Between xmas and New Year's

Nothing ever happens between xmas and New Year's. This is my feeling. I mean, I've been dumped between xmas and New Year's. The Chronicle ran an article about a couple who met on New Year's eve to encourage people to go out. (Kathleen said "I don't think people need encouragement to go out on New Year's." But it turns out she is planning to stay home. I'm at home now, and I'm terribly bored and lonely.

I just listened to This American Life #370: Ruining It for the Rest of Us. I learned that a team can be ruined by one bad apple: a jerk, a depressive or a slacker. A really good leader who listens can ameliorate the negative influence. I'm not sure that's something I can cultivate. I think it's something a person is born with. The show said something else interesting: "Nothing is so big that it can't be ruined. Entire civilizations have been ruined."

Let's extrapolate. Are things ruined by being a jerk, a depressive or a slacker? Are all things ruined those ways? Having managed to ruin most things in life at one point or another, I can see that in myself. But when I look at conflicts I've had with others, Sometimes it seems like they ruined things also by not listening. Accepting all 4 characteristics, I think we've covered all ways of ruining things. Can you think of others?

The flip argument is that some things aren't meant to live. I never wish I had stayed with my high school sweetheart. Some things become ruined because they were never the right thing. Some jobs, apartments or friends are not meant to last. They serve their purpose, and then everyone moves on to something that's a better fit for that next moment. Maybe there is a time and place for measles too.

Thank goodness tomorrow is nye. I don't think I can handle any more limbo.

folding bike/business man

I saw this guy in full suit and tie snoozing on BART earlier in the year. He struck me as the perfect businessman/commuter. He didn't even loosen his tie before beginning his nap.

Tour de Fat... a little late

Tour de Fat was last summer. So, I'm grossly en retard as KT would say. It's the end of the year, and I have a few days off work which gives me time to go through photos of the year. Lots of people say "Better late than never." At least, I have that going for me! I'm not never. Consider this a "year in review" post (among others).

This girl was adorable in her green with green bike and purple tights.


This guy with old fashioned bicycle needs no commentary.


Yay bikes. Yay pink. Yay cowboy boots.


Loved the mini-skirt and the socks.


I caught this lady post-fat texting a friend while waiting for another using the facilities on the panhandle which, incidentally, I don't recommend.

Random quote

Doing a little housekeeping over here... or at least, I hope I'm starting to clean house. These words are jotted on a scrap near the computer:
"Nothing says mediocrity like an unblemished record of employment."
Sounds like something Garrison Keillor would say...?

what i learned today...

My alarm went off at 9:30 this morning (after I re-set it when it went off at 6:30) because I had to move Marie Lyse's car at 10. Now I don't have to move it again until Tuesday. Amazing how easy it for this religiously carfree woman to slip into the concerns my car-full friends have.

I listened to NPR for a while this morning. They discussed the Story Corps Project in honor of the national day of listening when people are asked to spend an hour listening to their loved ones. One recorded story was of a couple, deeply in love, Danny and Annie. I jotted down a quote from Danny (may be inaccurate), "No matter how bad your day was, (when you're married) you always have a shelter to come home to....Being married is like living in color, you never want to go back to black and white."

The next Forum was about the Science of Happiness. They discussed all the usual things like doing things outside yourself, getting exercise and being grateful. I was a bit disappointed by the lack of new information, but I guess that means I'm now a happiness expert. My mother gave me for xmas the book How We Choose to Be Happy. I'll be sure to let you know if I learn anything.

First In - First Out

This is just a cool photo from my files. I shot it last spring. She's probably wearing something totally awesome too.

draft Resolutions

I just came from Revolution Cafe with my ladies. I made them talk about resolutions, but the conversation didn't go very far due to loud live music. Here's what I have so far:

Get back to printmaking
Buy a house
Have a baby
Barrel forward no matter what

Dating:
No more Australians or names starting with "J"

What you need according to the Beattles

Thanks, Dylan

Last year's blossoms -- there's hope!

I shot this photo last spring, but I wanted to share it with you now to indicate promises for what is to come. The trees will bloom in about 2 months and you can walk your bike with your buddy/ies in stockings, crazy pigtails and rain boots. It will still be raining.

Good Bye, George Bush

I saw this decoration in a window near my house. I don't know what it means, but it sure is entertaining. The photo may not do the window justice.

Cracker selection, I thought today, is like superstition. I always buy the same cracker. At some point years ago, I did a complete analysis considering price, taste and nutritional content and chose these. Now I buy them blindly, not remembering the content of my analysis. It's like not eating pork or filing the teeth of young people. People probably had a very good reason once, and that reason may no longer be relevant.

music video

Fish, chips and something else I forgot

Today has been interesting, surprisingly, since nothing has happened. Gosh, now I have forgotten all the things I wanted to tell you. Here's one thing: Fish and Chips.

I've had it at 2 more places I haven't told you about. Don't feel threatened! I was thinking of you the whole time.

1) The Front Porch
They do a sort of variation on the traditional fish and chips on Mondays only. It's spicy. I wasn't overwhelmed, but it wasn't bad either. The coleslaw was nice.

2) Weird Fish
We went for lunch, and I don't know if that makes a difference. My companion has shared my obsession with The Pheonix's fish and chips. They were traditional. The fish was fully-cooked, thick, and nicely flaky. The chips a bit too skinny and hip for my tastes. My companion said they were "as good" as The Pheonix (not given the option of better), but I was not sure. It remains a possibility. Follow-up may be required.

In addition, we have identified 2 places for investigation:
1) Nickies -- plan to try this Thursday
2) Woodhouse Fish Co.
So, I found those by accident, but Yelp reveals 1216 hits when you search for Fish and Chips in San Francisco. I have a lot of work to do!

Hey, Pal!

These kids were hollering up to their pal's window one morning. White socks not withstanding, they looked pretty cool in mostly black. I was particularly taken with her red skirt.

Their pal saw me from the window. "A person over there is taking your picture," she yelled to them below. I waved, and she waved back.

Notes from NPR

I rolled myself out of bed at the brisk hour of 10:30 this morning. Sometimes sleeping in is an accomplishment. The sun's about to set now, and I haven't yet left my apartment. I will need food for the week; so, it's inevitable.

The day went towards processing photos and other personal, electronic catching up. NPR played in the background. I wrote down 3 interesting things I heard:
The darkside of freedom is loneliness. (Garrison Keillor)
(Someone) finally allowed himself to be funny. He said it was like he'd been having a fistfight with himself all his life and it turned out both fists were tied behind his back.
(In the late '90s) The internet was becoming a growing concern. (John Hodgeman in conversation with Dave Eggers)

Bikeman Ben

Kathy, Lindsey and I were headed on our bikes out towards the beach (and the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit at the de Young Museum) when Lindsey announced troubled gears that needed attention. We planned a detour to one of the shops on Stanyon until we nearly rode into Bikeman Ben set up mid-panhandle for just this kind of crisis.

Lindsey explained the problem, and Ben also fixed about 3 other things on her bike for just a small fee.

This sort of thing makes me love San Francisco even more (if that's possible).

No one wore anything fashionable, but you can reach Ben for your mobile bike repair needs at bikemanben at gmail dot com.

Art Break

Fernand Léger (1881-1955)
1943-48
Huile sur toile
H. 129 ; L. 161,5 cm
Musée national Fernand Léger, Biot.

Aux cours de plusieurs voyages aux Etats-Unis entre 1931 et 1939, Fernand Léger avait été impressionné, par New York, qu'il qualifiait "de plus formidable spectacle du monde". Exilé aux Etats-Unis pendant la seconde guerre mondiale, il enseigne à l'université de Yale, puis à Mills Collège, il croise les jeunes étudiantes qui s'habillent sans conformisme. La jeunesse adopte alors une mode osée aux couleurs criardes. Le mauvais goût est une caractéristique de ce pays, le mauvais goût, la couleur forte peut donner ici le plein usage de son pouvoir. Les filles en short, habillées comme des acrobates de cirque. Si je n'avais vu ici que des filles habillées avec goût, je n'aurais peint ma série des cyclistes... Les Cyclistes font partie de la série de peintures, appelées La Belle équipe qui se termine par La Grande Julie (MOMA, New York). Léger nous restitue plus exactement le choc des couleurs que la provocation de la jeunesse, il impose un style brutal, incisif qu'il préfère au "goût" sophistiqué français. Les Quatre cyclistes posent au cours d' une fête sportive. Le balayage des projecteurs, lui donne l'idée de séparer la couleur du dessin figuratif. Dans les rues de New York, il avait déjà été impressionné par le jeu des projecteurs publicitaires "je parlais à quelqu'un, il avait la figure bleue, puis vingt secondes après, il devient jaune.... cette couleur-là... elle était libre, elle était dans l'espace. J'ai voulu faire la même chose dans mes toiles

Google/T: In the course of several trips to the United States between 1931 and 1939, Fernand Léger was impressed by New York, called it "the greatest show on earth". Exiled to the United States during World War II, he taught at Yale University, then at Mills College, he crossed the young students who dress without conformism. The youth then adopt a fashion bold colors garish. The bad taste is a characteristic of this country, bad taste, color can give strong here full use of his power. Girls in shorts, dressed as circus acrobats. If I had seen here as girls dressed tastefully, I had painted my series of cyclists ... The cyclists are part of the series of paintings called La Belle team that ends in La Grande Julie (MOMA, New York). Light returns us more accurately the clash of colors that the provocation of youth, it imposes a style sharp, incisive he prefers to "taste" sophisticated French. Four cyclists pose during a sports festival. The sweeping headlamps, gives him the idea to separate the color of figurative drawing. In the streets of New York, he had been impressed by the play of advertising projectors "I was talking to someone, he was found blue, then Twenty seconds after he became the color yellow .... then .. . It was free, she was in space. I wanted to do the same thing in my paintings. "

Thanks to Didier Couval

Revolutionary Road

Sultan took me to see Revolutionary Road. The last movie we saw together was The Dutchess. Both are about miserable relationships. I do not believe he intends any message, but maybe someone else does. (Sultan is happily married.)

In RR, I completely empathized with all characters. The actors gave amazing performances. Even the cinematography was beautiful. I don't want to watch it again. Sultan said, "It makes you grateful for what you don't have."

I had kind of a bad day. I missed a meeting this morning bc no one told me about it and then was late to our team lunch. My mother flaked out on me by not planning her time well. My hip was stabbed by the metal gate at Mountain View transit center -- it seriously hurt!

So, I went to yoga where I realized all kinds of things including that one big thing we want from our relationships is to have someone to come home to when we've had a bad day. I think I need to study up bc I have certainly messed that up a bunch of times.

Pandora Radio fades in and out of my everyday experience. It's Patty Griffin Radio today. At this very moment, 10 Million Miles is playing. I also find Be Careful deeply moving.

Einstein Quote

For years I've been "quoting" Einstein, "If you can't explain it to a 5-year old, you don't know what it is." I was about to send this quote to a consultant who won't explain a statistical calculation bc it's "proprietary." Now, maybe it's normal for calculations to be proprietary, but I have never heard of such a thing, and I don't think you can expect clients (and the public) to believe findings without explanation. Supposedly, we live in a democratic society.

But before I emailed the quote from memory, I did an internet search on it. Turns out the quote is "If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself." Alternately, "You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother." However, the source is Kurt Vonnegut, not Albert Einstein. That's just not as good, is it?

more pandhandle vogue

Like this woman, but unlike many of the cyclists we blog, I stop riding to talk on my phone. I loved her boots, coat, hat and skirt. It was an overcast Friday afternoon, and the panhandle is my favorite park in San Francisco because of all the old trees.

Holiday Greetings from Specialized

The Nutcracker Suite Performed on Bicycle Parts

Merry Christmas

Market and Octavia again

The intersection of Market and Octavia is dangerous for cyclists. But this woman seemed completely un-phased as she biked through the bike lane and chatted on her phone. She looked cool in hip white helmet and black clothes.

Davis Vogue

Occasionally, I am forced to leave my beloved San Francisco. Usually it's a family obligation. Davis has world-class biking facilities; so, it's not surprising that I saw this woman in long skirt, cowboy boots and yellow top waiting at a stop light as we left town.

4th and King/Fluttery red skirt

Leaving the Caltrain station at 4th and King in San Francisco one evening, I rode along with this woman in a fluttering red skirt. She had someplace to go in that awesome outfit; so, it was a little work trying to capture her likeness without seeming like a total weirdo. (I sometimes thank my stars we're girls keeping the blog.)

A gentleman riding along side me asked me what I was doing. (I might have been creeping him out.) I explained. He tried to run interference for me, but alas, this was the best photo I got of her with more than 20 shot.

Wooo! Girls and Soul Suckers

The universe sent me a message today. In the spirit of High Fidelity, I have been checking in with various ex-boyfriends. Success has been highly variable... from being told to go f- myself (metaphorically) to extended conversations about the meaning of it all. All responses were completely healing. For example, my records indicate my last communication with the one who's still mad was August '07. What kind of a person holds a grudge that long? I had no idea I meant so much to these people who dumped me.

Today, by complete co-incidence, I had lunch with a guy I dated briefly early in 2007 and his new girlfriend. She's also oddly similar to the "new" girlfriend I met of the guy who's still mad (though smart, pretty and with better social skills). I believe this means that universe is telling me that my High-Fidelity project is on-track.

You probably already know that I love How I Met Your Mother (and not just because they named one of the characters after me). The Wooo! Girls episode resonated: I plead guilty! (on all charges.) I mean, I don't think Wooo! Girls are sad, but I do think that they would give all that up in something like a second if the right guy presented the right proposal. Being single is completely wonderful; dating sucks (Thanks, Brian). I believe that every human deeply wants a loving partnership with the right person -- we just confront a lot of obstacles in ourselves and the world to setting all that up.

One of those obstacles is the "soul sucker." The little brother of my best friend since kindergarten, Laura, who I spent Thanksgiving with, shared this concept with me onThursday. He explained: "You're doing great, working hard. You have good friends. Maybe you have some art projects going. Then, you meet someone. Next thing you know, the only thing you're doing is spending time with that person." They're effectively preventing you from living up to your full potential. Thy must avoid the Soul Sucker. ...which basically means that you can only date people who you have a whole lot in common with already. Maybe everyone else already knows that, but it seems like a big constraint to me. It's a good thing I'm done dating.

PS, I can't wait to tell you about the apocalyptic puppet show I saw tonight, but it will have to wait for another post.

mission rain... again still

These two were riding on a rainy day in the Mission. I was impressed with her skirt mostly.

They clearly know one of the great secrets to getting around SF -- every bus stop has a map of the entire city!


Only after they rode away did I notice his cool arty hoodie.

Thanksgiving

My blog archives reveal that I do a Thanksgiving post about every 2 years. I don't know what that means, but here I am in another even-numbered year, posting about Thankfulness.

Back before my family disperated, we used to always "say thankful" before eating Thanksgiving dinner. I find this deeply moving and have been known to break into tears when giving my own thankful at the table. (But then, when have I ever not broken into tears? I'm a passionate person.)

Blogging about thankfulness gets a little redundant over the years. I've been blogging for 4.5 years, and I think I've already given thanks for everything.

I'm thankful for:

• the health and happiness of my family and friends
• the ongoing support and love of my family and friends
• being employable; that someone is willing to pay me to do work I love
• the technology of the bicycle
• how beautiful and interesting San Francisco is; how I never tire of it
• creativity in myself and those near me
• idealism in myself and those I have surrounded myself with
• the strength to do the right thing even when it's painful
• that leggings are back in style because they make biking in a dress easier
• my health, my body's ability to heal itself, my mind, and that people sometimes don't mind looking at me
• communications technology such as mobile phones, email and blogs
• regime change
  

I remembered today how one year when Grayson and I were living together, he didn't open his birthday presents on his birthday (which was yesterday). After about a week, I decided that his birthday presents had now become Christmas presents because he clearly wasn't excited enough about them. Maybe if he had to wait another month he would become curious. But I was deflated. Back then, I always needed something to look forward to, something to plan. Maybe I was under-stimulated at work. I no longer have those ants under my skin. I'm thankful for that.

Bernal Hill is calling to me to walk on it before "dinner" at 3. I'll do a follow up post if I think of anything else.

caltrain vogue again

Riding the train most days, I don't always have energy to track down my fashionable companions. This woman impressed me with her hat, stripes and boots. But why did she remind me of Flashdance? (I wonder if she gets that all the time.)

white/skate board art

I was on my way to my friend Fernando's art show at Mission Skateboards, 3045 24th Street (at Treat, show on until Dec. 8), when I saw this dashing young lady. I loved her white bike and helmet teamed with blue skirt and gray tights.

Forest and Sky, my nephews

My sister and her husband celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary today with a vow reconfirmation which brought everyone to tears. (Feeling particularly uninspired, I wore my same burning man outfit from the night before (sans wig) in hopes it would delight my nephews.) Here I am with Forest:

We have a close family friend, Wendy. When she first walked up to Sky today, she introduced herself (not having seen him in a while). She said, "Hello. I'm Wendy, and I can fly," referencing Peter Pan of course.

Sky replied: "So, do it."
Now I think he's my soul twin.

Love Barf

I just returned from a burning man party, and while I really should go to bed, I feel compelled to share instead. I'm also eating leftover risotto from my breakfast (that's what I felt like eating!) and drinking a glass of red wine (I know you're shocked.).

Marie Lyse wasn't familiar with burning man before the party. She said everything was very in the style of "gitane". I said, "You mean like the cigarette?" I came home and looked it up -- it means female gypsy. I guess that makes sense.

We were dancing to the backdrop of a slideshow. Words came up on the screen, and KT whispered to me that she had thought they said "Love Barf" which we both thought was hilarious and appropriate.

Last night, I was out with Marie Lyse too. At the end of the night, her bike was stolen. The time we went out before that, she got a ticket for running a red light on her bike on her way home. I think I give her bad bike karma.

I also noticed that a lot of people I know have a full time job and an extra job... myself included... at least! Along those lines, I am delighted to report that this month at the gallery has turned out ok despite gloomy economic conditions. I keep showing as long as I break even. If I lost money for a year, I would probably stop doing it. But that bridge is nowhere in sight.

Tomorrow, my sister Taylor is having her vow renewal with her husband around their 10-year anniversary. (Laura and Charlie have also been together around 10 years -- was it something in the stars?) A friend asked that we all bring our "blessings" for the ceremony. I don't really know what "blessings" are; so, I did an internet search for them. Here are a few lines I liked:

May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you roam.
May rain fall gently on your garden.
May you see your children's children.
May you hold on to what is good even if it is a handful of earth.

I might also use the quote from the previous post.

shorts overalls etc.

This woman looked great in her shorts overalls and bright red bicycle.

(Yeah, we also like her friend's t-shirt.)

The Final Cupcake (tdc part 5)

We can't wait for next year.

Here, a gentleman with prayer flags on his bike finished the ride.


The afterparty: bike parking anyone?


We ran into this woman as we left the event. She rides a bike and works at Citizen Cake but hadn't heard about the event. We were impressed that she was transporting 2 small dogs (one shown).

Stops 2 and 3 (tdc part 4)

I have a couple more cupcake posts in me; so, brace yourself!

When we last saw our heroes, they had decided to head up the hill in hopes of finding a station with MORE cupcakes since the last cupcake station had run out. We got a little lost, but after carrying our bikes up a flight of stairs, we found the cupcake station with the highest altitude. While this photo contains many from our team, I was also taken with the orange skirt on your left sported by a lady I do not know.


Here's KT looking oh-so-fashionable with Becca who is just simply adorable even without full vogue. We decided to go OVER the hill instead of around it like we would normally do.


Danielle crests the hill en vogue with Becca just behind....


Our next stop was on the Panhandle where we had some of the best event-sponsored cupcakes of the day. I think KT already posted photos of these two, but here's my record.

Suited man navigates


Girl in black wearing shoes that match her Bianchi


At the stations, they required proof of the number of cupcakes you had eaten either in the form of the wrapper or your solemn oath (when there was no wrapper).

She's pretty.

Is it wrong to post a photo of a pretty girl on a bicycle just because I like how she looks? This one's wearing jeans and a t-shirt; so, I think I was taken with her scarf and trendy glasses. She's also riding in the rain.

love is patient...

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves."
1 Corinthians 13:4-7

I find this quote profoundly inspiring and completely impossible. Not envy or boast? Not easily angered? No record of wrongs? what am I a rock? I am certainly no island.

But this quote is running through my mind today because of something my friend said last night about being patient with love. I wonder if I have one patient bone. I mean, in Om Shanti Om on Saturday night, the guy was reincarnated to avenge his love's death, but he still never got the girl. (It was pretty much the greatest silly fun ever, esp when he dances with the water falling on him.) Maybe it just doesn't happen for some people. I think carrying love across lifetimes counts as patient. Of course, as KT said when I referenced High Fidelity the other day: "That's just someone's story." It isn't (necessarily) my story.

My boss said that today's theme was "your job"... that is, what is your job, and what isn't your job. I should not be doing finance's job (despite their efforts). I am the one who has to tell his boss when someone who doesn't report to him made the wrong call about the direction of a project (that can continue to be directed).

Just thinking this through now (when am I not? I'm impatient, remember?) maybe my job in this incarnation has something to do with being patient with love. The weakness in that theory is I believe that I am the way I am because of things that have happened to me in this lifetime. But who knows?

I'm going to stop typing now and continue to repeat that quote to myself on my own.

Rainy Day Chic

I'm sure this post is the beginning of many documenting how the San Francisco cyclists handle our sometimes-wet winters. Maybe that's unfortunate, or maybe it provides a new angle on this, our art form, both in how we adapt to the weather and how we document those adaptations.

This woman appears unphased, if a bit unpleased, in sports coat, scarf, skirt, leggings or pants, and what looks like leg warmers or knee highs as she rides along milk crate on the back of her bike.

crying

How Crying Can Make You Healthier
By Roger Dobson, The Independent UK. Posted November 14, 2008.

Bike to Work

We've been biking to work with increasing frequency and increasing numbers of people. (Truthfully, Danielle and I went just us 2 last week.) This Wednesday was by far our largest party from San Francisco to Sunnyvale/Santa Clara/north San Jose. Right at the beginning of our ride, Allan ate pavement (as you can see). I emailed the group when I got to my desk to see if anyone was up for a lunch ride (I was kidding... mostly). It does make me dinggy for the rest of the day/week tho -- a good reason to try to schedule the rides on Thursdays.

Lingering election thoughts

On election night, Marie Lyse and I rode our bikes past City Hall in hopes of finding a party. We found one guy, riding his bike around too, who said "Gosh, I thought this place would be a mad house." The 3 of us were surprised.

On the other hand, Danielle said that Union Square had "action", and that's a major civic destination from a planning perspective. As I already mentioned, we found significant happenings in the Mission. In this article, John King makes observations about what these neighborhood revelries mean about the way we live in our City. The observations of my community do not support his thesis, but he furthers one of San Francisco's stereotypes -- that it's a city that's really just a bunch of small towns near each other.

At my gallery party last Friday night, everyone was talking about the election. I made the comment that it was "mostly good, except for that one small thing." A fellow artist didn't find my irony amusing. "It didn't feel like a small thing to me," she replied.
Repeal Prop 8

What to do when you are sad

Years ago, my sister sent me some of her ideas for how to make yourself ready for love. The only one I remembered was "take a bath with candle light and herbs". While no one should ever listen to my advice on anything, my rule has been to try to be the kind of person I would fall in love with. That's why I do everything I do: work, sleep, bath, make art, have friends, cook, house keep, volunteer, exercise, try to keep thin, tend to my body, be nice to my mother... I could go on. The project has grown greater than its purpose, and I have come to like it for its own sake.

But I still struggle with happiness. I've researched it for years. I'm a bit too sensitive; if my boss looks at me sideways, I get in a bad mood. And I care less what he thinks than my friends and family I've known so much longer. He's onto me and keeps his direction gentle. But I still need an occasional boost because someone didn't reach out when they were supposed to or maybe subtly pointed out that I could live up to more of my potential. (I'm exhausted! I can't do any more.)

In my research on happiness, I found that what makes you happy is likely to be the same thing that makes other people happy. So, I have a list of things I do towards that end:
take a bath (if I'm dirty)
get a good night's sleep (if I'm underslept)
drink too much*
go out among people
talk to my friends (trying not to burden them)
watch movies and, more so, TV*
exercise outside
meet new people
sail
go to beautiful places, including tops of hills
take care of myself and my home
finish things, blog posts are easy and immediate for example
sign up for new projects like volunteer work and art activities
work
work on something else
eat baked goods
leave my apartment (or desk)
reach out to people
plan things that are likely to actually happen
have a back-up plan
re-frame the issue so that I can see that my happiness is possible
introspect**
have a coffee*

*not actually recommended
**as if I have another option!

Other ideas?

19th and Valencia on Election Night

This was happening all over the city! KT said there were fire spinners at 16th and Guererro.

...and we're off! (tdc part 3)

After much anticipation, the ride got underway. These cyclists, including one with brown leggings and mini, headed off to eat cupcakes... I mean, to win the race.

Our first stop was overwhelmed. As a testament to the event's success, they ran out of cupcakes during our stop there. Here, orange and pink race to enjoy.

Again, our brown mini has her eyes on the prize...

My dear friend Danielle did the ride in boots, skirt and cute green sweater.

Our crew decided to head up the hill to a more secluded stop in hopes of avoiding cupcake shortages.

Encore de cupcake (tdc part 2)

The Tour de Cupcake was pretty much the greatest thing that ever happened to anyone. Biking brings out the kid in everyone, but with the addition of cupcakes, you do take the risk of it all just being too much. Here are some kids ready for the ride:

The Bike Kitchen expected about 100 riders. Instead more than 400 showed up. The line was around the block. The wait provided me the opportunity to capture perfectly San Francisco outfits like this yellow mini with arm warmers.

Here's KT in full awesomeness with stylish hat, poncho and her usual vintage town bike with our friend Jeff:

This woman did the ride in heels, knickers and lovely green jacket and purse.
Finally, a few riders were in costume. I walked up to this guy and said "you dressed that way because you didn't want anyone to notice you, right?" He agreed by posing for me. His friend in pink is also fabulous.

I have enough photos for at least one more post. So, sit tight.

Cautiously Optimistic

Last night was crazy. We tried to go to a party at the Yerba Buena center for the arts but it was over capacity and not everyone in our party got in... including me and Marie Lyse. So, we mosied to a nearby sports bar with lots of televisions and had to wrestle for tables, chairs and physical space (we never got more than one chair for our party). We ordered chicken wings, jalapeno poppers, nachos (etc...Danielle said they were the worst nachos she had ever had) but at least our food was thematically appropriate.

The large, noisy bar went quiet when McCain gave his concession speech at 8 on the dot. That was one outstanding speech! I read about his love for chaos as indicated by his selection of Palin as running mate (and many other decisions), and I can't help but point out that he would have received more votes without her. Likewise, Obama would have received more votes if he were white. We are what we are. Obama won!

I cried when Obama spoke. I worried if he was safe. I hugged perfect strangers in elation. This presidential election is such good news, I'm bracing myself for disappointment. Who knew it was possible we could have a black president? The camera hovered on Jessie Jackson's tearful face.

If I had been able to vote in the primaries, I probably would have voted for Hillary. I don't like Palin. However, I am also aware that twice this country has chosen a black man over a woman in this election. We are less racist than we are still sexist. I don't confront sexism much in my every day life, but I believe Geraldine Ferraro when she says it is still absolutely a man's world (according to Danielle).

Obama, Biden and their families spent a long time on the stage in Chicago. I had lots of time to analyze their expressions. Barack and Jill Biden both looked nervous but happy. Michelle and Joe looked thrilled. If I fell in love with a man who wanted to run for president, I would rise to the occasion, but it wouldn't be my first choice. Danielle suggested that Obama was tempering his joy to express instead his seriousness about the job, and I can appreciate that.

People were dancing and singing in the streets. The intersection of 19th and Valencia was completely blocked with celebration. (I took a video with my little camera which I might post later.) It was a special night to be in San Francisco!

Valencia Corridor

I don't know what this woman is wearing. Stockings and nothing else? Hey, I like it. It just confuses me.


This one I liked because she wears boots with a normal biking outfit. I recently had a massage therapist who was a cyclist, and she commented on the impact cycling has on our ankles. Boots seem counter-intuitive for this reason. I always love it when folks wear them anyway.