Trip to San Francisco - Friday thru Monday

Trip was successful on many levels...

Met Drunkjim, Fryman, Yohko, Usui, Evalz, Breadoflife, Mandrake, Stevoman, Trele, Trele's wife Rhonda, Stevo's wife Mandy...

Thursday - arrived, went to the Horseshoe bar with Fry and DJ. Were out til ~ 1:30 am. Fry's wife was upset with him that night.

Friday - I left the hotel around 11:00 am and walked down in the bay area, heading towards the beach with a general sense of direction as to where that was.

Took plenty of pictures along the way. Got a call from Trele and Yohko that they were on their way, but I missed it and so I continued walking along Golden

Gate park, snapping pictures of the people who rented bikes and the bridge, as well as several buildings. I managed to get a hold of Trele, and after

visiting the Visitor Center (where a nice lady helped me with directions), Trele made it over to pick me up in front of the Stillwell Hall. We then headed

over to Pier 39. (I should mention at this time I had been walking around in the sun with no hat and no sunblock for three hours. More on that later...). We

walked around Pier 45 and Pier 39 for a while. We ate at Tait's at the Wharf, a little fried food place and we got to know each other. Denise

(Breadoflife/Johnswife), Anthony (Evalz - who had come up at the last minute), Mark (Usui/Miratine), Arlene (Saiyuki/Yohko), Jonathan (Trele), Jonathan's

wife Rhonda (not a player but does have a lowbie mage). We walked around, went to an arcade for a while, looked around for sunblock and sunscreen. Didn't

find any until it was basically too late (but some is better than none, eh?) at the San Franciso (has it all?) tourism shop. Saw breakdancers, musicians (a

really good violin player and blues guitarist), a pair of female folk singers, living statues (one was a robot type that had a little player on his back that

whirred and made noises). Mark beat Anthony at table hockey, and we found out Arlene can't win at Tekken when you make her laugh a lot. We then went to meet

DJ and followed him to his condo on the south side of San Francisco. Z and his wife Beanie showed up and we all went out to the Crowne Plaza Hotel to eat at

the restaurant there. Fry was not able to make it due to his wife being upset. We left the hotel's restaurant around 9:30 as had been told that since a

couple of us were wearing tennis shoes that we weren't meeting the dress code. So we headed to DJ's condo and played Rock Band and Guitar Hero for hours,

drinking and shooting the proverbial shit.

Saturday - wake up, go oyster-shucking out near Petaluma. It was a long drive, passing through that small town. DJ navigated, so we stopped a few times on

the way for ice and what not. Saw a parade of police cars from different eras, from the old 30s model Fords to modern day Dodge chargers and mustangs. We

were out there for a few hours, from around 1p to 3p. On the way back, I stopped by the hotel room, grabbed a quick shower, and changed from the clothes I'd

been wearing since Thursday. It was then on to the Giants game. We were late getting to the train station, Fry's sweater got soaked from laying in the truck

bed where DJ had put the sacks of ice. We drank beer on the way to the stadium, mostly cracking jokes and laughing about the various shenanigans. We got to

the game around 7pm, where we met Stevoman and his wife Mandy. We snuck beer into AT&T Park and got caught since we were drinking straight from the bottle

and not pouring it into cups. Everyone laughed at our misfortune (Fry's really as I'd finished mine.. His was still full!!). Fry went to buy a round of

beers, and ended up being chargede 17 dollars for 2 beers!! He came back to the group, which by that time was mostly sitting together. "Fryman's upset!!" he

shouted. Then he kept shouting "$17!! FOR TWO!!". Was hilarious., Again, stayed up all night with Rock Band and Guitar Hero...

Sunday - Missed flight. Called and left messages with Francie and Danny. Was supposed to be there around 5am to catch a 7:15am flight. Everyone woke up

around 8, having gone to sleep around 5am. Mark and I went to the airport, where I found out what I needed to do - switch to a flight on Monday. There was a

12 o'clock US Airways flight, but I would've been on standby and the flight was full. There was another flight - the red eye flight - but it was completely

sold out including standby passengers. So we Went back to hotel and I checked out at 10:30 am. Grabbed another shower, grabbed all my bags and gear, and we

went back to DJs. Then we headed out to Coyote Point, where DJ has his slip for the Chi WOW Wuh, his 20-footer. The wind was pretty high, with whitecaps all

around. There were windsurfers, kitesurfers,sailers, and powerboaters out on the water. We drank a few beers, threw the frisbee and nerf football around for

a little while as DJ went to get his boat ready. I went to grab a few photos, thinking DJ was convincing himself not to go out there, but he changed his mind

and so DJ, Z, Marc, Anthony, and Jonathan all went out on the boat. They went around the bay for about two hours, then came back. I grabbed plenty of photos

of the guys, the slips, the shoals, the rocks, all the people out there and a couple of Arlene. After they came back, we played with Jonathan's high-powered

RC car until the battery popped out when Denise crashed it into a curb. Then Jonathan sent it out on a suicidal mission at full power although it managed to

make a curve at around 30 mph and not hit anyone or anything - and there were cars coming and kids playing... He shouted "OH SHIT!" and ran after it - we

were all laughing so hard... After that, we dined at BJ's - they're a brewery/sports bar & grille like Seven Bridges here in Jax.

Monday - Kept waking up all night. Had gone to sleep watching Crank (w/ Jason Statham) around 1am. Planned on riding with Jimbo to the airport, but he was

ready a little too late and so was I, so he headed off to work. Shook hands, thanked him for letting me stay (next time I don't think I'll need a separate

hotel room, eh? Only spent a few hours there the entire weekend. Was only in hotel for less than 7 hours all weekend - two showers, a nap, and a clothing

change...) and then got ready to head out. Mark and Arlene took me to the airport, SFO. We shook hands and hugged, thanked them for a great weekend, and then

I headed off to catch my flight. I went to the line, learned the E Ticket was not a boarding pass (duh!) went back and grabbed the pass and went thru

security. No one asked me about the can of solarcaine or the toothpaste - are they getting less strict or are they just unobservant? Then again, do I look

like a terrorist? Is that profiling? - and so I went to catch the flight at 8:55. Ate the leftovers of the Cajun jambalaya from BJ's (which was quite good -

I had thought of getting some tabasco, but it was good enough w/o it) for breakfast. Found out (or I think so at any rate) that I left my cash (only $15) in

the condo. I owed it to Denise since she bought me dinner last night (the split bill was $23 apiece, and I had only $15 left in cash from the $80 I'd started

with plus the $40 I'd withdrawn at the ballpark - No telling how much exactly I spent on this trip - at least $500 on the tickets and hotel I didn't really

need).

Slept and snored a good bit on the flight back. I know b/c I kept waking myself up. Found out Jimbo and I both have sleep apnea. Watched 'National

Treasure: Book of Secrets' on the flight. Got hit up for credit cards by US Airways on both flights. The A321 that took me to Charlotte wasn't that bad.

Got to Charlotte with no problems, even though we were delayed around 45 minutes due to inclement weather in Charlotte. The cushion again disappeared, but

when we arrived, discovered that the flight to Jacksonville had been delayed due to bad weather in Columbia, South Carolina. Our original departure time of

5:50pm was pushed to 7:20 pm. Then they were able to secure a different plane - a 737-300 that I'm sure I've flown on before - or at least this crew

(probably the DC to Charlotte to Jacksonville trip last summer).

Arrived in Jacksonville at 8:00, got a ride home with James at 9:00.

All in all, a great weekend.

Pictures to come...

Trip to San Francisco

5:40 pm - loaded onto flight 1404 to ATL.

Window seat approx six rows in front of the engine.

Took off at approx 6:55. Was supposed to leave at 6:10pm. It's now 7:30p and we've been informed we're beginning the approach to Atlanta.

Might not miss connecting flight after all.

Well hells fuckin bells, y'know.

Seems the gate for the connecting flight to SF was at a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT GODDAMN GATE than the one on the boarding pass. Not B28, oh fuck no. A02.

Yes. I made it. I made it to B. Then I fast=walked (like I could run with two bags and a heavy ass jacket on).

So I make it to B28. Then I notice, yes, Delta changed the gate.

So I try to make it to A. But I dont know the layout. So I miss the connection. Seems you have to take a fucking train from the B terminal to the A terminal.

So I missed the flight. Yes, I missed the goddamn flight.

So I ask one of the Delta agents if I can get to SF. She puts me on a later flight, taking off at 9:35. Well, I might make it in the early morning hours.

After two cigarettes and a jack 'n coke, I'm calm enough.

Get some food in me at a wrap place. Buffalo chicken wrap.

Now I eagerly await the flight.

GODDAMN.

On the plane. Took off at 9:35pm. Will (or should arrive) around 11:35pm. Sent texts to DJ, Fry and Yohko, as well as Michele and Jennifer to let them know. Now incommunicado on the plane.

Man I am so hating Delta.

But it's not really their fault. Air traffic and then a screwup as I'm sure there was an update I should have caught around the time I landed.

Sigh.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

This post will be adult-rated.

I need more alcohol. But at least now I'm cooled off and much calmer.

But the weekend can only go upwards now, eh?

I've still got two whole days to be in SF.

I will have to check in as soon as I arrive, tho.

Then I can go out.

Couldnt really charge up the laptop or the phone, both were charged when I got to the airport, but all the texts and phone calls today...

And the battery only lasts 2 hours... no time in Atlanta to really charge it up, unless I had sat at the charger the entire time. Why don't airports have more plugs? You have to fucking fight for one almost.

But I did meet a cute Jacksonville University student named Sara. Studying to be a pilot and going out with some friends in Hotlanta. Also met a nice guy named Doug. Another Sara and another Doug.

Pictures to come...

Crawfish boil

I should've posted this link a while back.

I took several photos of our latest crawfish boil at the World Golf Village. Go here to check them out.

Update: Just added my favorite from the set.

Thanks,

Clinton

Off to San Francisco...

Well, it's 3:19 pm on Thursday, April 24th. I'm at the Jacksonville Airport, ready for a flight at 6pm to Atlanta, and then off to San Francisco... I'm heading out there for the weekend to met some friends of mine from the MMORPG World of Warcraft... my guild is Draconis Lumenis on Boulderfist...

Got a lift from Michele, thanks for that...

Sent word that I should touch down on the west coast around 10:30 this evening (1:30 EST)...

Friends will pick me up and then I imagine it's off to boozing it up in supposedly the most liberal city in America. Not that I'm a liberal, but I'm most assuredly not a conservative.

WIEUXT!!!

John McCain and my state

There are plenty of reasons for NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND to vote for John McCain.

Here's a list from MoveOn.org.

But here's a few reasons no one in Louisiana should vote for him:

1. He voted against funds for FEMA AFTER Katrina.

2. He voted against an investigation into the failures around Katrina.

3. He voted against MEDICAL AID to those suffering from Katrina's affects.

But even worse, even worse than not supporting those who suffered from Katrina, even worse than working to deny the government the chance to officially investigate the failures at all levels of government, even worse than not working on getting those who suffered from Katrina to get back on their feet:

4. According to John Hagee, a pastor more disgusting than Jeremiah Wright (who after all, didn't say that America deserved 9/11, just that America shouldn't be blessed for all that she does when the governments of the past and the present have done many many wrongs and earned deserved condemnation): New Orleans DESERVED Katrina and what happened afterwards.

And now McCain tours around New Orleans, saying that such events won't happen again, that such horrendous loss of life, property and wealth will not happen under his watch.

This man should not be President. If Obama cannot dodge Wright due to misperception and perceived involvement, then McCain should not be able to dodge the evil people who he once excoriated as "agents of intolerance".

McCain is shoring up his evangelical base and is willing to win at any cost - kowtowing to Bush, endorsing Bush's policies, championing Bush's causes. He's flip-flopped and is no fan or lover of Louisiana.

Don't vote for him in '08, or you will regret it.

Questions the media should ask:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/13/pope.visit.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Does one actually think that if the Eastern Orthodox patriarch of St. Petersburg visited he would get the same treatment? Or the Dalai Lama who is in Seattle right now? How about if Ayatollah Khamenei or the Archbishop of Canterbury? Of course it's politics. This is an effort to make Bush look almost 'beatific' in his beneficence when compared to Clinton and his clashes with John Paul.


Also, why doesn't anyone really talk about HRD on Obama's advisor meeting with Canadian officials on NAFTA vs. HRD on her own husband and advisor meeting with Columbian officials on CAFTA. Tim Russert mentioned it in the Sunday morning 'Meet the Press' but I seriously doubt it's gonna get as much traction as it should.

HRD will do ANYTHING to become President. She believes she deserves it and it's hers. That ALONE should disqualify her. Haven't people paid attention to what happens when someone believes they deserve it and will do anything to win? HELLO RICHARD M. NIXON.

Peace.

A present...

After getting home from work - a lovely forty-five minute drive from historic St. Marys Georgia to ole Jacksonville - I proceeded to clean up the place a little, answer mail, etc. etc.

And then I found the present.

Walking into my room, it was cool and crisp, early spring air wafting from room to room. I reached over to pick up my book I was finishing - Kim Harrison's The Outlaw Demon Wails (latest entry in the Hollows series) - and I saw it.

Laying splayed out on the floor, surrounded by small puddles of blood staining the carpet, was a squirrel.

A dead squirrel had been brought to my room, up a tree, through a window screen, and deposited on the floor near my dresser. There were no visible tracks, and no disturbed scenery that indicated a struggle, but some blood had soaked into the sandy-colored carpeting.

One leg was missing and the throat looked like it had been savaged by some predatory beast. An eye had been gouged out, while the other still remained connected loosely to the socket. It wasn't terribly fresh, still oozing blood, and seemed to have air-dried in the room. The rodent's head look like it had been bashed against a tree, perhaps from being dragged up the small oak outside my room.

Thank you Ellesieux. I know you did it, as Little Bit remains too small to carry a squirrel up a tree and Twerp does not climb the stairs, let alone drag a carcass half his body weight up a twenty-year old leaf factory.

I placed the gift on the balcony.

The rain...

The rain is falling gently outside this grey misty morning...

No sunrise, but you know it's there, hidden, waiting...

Sitting in the dark with the fan blowing, it reminds me of my first days at LSU... awake in the morning before dawn, listening to Enigma, sitting silently and thinking of times gone by...

The cats are playing, Twerp is ignoring Little Bit so she goes out on the balcony and winds up the balcony like a serpent until she's on the railing. With her long bushy tail and small frame, it's as if a squirrel got enlarged and is sitting there, watching me and listening to the rain...

Peaceful, quiet... just the soft whirring of the fan as it turns round and round... the small thuds of rain on the roof while water splashes on the patio below... the tapping of keys on the laptop and the occasional hurried steps of the cats as they run...

The houseplant still grows, still stretches out towards the water and the sun - its blossoms a stark white against the green of the leaves and the pot. A reminder of helping someone lost and out of gas get back home, her blue-rimmed eyes and husky voice had asked for a stranger's help at a place far from home...

The birds flit from branch to branch, chirping in the rain, ignoring the desperate stare of the kitten below... A large tearing, crashing and thumping sound as a tree branch falls in the patch of jungle beyond the fence...

I can hear the distant sounds of the river, as boats are loaded... Oscillating, fading in and out almost as if running by... the wave of business traveling over the ebb of the St. Johns...

A picture later maybe...

Jacksonville's waking up...

Musings

Thoughts of love and romance...

I sit here in the dark and think of her. Remembering her smell, how she shone in the sun. Hearing her voice, floating on the wind. Wondering how she would feel in my arms.

At the bar, she sat near me, telling me of family and relationships. Drinking a cold beer she'd ordered by mistake after the bartender misunderstood her accent. Talking, unaware of her affect on things around her. Guys watched her, I watched her. Women looked on in envy as she gathered the attention in the room, oblivious of anything but my presence.

We talked of old relationships, some that ended badly, others that were still going on. She told me of dreams, plans, ideas. Someone she loved was far away and she didn't know if it would work out, but it was still worth it. Love always is, isn't it?

My protestations fell on deaf ears. Why throw yourself at something, when you yourself say if it ends, it ends? Why waste the now, being comfortable, when what you're thinking of is the past and the future, but not this moment, this time, this second.

Sometimes I wonder if I make any sense. Love is a cursed thing in my experience. Don't love enough, things get muddled and end. Throw yourself at someone, trying to make sure every moment, every second counts, and it ends in tears and tragedy. Hold back, let reality wash away the blurred lines of romance and serene acceptance, and love founders. Dreaming of the past, wishing for the future, trying to hold on to the present with both hands curled into fists.

Springsteen... I'm On Fire .... plays as he types.

How can you love someone, marry them, then watch as your ideas and thoughts wash away to nothingness, leaving you grasping at straws that may as well have been the pick-up sticks thrown by an ignorant child? Why torment yourself with thoughts about someone who really cares very little for you?

Friends... such an encompassing term... Friends can be acquaintances, those who judge you by the language you speak, those who include you when there's something they want to share with you but will disappear when you want to tell them something... People who come into your life for a year, a month, a day and then walk away into time like wisps of ether in a morning mist, leaving only the impression that they were there. Leaving only a 'what happened' and the faint half-smile as you remember a morning conversation, a late night jam session, a walk on a beach or a fuck in a field... People are ghosts; they're here for a while to keep you company as you drift through life, only to vanish when you shine a spotlight on them...

I think of this, and I think of her... She'll go away too... why care... return to the shell and withdraw... sometimes it's safer to not love, to not feel... confusion reigns, desire strives, fear and love co-mingle... what is left, but the rocks and jagged shore...

Let her go...she'll live, happy and unaware... loving and caring for whom she will... retreat into the darkness...

There's a monster under my bed... whispering in my ear... there's an angel with her hand on my head... she says I got nothing to fear... There's a darkness living deep in my soul... still got a purpose to serve... So let your light shine.. deep into my hole... Santana

Political thoughts

Some thoughts I had during the past few weeks:

Questions the media should ask:

1. Given HRC won the Democratic states of NY, CA, OH, TX (the primary only). Why is the argument put forth by the Clinton campaign that they should head a ticket due to these victories not being challenged? Is the Clinton assumption that Democratic voters automatically vote Republican in these states?

2. Why are the results from the TX caucuses not complete a week after the voting?

3. Why is the Clinton campaign being given largely a buy on the Florida and Michigan claims of victory? With all the talk of redo, shouldn't Clinton be called on her claim following the Texas primary victory?

4. Hilary Clinton claims the experience as a First Lady - in addition to her eight years as a Senator - makes her adept at becoming a President. Does Nancy Reagan qualify? Does Laura Bush? Would Pat Nixon? Ladybird Johnson? Eleanor Roosevelt, surely.

5. When discussing Barack's "pledge" to accept public funds, he clearly said he would accept public funds "if his opponent does so". How is this an actual pledge? This is a conditional statement according to any logic. Why does the media seek to aid the Clinton or McCain campaign by creating a non-issue?

6. The current spate of false memoirs - could these not be written off as "reality lit" in the vein of "reality shows" which are false, scripted and sensationalized even though real people do take part in these? (Some may not apply.)