last weekend

Last weekend was pretty damn fun. I was promising a roundup, so I guess this is going to be it. What was nice about the weekend was that I spent a lot of time with people I don't normally hang out with. Friday after working in the San Francisco office I went to Monk's Kettle, a new restaurant/bar in my neighborhood. It's actually kind of classy, which is weird because my neighborhood is sort of anti-class (in a very self conscious, hipster way). I mean, there are classy restaurants in the 'hood, but pretty much all bars are kind of dives. Monk's Kettle has a lot of pretty good beer on tap and in bottles, but we did wait for almost two hours for a table (luckily we had beer). I had a pulled pork sandwich for dinner. It was not amazing but not bad. Still, not sure how often I'd go back there just cause it's so crowded and not cheap, and Toronado has better beers anyway. But I went with two girls from my work and their boyfriends, which was fun and refreshing. Afterwards I met Justin and we walked up to the Knockout, where I'd never been before, for this kind of rad oldies/doo wop/soul night where we witnessed, among other things, a girl dressed in a sequined leotard and nothing else. She was rocking out hardcore.

I was up later than I planned Friday, so Saturday I woke up late and James was on our couch still (he'd crashed there the night before) and so he and Dan and I went to the Irving Street Cafe in the inner Sunset, which is basically a diner. I got two pancakes, two pieces of bacon and a scrambled eggs for $5.50!! Where can you get that anymore anywhere?! Dan was reminiscing about Illinois the whole time. The food was good, too. Pretty sweet greasy spoon stuff. The rest of the afternoon Dan and I watched Planet Earth, until I left for Berkeley. Peattie's brother in law was doing a reading of some short stories, and so Peattie, his roommate Greg, and I went to Triple Rock for beer and pastrami before the reading at Pegasus. Ammon (the brother-in-law) was the best writer of the bunch and I picked up his little self-published book for $5. Peattie's other roommate was there too with his girlfriend, so all of us San Franciscans, and Peattie's family (parents & sister) ended up at the Albatross, which as I understand it is pretty much THE grad student bar in Berkeley. They have board games that you can rent from the bar, and so we played a pretty good round of Scrabble. Peattie & I were on a team, and we ended up with two Ys, the Q, the Z, and the X during the course of the game and we won. I think Scrabble is way more fun in person than on Facebook, but you have to get it going so I'll continue with Facebook. We rode home in a VW bug which smelled like crayons (true story) and listened to Bohemian Rhapsody. It was pretty sweet, and I thought my night was over, but instead when I got home Ace was there with her visiting friend Charlotte and two guys I didn't recognize, drinking sake. I was up until almost 4am just hanging out.

Brunch at Boogaloo's the next day, where we were joined by the guys from the day before, Braden & Pat, and then afterwards Ace and Charlotte were headed to Sausalito and the rest of us decided, why not? Justin almost joined but didn't make the ferry, although he made a valiant attempt. Sausalito is pretty dull, but it's pretty and beach towny and we went to a game store that sold a bunch of children's books I hadn't seen in years, as well as "Hungry Caterpillar" stickers and mood rings, which I totally bought. (Right now, I am "romantic.") We had bloody marys on a patio bar, and then caught the ferry back, where the girls and I had dinner at Ti Couz (buckwheat crepes, I had one with ratatouille in it, YUM). The night ended with the first episode of "The Wire," which I watched with Justin because we are trying to be cultural now and well-informed about quality media. The first ep was really good, and I am already pretty hooked. Like I need more tv in my life.

Still, the weekend was great overall. I felt really good about stepping out of my comfort zone a bit. Things like hopping on a ferry on a whim are the kinds of things I want to do more in the city... that's part of what makes it fun to live there. Proximity to everything.

Some pics from the Saus:

The crew on the ferry (sadly Charlotte's eyes are closed).

Really.

On our way back to the city, the skyline.

Boat! I like getting boats in pictures because I'm a nerd and sailboats make me think of what it would be like to summer in the cape.

Lovely.
I got the bird on accident, but I like getting birds in pictures too. It's like I totally planned the asymmetry. There aren't any pictures of people because I felt weird documenting a hang with total strangers.