my presidential weekend, and a quiz

i know, i know, i'm not talking about boston yet. soon, i promise.

this last weekend was half about working, half about fun. having been away a lot over this month, i had a backlog of both freelance work and errands. but i did plan in some fun, too. thursday on ba-scrappy there was an offer of free tickets to this chippie saturday evening at the warfield. i've never been to the warfield, but free tickets to someone billed as being a little snarky? sounds perfect.

well think again. that woman was seriously the most unfunny AND offensive comic i've ever seen. we stuck it out for about 20 minutes and then gave up because we'd already heard her use about every racial slur known to man (ok, maybe half of them) and used them to give the audience (or her ex boyfriends) shit. cursing and slurs made up the punchline to every single "joke" and while i don't mind a little fuck now and then, i don't think it works as a noun, adjective AND verb all in the same sentence.

so! we departed and began trolling around union square for a restaurant. ended up at a mediocre mediterranean place nearby, went to urban outfitters and scored some sweet, cheap shirts, and then i wanted some sweet, sort of cheap dessert. i was thinking ice cream since there was a coldstone creamery up the block.

as we approach the store i see a huge crowd. it's about 10pm so i figure this is because coldstone is the only place to get fresh ice cream if you're jonesing. but as we get closer we see a black limo off to the right, and that the people are in a bubble(!) shape around the entrance, and many of those people are holding up their cellphones. this is when someone says very loudly, 'bill clinton is in there!' and you know what? he was.

min pushed her way up near the front of the bubble and waited, as we all did, for clinton to exit. he gave his ice cream to one of the secret service agents, waved to us all, let a few pictures be taken, and signed a few autographs. then he got his ice cream back and headed down the street, right past me, maybe 4 feet away. actually on the way he smiled at us (min was back at that point). a couple of people yelled out, 'we love you!' and then he was gone.

once inside to get the ice cream, we found out he'd posed with the entire staff and given them a $100 tip. pretty nice eh? i miss that guy being in the white house.

sunday was more worky, but when i finished we went up to SF for the tail end of pride. that was ok - it would've been nice to go to an actual *event* rather than just mill about - but again, we followed it up with ice cream (this time at ghirardelli square) so really, just perfect.

now for the quiz. it's long (112 questions) but if you're a true harry potter fan that's nothing compared to the tomes rowling puts out. i accidentally deleted part of the auto-results but suffice to say i am severus snape and i can live with that because he is a real badass (but good guy) and that sounds right up my alley. plus alan rickman is just cool.

Severus Snape 88%

Hermione Granger 84%

Luna Lovegood 84%

Albus Dumbledore 75%

Remus Lupin 69%

Neville Longbottom 69%

Draco Malfoy 66%

Percy Weasley 63%

Sirius Black 63%

Ron Weasley 59%

Harry Potter 59%

Bellatrix Lestrange 50%

Oliver Wood 50%

Lord Voldemort 38%

Take the Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test

adventures in camping

it feels *so* very long ago, but yes, we went camping the first weekend of june, at san simeon state park. i had not camped since i was a teenager and while for the most part it was just like i remembered, the one thing i'd forgotten about was bugs.

now, i am officially the Bug Killer in the house, so it's not like i'm deathly afraid. however there is a difference between an errant bug on the wall (when you know it's an anomaly) and having to fight to keep all of God's Winged Insects from flying into your polyester abode everytime you need to take a leak. incidentally i was worried about how hard the tent would be to put up -- it wasn't that bad, which is good since i did it twice (moved to cozier site).

anyway. i did not anticipate these critters and their relatives would constantly hurl themselves at the tent, presumably moving toward the all-night lantern because i was caught in the throes of an entirely too gripping book. i witnessed not only the sound, but the sight of the miniscule indentations in the tent where these Foul Creatures relentlessly pounced, inches from my face.

note to self: if camping in an area with a lot of bugs, take a boring-ass book. you will fall asleep instantly, instead of being ruthlessly yanked away from your otherworldly thriller, only to assure yourself that there are no demons inside your cage.

bugs aside, we had a very lovely trip. i discovered the edible joys of butterfinger frappaccinos, i kid you not. well, their equivalent anyway, at a local coffee shop. i had one every single day because i just could not resist. well that and i wasn't sleeping that well due to a badly chosen floor mat. why yes, a better one IS in my future!

we sort of went to hearst castle. the park ranger told us that on monday (or whatever the hell day it was, i've already forgotten), Tour 1 was free. so we rolled in around 3 and due to the joys of Rental Cars That AutoLock, the keys (and min's wallet) were accidentally locked in the car. due to the joys of sending in our AAA renewal late (again accidentally), there was much confusion as to whether or not we were actually still members. so after an hour or so of phone calls and paying the renewal fee again, we finally got a guy out there about 20 minutes later. around 5pm we went inside to enjoy our free tour and hey too late. however we had a good time in the gift shop (a lot of pretty stuff) and enjoyed the ocean on the way back.

there was much, MUCH enjoyment of smores. omg seriously. so much so that we whipped out the at-home smore maker upon our return. yes it works. slower than using a campfire, but it still works. really, anytime you have ghirardelli, you can't go wrong.

so that sums up the trip. bugs, smores, ocean love and a too-good-to-put-down book. well, and i got a sunburn because i wasn't paying attention with the sunblock but hey - molting is sexy, right?

until i have the energy to write a recap

please enjoy the photos i uploaded, since that's probably all you'll get from me (boston-wise) for at least a week. ;-)

and someday…someday, i will get (online) the rolls and rolls of oldskool film i shot over the weekend. if anyone has a good resource for digitally processing APS film, feel free to pass it along. meantime, google, watch out!

hello from boston

where i am insanely tired even though it's only 9pm because i've spent the last 3 days walking around this most beautiful, lovely city.

more later of course just felt the need to say hi. :)

wagons east

as some of you may have seen on ba-scrappy, i'm going to boston next week. parts unknown! at least unknownst to me. either due to the late hour or my being lazy, i'm at a loss for words to describe how excited i am about this trip. it's not because i've been nursing the unbidden flames of boston love in my heart. no, i'm excited because:

- the trip offer was a surprise
- boston is full of history (i have a mild history fetish)
- i haven't been to boston before

and to a lesser degree, i'm excited because i'm going by myself. sure, i'm going for work, and i'll put in my time... but it's unmetered time. there's a conference and over the few days, i just need to show up periodically. which means i get the rest of the time to explore, go wherever i want, whenever i want.

speaking of want, while making dinner tonight a fantasy excursion popped into my head. how far is it from boston to new york? could i attend a taping of my favorite show, hosted by my secret man crush? ok maybe not so secret now. alas, this excursion was not meant to be. it's too far away and unsurprisingly, almost impossible to get tickets for. the man is hot. yes i am 99% speaking metaphorically. altho judging by the last picture, in the eyes of jane fonda and gloria steinem, the hotness is more literal.

moving on! i already have a long list of places want to explore in boston -- more than i have time for. however, if any of you have suggestions for what is must-see-or-do, please let me know. i adore discovery.

showing my white bread stripes

i got this from wen the other day. honestly most of these don't make sense but sharing the playlist is fun.

How do you feel today?
closer - nine inch nails

What’s your outlook on life?
breakfast at tiffany's - deep blue something

What does your family think of you?
way you walk - papas fritas

What do your friends think of you?
holiday - green day. i hope that means some people think of me as fun, at any rate. ;-)

What do your exes think of you?
hurting each other - carpenters. ouch.

How’s your love life?
indiana jones theme - john williams. actually that's pretty damn funny. or would be if it actually involved jumping onto trains and rescuing artifacts.

How will your love life be in the future?
smells like teen spirit - nirvana. ok this is a disturbing trend.

Will you get married?
since you been gone - aretha franklin. gee.

Are you good at school?
will you still love me? - chicago

Will you be successful?
big sur - the thrills

What song should they play on your birthday?
scooter boys - indigo girls. hah! both wen and i got IG on that one.

What song should they play at your graduation?
it's not unusual - tom jones

The Soundtrack of your life?
sign your name - terence trent d'arby. uh, yeah so not.

You and your best friends are?
cream - prince. um.

Happy times:
drive - incubus

Sad times:
brave and crazy - melissa etheridge

Every day:
stacy's mom - fountains of wayne. hah! actually twisted a bit, that's not so far off.

For tomorrow:
let it ring - amy ray.

For you:
river constantine - jars of clay.

What does next year have in store for me?
sara smile - hall & oates

What do I say when life gets too hard?
shattered dreams - johnny hates jazz.

What song will I dance to at my wedding?
what a fool believes - doobie brothers.

What do you want as your career?
on your honor - amy ray

Your favorite saying?
things can only get better - howard jones

How will I die?
if only she knew - michelle branch. great, i'll die at the hands of a woman. i suppose that's appropriate.

ok, anyone else who wants to do this, consider yourself tagged! and yes i'll be posting about my camping excursion soon. i'm still catching up...meantime i did upload pics. :)