussing these irrational fears that very evening. I find it extremely disconcerting that the section of bridge that collapsed just melted like plastic from the heat.

Ok, enough about that.

Tonight , , and I descend upon the culinary delights and hospitality of for pasta and Bellini’s. I’m pretty sure her cat, Tom (who is roughly the size of 3 of your cats, if you have them), is going to ask me to be his girlfriend this time around. Considering how friendly he gets, we ought to be married by now. The question is…will Rufus get jealous? I mean, they are brothers and all…and Rufus does flirt relentlessly. Tom always gets the girl, though, in the end. I do love that cat. :)

It’s a full moon this Wednesday. Hoooooowwwwwl!

Labels: food, friends

posted by Rain at 1:49 PM

Piddly Doings and I Heart Your Longboard

Well, I’ll be darned.

I just attended a meeting of what a portion of our programming looks like…at least, one type of it. Since we all get bogged down with producing the creative, we don’t always get to see what other teams are working on. When you go to a supermarket and there are TV screens at the checkout, what you see on those screens is what we do: it’s an in-store television network of branded or unbranded content. It’s specifically not advertising – but more a customer experience. The idea is not to advertise to the viewer, but rather engage them so they don’t feel agro about the wait time in a line. After all, you have already made your choices at that point, and seeing a commercial while waiting in line is more likely to make you *more* agitated.

I’m pretty stoked about a lot of the things we’ve done, but never really saw (before) this type of content.

Some things to catch you up to speed… The signature sheets for IN LAYMON’S TERMS are nearly on the way. No update on the release of BARFODDER, however.

Had a 50/50 weekend. The nights seemed to go great; the days…meh…not so great. On Friday I hung out with (lets see if I can find a suitable code name, here…hmmm…maybe I’ll go with his cat’s name) Stella and we checked out a Cuban restaurant called Laurel in Hayes Valley, which was pretty good – except for the squid being rubbery in the seafood stew I had. Mmmmmm…chewy tentacles.

The flavors and spices were an interesting mix of spicy-mild but flavorful, which is something I like a lot. Having not seen Stella in ten years (aside from a brief catch-up at Bigfoot last week), re-connecting was a really cool thing. It’s always great to spend time with people you haven’t seen for a decade and feel as if you never lost touch at all.

Saturday evening, I kicked it with Chardonnay at the Cigar Bar, then headed over to the other Cigar Bar for a birthday party for Snake Bite’s friend. There was a live Cuban Salsa band, and we all danced, caroused, and generally had a blast. My salsa (especially Cuban) is very rusty, but I had more than enough willing dance partners. MachoLatino might recall what I said to him years ago, at a hip hop club when we went up to the Salsa room and he started…well…dancing (?). “Oh, honey…you are thinking, ‘I am latin – there-fore I can,’” – and he couldn’t. He could tango, but not salsa. Snake Bite’s buddies were much the same, except only one of them was Latin. One of them had a tattoo of Texas on his arm, too. I give all of them props for having the balls to try, though, and having a heck of a good time doing it. Later, a very good Cuban dancer invited me to dance, but I was much in my martini’s by then. Though I held my own, I wasn’t exactly graceful in the execution, I think.

Sunday I was supposed to surf, but wound up doing laundry at Libitina’s instead. Her husband now has a new nickname: Muppet Man. He prefers Kermit, but I just can’t go there. The inside joke is far too embarrassing for me not to take full advantage of it (think furries…he “found the orifice” once). We spent the day going through Libitina’s closet, tossing old things that don’t fit, trying on things that might still fit, and so forth. It’s extremely depressing to see the girl has dwindled to a size Double Zero (yep, I said it – the 00 word), but she is a tiny thing to begin with, and eating healthy, and doing yoga – so there’s not much to kibosh her with; she’s doing it right.

Muppet Man opened up an amazing French Bordeaux that we had all thought had been aged too long and was spent. When he decanted it, it smelled dead, really. Tasted vinegarish. After 30 minutes, the aroma was of vanilla and slightly floral. It tasted dry, but smooth. Another 30 minutes and that wonderful fall leaves quality was in the nose, and the flavor was incredible – it almost drank like water, it was