Past, "present" and future

I just returned from biking across town to the Legion of Honor where Alison and I saw the earthquake exhibition. They collected old photos of SF from 1906 and then took the same picture again in the same place at the present time. The old photos were super interesting to look at, but the new ones he took didn't impress me especially. My one particular favorite was lunch time at Union Square – they were so similar despite the park redesign and burned out buildings in the background. We followed a docent for a while who said that the obstructed views were meant to be a comment on the crowdedness of the modern world, but it felt to me more like the photographer was being lazy. After all, what's the point of a cityscape if a truck is blocking the view?

I realized several things, like the why South Van Ness has such a beautiful row of Victorians even though it's not a good neighborhood (the fire stopped at SVN and 20th Street) and how few buildings actually survived. The city was practically leveled. I mean, I guess we all knew that, but seeing it visually is something else all together.

Alison came to my house at 11, and we headed across town via the park, thru the rose garden and then down Lake Street. About half way thru the Lake Street portion of the ride, it started to pour rain. I don’t know if it was that rain cloud that follows me (sorry Alison), some other microclimate type of thing, or if it actually rained in the middle of the day today (Sam said it didn’t rain in the Mission, but can we trust him?). We got wet. It kinda sucked. But we did make it successfully to the Legion of Honor (as you already know) and we both had extra clothes to pile on once we got there. We had a little picnic on the south walkway, families with lots of children stepped round our outstretched feet. Then we entered the museum.

Wealthy, perfect mothers with little girls dressed as princesses were everywhere. Was it a convention? No, it was some kind of Cinderella show. We started with the permanent exhibit bc there was a guided tour of the earthquake photos at 1:30, and we thought that might be a good way to see them. We did learn a few things from docent, as mentioned earlier, but she was tired and couldn’t always find the right word. I experience this sometimes too, but that didn’t mean I wanted to stand around her while she remembered Ansel Adams’s name. I’m glad I get enough sleep now.

Actually, I’m a little worried about that. I’ve signed up for 12 units of classes which will keep me busy 2 nights and 2 days a week (not the same ones). Then I’ve got any work I get, the stuff I do for Creative Growth, and training for the AIDS Lifecycle. (I’m an impulsive person. I got the idea, though not for the first time, and signed up, within hours yesterday. I’m really excited about it.) All this means I am going to have to start getting up in the morning at least 3 days a week. And if I’m going to do that, I might as well do it the other 4 days too.

Speaking of not sleeping, last night was my official first night out on the town single, and Brian is my new official wingman. We met at Specs and then went to this Tikki Hut place where 3 different women were celebrating their 35th birthdays, I’d be willing to bet good money I was the only 415er there, and even the beers came with drink umbrellas. It turns out I am uniquely talented at being single (and I’m not just talking about my behavior in the bar that night – I’m thinking maybe I should provide consulting on the subject; another career possibility?). For these reasons, I can report with certainty that my future husband was not at the Tikki Hut last night.