Party times

I've declared the rest of September birthday party time for myself.  It started on Friday after work when we drove to Oakland to see Micachu and the Shapes and Animal Collective.  During the show I had to elbow some people out of the way and there was a kid who kept crowd surfing over and over.  Another guys jumped over the fence separating the upper level of the floor from the bottom level and ran towards the stage like the Hulk, pushing people out of the way as he went. Some guys glasses fell off, someone got a foot to the face and a lot of feet were stepped on.  Jay and Natalie were there too!  Good times.

The stage design was a giant mouth with teeth facing in towards the stage that changed colours.  Cool dude.
After the show we were starving.  V had been to a place called Dogwood, down the street from the theatre before.  Have you been?  Their website describes it as a spirits driven meat sanctuary specializing in hand crafted cocktails and house made charcuteries.  What on earth is a meat sanctuary?

I had a cubanito grilled sandwich on a thin plate with cornichons and dijon mustard on the side.  Delicious.  There was a big mason jar in the clear bar fridge that was labeled "gum" and looked really cloudy.  Our bartended told us it was a sweet flavouring used in old timey drinks but it looked like there could have been some dentures soaking in there.

We checked in at the Marriott pretty late and our room was next to the elevators that went all night long.  At first I thought the noise was maybe from the BART because it was so loud but then V reminded me that we were on the 17th floor.  I didn't sleep that night and because of the cost of the hotel, I complained.  The guy at the front desk first offered free breakfast, and when I said no, he offered 2000 hotel points.  I asked him how many points I'd need for a free stay and he said 20,000.  USELESS.  When I asked if there was anything else he could do in my nicest exasperated tone, he talked to his manager who said they'd refund the room.  Later, I got a voicemail saying they'd refunded half the room so I may be  forced to write an old fashioned letter of complaint, just like my Dad used to do (and probably still does).  Plus side: we had a nice view of Oakland from our room.

The Eat Real Food festival was going on at Jack London square.  There were probably about 100 food trucks throughout the park/waterfront and a lot of tents with giveaways.  I wanted to try so many things but there was just too much there.

We tried the empanadas from El Sur

This was funny.  We didn't eat here.

Cute mascot

Surfing lobster at a chowder food truck.

Scenic walk along the waterfront.

A cozy spot for a nap.

Secret pup photo.

Sad pig.

Nearby happy pig buddies chewing on lettuce and spitting it out.

Bhel puri in a paper cone from Soul Cocina.  So good.  I want to make this at home.  It reminded me a little of the tea leaf salad from Burma Superstar that everyone, myself included, loves so much.

We went to Berkeley for a couple of hours to see the freeeeee Micachu show at Amoeba.  I picked up a few more tiny lunch boxes (two with polka dots, and one with flowers) at the Daiso and contemplated buying some knee high socks at the Sock Shop.  The guy at Peet's coffee shamed me when I asked for the restroom key by loudly asking, "ARE YOU A PAYING CUSTOMER HERE?".  I said, "YES I AM NOW FORK IT OVER!"

Feather hair extensions.  Fug.

We walked around Merritt lake, saw some pups, birds, people walking a tightrope and a man shadow boxing.  On the way back to the car we saw the Cleveland Cascade and walked up to see the plants.  By that point we were hungry again and went to dinner at Boot and Shoe service.  They have wood fired pizzas and fancy drinks.  They make their own tonic there so I had a vodka tonic.  Golden and tasty.

Throughout the day V had three cups of coffee and a Monster energy drink and wanted to have a dance party when we got home.  

And then some of us had had enough and wanted to go to bed.

Oaktown

I've never spent that much time in Oakland but we're staying overnight this weekend in a hotel that was deemed "Cheaper than the hotels in San Francisco" on yelp and tripadvisor. Where do these people stay in San Francisco?  A lot of the reasonable Oakland hotels have bad reviews and are in sketchy neighbourhoods.  Either that or they're $400 a night.

I got a (sort of) good deal at the Marriott near the Fox theater.  We're going to Animal Collective and I don't want to drive back home after the show.  Have you heard their new album? It's so good.  I love it!  It's streaming on their website here

What should we do in Oakland?  Hike? Where should we eat?  The only places I've eaten are Homeroom, and more recently, and unfortunately/desperately, at the Taco Bell that locks its doors at 8 at night, doesn't have bathrooms and has drug deals in the parking lot.

Night and Day

We went to the Hot Chip dance party in Oakland last night.  I loved it!  I felt like a nerd after because I was semi-contemplating not going because of having to work the next day/today.  YES, ME!  It was funnnnn and work today was totally fine.  Going to shows like this makes me wish I lived in a bigger city although Sac does get a lot of good shows before bands get big.  The drive home from the Bay after a week night show is kind of lame on a week night.

Sincerely,
Grandma

Borrow

This weekend I picked up a Nook at the library.  You can borrow one and keep it for up to three weeks like ye olde books of olde tyme.  I reserved it a few weeks ago to test it out.  The one I have is "fiction" themed and has 44 books loaded on to it!

The device is so small.  I don't think I like it.  It feels like I'm still on the computer instead of reading and relaxing.  Also, one standard book page takes three nook pages.  However, this is coming from a lady who likes it when the large print is available at the library in the book.

I do like that it's light.  Reading a heavy book in bed is such a drag.  I don't like buying books though so that's another reason I don't think this is for me - unless I could borrow e-books from the library.  Now that I think about it, that might be possible.  I've heard people with e-readers end up reading a lot more than if they didn't have one.  Is that true?  I want some hard facts.

In real book news I am on book two of the Hunger Games. It is really good.  Randomly, I started watching Battle Royale on Netflix last week and HG is pretty much a rip off of that book/film.  Oh well, still a fun mindless read.

Stormy

I'm learning all sorts of surf lingo.  The surf scene behind these 2 dudes is described as stormy.  The waves were wild.  When that happens the only thing you can do is sit in the sand and drink a BL before heading back out to get beat up by the sea again.

I sure have fallen off the face of the blogosphere.  This next week isn't going to be any better.  My plan is to come home from work on Monday and sleep all the way through until Tuesday morning so I can frontload on sleep.  We're going to Hot Chip on Tuesday.  I am very excited to see them but not excited to have to drive back from SF on a Tuesday night and work the next day.  Times are tough when you're a working woman.  Am I right ladies?

I'm starting another writing class (finally!) now that I have a job that gives me money to spend on things I like.  It's on Wednesdays for the next couple of months.  Working a new job is tough on an ol' lady like me.  In a few months I'll be back to my old self.  Libra's are supposedly known for their laziness and I am definitely feeling like a useless, brainless blob when 5 o'clock rolls around.  Luckily I'm not eating all the donuts at the office so I'm not an actual blob.

Did you like the Libra hint?  I used to think Yom Kippur was a famous person with whom I celebrated a birthday every ten years or so.  Oops.