my first time Critical Mass attendance...

...was on the 15th anniversary!

Before last night, every time Critical Mass would take to the streets, I would be otherwise engaged and would either watch from a window or not even know it was happening.
Yesterday, I got finished work early and was ready to ride at 6:15 - I even got to start with the rest of the group. The starting with the rest of the group thing wasn't ideal as we were unfortunately stuck in an inbetween spot where there weren't masses of bikes around us. Tho, there were some awesome "traffic holders" that would post up in front of oncoming traffic so we could fly thru the red lights, hooting, hollering and ringing bells. Drivers seemed incredibly patient the whole time my man and I were riding.

At one point, the group in front of us decided to wait for the group behind us to catch up, then it became really fun. There were two police officers on bikes in the ranks - not sure if they were "participants" in the sense that everyone else was, but they didn't hassle anyone. Actually, at one point, we heard an ambulance coming and a bunch of bikes stopped the rest of us so we could let it pass. The cops on bikes were the only ones who crossed around the bikes holding us up and in front of the Ambulance - ironic.

We split from the group near Lower Haight slash Duboce Triangle


when hunger took over and headed back to The Mission for cheesesteaks and the best garlic fries on the planet at Jay's.


When we were in Lost Weekend Video choosing the night's entertainment, the whole group came by again - which was super fun because we then got to be the peds on the sidelines cheering them on.
That's when I heard someone say that it was the 15th anniversary of the fun "sociodynamic" experiment. I'd link you to the "official" CM website but it seems that the unofficial, official website hasn't been maintained.

Yay for peaceful anarchic gatherings based on cycling!

self portrait challenge - bathroom

this is my first contribution to self portrait challenge. i've completed the challenge in the past, just not gone all the way to posting here.

i found the bathroom topic to be intriguing for a few reasons.
the first being that i love the bathroom here at my boyfriend's apartment and was excited to photo-document myself in it.
the second being that scene in Say Anything when James Court gets into his empty tub, with all of his clothes on to cry about how his world is collapsing around him. that scene has always made me cry with empathy.
the third reason takes the second reason into consideration. i've been going thru a lot of changes emotionally and mentally and find that i gain solace when in the bath.

in these photos, i attempted to capture the strong, yet emotionally challenged state i've been existing in for the past few months. it just so happens that these two images were, respectively, the first and last photos i took for this challenge.

memories of ron - part I

my dad's a scuba diver.

when I spent summers with him, sometimes he'd take me out to his dives with him. that usually meant that I'd sit in the boat while he was digging up starfish and sea urchins. sometimes I'd swim around and try to get back in the boat (which usually meant I'd end up hanging off the edge of the boat waiting for him to pull me back in. i've never been very strong in the upper body.)

sometimes he'd bring some giant or tiny lobsters up (the ones the lobsterpeople would have to throw back) for me to look at and we'd watch them swim away. sometimes we'd sneak them home and eat them - once we had a lobster with a claw that was at least six inches across. my mom kept the empty shell for years.

anywho, the real story I wanted to tell was about the time he brought up a fresh scallop. he split the beautiful, white shell open, sliced out the guts and threw them back where they came from. then he slurped the still living scallop muscle right down his throat while I watched, somewhat awed, somewhat disgusted. he offered me some and after I declined he said "I love it when I can feel them wriggle down my throat."

I wish I were that adventurous with food.

words and notes by friends - together for 60 minutes

hear Obvious World and me read some poems that are backed up by Joel Garnier's musical stylings here. The song should start right away.

I wrote these poems when I was in college and recorded myself reading them a couple of months ago.
Obvious always seems to be writing poems and he recorded his readings around the time I did, just so Joel could add music and put it up on his now-retired radio show on KRUU FM out of Fairfield, Iowa.
One never knows what Joel will be doing with his website and its content, so listen soon and then hit him up on his guest book so he can feel the love. :)

history

last night, I was honored enough to have a few tastes of a madeira made in 1910.

it was the first, and, I pray, not the last, time i've ever ingested anything almost a century old and i could taste the history.

it was smooth and wonderful and perfect, in every way.

now i want to know where that bottle started and how it travelled to end up filling my glass, twice, in 97 years. ahh, reverie.


update: according to wiki madeira's are the longest lasting wines. next on the list is one made in 1834!