SoMa, Blackberry Apologies, and My New Relationship with Photography
20 Jul 2010 3 Comments
in New Adventures Tags: #calibersfpw071810, calibersf, exploring, graffiti art, new adventures, photography, pictures, san francisco, SoMa, SOMArts
Walking down the street something caught my eye, a growing epidemic that really ain’t is fly. Fa real, yo. There is one thing that I really love about SF that I have not experienced living anywhere else.
Graffiti art!
Every time I catch a glimpse of some creative graffiti art, two things happen.
1. I am jealous of these artists because I secretly wish that I could draw/paint/sketch/do anything artsy really well. Whoops. Cat’s out of the bag (Wtf does that saying even mean? Who puts a gd cat in a bag? Oh, do you mind if I let my cat out … she’s in my backpack … ).
2. I wish that I had an iPhone so that I could snap a picture of it and it not look like I took it on my Polaroid camera from the ’90s which is the product of my old, old, old, falling apart Blackberry … and I would like to take this time to apologize for the quality of pictures that have been published on this site thus far … I am planning on getting an iPhone soon … or maybe I will just keep my camera with me at all times … or maybe I will just keep uploading shitty pictures and you will have to get over it. God! Picture snobs!
Sooo in the spirit of wishing that I had a camera/didn’t have a shitty camera on me when I saw these cool works of art … I decided to go on a deliberate hunt for them and came prepared with my camera. The good one. Not the shitty Blackberry one.
I went on a Photowalk that was organized through CaliberSF and SOMArts with @Lauren_Hannah and it was SO much fun!
The photowalk took place in SoMa … and for all of you non-San Franciscans that read my blog (hi , mom) that is the area of town South of Market. Google it. There’s no time to explain. That’s what she said.
SoMa isn’t exactly the most beautiful part of SF … nor the safest ( at least it’s not the Tenderloin) … but wandering down an obscure alley and finding works of art like these sure make me want to see what other secrets can be discovered there … and just fyi, I don’t consider underpasses chock-full of bums and the faint/extremely strong smell of piss to be “secrets”.
Here are some of the pictures that I snapped on the walk:
Escape
Locked
Blossom
Sunnyside Up
Going Up
171
Getmoney
Drift
Unplug
Muni
I took a LOT of pictures, but for the sake of excessive scrolling and me not quite being able to figure out how to install a slide show yet … I will just let you go look at these, and the rest of them, on my Flickr page. But, as of right now … these are the only ones I have uploaded … there are definitely more to come! I will keep you posted!
I can’t wait to go on another photowalk and explore this glorious city!
Check out the pictures that Lauren took at TheOffBeatReport.com and check out all the pictures from everyone on the photowalk here!
Hard Alcohol, Wieners, and Funfetti Cookies. That’s How I Roll.
12 Jul 2010 8 Comments
in New Adventures, San Francisco Tags: 4th of july, adventures, drinking, first time, golden gate park, holiday, hot dogs, jell-o shots, mysterious stains, san francisco, weather, wieners
I learned a few things over the 4th of July holiday (I am going to start referring to “vacation” as “a holiday” like the English do, it sounds way cooler … anyway) here in San Francisco.
1. Don’t expect it to be nice and sunny and warm and fuzzy. Because it will not be. And you will be sad. Period. And actually, if you have time to go somewhere else that is going to be warm … you should probably go. I think that’s what a lot of people did. Probably smart. Because I am the jealous one hearing about all these sun-filled shenanigans that my friends were off doing while I took refuge under a random person’s comforter whilst wearing jeans and a hoodie in Golden Gate Park. Which brings me to my next point.
2. Don’t bring a comforter to a BBQ. Especially a black one. Specifically, a black one that has suspicious stains on it that the innocent cuddle-underers notice after being wrapped in it for 45 minutes. Not cool.
3. Jell-O shots are clutch. You already know this? Figures. It’s a perfect thing to bring to a BBQ if your cooking skills are abysmal and you don’t want to impose your concoctions on a group of innocent bystanders. Jell-O shots are pretttty hard to fuck up, and I am happy to say that I did not fuck them up. On the contrary, my j-shots were quite possibly almost maybe the best Jell-O shots I’ve ever tasted, basically. See:
Don't be concerned that I didn't even have to make room for this many Jell-O shots in my fridge.
4. When Safeway offers “Buy One Get Two Free” on wieners, always, ALWAYS take them up on it. You can never have too many wieners. That’s what she said.
5. Drinking a lot makes the weather more tolerable. Fact. That one is pretty self-explanatory.
6. Funfetti Cookies make the world go round, and the sunshine shine. You always know that there will be an abundance of savory foods at a BBQ … someone has to bring the sweet! And whoever does is a lifesaver. Ahem … I brought the sweet. And also, Funfetti Cookies are pretty hard to fuck up. I am thinking of starting a cookbook entitled Shit That Is Really Hard to Fuck Up … AND Tastes Great. Or Just OK, Depending on Your Standards.
7. Flip cup in the howling wind = FAIL. C’mon, seriously? Who thought that would be a good idea? The people who ended up with beer all over them. That’s who.
All in all, I think that my 4th of July weekend was a success. Lola and I had a great time hanging out with friends at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park and I was reminded of my love for hot dogs which reminded me of my love of football which reminded me that football season is coming up and that it is one of my favorite times of year which reminded me that there will definitely be more BBQs to come which reminded me that I love America. And that I definitely need to get one of those tiny portable grills at Wal-Mart for $8. I think that would be an awesome thing to have. It sucks that the closest Wal-Mart is in Richmond … probably won’t be getting one anytime soon. Maybe I’ll order one online. OR maybe I’ll just continue to bring wieners, Jell-O shots, and cookies to the BBQ.
Happy Birthday America. You rock.
Rainbows, Unicorns, and Steel Erections, Oh My!
06 Jul 2010 3 Comments
in New Adventures Tags: backstreet boys, celebrations, gay, gay pride, san francisco, san francisco pride, street food
The thing that I love most about San Francisco isn’t the abundance of eateries, the Starbucks on every corner (okay, so that isn’t unique to SF … but I still love it), the bridges, the bay, the Embarcadero, the amazing clam chowder, all the fun things to do, the fact that there is so much to explore and discover … no, my favorite thing about this city is what makes this city truly amazing.
My favorite thing about San Francisco is the people.
The people here are so amazing. There are people from every walk of life: every ethnic background, every social class, every political affiliation … you can be exactly who you want to be and there will be a group of people who accept you and love you for who you are. And I think that characteristic is unique only to a handful of cities, and I am happy that I live in one of them.
Along with all the interesting and diverse people, there are equally interesting celebrations that take place in this city. And last weekend I got to experience San Francisco Pride.
I knew that Pride was going on all weekend and wanted to take my heterosexual self down to the celebrations … but I had moving to do. After a Sunday morning of moving and productiveness, it was shaping up to be a beautiful day (which is somewhat rare), so I decided to make the most of it, put further unpacking on hold, and wander into the festivities with Lola.
As Lola and I got closer, we could hear the crowds and the DJs and we were greeted on the outskirts of the celebration by this sidewalk sign:
This is going to be awesome!
We make our way through the crowd and I am just staring around at everything, taking it all in. This definitely isn’t something you would see in the South (or Midwest … whatever you want to call it). I am surprised that I didn’t see any protesters or people trying to save souls … which was nice. But what I did see … oh what I did see … well here, a picture is worth a thousand words:
There were girls walking around with baskets of (free) condoms and lube handing them out to people.
Enter the Fetish Zone. I didn't ... but if I did, I could have gotten demonstrations, samples, info, "& more" ... I wonder what that means?
Steel erection? Sounds about as fun as playing leap-frog with a unicorn ... maybe it's similar ... who knows? Someone. Probably. Unicorns exist.
When you love it enough to wear it ... there's a clothing line for that.
Some guy, all dressed up with somewhere to go.
These guys were awesome ... his sign says "My other horse is a Prius". And no, he's not wearing anything else. Why would he be?
"High-Bred Vehicle". Awesome. Love the creativity. And ballsy-ness. No pun intended.
Some very spirited soccer fans representing for the World Cup. They really liked Lola.
A close up of the rainbow/leopard print high-bred vehicle and his friend in the red wig.
All the people waiting to see The Backstreet Boys (they're apparently still a band ...you learn something new every day.) So, SO many people.
Never in my life have I experienced anything like it. And it was awesome! Next year I am going to make sure that I make it in time for the parade!
I can’t wait for the next big celebration in San Francisco. Street food, good music, and interesting people. Doesn’t get much better than that.
A Moving Van, A Tiny Dog, And A Ton Of Shit.
03 Jul 2010 5 Comments
in The Haight Tags: expert, lola, moving, moving van, new apartment, nikki, nikkideterding, san francisco, san francisco sooner, sooner
The perfect equation for moving usually looks something like this:
1 girl to give orders + 2 dudes to lift heavy slash all shit + 1 moving truck = a successful move.
Well, I am no math whiz, and I never claimed to be (actually … that is completely false, I have many times claimed to be good at math, but that is neither here nor there) but my equation went more like this:
1 girl + 1 tiny ass dog + 1 rented rape … er, uh, … I mean moving … van = surprisingly successful—and sweaty—move.
As you know (or don’t … where have you been?!), I recently found a new apartment in Haight, which is super awesome and amazingly cute and perfect and all that business. Moving day came this last Sunday and I have to say … maybe I should also consider myself a Moving Expert. I’ll add it to my résumé—if you would like to hire me to tell you how to move your shit in the most efficient manner, I would be more than happy to assist you. I could also consider myself an expert in efficiency. And narcissism. Moving on.
I moved all of my belongings without any help. (You might think that Lola was useful and or helpful in this situation, and if you do, that’s just silly. She weighs 3 pounds … what could she possibly help with?) It only took me 4 hours, including the time it took to pick up and drop back off the van and get lunch. If you’re impressed, I really think that you should be. Check out my new digs:
Before!
After!
They said whaaa?!