damian's thirty year challenge

Bit of a catchup...

2009-06-23T11:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, clearly I have been remiss in keeping up to date with this blog. I've been a bit sick, a bit busy writing other stuff, and a lot lazy on this. The good news, however, is that my challenge is still going strong. Or at least, still going. I have not failed yet! So, I was thinking, maybe the best thing to do would be to list a few things that I've done in the last couple of weeks, draw a line under it, say I'm up to date, and carry on like that. Right? Right. Well, it's not as if you have a choice. Unless you want to stop reading. Wait, wait, no. Come back!

Alright, so. Lately, I have mostly been...

Going to our local pool. I'm terrible at swimming. I didn't last long, but others were slower than me. And I didn't drown!
Drunkenly going on the swings in the park. This made me feel sick.
Translating articles / writing applications in French. I love lesinrock.com
Signing up at a couple of new job agencies. Still no job, though
Going to the Dovre club. It's actually kinda great and not full of idiotholes.
Checking out a local book fair in a school. I found some great books.
Drinking Coffee in Cafe Trieste. They asked me if I wanted milk in my espresso??
Sorta laughing at comedy at the punchline. Super nice people who worked there, mind
Attending a skate punk party in someone's backyard. It was very highlarious.
Playing scrabbles for like, four hours in Bean There. They have lots of types of tea
Joining a cricket team. Hell yes. I'm pretty thrilled about this.
Sipping tea in a mediterranean cafe in Palo Alto.

Uh, probably some other stuff which isn't quite as super interesting all the time.

Anyway. There you go. I'm going to get back to being prompt now. And hopefully get a job, yes?

yes.

Day 113; Sunday, 6th June

2009-06-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

Every so often around the city there's an event called 'Sunday Streets'. Not 'Saturday Streets', as I tried to tell my roommate. The streets are closed off to cars, so people can walk or ride across the whole of the road. Normally it's in Golden Gate Park, or up by the embarcadero. This time, however, it was in the mission, spanning 24th st from Bryant up to Valencia, and then up Valencia to 16th street.

So, I went for a walk around. I walked up the middle of 24th street, and then back down again. It was great. It was wonderful to see so many families around, and kids on bikes (wearing helmets!). The stores along the road seemed to be doing pretty good business, as well. I wonder what would happen if this were to be made a weekly affair. There have been on / off rumours about market street being converted to a pedestrian only route (this would be amazing, incidentally), but so many people are wedded to their cars, so I wonder....

Anyway. It was a pretty incredible day. I had some creme fraiche ice cream. It was revelatory.

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 112; Saturday, 6th June

2009-06-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned the other day, it's pretty difficult to find decent Indian food in San Francisco. However, at the farmers' market there's a stall that sells various chutneys, popadoms and naan breads. I had a little money left over from buying vegetables, and so on, so I figured I'd dive in. I got a jalepeno chutney (actually, on second thoughts, this doesn't sound especially Indian. Presumably, a different chili would be used. Yes, let's go with that.), a packet of garlic naan and some caraway popadoms. The naan was not good; it was heavy, dry, and a little unpleasant. I guess maybe it's the sort of thing that you do need a proper oven for. The popodoms, on the other hand, were a revelation; I was a little concerned that I wouldn't be able to cook them properly, but I just heated them up one at a time in a dry frying pan. They even do the little bubbling thing!

And the Chutney, yeah, it was pretty good too. Hot, savory, spicey... I kinda wish I'd got the lime pickle. But maybe next time, huh.

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 111; Friday, 5th June

2009-06-11T14:55:00.000-07:00

Just out of interest, what's happening to this year? How is it like, a third of the year round from my birthday? Weird. Anyway, as you know, I like to go to a baseball game, now and then. I was all set to potter around at home, possibly huming to myself, or pretending to be a trumpet (don't deny it; you totally do this when you're in the house by yourself). My plans changed, however, when I got a call from a friend saying he had two tickets to the baseball. Forty Dollar tickets. FOR FREE.

Clearly, time to go out.

And here's the exciting part; it was time to taste, finally, the beer that started this challenge. I'd like to call it challenge beer, but my friend, he has other ideas. It was, it's fair to say, a little sweet. We may well have added the wrong amount of sugar. As such, it was also very, very fizzy. However, it wasn't undrinkable, even if it's not something you'd be able to consume too much of without your stomach exploding, to possibly comic effect.

Overall, though, not bad for a first try.

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 110; Thursday, 4th June

2009-06-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned a lonnnnnnnng time ago, one of the things I plan on doing this year is painting a self portrait. Clearly, this appeals to my ego both in terms of my pretending to be an artist and, obviously, I get to paint myself. Oh, vanity. This clearly isn't going to happen until I make a little bit more money, however, and can afford some materials and stuff.

Today, however, I wandered over to the Precita Eyes gallery and art supply store. It was open, for a change (this is an achievment, in itself; it seems like everything in Bernal Heights just opens as and when the hell they feel like). However, looks like there were some wires crossed; the Bernal Heights Precita Eyes is aimed at children, so I got some odd looks when I got in, it's fair to say. But, I picked up a couple of fliers and had a wander around, trying to avoid looking like some sort of weird sex criminal.

And then left hastily.

Enjoyment: 0
Newness: x1
Total: 0

Day 109; Wednesday, 3rd June

2009-06-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

So, I guess this forms a pair with Monday's entry. A sort of compare and contrast excercise, if you will. There's another new coffee shop on 24th st. Rather than having a silly pretendo European name, it's just called 'King of Coffee'. What seems to have happened is this; there used to be a store that sold plants, and the stuff. It was rather nice and disorganised, like you were walking into a forest and just pulling out some plants. However, I never once saw anyone buy anything.

So, it looks like Mr King of Coffee bought the place, plants included, and put a counter in there. And some benches chairs and tables. But not too many. The overall effect is a little like taking tea in a jungle.

This is a good thing. Plus, the guy who works there is super friendly. He keeps trying to give me more coffee. I worry for this place, though; there's another minimalist hipster coffee place a few doors down, where the moustachioed ironists hang out on the street sipping their week coffee. And that's the good thing abour Mr King; he makes it nice and strong. And the Turkish stuff he's got? Pretty darn good. If I could afford to buy coffee every day rather than making my own, I'd be here every morning.

Enjoyment +2
Newness: x1
Total: +2

Day 108; Tuesday, 2nd June

2009-06-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

Still in a bit of a daze. This challenge would have been a lot easier when I was twenty five, that's for sure. But then, I probably wouldn't have bothered doing it then. Anyway, After spanish class I had to get something to eat.

I was riding down 16th street on my way home. I used to live there, and when I did, I always went to Pakwan Indian restaurant if I fancied some Indian food. It's fine - it's not terribly hot, but quite well spiced, and the naan breads are pretty good. There is another Indian restaurant along the street, too, called Alhamra, and this is where I went to get dinner. Like Pakwan, and indeed, almost every other Indian restaurant I've been to in this town, it suffers from a lack of spicing. I like Indian food hot. HOT. I don't get what the problem is, either; there's plenty of mexican and thai and chinese restaurants that don't stint on the chilli. Oh well.

Enjoyment: 0
Newness: x1
Total: 0

Day 107; Monday, 1st June

2009-06-10T15:50:00.000-07:00

So the post camping sleep deprivation kicked in today. I wandered around in a daze, trying to get this or that done, but not really getting anywhere fast. I went round to my friend's to pick up my camera, and on the way home, I noticed a new cafe that had opened up on 24th street.

It's called Haus.

As in, the german for House.

I see what you did there. $2.50 for a coffee? No thanks! and it's all minimal furniture and gefaelscht mittel European twattery inside.

Fair to say, it pissed me off.

Enjoyment: -2
Newness: x1
Total: -2

Day 105; Sunday, 31st May

2009-06-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

So I got back from our camping trip pleasingly early. After I'd showered and pottered around a bit, I had a message from a friend asking me if I wanted to go play scrabble. Did you know that the word rota is not in the american scrabble dictionary? This is amazing to me. Anyways, I won. The game went on a little, so I wanted to pick up some dinner on the way home. I stopped off at El Cachanilla, a tacqueria on 20th st. On the plus side - I had to order in spanish. I was pretty pleased I was able to make myself understood enough to get a burrito without rice. On the other hand, there was no salsa with it.

But, as they say, it filled a hole. It wasn't as good as the Guadalajara, mind.

Enjoyment: 0
Newness: x1
Total: 0

Day 104; Saturday, 30th May

2009-06-04T13:47:00.001-07:00

So today was fishing day. Fishing, two ways. Well, same lake, but two different locations. First time, we drove round to the Lake Chabot marina, which was pleasingly full of people milling around and enjoying the summer sunshine. Later in the afternoon, we wandered down rather a steep hill from our campsite to a jetty down on the lake.

Two different locations, total fishing time, about two hours, between three people.... and no fish caught. Seriously. It's kinda becoming a joke, now. And it wasn't as if other people around us weren't getting bites. As the sun went down, too, we saw fish leaping around in the water, giving us the metaphorical middle finger.

Dammit.

Anyway, it's fun to sit by a river or lake in the sun, and a beer, and while away some time.

I think, anyway.

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 103; Friday, 29th May

2009-06-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

How cool is to be able to drive for a half hour, be up in the hills and go camping? Pretty darn cool, that's how cool. We went up to Chabot regional, in the Oakland hills, near Castro Valley. Here's an article that I wrote about it. There were wild turkeys! And wild children! And al fresco drinking! I do like camping a lot. The hills were pleasingly steep, too. My friends my disagree with my reading of that situation.

But nevermind that. Despite the fact that we left our cooker, almost all of our flashlights, um, various other camping essentials, we not only survived, we thrived. Cooking scrambled eggs on an open fire? Yes please. There'll be more of this tomorrow.

Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x1
Total: +2

Day 102; Thursday, 28th May

2009-06-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

There was a lot to do today before I went camping on Friday. In theory, I had to pack, but at the very least, wash all my clothing, plus do all the writing I could as I wouldn't be around a computer for the next few days. More of this anon, obviously. This being the case, I was up early and went down the road to El Paradiso Cafe, which is on 25th at Treat. They sell Bagels. I like bagels. I won't go so far as to suggest that the place is, indeed, a paradise on earth, but it was pleasant enough, even if their coffee was typically weak. I guess that's why they they serve it in large cups, huh.

Still, nice enough.

Enjoyment: 0
Newness: x1
Total: 0

Day 101; Wednesday, 27th May

2009-06-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

As part of my never ending quest for preprandial caffination, I wanted to find somewhere to get some grounds in Palo Alto, where we were visiting for our Wednesday meeting. Thanks to Mr Internets, I found an Italian deli can AG Ferrari. An Italian deli must sell coffee, right? Right? Wrong. bah.

Nice one, Palo Alto.

Enjoyment: -1
Newness: x1
Total: -1

Day 100; Tuesday, 26th May

2009-06-02T10:52:00.000-07:00

So, after one hundred days of writing this shit, I've decided to put some ads up. I mean, might as well use what I've got here, right? Right. So feel free to click on any of this shit and make me five cents, or something. Hell, or give me a job. That'd be good, too.

Anyway. One hundred days! Going to stop for a minute and bask in the warm glow. One hundred! A lot of it has been boring. Some of it has been interesting. It's not the interesting stuff that's interesting, however. I mean, it is, perhaps, for those of you who read this. But perhaps, it's not so much for me. It's likely that in the normal course of events I'd have done some of them, anyway; I'm not a total stay at home type under normal circumstances. Rather, it's the little things that keep me off balance, that force me to disrupt my normal routine, to bounce me out of a rut; these are the things that make the challenge worth doing. And like, I've discovered some interesting things in the course of this; there's an amazing deli just up the road from here, for example, that I'd have never gone to. Plus, keeping my head shaved is a Good Thing.

To a large extent, though, I'm just happy to have been able to keep this going for so long. I was a little concerned that I'd give it up and let it die quietly on the first or second hangover; but no, I'm still going, over a hundred days later. Without wanting to tempt fate now, there's enough weight behind this now to ensure that I push my way through to the finish. There's no WAY that I'm going to screw this up and waste what I've done. Seriously.

My hundreth day, then, was a little low key; I'd actually posted this for last Thursday, but I had the days mixed up; I had to meet a friend from work to talk about strategy, and stuff, so we went to Sugar Cafe, on Sutter st just above Union sq. There was tea, and cakes, and Prince. I'm ok with this sort of thing.

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 99; Monday, May 25

2009-06-01T17:59:00.000-07:00

It was Memorial Day today. I actually did about three new things in toto, but the one I really want to talk about is SPiCES! 3. And not just because I wrote an article about it, which you should read, etc. Once you're done here, obviously. As I was saying; it's a chinese restaurant in Oakland, on 12th and something or other. As you might assume from the name, the food is pretty hot. Hot, hot, hot. I had sweat dripping off my head. So... many.... chillies....

Scores:
Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x1

Total: +2

Day 98; Sunday, May 24th

2009-06-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

I got back from the Tullycraft show at around 1.30, and then bummed around a bit before going to bed about an hour later. I was less than amused, therefore, when I had a seven thirty wakeup call on Sunday morning, as loud music flooded in from the outside. It seems as though our street is used as a staging area for the yearly Carnivale, and part of that invovles testing the PA VERY LOUDLY for a perdiod of time. That period being not less than an hour, seemingly. Now, my friend with whom I had been out the previous evening lives nearby, so, presuming that she too had been woken by the cacophany, I suggested we go for some breakfast.

As we ate, and I complained about the racket, we talked about the Carnivale. Last year I had missed it due to being in Oakland (likely at a baseball game), but this year my friend had been invited to a Carnivale party. On a roof. Obviously, we went.

The Carnivale is amazing. As well as providing an excuse to start drinking before lunch, there's a series of floats and dancing (you know the sort of thing, right) and general fun having. There was a soccer team. There was a pirate ship. I totally want to do it next year.

Scores:
Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x1

Day 95; Thursday, May 21st

2009-06-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, oops. I got a little out of whack with this. If I don't find a way / can't be bothered to change the time stamp on this so it appears in the right order, well, hm. Sorry.

*****update****** actually, the below isn't true, either. This is what happened on day 100. Am struggling a bit. to remember what I did, tbh.

******update update********

Here we go. I went and had dinner at Nopa with a friend to celebrate her graduation.

The positives - the food is pretty good, the wine list is pretty good. The negatives - it's not cheap, the portions are pretty small, and we had a proposterous server. I ate baked white beans in tomato sauce with breadcrumbs. I shall try to recreate this at home at some point, I suspect.

Scores:

Enjoyment: 0
Newness: x1
Total: 0

Day 97; Saturday, May 23nd

2009-05-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

There are certain bands that represent more than just a few tunes, or a good time, or a nice beat. Fans of All About Eve, or Bauhaus get tagged as goths, whether they are or not. Likewise, if you like Belle and Sebastian, it's assumed you are a twee, cardigan wearing, pant wetting indie schmindie type. As with anything, there are some elements of truth to it. Even if Belle and Sebastian moved on from that sort of thing many albums ago.

Now, one of the primogenitors of the tweecore scene was a band called Tullycraft. It turns out that they are splitting up after about forty seven years of releasing the same album on Sarah Records. Now, I had never seen them before, depsite having the opportunity once or twice at South by South West, or other similar events.

Now, I have to say that philosphically, I have something of a problem with the tweecore scene. Willfully amateur, anti populist, deliberately elitist and very self referential. On the other hand, Tullycraft have some ace songs. When it comes down to it, that's really all it takes.

There were times when it seemed like the audience, like so many Peter Pans, had never grown up, stil wearing the same clothing as they were ten years ago, still having the same conversations, still listening to the same music. Hell, I was in that audience.

All this being the case, they raced through their set, it was fun, we danced, sang along, and had a couple of beers.

Scores:
Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x1
Total: +2

Day 96; Friday, May 22nd

2009-05-28T16:55:00.000-07:00

I needed to meet a co-worker to talk about answerjam.com. Plus, we both needed a beer. I don't have an office, but some days he works up by the ballpark, so I cycled up to meet him. I do sometimes go see the Giants, and afterwards, there's often a question of where to go for a beer afterwards. Ofttimes, the answer to that question is the Hotel Utah. I love the Utah. The Utah loves us. However, today we went to the Gallery Lounge, which is on the corner of 4th and Brannan. They have a happy hour. They have three dollar beers. They have Erasure on the stereo. Well, until the annoying hipster barman replaced the friendly gay barman and started playing glitchy euro techno. Which is fine, if you're in Berlin.

We're not in Berlin.

Still, it was empty, there was as much popcorn as we could eat, and the drinks were cheap.

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 94; Wednesday, May 20th

2009-05-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

As I think I've mentioned before, I like sometimes to try to write songs in different musical styles. It helps me get away from just playing guitar all the time, and whenever you try something new like this, you learn something useful.

Well, today I tried to write a dance tune. And you know what? It worked. It came out something like a cross being Neon Neon and ladytron, something that I'm sure surprises no-one. I've found that when trying to create a beat that works, the best thing for me is rather than try to imagine it in my own head, to just go ahead and mess around on the computer till I chance across something that sounds cool.

Plus, I found the button on my keyboard that makes rave sounds. This is a Good Thing.

Scores:

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 93; Tuesday, May 19th

2009-05-28T10:42:00.000-07:00

Hi, sorry this is a little delayed. Been pretty busy running around and doing stuff this last week. Anyway, on with the show. I'm a member of the website swaptree.com. It's a website that arranges swaps between people for things such as books, dvds, etc. It's a one for one system; all items are valued equally. It promotes the barter economy, which I can only regard as a good thing. I don't have a lot of stuff on there for trade, but today I had my first offer; a copy of Les Poupees Russes for my copy of Naomi Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine'. Which is bloody awful, frankly. Anyway - I accepted in a heartbeat, and went down to the post office and sent off the book.

I'm still waiting for my dvd. I may have been swaplifted. On the other hand, I now have a little more space on my bookshelf, which can only be a good thing.

Scores:

Enjoyment: +1
Newness:x1
Discretionary: -1, for being ripped off.
Total: 0

Day 92; Monday, May 18th

2009-05-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

I was walking around the neighbourhood when I decided to stop into this place. Actually, there's not a lot inside at all, and most of it is not so different from a normal liquor store. Except for one thing. THEY SELL CRUNCHIES. And Bounties, too. Now, this doesn't make it the only place in the city that does, but it does make it the only place in the city I don't have to ride a half hour to.

Wicked.

Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x1

Total +2

Day 91; Sunday, May 17th

2009-05-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Another glorious day in the city. I did some stuff around the house (see yesterday!) and went to the shops and all that. I got a text from a friend inviting me around to see her new house, so, after a few glasses of wine in the park (there was a christian rally going on, complete with devil masks), we wandered up the hill. My friend has a back porch. And sunshine. And a cat.

This is good stuff.

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1

Total: +1

Day 90; Saturday, May 16th

2009-05-19T11:04:00.000-07:00

I awoke early and woozy this morning, the taste of gin in my mouth and a dried sponge in my head. There was a work day in our garden, which involved three hours of digging and sweating in the sun. Mmm. Anyway. The good news is, I finally found somewhere that would sell me some guttering. But only in ten foot lengths. Thankfully, I was able to borrow a saw to cut it in half, so I didn't look totally ridiculous walking home. Just quite silly.

But look! I made a thing to put on the fence outside on back porch! Let's hope some stuff grows in it.
Ok, so that's totally my finger in that second photo. I'm a poet with pictures. Anyway, here's the thing - there's some more guttering, so if you want me to come round and build you one, lemme know. You'll have to supply your own soil, mind. And, yknow, plants, etc. But I've got guttering! And string!

*****update*******

I remembered that I actually put the thing up on Sunday. But I still went to the store on the Saturday. The store was pretty cool, mind. And I found cheap guttering. FTW.

Scores:
Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x1
Total: +2

Day 89; Friday, May 15th

2009-05-18T09:54:00.000-07:00

I had an invite today to a launch party for an internets company. As you know, I hate things like free liquor. But, still, I have a challenge to keep up, so, reluctantly I dragged myself along to Ruby Skye, which is near Union Square, and near all the posh hotels. To be honest, I'd cycled past a few times and I thought it was a strip club.

Actually, it wasn't far from that, inside. I don't think I've been to this sort of club since I've been in town. The dj, the CEO of the company, was bloody awful. That said, if I were the CEO of a company having a launch, I'd probably dj too, and I'd tell everyone else to go suck it. Still. Not a huge amount of fun.

Enjoyment: -1
Newness: x1
Total: -1

Day 88; Thursday, May 14th

2009-05-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

In our back yard (well, yard is overstating things, a little) there's a metal fence that blocks us off from the neighbour's roof. I wanted to build a kinda window box to hang off it; it's not a window box, but you get the idea. To do this, I needed some plastic guttering. I'd already tried to find some, the other day, but hadn't been to successful. Today I went to House of Color, which conveniently lies at the end of my road. Now, they sell more than just paint; my search for some pliars might have been a lot shorter if I'd come here a while ago. However, they don't sell guttering. My search goes on.

Scores:

Enjoyment: 0
Newness: x1

Total: 0

Day 87; Wednesday, May 13th

2009-05-18T09:05:00.000-07:00

There was an opportunity today to do a rare form of double header; at lunchtime, the San Francisco Giants welcomed the Washington Natnals, and in the evening, the Oakland A's hosted the Kansas City Royals. Glorious? No. Chance to see two games in two different counties from two leagues in one afternoon? Yes please. Now, I've written an article about it here (please click on that, I could use the etcs), but as my gift from me to you, I'm going include some photos, below:

The place to be on a sunny Wednesday lunchtime

$1.75 Pabst!
Barry Zito, on the mound
Not a real sweep
Afternoon tea...
100% driven? hm...
Jack Cust, about to be awesome
Um, not that many people here, today...

Scores:+2
Newness: x1

Total: +2

Day 86; Tuesday, May 12th

2009-05-18T08:56:00.000-07:00

One of my friends recently moved house. My plan today was to go round there and check it out, maybe drink some wine, watch the sun go down, etc. Well, at the last minute she cancelled, which is fine, but it did leave me in the lurch, somewhat. Still. I hadn't had any dinner, so I took a walk down the road to Mr Pizzaman's Pizza place. Or whatever. I had a slice of Pizza. Actually, it was pretty good, and pretty cheap. And close. I think the rather silly name had put me off before.

Scores:
Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1

Totaly: +1

Day 85; Monday, May 11th

2009-05-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

So, quite a lot of stuff to do, not a lot of time to get it done. On my way back from the hardware store, I stopped at Caffeinated Comics, on Mission, to have a cup of tea and to see if they had the latest issue of Phonogramme. They didn't. They hadn't heard of it. They looked at me askew.

This is what happens when hipsters run comic book stores. Nothing good.

Enjoyment: -1
Newness: x1
Total: -1

Day 84; Sunday, 10th May

2009-05-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day in the city. I didn't have a lot to do, so I thought I'd go outside and enjoy the sun, and read some. I got on my bike and cycled up to Holly park, which I guess is in Excelsior? Something like that, anyway. Perhaps southern Bernal Heights. It was a little windy up there, but I sat and read for a bit, and listened to the baseball on the radio. It's a nice little park, actually; they have some picnic tables, and some grills, and a softball diamond. Some of the houses nearby are pretty cool, too.

I hung around for an hour or so, and then came home. It was better than just sitting around and pottering about here, is for sure.

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 83; Saturday, 9th May

2009-05-14T13:55:00.000-07:00

At our book group the other week, a friend had mentioned that he was going to have a party where we all tried this thing called the Miracle Fruit. And no, this is not drugs. It's a little berry thing that you eat, and it changes your perception of taste and stuff. It's kinda weird, but fun. I wrote an article about it, here. Please read it, I could use the page views, etc!

I brought some fennel and roquette and pineapple sage to the party. It was kinda cool to share some of the stuff I'd grown (even if the roquette and pineapple sage just grew of their own accord), even if the berry didn't change the tastes all so much. But yes. We had wine. We discovered new tastes. We took photos with fennel hair.

Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x2
Total: +4

Day 82; Friday, 8th May

2009-05-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

I was hungover today. This presents it's own challenges. I mean, the nature of some of the stuff I'm doing involves going out and saying yes to a lot of stuff (well, drinks, mostly), which can impact what I do the next day. But hey, them's the blows. We knew the rules when we got in the game. Hm, I'm hungover as I write this, actually, so that's probably quite apt.

Anyways, I needed to get some lunch, or something, so I went to Charlie's Deli Cafe, which was actualy open this time. I got a falafel pita. It made me feel a little sick.

Scores:
Enjoyment: -1
Newness: x1
Total: -1

Day 81; Thursday, 7th May

2009-05-12T22:18:00.000-07:00

My thing today was going to go to some internet meetup in some winebar I'd never seen (YES LIZ, THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN FREE WINE). However, there was a huge queue (apparently there are a bunch of unemployed internet types in the city at the moment. Who'd have thunk it?). It was a beautiful day in the city, so I called up a couple of my friends, and we went to Zeitgeist for a beer. And then several more. Come ninish, however, I still hadn't done my task for the day, so we had a quick conference. We decided to go to the Transfer, which I think is now called Bar on Castro. Which is a bit of a silly name. Either way, I'd never been in. And it's a bit of a San Francisco Castro landmark, so I guess it wasn't before time. We had a couple of drinks, some nice men bought us some tequila, and we danced a bit. That was fun times.

Scores:
Enjoyment:+2
Newness: x1

Day 80; Wednesday, 6th May

2009-05-12T22:10:00.000-07:00

So, part of what I need to do for my book is interview people (this is the last book related one for a while, I promise. maybe). So it happened that I met up with a friend for a beer and we talked about some stuff. It's a slightly strange experience, interviewing someone you know, as you're both conscious that the tape is running; I think I even have a business voice.

Hey, I might be in touch to interview you soon; let me know if you want in.

Scores:
Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 79; Tuesday, 5th May

2009-05-12T21:48:00.000-07:00

I've been in the city here for four and a half years, and I've never been to the main library. When writing the introduction to my book last night, I decided that I needed to add a little bit of history to it, so I went up to the library to do some research.

It's pretty cool up there. You could run a small scale start up, for sure. They have free wireless internet, they have the meeting rooms with the see through doors, and they have toilets. What more could you need, I ask you?

There were, as you might expect, a fair number of slightly unhinged people there. I spotted a couple of people sleeping at their desks, and the woman across from me was talking to herself. Better than talking to me, I suppose.

I got quite a bit done, and have decided that this is a good place to work. As such, I've been back a few times since. Wearing a tie, of course. It is the library, afterall.

Scores:
Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1

Total: +1

Day 78; Monday, 4th May

2009-05-12T21:40:00.001-07:00

I hurt my knee on Sunday playing football, and I was in quite a lot of pain. I pretty much sat around the house all day (you can see how miraculous my trip to see the Fall covers band yesterday was, then). Ok, that's not a whole lot different from what I normally do, but hey.

In the evening, though, I wrote the introduction to a book I'm trying to write. There'll be more about this anon, I'm sure, but still. It felt good. I'm going to start writing 'author' on my immigration forms. Just not quite published yet.

I wrote six hundred words or so. About two thirds of it was acceptable. The rest, well, hm. It's a good thing I can redraft.

Scores:
Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x2

Total: +2

Day 77; Sunday, 3rd May

2009-05-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

So, as I mentioned the other day, I wanted to go back and actually see this Fall cover band. The concept of such a thing fascinates me; the Fall went through so many different band members that it must have felt a bit like a covers band at times, anyway. Unless you are Mark E Smith. How do you replace the one irreplaceable person, the one constant through all the changes in the band, the frontman, the agent provocateur? Well, in this case, with a girl. Which seems oddly appropriate, to be honest. I kinda want to have an excuse to interview them for something; I'm just not sure what, at the moment. But I think it would be an interesting. I mean, why do you be a Fall cover band? I guess you must like them, but it doesn't seem like there's a huge audience in San Francisco?

I watched them play a couple of songs; they weren't really together, entirely, but hey. It was fun enough.

Enjoyment:+1
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 76; Saturday, 2nd May

2009-05-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

Today's story is told entirely in pictures. It shouldn't be too hard to follow...

Scores:
Enjoyment:+2
Newness: x1

Total: +2

Day 75; Friday, 1st May

2009-05-12T16:06:00.000-07:00

Whilst I was waiting in a bar on Thursday night, I was reading the paper. Something caught my eye - there was a Fall-based art, erm, experience up the road. According, then, somewhat hungover, I braved the rain on Friday and wandered up to the gallery. Which isn't really a gallery, but more of, yknow, a downstairs flat. I was hoping to see a the Fall covers band play, but apparently Friday lunchtime isn't the best time for this sort of thing. Though, that does give me the chance to do that on Sunday, as I'm sure you'll see when you read on. The exhibit was... sparse. And a bit odd. See for yourself...

The entrance to the gallery

Actually, this is most of the exhibition. Seriously. And, yknow, it doesn't really relate to the Fall all that much. Odd.

Scores:
Enjoyment: 0
Newness: x1
Total: 0

Day 74; Thursday, 30th April

2009-05-05T17:23:00.000-07:00

As previously discussed, I have a friend who is a student at USF. There's a previous entry here about counting how people sit on busses; well, now it was time for her to present. It was an open presentation, so I went on up to see it, and to check out her faculty. No, that's no euphamism, thanks. There were free nibbles! And water! All the students there did look terribly young, and it did make me feel a little aged, especially having ridden all the way uphill.

Anyway, my friend won a prize for having the best project; this was a Good Thing

Scores:

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 73; Wednesday, 29th April

2009-05-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

I had run out of coffee. I also was not feeling terribly well (*not* swine flu, at least, not yet), so I wanted to go to Charlie's Deli Cafe, in Bernal Heights, to pick up some grounds. However, it was shut. A lot of things seem to be shut in Bernal Heights on a Wednesday afternoon. There was one place, open, however; Gancilla Market. And they sold loose grounds. And they weren't cross when I spilled stuff everywhere (like I say, quite dozy). However, the coffee is gross. I've nearly finished it now.

Scores:

Enjoyment: -1
Newness: x1
Discretionary: +1 (for putting up with my fumbling)

Total: 0

Day 72; Tuesday, 28th April

2009-05-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

It's the San Francisco International Film Festival at the moment. Most films are only shown once or twice, which means that if you want to see one, sometimes you have to go at, say, 9.30 in the evening. Now, I wouldn't normally do this, but sometimes, needs must. This evening, We wanted to go see In the Loop, which is the film version of Armando Iannucci's tv show, The Thick of It, which I've never seen, but I'm assured is pretty good. Now, my spanish class finishes at seven, so I had a couple of hours to kill before my friend turned up. The Kabuki theatre is on Fillmore, quite near the Fillmore concert hall, where I often go see shows.

Also nearby is the Boom Boom Rooms, which, though it is a San Francisco landmark, of sorts, I've never been to. I took the chance, therefore, to stop in and have a beer. It was still pretty early, so I caught the last bit of happy hour, which is just as well, as beers are pretty pricey. A band was sound checkng, and there were few other people there. I sat and drank my beer, and stole some internet from down the road. They didn't seem to mind.

Scores:

Enjoyment:+1
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 71; Monday, 27th April

2009-05-04T12:45:00.000-07:00

I went down to the pub at lunchtime to meet a friend and watch the football. I had my computer with me, and on my way home, I stopped at Progressive Grounds on Bryant to do some work. Again, it's a nice little cafe near my house, with the internet, and as such, good for getting off my couch. Instead, I sat on their couch. It was pretty quiet, but I think the standards that these are judged against now are those set by Pirate Cat Radio cafe, and as such, it doesn't match up to that. However, it didn't annoy me, so it was pretty easy to churn out a couple of articles.

Scores:

Enjoyment: 0
Newness: x1
Total: 0

Day 70; Sunday, 26 April

2009-05-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

You'd think that for the seventieth day of this thing, I'd come up with something special. Well, you'd be wrong. Instead, I went out for a beer after our soccer game. This turned into four beers. I hadn't had any lunch, so I wasn't really in any state to ride home. So, I walked up to Haight Street and put my bike on the 33 bus. Can you believe I'd never done this before? Well, it's true. I was pretty terrified of it falling off as we went up and down the hills, having visions of it being crushed underneath the wheels of the bus.

As it was, that was unfounded; I got home, fine, and then fell asleep on the couch. Winner!

Scores:

Enjoyment: 0
Newness: x1

Total: 0

Day 69; Saturday, 25th April

2009-05-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

I woke up reasonably early, especially given that I'd been out late the previous night. I wanted to get out to Alemeny Farmers' Market, which is a little trek, and then up to my gardening to do some weeding with the baseball on. I brought twenty dollars with me to the market, too see what I could find. Boy, do they have some good stuff. There's probably around thirty or so stalls, most of which sell vegetables, but also dried fruits, bread, honey, eggs, and so forth. I got a large bunch of thai basil, and wow, it was super fresh, and super tasty. I also got some bread, and eggs, and enough vegetables to last me about four days. Good going, especially as some of the other farmers' markets around town are a little more pricey. I'm certainly intending on going back, early and often.

Below is a picture of mushrooms. Everyone likes mushrooms.

Scores:

Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x1
Total: +2

Day 68; Friday, 24th April

2009-04-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

Around the city, there are a number of buildings that house art spaces, that artists can rent out to use to do their painting, and so forth. Every so often, they open up their doors to let the public in, so that we can all see what they're working on, and buy stuff, or whatever. And consume free wine and nibbles. If I'm honest, this is mostly why I go; the artworks are of mostly low quality. Such is the price we pay for the occasional eruption of genius, huh.

I did like the one above, which I took a picture of. It's a painting of what looks like cupasoup. Sweet. So the new thing was visiting the space at 2345 Harrison st, which I've often cycled past, but never been in. It's nice enough, as these things go. It's difficult really to make a judgement on this, given that how I don't really need an art space. But still, I had a couple of glasses of wine, bumped into a number of friends (which almost never happens, unless I've organised it). It was better than sitting in and watching Oakland get beaten, again...

Scores:
Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1

Day 67; Thursday, 23rd April

2009-04-24T16:28:00.000-07:00

I was walking down Valencia, on my way back from my spanish class, when I bumped into a friend of mine. Her blog is really great; it's basically a collection of cool, and mostly free, stuff that's going on in the bay area. It's here. When I eventually get round to putting a blog roll on this thing, it'll be on it, I'm sure.

Anyways, she was going to an art opening at the Curiosty Shoppe. I'd never been, so I figured I'd go check it out. As it happens, art opening was stretching the definition of things a touch. There were thirteen photographs inside.

There was a box of free doughnut holes, though. I don't really like doughnuts.

It did stave off hunger for a little bit, so I guess that's a good thing.

Scores:
Enjoyment: 0
Newness: x1

Oh, indicidentally, I am now Officially back up to date with this thing. Woo!

Day 66; Wednesday, 22nd April

2009-04-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

So, as I've been alluding to for a while, I've got a job writing articles for a company that's created a number of blog streams. Well, today's new thing was my First Ever Paid Article. Which is pretty exciting, even if I do say so myself. I wrote it about the band, the Knife, and the slightly bizarre opera that they've written and will be performing.

I'd encourage you to read it (or at the least, click on it), because, at the very least, I get bonuses for page views and stuff like that. And anyone who wanted to put it, or any other of my articles, on their twitter feed, well, I can't stop you doing that.

To the right of this blog, therefore, going forwarded there will be the latest few articles I've written, so please do check them out, if only to try to keep me in cheap beer and tomato seeds.

Here's the first, one, then.

Thanks for that.

Scores.

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x2

Total: +2

Day 65; Tuesday, 21st April

2009-04-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

I needed to go watch Liverpool against Arsenal today. I had an internets meeting just after the game, so the venue in which I was to watch the game needed to have both wifi and the right cable channels. Well, Soccer Cafe has both. And crepes.

Well, it nearly had both. I ended up having to watch the game through a live stream on my computer, because apparently neither Fox Soccer Channel nor Satanta were showing THE BIGGEST GAME OF THE SEASON. That wasn't their fault, though, and they did do their best to try and find it. And I had a tasty crepe. And the lady at the counter was very friendly to me, too.

The meeting went well, and now I am a writer, getting paid (a little) for stuff. In part thanks to this blog. Which is, of course, in part thanks to those of yous who read it. Thanks!

Scores:
Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Oh, and the other score? Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal.

Ridiculous.

Day 64; Monday, 20th April

2009-04-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

So, it was nearly 90 degrees out today. Actually, probably more. No way was I going to wait around inside. Mostly because it's about twice as hot in our flat as it is out of doors.

I decided, then, that it'd be really cool to cycle up to Coit Tower, atop Telegraph hill. I was nearly right. Turns out, some of that route is really steep. But still, I made it, it was glorious, I sweated a lot. I'm gonna keep this short, so I can put in photos, below...

So yeah, pretty amazing.

Scores:

Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x1
Total: +2

Day 63; Sunday, 19th April

2009-04-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

So, it was my friend's birthday today. I don't have a lot of money to spare at the moment, so I decided it would be pretty cool if I got on the computer and recorded a song. Now, this is something I've done before, so, I wanted to record a cover. I've been playing in bands and stuff for about ten years or so, now, and I've never ever recorded a cover.

So it'd be an interesting excercise in it's own right.

And here's what I found - it's really, really hard. At least, it is for me. I've never been that interested in playing other people's songs from the time that I learned I could write my own, and have never really been one of these people who can hear something, and play it straight back. And here's the thing - I failed. I tried for about four hours to make it into something that I didn't hate, but I failed.

And to be fair, that's partly what this challenge is about. Failure.

Still. It was worth a go, I reckon, and I learned some useful stuff, hence the positive score, without a tangible outcome.

Scores:
Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1

Total: +1

Day 62; Saturday, 18th April

2009-04-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

So, we had our book group today. It was at my flat, late afternoon, and we we'd all had a couple of glasses of wine, or beer, or whatever. We'd been talking about how this challenge was going, and one of my friends asked if I'd ever been to the Seward Street Slides. Now, this didn't sound very exciting; I mean, slides? What's the big deal? But, yknow, couple of drinks, could be fun.

So we hopped on a bus and rode on over to the Castro. And wow. I wish I'd brought my camera with me (I stupidly forgot), but the slides are pretty amazing. They're built onto a steep hill, and made out of concrete. You have to slide down on wax paper. And boy, do you take to the air, about half way down. And then shoot off the end. I suspect they were built before public safety was a concern! Either way, it was amazing fun. This is one of the things I wish I'd known about before, so I could have brought all my friends there when they came to visit. Here's a link to a picture. Check it out.

Scores:

Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x1
Discretionary: +1, for my waking up the next day and still being excited about it

Total:+3

Day 62; Friday, 17th April

2009-04-22T11:31:00.001-07:00

I got a random email earlier in the week about an urban gardening meet and greet and art show type thing. I'm not sure exactly how my email got on this list, but I suspect it was from the book launch I'd gone to, as detailed here. I'm not sure exactly, however. Anyway, it looked interesting, there was free wine and food, and it was at the Academy of Art building just up the road from me. Did I mention the free wine?

So, I figured I'd go along and check it out.

The event was due to start at five, but these things can go on a bit, so I arrived at five thirty, expecting to find it in full swing. Instead, there was a bunch of people milling around, they'd run out of receptacles for the FREE WINE (I'd stupidly forgotten to bring one with me).

Anyway, this is the scene:

Actually, this makes it look better than it was. That'll be my amazing photography skillz, then.

Oh! speaking of which, I FIXED MY CAMERA THIS MORNING. Now, this isn't strictly a New Thing, as I'd already had one run at it, and that's why I'm not writing it up. But, I figured you'd want to know. I did run from one end of my flat to the other, celebrating as I went. I'm sure you can imagine that one.

Anyways, back to the story at hand. I hung around for a bit, but it didn't look like they were going to be getting the presentation going in a hurry (the 'live music' promised wasn't exactly in evidence, either), so I got my bag and left. You'd think they'd have worked some of this stuff out in advance, no?

Scores:

Enjoyment: -1
Newness: x1
Discretionary: -1, for not sorting their shit out, frankly.

Total: -2

Day 61; Thursday, 16th April

2009-04-22T11:05:00.000-07:00

No baseball today. And probably none for a little while, until I start making some more money, yeah. Our internet was really playing up, so I cycled up the road to the Pirate Cat Radio Cafe. Now, I kinda expected this place to be a bit annoying and hipster, and that I wouldn't be able to stay there for very long. In fact, I was wrong. There was almost no-one in there, aside from the guy working at the counter. In an ajoining room, there's a radio studio, where they make their internet broadcasts. The sun was shining, there was some nice reggae coming through, and I had the place to myself.

Pretty ideal. I had a vegan doughnut, which, as might be expected, was pretty gross. This place is certainly going on my 'places I'm going to go to work when I need to get out of the house' list.

Scores:

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1
Extra: +1 for reggae on a sunny day...

Total: +2

Day 60; Wednesday, 15th April

2009-04-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Another day, another baseball game. Don't worry, it's the last one of these for a little bit. It was a lunchtime game, this time. One of the good things about the Coliseum stadium in Oakland is that they don't mind if you take food in with you. This being the case, I stopped off to get a falafel wrap at Truly Mediterranean, in downtown Berkeley. This is different than the one on 16th st in San Francisco, is for sure.

The staff there were friendly enough, especially when they made me the wrong thing and had to redo it (they noticed, not me - I'd have probably walked on out without being any the wiser!), but the problem was, and this is something that many med places have in common, that the falafel were like bricks. Soggy bricks. And they sat in my stomach for about six hours afterwards. Still, better than stadium veggie dogs.

Scores:

Enjoyment: -1
Newness: x1

Total: -1

Day 59; Tuesday, 14th April.

2009-04-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

I had to go over to Berkeley again today to meet a friend to go see more baseball. I still had not succeeded in fixing my camera, because I didn't have a pair of tweezers small enough. I figured I'd go out a bit early and stop at a hardware store over there. I went to Eastern Supplies, on Shattuck, but they didn't have what I needed. It's a fine store, but, yknow, would have been better off going to ACE hardware near my house. Or, even better, going to wallgreens and getting some eyebrow tweezers.

This is what I did.

Scores:
Enjoyment (remember, this also covers things like 'usefullness', and so forth): -1
Newness: x1

Total: -1

Day 58; Monday, 13th April

2009-04-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

Not a lot of time to do a whole lot today; but I needed to get out of the house, and I needed to do my taxes, so I went to Revolution Cafe, which is on 22nd street. It's quite annoying. There was a man in there talking with a group of people about a tv programme; well, ostensibly. He was mostly talking abot himself, it seemed. Which is clearly what we do in our book group, to an extent. However, at least we do it in the privacy of our own homes, right? So that no-one else has to listen to our bollocks.

Anyway, I had a cup of tea. I doubt I'll be going back there.

Scores:

Enjoyment: -1
Newness: x1

Total: +1

Day 57; Sunday, 12th April

2009-04-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

As you might expect, I wasn't feeling all that well after the previous day. We ended up going to a party in Rockridge, where there was a keg, and a bunch of people playing Rock Band. Can you guess which aspect I was more interested in? Actually, there were some Tootsie Rolls there, which was pleasing.

Suffice it to say, when I got back from our early morning Soccerball game (we won again - PLAYOFFS), I was tired, sore, and wanted to go back to bed. So I did.

When I woke up, several hours later, hungry was added to this list. For this, there can be only one possible cure - Pizza.

I asked around some people to find a new place, and someone suggested Serrano's Pizza. Which is just up the road from me. And delivers. Well, it wasn't as good as Goat Hill, but it was about 30% cheaper, and it's miles better than Papa Potreros, which is the worst place in the world, ever.

But yeah. It did the job. Considering that I'd have got pizza, challenge or no challenge, I'm going to score this one zero. Which means neutral, incidentally, Someone was asking me about this the other day.

Score: 0

Day 56; Saturday, 11th April

2009-04-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

Uh, so this is a difficult one. It was the first Saturday A's home game, and the first regular season game I'd been to this year. See, the thing about day games is that they start at one, so if you get there an hour before that, and then have a couple of beers before the game, and then some during, without having any breakfast, really... well, you can see where this is going.

One of the things that I wanted to do this year is to find more venues to have a post game beer. The one place I really like is Radio, in downtown Oakland, but that doesn't open till five, so it's not ideal. Anyway, after the game, we headed out to Rockridge to meet another friend and to make sure that we were suitably refreshed. We went to a bar called George and Walts. I just had to ask my friend the name, if that gives you any idea of my state. Look, it still counts, even if I am drunk, ok? Anyway, it's a sports bar, they had drinks, they had a super jukebox, and that's about all I can remember.

Scores:

Enjoyment: +1 (i think?)
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 55. Friday, 10th April

2009-04-21T12:44:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed from previous entries, I don't have a whole lot of hair. I'm fine with this, frankly, but it does mean that I need to wear a hat, especially when it's sunny out. And I live in California, so the sun is often out. Well, I lost the cap I have with a brim on when I left it at the basketball game the other week, so I wanted to find a new one.

I don't currently have a great amount of income (though, stand by for an announcement on how you might be able to help me earn a small amount of money), so I don't (didn't) really want to spend twenty dollars or whatever getting a replacement hat, so I went to Clothes By the Pound, on Valencia. Which does exactly what it says on the tin.

Except, they didn't really have hats. But they do have some really cheap hoodies. So not a total waste of time, if not massively successful, especially since I stopped off at Simply Med on the way home and got a falafel wrap. I maintain that this is easily the best falafel in the city, but I suspect that's a story for another time and another place.

I'm going to score this one zero, though

Day 53. Thursday, 9th April

2009-04-17T10:55:00.001-07:00

After yesterday's Steele based excitement, today would obviously struggle to compete. But competing is not really what this is about, is it? I was on my way to Spanish class (I got there and then remembered that it had been cancelled. Nice one, Damian), and I decided to stop off at this supermarket that I'd noticed the previous week.

A supermarket? pshh. How is that new? Well, market in question is the Duc Loi International supermarket. It's an asian (indeterminate part of south east Asia) supermarket, off of Mission Street. It took a little searching around to find the good stuff (ie, the tea, the weird canned stuff, the sweets), but there it was. I got some bitter gourd tea, which, I have to say, triggered my gag reflex.

Nice.

Scores:

Enjoyment: 0
Total: 0

Day 52. Wednesday, 8th April

2009-04-16T15:50:00.000-07:00

As we journied back from Palo Alto, there was a slight madness in the air. There was lots of traffic, and we were joking about how we might get some funding, which lead to talking about which rich people lived in San Francisco whom we might marry / otherwise induce to giving us cash, which lead to....

Danielle Steel.

Yknow. Obviously. Now, this came as something of a surprise to me, as I had no idea she lived in the city. Actually, I had no idea where she lived, at all, so not so much of a surprise, more New Information. In any case, she lives up by Lafayette Park. Which is a nice part of town, anyway. But seriously. Check out these photos.

She has a portico! With drapes! A portico!

And a fancy gate. Actually, I think this is me pretending to be reading one of her books. The Enemy Within? Is that one of hers?

Here's the other side. The view down to the bay is ridiculously beautiful, frankly.

So, yeah. I just visited Danielle Steel's house. Big deal. Well, without this project, I wouldn't have gone. I would have gone home and eaten to-fu, or something like that. I think we can all agree that these pictures of me standing outside her house are *way* more interesting than that.

Scores.

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1
Discretionary: +1 (it's Danielle Steele!!!)

Total: +2

Day 51. Tuesday, April 7th

2009-04-14T11:52:00.000-07:00

So, I mentioned earlier that I'd broken my camera when I was in Austin. Well, the replacement screen arrived on Monday, so, well, it was time to have a go at fixing it. Oh yes! I took a photo with my computer camera thing. Here it is.

So, I ran into a problem. Apparently my model of camera is more advanced than the ones they show videos of on youtube of people fixing them. More advanced, as in, way more difficult to get to the bit I need to remove. I also found I would need some better tweezers. Which, actually, makes sense, if you think about it. I hadn't thought about it.

Clearly.

So, I failed to fix my camera. But, I shall continue to try. If nothing else, a few more photos will liven this place up a bit.

I'm going to have to score this one as zero, as, well, I failed, but on the other hand, I still think I might succeed. I'm not done yet!

Day 50 - Monday, April 6th

2009-04-13T17:52:00.001-07:00

Fifty days! And fifty new things! Without wanting to toot my own horn, I'm pretty pleased to have got this far. There have been one or two days that it's been a *real* struggle, but for the most part, it's become a day to day part of my life. I'm thinking that it might get increasingly tough from here on out, and I worry that I've used up all the easy things early on. We'll have to see if I'm forced to go increasingly off piste.

After three nights of sleeping on my couch, and drinking too much, I was very much looking forward to lying around a bit today, get some napping done, catching up on some sleep, all the good stuff.

Well, my plans of somnulence were put to rest by an IM from a friend that said (I paraphrase) "Damian, it's seventy degrees today, and it's going to rain tomorrow - let's go to Tiburon!"

Now, I don't know about you, but when someone says this to me, I get cleaned up and get going. Well, nearly immediately. I was a little late, so we had to hang around fisherman's wharf for a little before our boat left. Actually, we went to the museo machano, which had been recommended to me as a New Thing to do, and which I'd wanted to go to on a separate day, and write a separate entry about, but hey. You can't plan everything. Rest assured, I would have drawn attention to it's appearance in the film Princess Diaries, which is brilliant.

So - we caught the ferry over to Tiburon, and had lunch on a jetty. In the sun. Not even the three drunk boys celebrating a birthday can take the edge off that! We had a post prandial stroll along the water's edge, narrowly dodging the Most Exxxxtreme roller blader in the whole of Marin. He can roll backwards, yknow. Oh, and I lost my bag. For about the millionth time. Must stop doing that. Luckily, it was at the cafe.

Whilst this part of California is quite touristy, and there's not a whole lot to do (there aren't *any* liquor stores!), you can see the appeal in living on a hill, overlooking the bay, with a garden, and a bike, and all the rest.... if anyone has a spare couple of million and wants to buy me a house, then, well, I'm not going to say no. If you could take care of the taxes, too, that'd be just super. I'll grow you some broccoli!

We got the evening ferry back to San Francisco (they serve beer on these boats. This is a Good Thing), and then went for margharitas al fresco at the Casa Sanchez tacqueria.

I can live like this, I suspect. Now, to find a job that will let me sustain this lifestyle...

Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x1

Total: +2

Day 49. Sunday, 5th April

2009-04-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

Seven weeks of this! And still going. And my sister's birthday, too. How did I not know that her birthday is exactly seven weeks after mine?

It being the Sunday after a Saturday night's dancing, and with an early morning soccer game, I wasn't feeling massively energetic. Just as well I had a friend in town, huh? We'd had brunch, and I'd shown her around our garden (still a staple in my life...), and then we'd popped over the highway down to the garden centre. The cat wasn't there, unfortunately. Maybe he hasn't come out again for the springtime.

On our way home, we both started feeling a little thirsty - as if I needed more beer by this time - so we stopped off at the Old Clam House, on Bayshore. I'd walked past this a couple of times, and had always wanted to stop in. It's a bar / seafood place, and has a real olden days feel to it, without being novelty. They also have their very own beer brewed for them by Anchor Steam! And quite tasty it is, too. The menu looked way expensive. And didn't offer a whole lot for two vegetarians.

But, we sat and drank our beers and watched Great Adventures in Cake, or something like that.

Could do worse for a Sunday afternoon, all told.

Scores:

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 48. Saturday, 4th April

2009-04-13T17:17:00.000-07:00

One of my friends is in a fantasy baseball league. Now, I like baseball a lot, but gleaning some sort of vicarious thrill from a player's statistics has never interested me all that much. This time, however, my friend couldn't make his draft (the bit where you pick all the players), so he asked me to sit in for him. This being the case, I got a lift with another friend who was in the league, and we went on up to Petaluma. Which is the home of prohibition beer.

Everyone likes beer related facts, don't they?

Anyway. Everyone arrived, there were chips, and beers, and soda, and manly exchanges of views, and jokes about baseball, and stuff like that. Actually, it was a lot of fun.

Giving notice now - I want to enter next year.

Unless I'm going to lose.

I'm going to lose, aren't I?

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x2

Total: +2

Day 47. Friday, 3rd April

2009-04-13T11:37:00.001-07:00

Thursday night a couple of friends from the UK arrived in town to visit for a few days. They'd driven up from LA, and still had the car for another day. I don't have a car, so this afforded a rare opportunity to go do somethings I wouldn't normally be able to do. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and had ice cream in Sausalito, before heading back up to the park to visit the California Academy of Sciences.

Now, it's not been open very long, and this is the first time I'd been there. The building itself is not grand from the outside, being a bit of seventies concrete and glass construction. This all changes when you walk in, however. The space is airy and light; even the living roof is an exhibit in and of itself. It was pretty busy on the day we went; we didn’t have to queue up to get in, but once inside, there were lines for a number of the exhibits, most notably the rain forest, and the planetarium. We didn’t get into the latter, but the rain forest is quite spectacular; A four stroll upwards from the floor, up into the canopy of a living rainforest, complete with flora and fauna, both flying and crawling.

From here, you’re ferried down into the basement, and the aquarium, complete with penguins. Actually, the penguins look a little sad, but there is an incredible range of sealife on show, some of which is so bizarre looking, you wonder just what evolutionary forces were at work.

There’s a large exhibit on Darwin’s trip to the Galapagos Islands – it’s fully interactive, and I’d imagine would be great for teaching kids about the facts of evolution. And hey, who hasn’t wanted a mechanical demonstration of the way that the beaks of different finches work?

It's twenty five dollars to get in, and this is pretty good value, at least the first time around; I'm not sure I'd want to pay this again just to see the planetarium. However, I've found out since that there's a ten dollar option on thursday nights, which, ahem, includes cocktails. Clearly, this is a good thing.

Scores

Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x1

Total: +2

Day 46. Thursday, 2nd April

2009-04-10T16:08:00.001-07:00

One of the things I intend to do this year is paint a self portrait. I'm not sure of the medium, or any of that stuff. As groundwork for this, I went to an arts supply store, Flex, today. It's pretty big. They have lots of stuff. I learned that I'll need some more money to do this.

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1

Total:+1

Day 45. Wednesday, April 1st

2009-04-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

I had an email from a friend, asking me if I'd like to help her with some research. Ever one to answer the call, I met her downtown at eleven to receive my instructions. Our subjects? Well, the people who ride busses. Basically, we were seeing how close to each other people on the bus are prepared to sit.

So, we rode up and down on the 38 for a bit, and then on the N and J, making marks on a page and getting funny looks from people.

Then we had lunch. Apparently the results were statistically significant. This is a good thing.

Scores:

Enjoyment: 0
Newness: x1

Total: 0

Day 44. Tuesday, 31st March

2009-04-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

This has been holding me up, a little, because I've not been sure what to write, frankly. Part of the point of this project was to take myself out of my comfort zone, to do things that make me a little uncomfortable, and to see how I react to them. It's not all ice cream and lollipops, yknow.

There's this website called okcupid. I joined a little while back, because a friend was on there, and she wanted to show me people who were contacting her, etc.It' quite amusing and harmless, on the whole.

Anyway, I decided today that I should try to write to some people on there. I surfed around a bit, and found a couple, and sent some messages. I got one response, which was, truth be told, quite pleasant.

The whole thing was weird for me. Emailing people whom I don't know, quite at random? Not my thing. Which is a bit odd, considering I write this, sending it into the ether, for anyone to read. But still. Don't think I'll be doing it again, I reckon.

Scores:

Enjoyment: -2
Newness: x2
Total: -4

Day 43. Monday, 30th March

2009-04-08T11:31:00.000-07:00

I think there's something universal about sporting events. Not necessarily in terms of what game it is, or what happens, or whether it's exciting or not - but a thing that all fans share, no matter what. A feeling of being part of something bigger, of being part of a crowd, the lessening of the self into part of a greater whole.

See, I don't like basketball all that much. I don't find it especially exciting, or interesting, or so forth. But as I walked up to the stadium tonight, I still got that familiar feeling, the raised heart rate, the surge of adrenaline, that always happens, be it an irrelevant county cricket game, or a cup final.

Or maybe it's the beer that is the common factor. That's less romantic, so I'm going to say no.

We had eight dollar tickets, mid court, but in basically the last row of seats to the GS Warriors - Memphis Grizzlies. If we'd been any higher, we would have been sat on the roof. No kidding. Even from that height, and especially towards the end, when we moved down to a lesss rarified atmosphere, I was able to gain more of an appreciation of the physical talents of the players. It was a lot of fun, actually, and for a brief period before the Warriors managed to throw away a commanding lead, there was an impressive atmosphere going, too. I'd like to go again, next season, to a game that actually matters a little. I'm just not sure I'd pay sixty dollars for the priviledge. Thank god for two dollar wednesdays at the baseball, huh..

Scores:

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1

Total: +1

now, if you don't mind, I have to watch Liverpool - Chelsea...

Day 42. Sunday, 29 March

2009-04-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

Another glorious win for our soccer team, the Quakes. Top of the league! I went for a post game beer with a couple of teammates, mostly to discuss tactics. Yes, that's close to the truth. Having got home and had a bit of a nap, I was hungry, hungry, hungry. The sun was still out and shining, so I wandered down to an ice cream shop near my house, Humphrey Slocombe's. Man, is this not an ordinary ice cream palour. This day, they had flavours such as olive oil, bourbon and cornflakes, salt and pepper, lime and thai chili... you get the idea. They didn't, however, have starwars flavour. But you can't have everything.

I had bourbon and cornflakes, and caramel and balsamic vinegar. The latter was a little odd - the melting ice cream is a little acrid at the back of your throat - but not entirely unpleasant. The bourbon and cornflake flavour, on the other hand, is tasteeeee. I've been back since with friends. This place is great. And not especially expensive, either!

Scores.
Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1

Total: +1

Day 41. Saturday, 28th March

2009-04-08T10:54:00.000-07:00

Scene: Damian and friend are in park. The sun is out, but the wind has just started to pick up. Both are in light, summer clothing, so they immediately notice...

Damian: brrr... we might have to call it a day after this beer
Friend: yes, I need to go to the bathroom, and the ladies' here is gross
Damian: yeah, I can imagine. Hey, have you you eaten? I had breakfast a while ago.
Friend: Omg. Let's go to Ya Mo.
Damian: Ya Mo?? I'm going to say no, as I don't know the name.
Friend. Omg. OMG. We have to go. It's this Burmese restaurant on 18th street and Mission - they just have a counter, and there's always a long line to get in. But it should be ok now, as it's still early. And it's so cheap and tasty!
Damian: ok! let's do it!

Cut scene to bikes, camera along 18th street, walking in and ordering some food in poorly let, shabby restaurant. Food arrives, our heroes are joined by another friend.

Damian: oh wow, this is amazing. And I'd never have thought to come in here!

Various sounds of eating, exeunt in direction of bar...

Scores:

Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x1
Total: +2

Day 40. Friday, 27th March

2009-03-31T14:22:00.001-07:00

I got an IM from a friend, telling me that he was in my neighbourhood. We needed to meet up, anyway, for business etc reasons. Now, if you remember the party we had for my thirtieth birthday, we asked for suggestions as to things I could do. By and large, I've ignored these, but there were a few that sounded interesting. One of the ones was a recommendation from a friend to try out the bar Jack's Club. It's a place that I otherwise would never have gone into, as from the outiside, it's not all that inviting. As it happens, it's a really great place. Most of all, it smells really good. They have a southern style bbq kitchen in the back, which I'm really going to go have to go back and try. Apparently they have karaoke on Thursday nights, so that could be an interesting combination.

Stay tuned for more of that, perhaps...

Scores:

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1

Discretionary: +1 (i felt hungry when I staggered home...)

Day 39. Thursday, 26th March

2009-03-31T13:34:00.000-07:00

I think I might have mentioned that I broke my camera when I was in Austin. It was entirely my own fault, as I sat on it. Well, today, I figured I'd try out some camera stores to see if I could get it fixed. Well, it seems that camera stores suffer from the same problem as certain record stores, bike shops and the like. What is it with some people who work in places that they consider a little cool? I mean, seriously, there's no need to be so obnoxious.

Camera stores, boo.

Plus, it'd be as expensive to fix my camera as buy a new one. So I went onto the internets, ordered the part for myself, and saved a hundred dollars.

Assuming I can fix it, obviously.

But I can. Find out soon!

Scores: -1
Newness: x1

Total: -1

Day 38. Wednesday, 25th March

2009-03-31T13:18:00.000-07:00

Still feeling like my brain had been abducted by scientists, and replaced with blamange. And not the nice stuff, either, the slightly underdone watery variety. I was, however, determined to get out of the house, at least a little bit. Excitingly, when I went up to my garden, for the first time since coming back from Texas, there was a *lot* of purple sprouting broccoli. I decided that this would be super tasty with a little parmesan grated over the top. Time, then, to find a new cheese store!

Thanks too google, I discovered the 24th st cheese store, in Noe Valley. I had an hour and a half to kill before a conference call, so I figured it'd be a pleasant enough walk. Plus, I was somewhat concerned that if I road my bike, I might crash it.

The store itself isn't just a cheese store. They have a wine selection there, and also, most excitingly, a jar of licorice allsorts, which are about the tastiest thing ever. Well, nearly. Broccoli is quite nice too.

They also have a nice bowl of offcuts that are too small to sell normally, so I picked up a couple of these, as well as the cheese I wanted. They do have a pretty good selection.

I made it home with no further injury.

Scores:

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1

Total: +1

Day 37. Tuesday, 24th March

2009-03-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

See now, one of the things that I'm not sure how to measure is longer term actions. Like, if I were to go vegan for a bit, there'd be little point in doing it for a day, as, well, there are frequently days when I'm vegan already. However, if I were to do it for a month, well, that'd be a true test. But would also make for a rather boring month of blogging. God knows how I'd be able to cope with all the millions of emails asking me what I'd be doing.

Perhaps wake up and stop dreaming.

If you have a solution to this, please do let me know.

The reason I bring this up is because today I planted out some chiles. Now, I've tried to grow chillies before, from seedling, and in my garden. This time, I wanted to try something new. The windows in our house face south, so there is a lot of sunlight that comes in through them, making it ideal, hopefully, for simulating a desert environment. Or something along those lines, at least. Of course, I'll have to find a way to pollinate them once they start flowering. So that'll either mean leaving the windows open. Or just using the back porch. Yes, that sounds a little more room mate friendly.

In any case, right now I have a container with soil and seeds in. I'd take photos, but my camera is broken. There'll be more about that tomorrow. Now *that's* a treat in store, eh?

Scores for today (i think?)

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1

Total: +1

Day 36. Monday, 23rd March

2009-03-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

I was travelling for about a million hours today. I finally made it back to San Francisco at about eightish. On my way back from the train stop to my house, I stopped off at the Tacqueria Guadalajara. Ha. Ok. So, yes. This is not the most exciting of things. But screw it, it's not as if I had much chance to do anything else, aside from, say, exposing myself on a plane, or something. And clearly, I'm saving that one for later in the year. Stayed tuned for the mugshots.

Actually, I'm pretty pleased I stopped off there, because the salsa was hot, in several different flavours, and they spoke to me in Spanish. It is now my favourite tacqueria within walking distance of my house.

Scores:

Enjoyment: 1
Newness: x1

Total: +1

Day 35. Sunday, 22nd March

2009-03-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

One thing for which Texas is famous is Mexican food. Or at least, Tex-Mex. We also have this in California, of course, and I live in the latino district of San Francisco. So I'm used to the flavours and such that we get here. I have a friend who, like I am, is a big fan of the spicy salsa, and tacos, and, well, the whole lot. She'd visited Austin about six months ago, and had recommended that I check out Torchy's Tacos.

It's fair to say I was feeling a touch worse for wear, but one of my friends wanted to come and have dinner and that, so I suggested we should go there and get tacos. Now, something that I didn't know is that it's a Texan (or at least more Austin-ish?) tradition to have salsas based on a creamy ranch dressing type thing. Also, I'm at least a little apprehensive when a tacqueria doesn't have at least one spanish speaker in the kitchen.

And so it proved. The tacos I had weren't bad; they were just a little fancy. And not terribly spicey.

The Queso, on the other hand, was exactly what I needed. Must find somewhere in San Francisco that serves this. It's like a liquid heartattack. But, yknow. What a way to go!

Scores:

Enjoyment: -1
Newness: x1
Discretionary: +1 (for the queso!)

Day 34. Saturday, 21st March

2009-03-25T10:43:00.000-07:00

Record stores, as with bike shops, are a tough one. I mean, ok. I can get most of the music I want online, but not all of it. And besides, there's a pleasure to be had by idly flicking through racks of vinyl or whatever, and finding Transformer for 50 cents. So I like record stores.

However, there is a problem, often, with the people who work there. I know the Jack Black charactor in High Fidelity is something of a cliche, but it's also based on the real world. Certain people react badly to working in a record store, suddently deciding that they are super important because they work in the industry, man, and only deigning to be polite to people who they they are worthy of their time. That is, fellow industry people.

They can go fuck themselves, quite frankly.

I went up to check out Trailer Space record store in Austin, Texas.

It was quite a trek from downtown, but hey, the sun was out, there was a nice breeze, certainly not the worst thing in the world. They were having an afternoon showcase / party thing. The band Maus Haus was playing. They're from San Francisco, and a lot of fun. There was free beer. The store itself was clean.

These are all good things.

However, the owner came across as a jerk, as if he was doing us all a massive favour by even opening up that day. There's another store in Austin called The End of an Ear. Not only does this have an amusing name, nice, helpful people work there.

Scores:

Enjoyment: 0
Newness: 0

Discretionary: +1 for free beer, -1 for being a jerk.

Total: 0

Day 33. Friday, 20th March

2009-03-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

Ow. Urgh. Bleh.

One of the things about SxSW is that the sun shines a lot, and there's a lot of free beer on offer. I get thirsty when I'm hot, and, well, beer is wet and tasty. So, it's fair to say that a reasonable amount is consumed. And I tend not to eat very much, or often, largely because there's not a lot of food without meat that's readily available. Apart from pizza and hot dogs. Which are great, obviously.

So, when my friend and I were unable to get into a party at around oneish (full! already!), we decided to take the opportunity to have a proper lunch. And to get some green coloured foodstuffs inside us. We went to the Mekong River. That's the name of the restaurant. We didn't go to the real river. That would have been a little much. Though it would certainly have counted as a new thing.

But this goes down as a Good Idea. The food was spicy (and a little green), I had something to line my stomach for the free greyhounds that followed, and the coffee was very strong.

Scores:

Enjoyment: 1
Newness: x1

Total: +1

Day 32. Thursday, 19th March

2009-03-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

So, this was my first day at this year's South by South West, Austin. You'll have to forgive me if everything for the next few days is kinda based around this. Or not.

It's going to be, anyway.

So, a band I've been wanting to see for a long time is The School of Seven Bells. There'll be a picture above, when my friend sends it to me (I forgot to take my camera with me, so I had to use hers). They were playing at a bar / venue called Mohawks, which, like many of the bars in Austin, has a large outside area. They'd erected a large canvas outside to cover the stage and shield those playing from the sun. As you'll see in the photograph.

Soon.

These afternoon affairs are always a little odd, especially for bands used to playing the darkest of nightclubs. I mean, how often can you actually see the reaction of your audience? Not very often, I'd suspect. As such, there was a slight caught in the headlights aspect to their set, and it took them a couple of songs to get into the swing of things. Once they got going, they were a lot more rocking that I'd expected. It can go either way when you see these shoegazy type bands; either they really go into their shells and start whispering, or they turn up the volume and try to scare kids. They went for the latter. School of Seven Bells are touring the UK for a bit, and then they're coming back to play in San Francisco in May; I'm very much looking forward to seeing them in their natural evironment.

So, scores:

Enjoyment: 2 (did i mention the free beer, too?)
Newness: x1

Total: x2

Day 31. Wednesday, 18th March

2009-03-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

So, mostly I was travelling. As I mentioned before, I had to make a stop in Denver airport. As things would have it, I'm in Denver airport again now, as I write this.

There is wi-fi here. But horrible sandwiches. But they're cheap. I wouldn't want to spend two hours here.

Oh wait, I am. Bloody Frontier.

I'm actually going to hold off writing my Austin entries till tomorrow, when I shall probably be less tired and grumpy. As it goes, I had a rather good time. A taster of what's to come, if I recall correctly (my notebook is buried somewhere in my bag) - a band, a venue, a record store and some tacos.

God knows what I'm going to do today. I land in the bay area at sevenish; I suspect I'll be feeling just as crappy as I do now.

Whine whine whine.

Scores.

Enjoyment 0
Total: 0

Day 30. Tuesday, 17th March

2009-03-20T08:41:00.000-07:00

One of the things that this challenge, along with my present state of semi-employment, has made me do is try to find free stuff to go to. I’m also learning to check earlier in the day, and not wait around till lunchtime and then decide it’s time to get out from in front of the computer and do something. This time, I was super organised, and I managed to sort myself out on Tuesday evening.

The Old Saint Mary’s Cathedral (as with most things, I prefer the original, yeah) has a Tuesday lunchtime classical music performance, as you might have guessed, every Tuesday lunchtime. Hm. That sentence could use a little work. Well, this is a blog. Screw it. Anyway, another classical music concert, another wunderkind. This time playing piano. There was some Chopin, some Bach, and some Haydn. I’m not a big fan of Haydn. He’s way too florid for my tastes. I mean, I get it. It’s technically very impressive. I just don’t find it especially interest. Why couldn’t they have just brought in the trumpets?

That’s the first blog in joke. If you’re a long time reader, congratulations. It’s all become worth it, I’m sure.

Just wait till I start podcasting this. Blimey.

The rest was great, though. And then I spent most of the rest of the afternoon trying to find wher USPS had lost a package of mine. Seemingly, they didn't know either.

Enjoyment: 1
Newness: x1

Total: +1.

Right, so. I’m mostly up to date. Today’s new thing is visiting Denver. Denver airport, that is. I hear it’s meant to be rilly rilly cold down there, and, as I’m flying between two warmish places, I’m wearing a polo shirt.
We’ll see how this works out, then.

Day 29. Monday, 16th March

2009-03-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

For some reason, my body seems to react poorly to Mondays. Normally it’s because I’ve been playing soccer the day before, and my legs disagree with having to run around for nearly forty minutes. Well, a half an hour, perhaps. And when I say run, what I mean is, mostly jog or walk, pointing a finger at the opposition. With some occasional sprinting. Even though, as previously mentioned, there had been no soccer the previous day, my body decided to go ahead anyway with feeling dazed and out of it. So it was nearly three in the afternoon by the time I was able to summon the energy to make it out of the house. What an achievement.

I’d been reading the book I’d purchased on the community gardens of San Francisco, and I wanted to go check out one of them on Poterero Hill. As it happens, it’s right next to the most windy (as in twisty, not with the blowing of air) road in the city. Which is NOT Lombard Street, as the guide books want to tell you, though that does have more in the way of flowers and the like. It is, in fact, a road whose name I cannot remember. I’d look it up, but I don’t have the internets on the airplane here (next stop Denver), so I’m going to have to update you on that at a later date. I’m sure you wait with baited breath. Actually, I was hoping to bring the graphs and stuff up to date whilst I was in the air, but I can’t get to my blog, so, yknow. Let’s hope Denver airport has free wifi. I know Austin does, but, yknow. I’m not going to be spending my time drawing graphs, no matter how fun that is.

Back to the garden. Somewhat disappointingly, given the circuitous nature of my getting there, it was locked. And there was a funny looking man there, so, I just wandered around and took a couple of photos. I was trying to see if I could snap a butterfly or something, but I’m really not a very good photographer. If you are, and you’d like to accompany me at all times on my adventures, well, feel free to get in touch.
Scores.
Enjoyment: 1 (in other words, I didn’t sit on my arse watching Pretty in Pink for the millionth time)
Newness: x1
Total: +1

Day 28. Sunday, 15th March

2009-03-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

Three days to go till I was due to leave for Austin, so trying to keep a low profile, not drink, and not spend too much money. I’ve written a guide to surviving South by South West (link), as it happens. I’ll also be live(ish) blogging (link) from there. So we’ll see how that goes. It might be an absolute disaster, it might not. If last time is anything to go by, I’ll be dead on my feet by the Sunday morning. This time I’m staying out there all the way till Monday, though. And I’m going out a day earlier. Though, I’m older, and possibly wiser. Though, as with most claims I make, that one is up for debate. I’m writing this on the plane to Denver; it might be a last moment of sweet, sweet lucidity.

Back to Sunday, though. There was no soccer game today (it was the playoffs. Our team, generally, does not make the playoffs), so we went for a late breakfast to a place called Palomar (link). To say it was a bit all over the place is missing the point – they’ve named everything on the menu after the part of the world that it’s supposedly from. One thing I learned today – green olives, capers, green beans and plantains with eggs do not belong. The food that my friends ordered looked better (or at least, less thrown together), but for nearly twenty dollars, I suspect I won’t be going back there again. Though, breakfast with friends is always pleasant.

Scores:

Enjoyment: 0

Newness: x1`

Discretionary: -1 (capers? And plantains? Seriously?)
Total: -1

Day 27. Saturday, 14th March

2009-03-16T13:51:00.000-07:00

Beer. What is it good for? Well, you can make your own answers, on this one. One thing i'd like to draw your attention to is my handiwork on here - I used all of my arts and crafts skillz to change that sticker from saying "Mr Beer", to just "Beer". What do you think of, that, No Logo Klein?

You might remember, right at the start of this challenge, we went and brewed some beer. I think I referred to this the other day, as well. Today, we finally got around to bottling it. According to our all American non Reinheitsgebot beer brewing instructions, we had to add sugar to the bottles, in order to ensure that the beer carbonated fully. Can't have flat beer! Unfortunately, there's a chance that we were using the wrong type of spoon to measure out the sugar, so, well, there's a decent chance one or four of the bottles might, erm, explode. I guess we shall just have to see what happens. Just to prove that the beer is, in fact, beery, this is what it looks like. Hm. It's clearly beer.

Actually, it does taste quite a lot like beer. It'll take about a week to finish proving, so hopefully when I'm back from Texas I'll be able to report back on it's sweet, sweet (literally) beery taste. And no, I'm not counting tasting beer as a new thing. That'd be way too easy. But it would make things easier. Hm....

Scores:

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1

Total score: +1

Day 26. Friday, 13th March

2009-03-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

Another Friday the 13th. But did that put me off? Did it not. Once a month, or so, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra plays a series of four free concerts around the bay area. This month, as part of their celebration of his 200th birthday, they were playing some of Felix Mendelssohn's finer moments. So, I rode over to the Herbst theatre, which is opposite City Hall. As you can see above, there was a decent turn out, though the two ladies behind me were a little dissapointed by the lack of trumpets in the string concertoes ("couldn't he have just thrown in some brass?"). A very fresh faced 15 year old came and played the solo parts. He was just ridiculously good. At that stage, I was still very bad at playing violin. Maybe if I'd just practiced a little more? No, I really wasn't that good, is the truth. I did, however, enjoy playing in orchestras a lot; to have this great wall of sound coming from behind and around you. Perhaps as a throwback to that, one of the second violinists was slightly out of tune. That would have been me.

Anyway, it was a fun time, free, and, yknow. I'd bring a girl there, if I really wanted to impress her. And if she were likely to be impressed by this sort of thing. The next one is in April, and is entitled "Bach to Bach".

Scores

Enjoyment +2
Multiplier: x1

Total: +2

Day 25. Thursday, 12th March

2009-03-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

Twenty Five days of this? Still going strong. Well, strongish, anyway. Let's just leave it as still going. Can you tell the days I have too much time on my hands? They're the ones where I ramble more.

So, I had to make up for the cancelled meeting on Wednesday, and to pick up my new business cards (hark at me) etc. We went to Cafe Venue, downtown. It was fine. They spoke to me in spanish, briefly. They asked us to leave at 4.30 when they wanted to shut. Nothing remarkable.

Enjoyment: 0

Total Score: 0

Day 24. Wednesday, 11th March

2009-03-13T13:55:00.000-07:00

Once a month I have to go down to Palo Alto for an answerJam planning meeting. I went do a little early, but, just as I arrived, I got a call saying that the meeting was cancelled. No matter. I have a friend who works for facebook, and earlier I'd contacted him to see if he wanted to get a drink post meeting. He couldn't do that, but he did ask if I wanted to have a look around the facebook offices.

Did I? Did I ever. Well, turns out they have fridges. With Facebook on them. This is amazing. I think so, at any rate. The offices themselves are pretty typical of what you'd expect. People sitting at desks nerding around. Which is totally different to what I do. Absolutely.

So, my friend had to go do some work, or something (what's that like? I can hardly remember, at this stage), so I went to a coffee shop for a while and drank some terrible tea. Then... then we went to dinner. In the facebooks canteen. Now, if there's any guarantees in this life, it's that free dinner will meet with my approval.

When I got back home, facebooks had changed it's formatting. I was there, literally, as they did this. How meta is that? er, not very.

Scores:

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x1

Discretionary. +1 (for a free dinner!)

Total: +2

Day 23. Tuesday, 10th March.

2009-03-13T13:37:00.000-07:00

So, today I was going to be bottling the beer that we started brewing in an earlier entry. Actually, reading that has made me realise I should be better at titling these things. I had to look all the way through to find what I wanted. I originally had decided to do it how I've been doing it because I didn't want to give anything away about what I'd done, or something like that. I don't know. Anyway, maybe I'll try to change the titles of the old posts and be better going forward.

You'll notice I wrote "was going to be". Well, it didn't happen today, for one reason or another (though, it still might well do). But I did get home at seven thirty, after my spanish class, wondering what I could do for this ridiculous challenge. Did I mention this has turned into an obsession? Maybe I'll write some more about that at the end of the month.

I am, however, always on the lookout for local restaurants where I can get take out. So I walked up the road to the New Aux Delices, which is a Vietnamese / French restaurant. It makes sense, trust me. I had a vegetable curry. Which was fresh, but light on the curry bit, and also, yknow, flavour. It was cheap, however. It's unlikely I'll go there again, but who knows. I'm going to score this one as neutral.

Scores.

Enjoyment: 0

Total: 0

Day 22. Monday, 9th March.

2009-03-13T13:07:00.000-07:00

Normally Mondays are a problem. I'm sore, I'm tired, and I don't really feel like doing anything. This is because of the previous day's soccer, not because I'm a lazy so and so. Right? Right.

For some reason, this wasn't the case this evening. Maybe my fitness levels are improving? Who knows. Suffice it to say, I managed to summon up the energy to ride on up to the Sunset Library. Actually, it was a fun ride, the sun was setting over the hills as I rode west, listen to the new(ish) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart record. Which is just great, incidentally.

I was there to see a talk by Alex Hatch, who has written a book about the community gardens of San Francisco, a subject in which I'm quite interested. I was a bit late, and the talk was quite short, but they showed me the slides again at the end. There was some interesting historical stuff, too. And then some guy who was trying to promote the gardens as something we should be doing, rather than the simple pleasures of being able to spend an hour or so digging in the soil and pulling up roots. But whatever. It's churlish to complain. I got a copy of her book, which is super. And has given me an idea for writing a book of my own. More of that anon, perhaps.

She's giving this talk again on March 26 at Get Lost Travel Books. You should go.

Scores.

Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x1

Total:+2

Day 21. Sunday, 8th March

2009-03-13T12:38:00.000-07:00

I like burritos. And Tacos. Before I moved to California, I had no idea how tasty Mexican food could be. Now I live in the Mexican district of San Francisco, and I hold burritos responsible for me not being able to still fit in to the same trousers that I had with me when I arrived. Sedentary lifestyle? Pshh.

So, after our soccer game, we had a couple of beers, then I had a nap, and woke up hungry at fivish. Really hungry, as I hadn't had breakfast before our 9am game (see last yesterday for details...). Only one thing for it. Book me a ticket to tastytown.

Or rather, El Metate. I ordered the Vegetarian Burrito. It's a house speciality. Incidentally, did you know that Burritos are not from Mexico, but were invented in the Salinas Valley by migrant farm workers there? I learned this in the National Steinbeck museum. It's definitely worth going there. Obviously, I can't go, having been there before.

I digress. Now, in my burritos, I mostly like beans, cheese, plus the salsa / onion / sour cream etc. There are certain places that like to put vegetables in, as if, in the absence of meat, we need something else. I disagree. El Metate puts in broccoli! Now, don't get me wrong. I love broccoli. I grow broccoli in my garden. But seriously? There's a time and a place. This isn't it.

The rest of the burrito was fine (though, they didn't give me enough salsa, which was weird), and it filled me up. But I reckon I'd've been better off going to Tacqueria San Francisco.

Scores:

Enjoyment: -1
Newness: x1

Total: -1

Day 20, Saturday, 7th March

2009-03-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

Having stayed in on Friday night, tonight was a night for action. When I lived in Exeter and Bristol, I went to an indie music night of some description pretty much once a week (and frequently more often than that) for about eight years. It was fun. Mostly. I have the scars to show you (I broke a rib in 2002). There were some nights that were really depressing, where I wondered why I continued to drag myself out to hear songs that I often didn't really like that much, at best, or annoyed me, at worst.

And then there were nights when everything worked just right; all your friends were there, there were no tensions, you've had the right amount to drink, or whatever, the DJ plays the right tunes, and it's great. You come home, and remember why music is so thrilling.

That said, the real sound of of these things is not any song, nor is it the sound of cheap cans of lager being opened, nor is it the sound of teenagers vomiting in the bathroom, though all of these are part of the aural tapestry. No, the real sound of the times is the gap between songs, as everyone pauses for a second as the previous record spools down, and they wait to see if the next one is something that they like. If you don't know it, you probably won't be dancing to it. If you don't like it, then, well, it's time to go get a beer. For better or for worse, if you end up dancing to a song you've previously claimed to dislike (or, given the hyperbole that accompanies these things, probably described as being "worse than death") well, then you've committed a social faux pas, to say the least. Hey, I never said it made sense.

So, why this introduction? Well, I went to a 'britpop" night called Leisure, at annie's social club. I should point out, for the record, that I was quite refreshed when I got there. I'd been refreshing myself for about four hours, in fact, so, yeah. You get the picture. Mostly, the music was about what you'd expect. There was the Stone Roses. There was Dodgy. There was Pulp. That was nice. What there wasn't, though, was that chance of hearing something extraordinary, like the first time you went out and the DJ played a Sleater Kinney tune, or even Belle and Sebastian, for that matter. And there wasn't a steady flow of people coming on and off the dancefloor between songs. It was a bit like a hollywood remake of my late teens / early twenties - everyone was better looking, they were all having fun, and no-one threw up. But somehow... it wasn't quite the same. Now, I'm thirty now, so this might well have a large amount to do with it. Also, it's worth considering whether this slight feeling of alienation was in fact an accurate one, based on all those nights back when I thought that no-one understood me, and I was intensely intense, and so on and so forth.

I don't think so, however. Maybe it's just a danger of trying to recapture something that you'd never experienced. If i tried to put on a grunge night, it'd likely be based on the magazines that I read at the time, and tv shows, and music videos. You can't get the spirit of a time by reading old issues of the NME.

Or maybe, they just wanted to play some songs they like so that people could have fun and dance.

That seems more likely.

Scores.

Enjoyment: 1 (actually, I did have fun, despite what I've written)
Newness: 1
Total: +1

I might edit this scoring, as I think on it. But I'd probably go again.

Maybe.

Day 19, Friday, 6th March

2009-03-11T13:37:00.000-07:00

It took me about forty minutes to shave my head. And it's growing back already. Hm. Still, it does make my hoodie stick to my head in comedy fashion.

So the scores from Thursday are:

Enjoyment: 1
Newness: x2 (just cause... yeah. it is quite a different feeling)
Discretionary: -1.

Total: +1

Continuing with Friday. My wallet had given out, a mere week after I'd been boasting about how I'd had it Why, Gods of irony, must you taunt us in this way? This is nearly the worst thing that has ever happened to anyone. I was also a little hungover, following on from our book group, the previous night. I really love our book group. Anyways, I went up the road to the Arkay Workshop.

I't's ok. It's a bit annoying, and not as good as needles and pens. Which is next door to where I used to live. Anyways, I got a wallet. It fits american money! Which is called the dollar. No more folding notes in half for me!

Scores:

Enjoyment: -1 (just for not being needles and pens)
Newness: x1

Total: -1

Day 18. Thursday, 5th March

2009-03-09T15:46:00.000-07:00

Day 17, Wednesday, 4th March

2009-03-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

This is probably the most difficult one to judge thus far. I went this evening to a talk on stem cell research at a Catholic church with one of my friends (in the spirit of saying yes to unusual things, see). I must admit that I went in expecting a presentation that was skewed against all stem cell research, and not necessarily showcasing some of the latest avenues of investigation. I was wrong. The lady giving the talk is doing a course in bioethics and the Catholic church in Rome, and she did present, on the most part, a balanced view. I got the feeling the audience would have liked some more red meat, but there we are. The only problems I had were when she started referring to abortion clinics as “abortion mills”, and scientists in general as “they”, having “the arrogance of science”. There’s still a way to go before the religious and scientific communities understand each other, I think. I did come out thinking that I’d like to give a talk to them. Not sure how that would go, mind.

Although this isn't entirely out of the range of my usual experiences, of everything I've done so far, it probably featured a group of people furthest from those I'd usually hang out with. Which is partly the point of this, no?

Oh, and the priest was wearing *awesome* sandals.

Scores:

Enjoyment: +1
Newness: x2

Total: +2

Day 16. Tuesday, 3rd March

2009-03-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

An odd sort of day, today. This rain is really off putting. I’d been to the hospital (to pay my bills – don’t worry, I’m not ill. Well, not that I know of, at least), and the dentist. And then it started throwing it down. Like, a lot. I was on Valencia, and I remembered that someone had told me that the Lucca Ravioli deli was really good. They were right. It’s pretty great. I got some Ricotta and other cheese (more cheaply than I would have at Rainbow), and some tomato paste. I’m planning on going back there to pick up some of the eponymous ravioli. Hurrah.

Scores.

Enjoyment: 1
Newness: x1

Total: +1

Day 15 - Monday, 2nd March

2009-03-05T12:40:00.000-08:00

I was in pain today from Sunday's extertions (fifty minutes of running around playing soccerball, three miles cycling there and back, five and a half miles hiking up hill and down dale - I am truely an iron man for the 21st century), so just doing anything was a bit of a hassle. There's a thrift store where Mission meets South Van Ness that I'd never been to, so I had a wander down there. I was looking for a pan for our fireplace so we could sweep up some of our ash, but they didn't have one. I did find a t shirt, though:

It has a smiling taco on. And makes no sense. I like it. It was two dollars.

I walked home, and it started raining again.

Hey, they can't all be exciting, right? There were newts and moutains yesterday. 365 days is a lot, a lot of days.

Scores:

Enjoyment: -1
Newness: x1
total: -1

Day 14 - Sunday, 1st March

2009-03-05T11:52:00.000-08:00

Pinch, punch, first of the Month. So, this obsession enters March. Surprisingly, it was raining. I'd been speaking to my roommate the night before, and she'd mentioned that she was going to go hiking on the Sunday. I pooh-poohed the suggestion, the idea that walking around in the rain would not be my idea of fun times. However, we somehow won our soccerball game in the morning (well, I say "somehow", but what I mean is "half of the opposition team didn't turn up so we looked like world beaters"), and it wasn't overly wet in the Mission, so we decided that rather being a drag, hiking in the rain would be, in fact, More Real. Which it is. Plus, there would be fewer people around.

So, we drove out to Tennessee Valley, on the ocean side of the Marin Peninsula. Stopping only to take a photo of some XXXtreeeem moutain bikers ("it's great out there, man"), we set off down the trail towards the coast. And my, is it beautiful. Beautiful like this.

That's the Pacific Ocean! And some sort of lake in front of it. Which is apparently not there in the summertime. Anyways, we walked on up to the California Coastal Path (being careful to watch out for bears) - apparently, this goes all the way to Oregon. I've never walked all the way to Oregon. If i go dark for five weeks, look for me there. The rain, at times, was coming in sideways. This wasn't too bad, actually - we'd both bundled up warm, and the wind wasn't bad. And hey, if we'd needed to, we could have started a camp fire. To be honest, next time I watch Man vs Wild and Mr Grylls is mithering on about being cold from a little rain, I shall laugh in his face. It's clearly not as bad as he makes out. Clearly.

Anyhows. We went on down to pirates cove, where there *lots* of lizards. So at least we knew that we'd have something to eat, should we be stranded nearly three miles from our car and the bag of trail mix we'd left there.

The biggest danger, which you can see in this photograph, was the treacherous condition of the path underfoot. Especially as I had on my squash sneakers, and not anything like hiking shoes with grip and the like. Fortunately, I have the balance of a mountain goat. And anyone who says it was more like bambi on ice is a liar who clearly wasn't there. So I won't hear that sort of talk.

Anyways. We took a right turn before we reached Muir Beach, and headed back to the car. There was one remarkable moment on the top of a mountain (they are clearly mountains), when you can look West out to the Ocean, or East and see the whole of the bay, thus seeing all the way across the Marin peninsula. It's smaller than you think!

This here is the coastal path, looking north. You can just about see Portland in the distance. Well, nearly. If it weren't for the cloud cover, you surely would. But that path looks cool, doesn't it?

So we walked back (beginning to get a bit chilly now - five miles is enough). Take that, the weather! You can't stop us. Just as a coda to this, we stopped at wholefoods on the way home and when we tried to restart the car, it wouldn' t move again. Somehow, this added an extra level to our coastal adventure. How would we survive in Potrero Hill, almost two miles from our flat? Having decided that building a shelter in the wholefoods parking lot was a bad idea, AAA came out and started the engine. By hitting it with a hammer. This is a good thing. Next time you break down, get a rubber hammer and hit the solonoid. This is what I have learned from today. Well, that, and it's really great hiking along the coast.

Scores:

Enjoyment: +2
Newness: x1
Discretionary: +1. Everyone loves newts!

Total:+3