Saturday, January 29, 2005
Patrick ate Grape Nuts and made my favorite breakfast for me. Groceries at Trader Joe's with Patrick. Patrick did Lodestar work. Repaired a Gap shirt. The problem is that they use plastic thread and plastic strips of tape to make the stitching stronger but this plastic scratches me at the neckline and is very irritating. I took some plain cotton cloth from an old t-shirt and hand-stitched it over the scratchy spot and now it's all better. Took a nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: zucchini, mushroom, chicken sausage, ricotta, parmesan, and basil lasagna; Il Fornaio sandwich rolls (michette); southwestern corn and bean salad. Picked up Tony Q at his parents' place in the Richmond. On our way to a party, I unexpectedly turned down Lombard Street at the beginning of the crooked part, so we went down the crooked brick road. It was already dark, so there wasn't much to see except the interior of someone's beautiful home where a window had no coverings. We had to park a ways from the party since it was in the heart of North Beach. Cobb's Comedy Club had some show going on, so parking was a particularly miserable affair. When we arrived at the party—a jungle-themed birthday for Steven, a friend of an ex of Tony's (I think)—I was pleasantly surprised. The residence looked newly remodeled and/or very well maintained. The entry immediately led into a flight of stairs which opened into a long hallway. Whoever decorated this place was a fan of old phones (such as those seen at oldphones.com) and Design Within Reach. The front room had a freestanding woodburning fireplace, bookcases built into the walls on either side, a fine wood console with an orchid plant, wooden antique chairs, a modern sofa, a rocking chair, Eric Pfeiffer's Mag Table in walnut (DWR, $165), Eames Walnut Stool Shape B in walnut (DWR, $700), a barrel-shaped log carrier/holder. The dining room had a fine wood dining table with matching chairs, a China cabinet built into the wall, and another console similar to the one in the front room and adorned with a dragonfly bowl-top lamp. A pair of matching gold saucers accented the lamp. The kitchen had, I believe, the Nelson Saucer Pendant Lamp - Medium (DWR, $300) and an industrial range. A tiny back patio with fountain, koi fish, trelliswork, and lots of plants. Two dark bedrooms I didn't see, and a home theatre room with projection onto a giant screen. One of the old phones was, I'm pretty certain, a Western Electric 202 (D1). The other was (I think) a Northern Electric #2 Wall Telephone. Comet, a sweet, mostly quiet, male, white westie—western highland terrier—appeared and disappeared at footlevel throughout the evening, peeing only once, probably due to the excitement of having dozens of people invade his space. The partygoers were just as pleasing as the home in which they gathered. I didn't remember the names of everyone I met, but here is the list I have: Mike, Ashley, Hong (sp?), Sharif, Anas, Sammy, Kat, Chris, Keith, Lauren, Megan, Tom/Thomas, Eric, James, Vince, Daniel, Chad, Gordon, Lance, Howard. I didn't meet either Peter or Pedro, but they were there, too. Most everyone seemed relaxed and plainly interested in meeting other people and sharing stories. The edibles were decidedly simple: chips and salsa, Chex party mix, cheesy puffs. The usual assortment of drinks were stacked in a corner table. Lauren told me about playground technology; Megan talked about Marie Callendar's; Thomas teased in a playful and charming manner; Sharif talked about Hastings; Anas turned out to be the doctor up for which Patrick and I had both signed; graphic designer Sammy and I talked about Adobe products and once I had said I had worked for Adobe he seemed to hold me personally responsible for (in his mind) the debacle called Illustrator 9; James and I talked about Lodestar Quarterly; James, Eric, Tony, and I talked about dried out contact lenses (Eric's right lens was out of action); I complimented Hong (sp?) on his perfectly partly bleached blond hair; Howard and Anas talked about migraines while I mostly just listened in. After a while, the front room turned into the dance room (yes, even though the fireplace was there). A man at the party who was from Australia said that no Australian drinks Foster's—Victoria Bitters, "if you're a manly man," I think he said. Partiers had been asked to come in a jungle-themed costume, if possible, but the only evidence I saw of that was one man wearing a tiger-ears headband and a tiger's tail and, later, a woman (Ashley) with a tiger-print purse. I guess now that I think about it one or two others also came in camoflauge, which would apply as well. After the party, Tony and I walked the loogie-covered sidewalks past straight boys and their Bebe-dressed girlfriends stumbling out of bar orifices to get back to my car. I drove him back to his parents' home, then took myself home.