Back in the USA

Missing India, happy to be home. So much to tell! Too much, really. Better to focus on someone else's anecdote: last week Ke$ha asked my Australian coworker out on a date. You'll be surprised to hear that they went to a club.

Things organized neatly

We're ready to go now, just waiting for our cab. Bags packed, cats fed, house (semi-) cleaned. And I've chilled out in my demands for the excellence of our vacation. We're going to India, so it will be excellent. And it will probably blow, at times. I'm ready.

So I leave you with this: Things Organized Neatly. Wonderful.

Turkey cake!

I'm going to be out of the country for Thanksgiving, so I'm requesting that someone I know make this turkey cake, complete with mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. And don't forget to photograph it. Thank you.

I need a vacation

I am losing it just a leetle bit. We leave tomorrow for India, and the normal things you're supposed to stress about at the last minute - packing, getting the house ready, whether the cats will go apeshit while you're gone and shred all the upholstery - is of no concern. Instead, I am completely unable to book a hotel for the trip, a hotel that we will need beginning Monday night. I have spent HOURS on Trip Advisor, combing through all the recommendations. I have sent dozens of emails to inquire about reservations. And it's getting down to the wire. I tend to be a seat-of-my-pants traveler, but life has been so crazy these last few months that I feel like I need a totally relaxing, totally planned vacation.

And that is where I am screwing myself. The area that we are heading to - Goa, on the Arabian Sea - is supposed to be heavenly. The beach where we are aiming to stay is stunning. But my brain is telling me that I have to pick the perfect place to stay. What the hell does that mean? There are thatched huts, there are fancy resorts, there are beach hotels. And because this is India, we can afford them all. So I'm frozen with indecision and anxiety, and the worse it gets, the more I pity myself, because this is supposed to be fun! But what if we show up and the place I picked is a shithole, and the one next door is gorgeous, and I screwed everything up?

Clearly this is going to get resolved soon, and I'm not going to be torturing myself forever. But seriously, I need to get a grip. And take a vacation.

Slide

I just realized I never uploaded this video - it's from when I was in Berlin, and Cait and I went for a run in the rain. The slide was calling to me! I got very wet and sandy, but it was entirely worth it.

Atheists don't have no songs

No one ever wrote a tune for godless existentialism. Steve Martin to the rescue!

It begins

The cleaning-out-the-fridge-before-traveling roasting of everything in sight.

Potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, beets, peppers. Once we're through our groceries, there'll be a few nights of takeout, and then...VACATION!

Giants fever: a justification

I think I like sports because I like stories. I'm not going to rattle off baseball or football stats at you, but I will remember things like the fact that Oakland Raiders went into this past weekend having scored 92 points in the previous two games. Because there is a narrative attached: they blew epically for the beginning of the season, and now they blow less. Baseball has such a long season, though, that it's just too much number crunching. If I can't keep track of the story, I can't keep track of caring.

So now that the SF Giants fervor has calmed down a bit, I'm realizing that I got so caught up in it because it was a great story. Each player seemed so quirky, and nice! And they were underdogs, and they won! Even better, all the little rituals - the cheers, the signs, the weed jokes - were all very San Franciscan. It gave me the warm fuzzies to have so many people acknowledging how great my city/team is.

In sum, the last few weeks were a lot of fun. We spent time in our local bar, watching the games and reconnecting with our neighbors, and Mike even made friends with a guy named Dirty Kevin. Thank you for that, Giants.

The victory parade was on a lovely warm day, and everyone was just so HAPPY. I didn't even mind the crowds (much).

I rode my bike around downtown to scope the scene, and wound up having to salmon my way up Market for several blocks because there were so many people in the streets.

Do you like having strangers high five you? If so, you should have been here.

Tell Tale

Yesterday I picked up my first Tell Tale Society bag - I got it for a friend as a gift. I made her open it in front of me just so I could see everything that was in it. I hope it all tastes as amazing as it looks. And now it's getting blogged about!