Saturday, February 19, 2011
Will and I spent a lazy morning together. Dropped Will off at the the gym in Deliverator. Drove to Oakland. Dropped off my bike at Bay Area Bikes for a free tune-up and a new kickstand. The kickstand provided by Dahon on my Curve SL didn't sit correctly; the bike would too easily fall over. Bought drinks and cookie dough at Oakland Grocery Outlet. Bakesale Betty's fried chicken sandwiches with cole slaw, chocolate chip and pecan cookies at Charmmie and Ryan's with Charmmie, Ryan, Sammie, Mike, Niraj, Attila, ?, Bailey. We talked about the forthcoming Comic-Con in San Diego, dog and cat psychology and behavior, bicycling, food, black metal (?), Janet Jackson, Metallica's website, New York City, India, Dubai, Muni. I met a user experience designer, a 4x5 photographer, the executive assistant to the creator of a wildly popular comic book character (who revealed that a film is optioned and forthcoming), Sammie's fiance, as well as 2 cats and a dog. This was the first time I can remember being in a household with cats and not feeling any allergy symptoms afterwards, so I guess I'm not allergic to all cats. Picked up my bike—the new kickstand (about $10) seems to be an improvement over the previous one. Shopped at Bay Street Emeryville: Apple Store, Gap Kids, Williams-Sonoma, Bath and Body Works, Gymboree, Pottery Barn, Nike. Snack at Pizza My Heart: mushroom pizza slice, Honest Tea organic honey green tea. Cookie from Teacake Bake Shop: orange da vinci: vanilla, orange rind, chocolate chips, toasted almonds. It's slightly crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, just like the woman behind the counter said it would be. Delicious! Stopped at Office Depot—disappointed with the selection of paper trays. Drove home. The Bay Street Emeryville shopping center is charming and brand new, but the parking garage frustrated me because the elevator was really slow and there were no stairs obvious and nearby where you wait for the elevator. (I found stairs eventually but they were far away.) Also, leaving this shopping center is frustrating because it's not very clear how to get to the freeway I wanted to go to. There are too many lanes, too many curves or turns in the path to the freeway, and not enough signs. I think that poor or missing signage caused me to do some quick lane-changing which was challenging at night and in the rain. I would not be surprised if accidents are common in this area. Dinner at home: leftover rainbow orzo salad, a modified rolotini. This time I did 3 parts vodka, 1 part creme de cacao, 1 part butterscotch schnapps and left the ice in the glass. It's better than before, but still not perfect. Entered more journal entries from my Asia trip, but realized that some of my journal notes are mixed up and that I will need to finish going through my photos to figure out the error. Reread the prologue from Patrick's draft of a new novel and sent Patrick new edits for it. Reread and edited part of chapter 1 as well. To bed late.