August in San Francisco

8:45am: goin to scotland

9:23am: I'm going to Scotland tomorrow.  I'll probably update a bit there, and then get rid of this thing when I get back.  I think, at that point, that it will have served its purpose.

5:02pm:

so check this out:  my UNCG account still works.

what the hell?

9:56am: Back from San Francisco!  Whoo!

11:30am:

i have been in san francisco for many days and many nights.  i return to greensboro on thursday.  and though this town has been quite entertaining at times, and quite good for my writing in at least the way that it has made me write a lot, i am excited that i'm going home, if only for a week.

see you on thursday.  or friday, depending on who you are.  or maybe the saturday after this coming saturday.  or perhaps some other time in the future.

oh, and i'm almost done with another short story (entitled My Father's Ashes)!  how exciting.

5:38pm: i hate stuck-up, prissy assholes on busses.  this little gay high school brat and his holier-than-thou fashionista faghag just systematically ripped apart every person on the bus from powell st. all the way to 38th Avenue.  every person that walked on.  it was irritating.

3:38pm:

I should be writing, but instead I decided to make an entry.

In the last week or so, I went to Chinatown and the Presidio, like I said I would.  Chinatown, which is mainly on Grant Avenue, is one long street comprised mainly of shops that spreads out like a fat man in the middle, and slims back down until it hits Columbus and Broadway at its north end.  You can tell that it is a culture based mainly around sales.  Funny enough, City Lights bookstore, which is owned and operated by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (sic) and was a huge gathering place of the beats, is right at the corner of Columbus and Broadway.  I went in, saw Mr. Ferlinghetti (sic), saw a bunch of photos of Ginsberg and Bob Dylan and others, and bought a book of poems by Ginsberg (including Howl), and one by Frank O'Hara (Lunch Poems).  After that, I hung out in Kerouac Alley before heading back down the hill.

And man, this town has hills.  I spent 4 hours or so in the Presidio the other day, completely lost and climbing all sorts of hills - hills with trees, hills with weird fenced-in buildings that look like old military instillations, hills that turn into cliffs that look out at the ocean, hills that turn into cliffs looking out at the bay, hills that have roads, hills that have dirt trails.  Lots and lots of hills.

I've written a lot while I've been here.  I wrote a short story (Rainfall) and a poem (Poem) and started a novel (working title: Othersville), and I've just started another short story (working title: Billy and the Mermaid).  I hope to write more poems and finish this story and work on that screenplay, Chris, and work on my novel more before I come back.  That's all for now.  See all of you soon.

1:33pm: San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other things

So, in the last week, not too much has happened.  I've been in Los Angeles since Friday.  Before that, I wrote a lot, wandered around, you know, did stuff.

My dad's in Los Angeles with my brother working on Jersey Boys (the musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons), so I went down to visit for a week.  I saw the show, which is pretty good, and I sat backstage, which is kind  of neat, because a lot of people will stand backstage and just sing - they're supposed to.  I also saw Stardust, which was not as bad as I thought it would be.

For someone who hates flying so much, I forsee a lot of flying in my future.  I flew out here and to LA and back.  In two weeks, I fly back to San Francisco, and then a week after that, I fly to London, and then to Glasgow, and then back here.  And those are some long flights (except for the one from London to Glasgow).

In the next two weeks, I need to go to the Mission District and look around, go to Chinatown and North Beach and do the same, walk around in the Presidio, go to Colma to look at Emperor Norton's grave, maybe go to the North Bay area to see the Sequoias, and out to Alcatraz.  As well as write. A lot.

We'll see how much I get done.

8:51pm: Fuck Trader Joe's.

8:23pm: Check It

Today is a week after I came here - Monday to Monday.

So far, I have started a novel and started two short stories.  Nothing finished yet, but I'm feeling good about all of it.  Happy Day.

I am happy to report that I have not yet been mugged, and I have walked every day.  This has been a very good trip to catch up on sleep.  Also, I have seen two movies - Hairspray, which was good, and Sunshine, which was enjoyable.  I have read the Harry Potter book (the epilogue sucks; what the hell, j.k.rawling?), and I've started The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson (I think) and have read Stardust again and have started Donnerjack again and am reading some book called The Witch.

San Francisco remains, as always, San Francisco.  I ate ricearoni - it kinda sucked.  I walked through Golden Gate Park - it was nice; I plan to walk long ways across it tomorrow.  I had dinner with my aunt Kay's step daughter Lauren.  She and her husband Parker were nice, and Parker told me neat things about the city.  For example, the first building in San Fran (which I saw) was the fort over on Ocean Beach.  It is very cold and windy there, and so the Spanish Missionaries built their mission quite a ways away in the valley that is the hottest part of San Francisco (what is now called "the Mission").  I have not yet romped through the streets of North Beach - I plan to do that on Wednesday, and now I kinda want to see the Presidio (big park at the top of the city - where the Golden Gate Bridge comes out of) and the Mission, both of which I'll probably try to see next week some time.

I am going to Los Angeles this weekend to see my father and my mother and my brother and Jersey Boys.  It should be a fun little excursion.

Well, I guess that's it for now.  Anybody have any questions?  No?  Okay.

Talk to you soon.

 

p.s. toidy toidy toidy

8:45pm: Additions

As Chris Berg so helpfully reminded me, I have also seen Lombard St. (the windy one).  Yesterday, I was also told by a bum that I should by not expensive drugs, but expensive condoms.  I have indeed seen a man with dredlocks that brushed the ground (twice), and several asian gangs (and lots and lots of asian people), but i have yet to go to the Castro District.  There are a lot of gay people, however, and most are very friendly.  Three of them were in the line behind me at the movie theater today, and they went to see Sicko.  I, instead, went to Hairspray.

San Francisco is growing on me, and  though I am lonely, I shall carry on.  I miss you all, and hope you are doing well (especially Cat - sorry everbody else; she's my girlfriend).

Talk to you again soon.

P.S.  I will be careful with my ricearoni, Mikey.

P.S.S. The Tenderloin is scary.

12:54pm: I'm here.

Hey Everybody!

I've been in San Francisco for a couple of days.  I arrived on Monday at 10:30pm (1:30pm Eastern Time), and I took a cab to the Airport (South San Francisco, the cabbie told me) Comfort Suites.  Yesterday, I woke up, checked out, and traveled to the Comfort Inn by the Bay (My dad got me a room there for the night so I wouldn't have to lug my luggage around all day).  I walked around Fisherman's Wharf, ate at a nice little place called Alioto's, and then decided to walk to my apartment.  I'd gotten about four miles down the road when I discovered that I didn't have my check book, and that the time to meet my landlord was swiftly coming upon me.  I hopped on a bus and went back to my hotel, got my checkbook, and back to 1714 A Cabrillo Street, San Francisco, California 94121 to get my apartment for the month.  I moved in this morning.  So I'm totally moved in now, and settling down into San Francisco for a month.  I've added a couple of things to the list of things Chris Berg told me I needed to see or do.  This is the list of things I've seen or done so far:

Seen:
Golden Gate Bridge
Bay Bridge
Fisherman's Wharf
bum who jumps out of the bushes
the aquatic park
Alcatraz
Ghirardelli Square
Telegraph Hill
Coit Tower
the pyramid building
more difference in ethnic groups than i've ever seen
a trolley

i still need to ride a trolley and visit alcatraz and eat riceroni - i bought some of that, though.

I'll update this again soon.  Unfortunately, it seems most of my writing that I'll do here won't see the internet until I return, but rest assured, I'm writing.

Talk to you all soon.

12:20pm: Leaving
So, today's the day.  I leave today at 5:55pm on a flight to Atlanta, Georgia.  I arrive in Atlanta at 7:12pm, and leave to San Francisco, California at 8:30pm.  I arrive in San Francisco, California at 10:48 (which is later here).  I am staying at a Comfort Suites until tomorrow, when I will wander around the city until 4:45ish, when I will meet my landlord and move in to my apartment.

I don't know when I'll get to a computer again, so good luck everyone.  Have a good August.  I'll see quite a few of you in September.  I'll try to update this every  couple of days to let everyone in on my exploits, and hopefully by the end of the month, I'll have some actual writing done.  Cross your fingers.

3:10am: On Finding the Emporer

When in San Francisco, I've got to find the grave stone of Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.  I've gotta remember that.

Colma, California - Necropolis - Pop. 1192 - "It's Good to be Alive in Colma."

2:01pm: 1 month left in greensboro
1 month left at jimmy johns
1 month before it hits me that i'm not in school anymore

toidy toidy toidy

6:42pm: Look at me, I'm Ben. Toidy toidy toidy.