argh to midblog computer crashes...

wishing everyone a great christmakuah, i've had a great one. it has been, by far, the best trip back home yet (except for, ya know, the whole getting home part. taking the train from sanjose to reno should take 6.5 hours or so via amtrak, but it took 8.5 because mother nature did not want me, or anyone else, getting over donner pass. chain controls were in effect and traffic stopped completely for a good 45 minutes. but no, that wasn't the worst part, there was this guy on the bus (train to sactown, bus the rest of the way) who was wearing shitty head phones so everyone in the back half of the bus could hear what he was listening too. but no, the front part of the bus wasn't free of the music, this guy had to loudly sing his favorite lines to some songs and the whole songs to others. lucky for me he fell asleep (passed out?) after an hour or so. anyways, finally made it to reno. the folks took me home had some dinner then back to downtown reno to meet up with the reno heads. it was great to see everyone. colleen, who i haven't seen in 4 years or so seems to be doing good (except for her lungs - and i'm nervous about the amount of pot i smoke!). also good to meet clifton finally.

anyways, the bay area trip was truly amazing (jeez, i use that phrase - truly amazing - too often, it sounds too hackneyed), but really that is exactly what it was, truly amazing (hehe - three usages in one sentance - hell, TRULY AMAZING). Drove up to Half Moon Bay rolling in style in the leather everything lexus. Made good time despite the bad weather. Hung out with the shafae clan and got some dinner, apparently being jewish is a big deal with that crew... After dinner we hit up the HMB bars. Despite negative reviews from the entire shafae clan, they were great (albeint suffering from the recurrent high school friends syndrome). The final bar was this english pub which was GREAT. They even offered Tennants - WHICH THEY WERE OUT OF - bastards - gent my hope all up like that. anyways, i proceded to get quite drunk over the evening (thanks for driving dustin) and crashed as soon as i hit the bed. next morning we got lunch at 3 amigos, which, as dustin has been saying for years, is really really good. eventually made our way to sacramento, before which we watched a good portion ov volcano (no matter how bad a movie is, there is just something satisfying about seeing LA destoryed on the big screen). sacramento was great because we got to see julie, that part was cool...otherwise...no comment. afterwards, made our way to berkeley and dustin dropped me off at rob's house. very very fun times were had. went to the city that night and the next day. toured the castro (interesting, how one is looked at rather than being the one doing the looking...well, it works both ways ;0 - hello, film studies 85A). then walked down haight street which good god is amazing. added to my zine collection at this anarchist bookstore (volunteer run and completely non-profit - hott). went into that store that was featured in Ready Made a few issues ago - the toy robots, then made our way down to golden gate park. GG Park is great great great. was offered pot and mushrooms, always a good sign. i would love to crochet down there for a day. walked back and stopped at amoeba (which i can't go to often because it causes potential bank account deficiencies). picked up the cure greatest hits and mana, canciones para bilar. good stuff. went to a great bar - $8 all you can eat/all you can drink.
next morning said goodbye to rob and headed to downtown berkeley. got some great breakfast at this greasy spoon run by this chinese (i'm pretty sure) couple. made me long for a dinner at mai huang. hung out until meeting up with shannon. we got lunch at this indian buffet - called (i can already hear meera laughing) Curry in Hurry. Food wasn't spectacular (no ICH), but pretty good. My major problem was that the Naan cooked then put in the buffet and not freshly served. But for 4.99 probably couldn't be beat. Hung out with shannon in berkeley for a few hours, bought this GREAT hoodie. Made it back to BART and headed to orinda and met up with Marko. Fun times were had smoking and drinking in, of all places, Walnut Creek (see the similarity to OC?). Hopped back on BART and got picked up in Fremont by Dan. Hung out with Helga (always fun) and Dan's high school friends (also, always fun) and again, proceded to get quite drunk. Dan's friends are hella cool. (oh yeah, speaking of norcal friends, Tim, Mark's good HS friend is under house arrest - fun times)

Dan took me to SJ train station, and now here i am!

Oh yeah, i (indriectly) received the BEST christmakuah gift EVER. no i won't tell you what it is, you have to see it.