Vacation meta-entry

Twenty-six brand new bright orange expansion tanks! And they all have to be installed RIGHT BELOW where I work. Whee! Seen from the end, they look like gigantic metal pumpkins. If they leave some outside tonight, I'd be sorely tempted to to have at them with semi-gloss black. Pretty!

There's so much I could post about California. I brought along my vacation journal, in which I create a one-page calendar for each trip and fill in telegraphic descriptions of each day's events. For instance, the entries for a week ago today read:

• Café do Brasil
• Asian Art Mus.
• Tu Lan
• BART to Millbrae
• missed connex.
• dinner w/ Kcat, Mort, Seth, Olga, Mark

Any one of these items could be expanded to several paragraphs. Y'all've already seen how much I got out of a few minutes discussion over the dinner table at that meal and I haven't even touched on the awesome conversation with Kcat about the dynamics of being a primary caregiver, the amusement I had building architectural masterpieces for Seth to go Godzilla on, or my smouldering lust for one of the dinner guests.

One approach would be to rearrange the entries thematically and do, for instance, a whole food post. That would have the effect of emphasising the Tu Lan trip, since my intention there was to compare the best Vietnamese food I'd ever even up till then to the food I've had in the last few weeks in my new 'hood. (Verdict: Tu Lan is as good as the best VN places I've eaten at in Chicago, but I don't think it's superior--even granting it points for atmosphere.) The banana pancakes at Café do Brasil and the cornish hens in Mountain View would hardly merit a mention--not because they weren't good, but because they don't stand out against some of the true faboo meals we had.

Or I organise entries by people. Those I wanted to reconnect with (like the crowd at dinner) and those I connected with by serendipity (like our highly entertaining Brazilian waiter and the kvetchy old Australian resident he was also serving). After all, that was the chief focus of the trip: Seeing people. So many possibilities, so little motivation to tackle them properly.

Here comes the weekend

Halloween falls on a Friday this year and I don't have any real plans for it. monshu suggested braving the threat of meningitis and seeing what's hopping in Boystown, but our friends haven't gotten back to us.

All Saints Day I hope to spend graveyard walking. With that in mind, I hope whatever silly muscle I pulled in my right foot heals before then. Odd that I would tramp up and down the hills of SF for ten days and only hurt my foot a day after returning to the flat. If I get an early start, I can squeeze in coffee with e. at Meinl before it gets too dark.

Dia de los Muertos princeofcairo has a little jaunt to Pilsen organised. How could I pass that up? Carnitas, sugar skulls, ofrendas, a visit to Bom Bon? How could I pass any of that up?

Plenty to do on my place still, which I left in disastrous condition two weeks back. But soon enough it will be all cold and nasty outside and staying home to pick up and complete little projects will have more appeal. In the meantime, I have to get out and see the colours!

Bay of Big Readers

Surprisingly, we didn't do much book shopping in San Francisco. There was our trip to Chinatown, in which we wandered into North Beach trying to find a bookstore that was recommended to us. The owner had an irritating habit of whistling an off-key tune that was inspired in some unrecoverable way by whatever music he happened to be playing. When he failed to show us what we were looking for and walked off, monshu said to me, "I think we've brought consternation."

He did recommend another bookstore, but it turned out to be even smaller than his. We wondered if this wasn't another instance of the famous Chinese habit of tossing you a lead, no matter how pointless. monshu says the reasoning is that, if they send you somewhere, then they've helped you. Looking on the more cynical side, I think they often are just glad to be rid of us after we've embarrassed them over their lack of stock.

The woman at New China Books was very gracious and we did end up buying some items; even if they weren't really what we were seeking, they should prove handy. But we didn't really strike paydirt until we had given up. On the way back to the Gate, I spotted a sign advertising scrolls and framing and suggested this might be the opportunity monshu was looking for to get the calligraphy he'd brought along mounted traditionally. It was, but it still wasn't cheap, and, of course, they only took cash. So while he was out hitting the ATM and the couple who ran the cramped basement shop were going back about their business, I cracked open one of the books we'd picked up. The proprietress noted with interest that it contained antique characters and I explain that I was trying to learn seal script. She communicated this to her husband, who showed me a book he used, which gave the forms of the characters in six antique forms, including small seal script.

My jaw dropped. "This is exactly what we've been looking for!" I said. "Where did you get it?" China! But, as luck would have it, he was visiting China in a few weeks and could purchase another. Would I like to buy the one he had? I jumped at the chance. He offered me five but his wife said that was too little and demanded ten. He laughed and split the difference. I paid him $8 for an pocket-sized, ink-smeared book and felt like I'd scored a tremendous coup. "If I give you this, and you happy, then I am happy!" Mr Wong told me.

Later, we popped into a Chinese department store, but the books there were much too cheesy. I picked up a Dover reprint on Korean games at the Asian Art Museum gift shop, but didn't have nearly as much time to check out Kiyokuniya as I wanted. We had high hopes for Stacey's and it was a terrible disappointment. Their computer section might be awesome, but monshu described their art section as "pathetic" and I felt their language reference was no better than what one could find in a decent Borders or Barnes and Noble. On the other hand, they had more Feng Shui books than any other place I've ever been--including Chinatown!

My moment of greatest amusement came in the basement, where they have their shelves of discounted merchandise. The first one I came to was labeled "BARGAIN RELIGION". I thought that was fantastic. Can't afford the high prices for Scientology now that your stock options are worth less than Sanrio stamps? Find a new spirituality for $9.99 or less! The store was decked out--in a tasteful, restrained way--for Day of the Dead. I looked from the mediocre ofrendas to the whey faces of the staff and back again, turned to monshu and said, "Never before has this holiday looked so appropriated."