A Pretty Good Monday

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003 - 6:38 a.m.

I was just gonna post a link and say here -- go read this, but JJ said no, she wanted me to also do my own writeup, so here goes.

The previous evening, JJ had YMed me and said hey, let's go do that thing we've been talking about.

Namely, a sojourn down to Pier 39.

JJ and I had a good visit. We met at the Embarcadero BART station, jumped on the F Market tram and took it to the Ferry Building, and looked inside for the first time since its renovation was complete.

The Ferry Building was damaged on October 17, 1989, and for almost a decade, the clock remained stopped at 5:09 PM. But finally, the city and county got tired of spending money on stupid so-called civic improvement items like oddly shaped metal-and-water sculptures that look as if they've been excreted by a three-hundred-foot Giant Robot Dog with a square asshole.

The Ferry Building can be seen in nearly any and all existing early film footage of San Francisco. It is stately and pristine, and the basic design has not been twitted with, at least not too severely.

We went in, and were more than a little surprised to see that it has basically been turned into a mall. It's a NICE mall, but some of the product was a little ... hmmm... lofty.

After we tiptoed around in there feeling like a couple of stupefied outsiders, we went back out into the sunlight and walked from the Ferry Building all the way down to Pier 39. We arrived there before the sun went down, and before my very eyes, JJ turned into a little girl. I don't think I'd ever seen anybody up close and in person who was so utterly and magically in touch with their inner child.

We roamed around looking at all of the pretties, and then finally we decided where to buy chowder. A cheap place in the back, next to where you can exit and go to the seal observation deck. The seals moved from Seal Rock over to Pier 39 right after the 1989 earthquake. Nobody is really sure why, but they came to Pier 39, and they never left again.

We sat in the waning daylight and ate our chowder and drank our drinks, and were one hundred percent certain that one or the other of us would probably end up decorated with seagull shit. But that didn't happen.

She happened to notice one of the Adventure Cat sailing schooners, and it just sort of struck her that Adventure Cat sounds like it should be the name of a Hanna-Barbera cartoon character. So every several minutes for about a half hour, she would say "Adventure Cat! Rrrowr!" and claw the air. It was a sight to behold. :)

JJ's sig-o Tommy was working on Alcatraz that day, so she said it was likely that if we walked over to the fleet pier and waited for the last tourist boat from Alcatraz to arrive there, we would probably see him. And she was right. It was nice to meet him

The sun finally went down behind the buildings, and the wind got a little goosebumpy, and I wanted to try and catch John at work to see if he wanted to travel home with me to make sure I didn't get lost, so JJ and Tommy went thisaway, and I went thataway, back the way I came.

Something I learned yesterday that is very, very important to know when you're walking around in downtown San Francisco, is that the big buildings look really close -- until you start walking toward them. I didn't get anywhere near John. He was long gone by the time I finished my walk back. It took me about forty-five minutes to get from Pier 39 to 3 Embarcadero Center, which is where I catch the bus. Then when I got there, the buses were not running. This was due to an electrical fire somewhere in Chinatown, at least that was what the scuttlebutt was there in the crowd, with the news delivered by those who had cell phones and could investigate the delay, but all traffic was rerouted for a while so the firetrucks could get there as soon as possible.

Finally, at around six fifteen, I climbed aboard the right bus, and got home at around six thirty. John let me in, and I handed him The Oracle of Transport (his Fast Pass), safely home from another day with me.

I sat down to do my Diaryland work for the evening -- and I seized up. I got up to walk to the kitchen to make something to eat, and that was when I discovered that my legs felt like a pair of old stockings filled with aluminum foil and really angry electric eels.

It's a little better today, but I am still so sore.

But I had a wonderful day. Thank you, JJ.

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Todd Thalimer bestowed yet another gift upon me; he's begun -orchestrating- the song we have written, and he uploaded a Proof Of Concept sample for me to listen to so I could hear what the heck he's been trying to express to me through a piano and a speaker phone. The sample was wonderful, and so astonishing to listen to. I was in tears, because he just ... I don't know... he just did SUCH a great job. Thanks, Todd. I had no idea it was going to sound so wonderful after you had your way with it.

Again, humbly -- thanks.

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Dear Universe: Thank you for a great day yesterday.

It was a pretty good Monday, all things considered. :)

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