Sunday, March 27, 2005
Easter Sunday. Chatted online with friends. We got a beautiful postcard from BnK travelling in Japan: front view of the Yomei-mon Gate. The postage is a colorful 80-yen stamp with some kind of anime spaceship. Patrick and I spent a few hours in the Castro. We were thinking of attending the Easter events that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence hold in Dolores Park, but all morning was overcast and blustery, and I feared the discomfort I knew such weather would bring me, so we didn't go and simply imagined the wet Easter bonnets and hunky Jesuses (or Jesi?) shivering in their brown robes or whatever it is that Jesus wore. Late brunch at Thai Chef: pig pad thai for me, bbq chicken for Patrick. I couldn't stop myself from laughing when we overheard a man at a neighboring table giving his order to the server. It went something like this: "...well what about this dish—does it have coconut in it? And this one—(the server says something I didn't hear, but the diner interrupts him)—coconut? I see, well I'm thinking this one because...coconut...but can you tell me if this one has coconut? You see I just wasn't sure because the menu doesn't say whether it has coconut in it or not. Is there coconut in this one?" Eventually a decision was made, and the very patient server left to place the order. I couldn't tell if the man was trying to get or avoid coconut or if he was trying to see how many times he could say "coconut" without driving the server into a headlineworthy rage. Patrick also attempted to hide his snickering, but it was impossible to do, I tell you. A Different Light bookstore was having a big book sale so I got The Irreversible Decline of Eddie Socket (paperback) by John Weir for $1.99. We forgot to bring an umbrella and dashed from store to store to avoid getting soaked in the alternately light and medium-heavy rain. We said hello to our clothing store worker friends: Jesse (who kept begging Patrick to cook a meal) and Hussein, Adrian (who is getting a tattoo on his back soon—two phoenixes I think he said). We stopped at a cafe on 18th up the hill a ways and had an almond tart, a chai latte, and (what did Patrick drink?). I read William Sterling Walker's "Desire"—the second story in Fresh Men: New Voices in Gay Fiction—about men barhopping in New Orleans. So far this book is 2 for 2. I like that "Desire" is rich with details and that it doesn't explain everything. You're forced to figure things out—no "just feed me" mentality. Napped. Dinner at home with Patrick: biryani with naan. Called Tina, who was in Hawaii with Daniel, Domenica, and Corey. Within minutes after I had called, their luau show had started, so I let them go. Did some catching up on e-mail today.