Saturday, August 24, 2002
Breakfast at home with Patrick: oatmeal. Grocery shopping at Albertson's. Lunch at home with Patrick: caesar salad kit, leftover pasta with red sauce, rosemary bread. Birthday party for Nat at Robbie's place in San Jose. We met Nat, Robbie, Bill and Kevin, Ryan, Drew and Ryan, Shu Hei, Jonathan, Simon, Ivan, Mark, and Nicole. Jonathan had formerly been a caterer and made an impressive spread of several salads; barbecued chicken, shrimp, and vegetable skewers; a cheese and pate plate; fresh fruit; and a giant chocolate cake. This was the first time that Patrick and I met Nat in person. We'd gotten acquainted over the Internet but never got around to meeting until now. Then we drove back to San Francisco for Aaron's farewell party. There were too many people to list, and we didn't know most of them. (Even Aaron frequently turned his head and said, "Who's that person?!") When we arrived, Aaron said to Patrick, "There's only one Asian guy, and he's in the next room." The "Asian guy" turned out to be a pharmacist named Tristan who we ended up meeting and got his number. Tristan happens to be a good friend of writer Noel Alumit (author of Letters to Montgomery Clift) as well as playwright Prince Gomolvilas. Amy and David were there, having spent the afternoon downtown at the library for the Borges exhibit. There were 3 cakes. One was an ice cream cake with a combination of Phish food and some other Ben and Jerry's flavor. Another cake was the one that Tara brought, but I didn't get to try it. Patrick described it as "eclectic." The last cake got the most attention. It was chocolate with white frosting, and decorated with a drawing of Aaron's face. Jamie had given the cake decorater a photograph from which to work, and the resemblance to the real Aaron was almost scary. The cake was cut, and people took bites of Aaron's ears, lips, and eyes. On it were words piped in frosting that said something like, "I'm headed to New York so just eat me!" We also saw Hilary, Pauline, Nicole, Daphne, Elizabeth and Alex, Kai, Joseph, and, of course, Jamie.