Auld & New Acquaintences

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2003 - 1:22 a.m.

Tuesday afternoon, John and I emerged from our digs and out into the fresh air, heading out to the Mission District to have lunch with JJ and Tommy.

John and Tommy hadn't met yet, and when John heard that Tommy was a Star Trek fan, he really looked forward to the meeting. We managed to catch a bus right when we got down to the corner of our block, and we were able to get down into and onto the Embarcadero BART fairly quickly.

We ventured back up into the daylight shortly after three in the afternoon, and JJ was waiting for us there at the 24th Street station, with Tommy by her side. It was good to see her of course, because, well, she's JJ -- but it was also nice to see Tommy again. JJ likes to rework plain clothing and make it more to her liking. She had cut out the front of a denim jacket, and sewn it on to the front of a hoodie, and it looked wonderful. She handed me a bag, in which was a minature accordion of all things -- cool! -- plus those little bundles of gunpowder and goddess only knows what, that you drop on the sidewalk and it goes BANG! on impact. We think those BANG! things will come in handy if Stupid Larry ever leans out the window and lets his damn cigarette smoke drift up into our window.

The walk down Mission Street fascinated John. He could remember going to the Strand Theatre, the Tower Theatre, and the New Mission Theatre in that neighborhood when he was a kid. They've since been shut down and converted into such things as churches or parking garages. He says when he was younger, Mission Street looked very different, and has morphed into more of a funky and very personal neighborhood that now reminds him of a multi-block flea market. It makes us wonder who is telling the truth and who is not when you hear so many bleak reports about the state of the economy. So many small businesses in a minority neighborhood -- almost all of them thriving and packed with people makes me believe we've been hoodwinked by the people who are beating their chests and wailing about how terrible the economy allegedly is.

We walked down to the Lawrence Bakery, where we were able to get four hamburgers and an order of fries and drinks for everybody for just over eleven dollars. When we settled down to eat, John, who had brought his briefcase, pulled out an album he'd had of slides from Star Trek conventions from twenty and thirty years ago, and showed Tommy some of the people and places from then. He also brought Tommy a Space Con program book from 1978. During our conversations, Tommy also informed me that he and JJ had purchased Astrojax, a pair of which was for a friend of his who is a clubber and who plays with Shit That Lights Up. JJ also told us about her Furby collection, and how that if you have a bunch of them in a circle so their infrared signals can all be seen by one another, they actually act as a group. This includes a collective Furby Yawn.

We finished our meal, and since the eating bone is connected to the smoking bone, JJ and Tommy both needed to go outside. John and I followed them out, and I took a picture of the two of them. JJ doesn't like being photographed with her hair pulled back off of her face, because she thinks she looks too peeled. I strongly disagree; she looks fine. But I -really- like the look on Tommy's face. JJ said he's a 'what you see is what you get' kind of guy, and when I look at this image of him, I believe it. They are very cute together.

But all good things must conclude, and John's hip was bothering him due to Monday's dampness, so we had to start going home.

The four of us headed over to the 16th Street BART, which has been uniquely imprinted with the flavor of the Mission Street neighborhood. There are mosaics and murals and sculpted gates, and it's all embellished brightly and beautifully. We visited for a few moments before we headed underground, and had final rounds of hugs and handshakes.

John and I got on the train, and when we got back out to the Embarcadero station, he went to his place of work to get some of his end of the month paperwork. I stayed outside because I didn't have a security badge. I stepped out to the front of the building and looked up at the surrounding buildings for a nice picture to take, and was really enjoying the mildness of the twilight, and the fact that so many Christmas decorations were still up, and the fact that the glass windows had all been scoured clean by the previous day's rain

John was in the building for about five minutes, and when he emerged, one of his co-workers came out with him. Bruce Meservey had dinner over at our house on Thursday, September 13, 2001 -- and it was truly a memorable night and a healing night, because we three decided to talk about anything except what had happened that previous Tuesday. (John and Bruce work for a company who lost just under 300 people when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.) But during Bruce's visit that night a little over two years ago, we had kept the radio and news completely the hell off, and listened to CDs and watched videos instead. It was the day we got on with life. So it was deeply sentimental to me to see Bruce again.

I didn't find a good thing to take a picture of until I pointed the camera far enough up to see the light playing off of the windows. This was taken while John and I were waiting in line for the express bus, which only runs during the ends of business days. John's lucky to get a seat most of the time, because usually this particular bus fills up at the first stop and it's SRO from then on out. But last night the bus was only half full due to everybody being on vacation between Christmas and New Years. We got home in about fifteen minutes, because the express bus only made two stops, one of which was across the street from where we live, and we got home around twenty after five.

I kicked off my shoes and discovered two blisters, one on the outside edge of each baby toe. They don't hurt. And no, this is not going to be Blister Watch 2004.

Overall, we had a great afternoon. I'm looking forward to the next time all four of us can think of something to do together.

John and I changed into pajamas, and had a snack instead of official dinner, and watched 'Radio Days', and he just went to bed about an hour ago.

I'm going to follow him very soon.

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It's the last day of 2003, friends.

As I look back on my adventures, I have to say that I'm a stronger person because of them, but I sure wish I had handled a lot of things differently than I did, especially this month. I have a lot of work to do, and a lot of growing, and a lot of learning to accomplish. I also have a lot of apologies to make as soon as I can find a way to do so -- but overall, looking back?

I still think the good guys won this one.

Tonight, I can recommend a couple of good DVDs: The aformentioned 'Radio Days', and 'When Harry Met Sally.' If you have your own recommendations, please leave them in the comments section if you want to.

Enjoy your day, friends. I hope 2004 brings all of us every good thing.

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