birth, death, events in between

i left tokyo the afternoon of the 27th, arrived at SFO that same morning, and then met my brother and A&M (one of our cousins from tokyo and his wife) for dinner at le colonial. my bro later got sick off the pork tenderloin, we suspect, but you didn't hear it from me. i asked our waiter if an acquaintance of mine was still exec chef there, but he has moved on.

but the way i met that crazy chef years ago was through S&M (friends' actual initials, not lifestyle activity), who welcomed their second beautiful daughter into the world the day after this dinner. which also happens to be the same day my witty, charming, handsome and normally healthy brother was born 31 years ago. both probably felt a little funny on their birthday this year.

day after that, settling back into my oakland hood from my safe little secret nook of tokyo, what should happen around the corner from home sweet warehouse but an armored car getting knocked over and one of the guards murdered in the process? hello, FBI! turns out the victim's partner arranged it. cold.

next day! i got up at some ungodly hour – i don't even know what that means, why would god be in some of the hours, or damn the ones you can't quite comprehend because there is NO doggamn COFFEE in the house – and drove to pt reyes, faster and faster because the hour kept getting later and later and hey, i'm running out of gas and why has my odometer been at 333,333 for this ENTIRE TRIP? i don't understaaaaaannnnnnddd! (no coffee!) and though i was half an hour late to the launch point, still managed to meet ms artsy bride for the first time in way too long. and i didn't even cry, as i am prone to doing in such circumstances.

wedding day kayaking. that is doing the thing properly. the wedding was sweet and primly pagan. the reception had the bride's touch everywhere – in an empty, creaky boathouse hanging over tomales bay that had been simply but elegantly decorated with swaths of fabric looping through the rafters and clusters of big paper lanterns. bride & groom were preceded by a kilt-bedecked bagpiper whose song filled the cavernous space. being there on my own as one of her more random friends, i spent the day and evening introducing myself a thousand times and of course making an ass of myself in front of smart, good-lookin, creative strangers (who mostly knew each other quite well). still, i was told that i 'have got it going ON' by some woman who had obviously had half a dozen raw oysters too many. or maybe martinis. i shared a suite with a couple of very nice strangers, friends of the bride, and then got the hell out of there way early the next morning and continued on my merry way to somehow get here, however many days and hick-y shows and lunches later. i even gave a presentation at the SF public library to a full house (not all mentally ill homeless people, as i'd feared).

friday night my colombian neighbor had her wedding reception in the loft across the hall, and dang but do her friends know how to SING. it sounded like a great party, although according to the note she left downstairs for us neighbors, having it here was not part of the original plan. and though i hate having strangers hiking around on the roof because i am very sensitive about it falling on my head, it didn't. so all was well and everybody went home by 2am.

most of this weekend i've been cooped inside busily getting work done while the weather outside has been insanely gorgeous. so i'm giving myself the day off – now heading for the farmer's market... ta!