Some things I should have mentioned:
The Birthday – A few weeks ago I had a birthday gathering. I invited everyone to join me on the SF Ghost Hunt walking tour. It was fun. And ridiculous. Who doesn’t like their history full of gimmicks. Tales of Flora wandering California Street dressed all in white, Gertrude who haunts men into apologizing to their weary wives, Mary Pleasant, the Voodoo Queen of SF, and other murdered and tormented former residents of the mansions in Pacific Heights. Twenty two pals showed up for the tour, not quite as many as the night tour of Alcatraz I roped them into for my bday a couple years ago, but we all had a great time wandering around and ghosting it up before heading to a bar to have foofy drinks and beers.
The Teeth – A couple weeks ago I finally went in to have some exciting dental work done! Gum grafts. I can see that my new smile will look ever so much nicer, however, ew. They rip some skin off the roof of your mouth and sew it onto your receding gums. Yes, I got second and third opinions (at least 4 dentist types have told me to have this done over the last 10 years), and no it is not because I brush too hard, or floss too much. We can thank my 2 years of braces for this enjoyable surgical pleasure. After they sew the tissue into its new home, and stitch up the roof of your mouth, you get to go home and eat soft foods for a week or two. Luckily almost every suggested food is dairy related, which is pretty special for someone who is lactose intolerant. The porridge setting on the ole fuzzy rice maker machine was perfect. Throw in some overcooked veggies, and you’re in the mush. Two weeks later and I’m still a little swollen and irritated, but can almost chew on the left side again. The good news? I get to do this all over again on the other side of my mouth next year when the insurance calendar rolls over! Joy! But at least my teeth wont fall out. Or will they? Who can say.
The Heat – Oh my god it is hot in my apartment. It was 94 in my place at 7pm last Saturday in the midst of the “California Heat Wave of 06” and when I came home again at 10pm? It was still over 80. Don’t get me wrong, I love the heat, but I’ve got no airflow and after a few days of sweaty, heavy air you just need to sleep someplace with a gentle breeze. Luckily, this was possible and I was saved from permanent crankiness. The home made sorbet isn’t hurting either. Of course, now the fog is back and it’ll probably be freezing again any minute.
The Movie – My friend Jaynee talked me into joining her for http://www.cinemasports.com last Sunday in the park. You meet in the morning, are given 3 mystery ingredients that must be in your movie, and you have 10 hours to film, edit, and turn the thing in to the organizers to be shown that evening. The mystery ingredients were a Freudian slip, a kiss, and a Yiddish/Jewish word. Extra credit was given for incorporating a metaphor for the situation in the middle east as the screening was in the middle of the Jewish Film Fest. We had two actors, an assistant director/editor, and a producer/director. They screened them at the Castro Theater and it was pretty fun to see myself up on the big screen. It turned out Ok, I don’t know that we were one of the top or anything, but it was good enough so that I wasn’t too embarrassed to be seen after it showed. So you know, not bad. They’re supposed to put all of them up on their site but Jaynee put ours up on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj0nFoMGXW4