2002-04-07 - 8:45 p.m. paint it black Hmmm. I just paid $13 for a glass, yes, a glass, of Clos du Bois merlot at the hotel bar. Isn't that the same price as a bottle of that stuff? I really wanted a nice California Zinfandel, rather than a buttery merlot, but I'll live. I should've gotten my act together earlier and gone out for that margarita...oh well. I wanted a glass of wine to unwind while writing about today's adventures, and I have one now, so I should be grateful. Mind you, I just finished writing about yesterday's adventures less than an hour ago, so I am a little behind it seems. Perhaps I'll hold off on posting this entry until tomorrow morning...(NOTE: today's entry was, in fact, written on Saturday.) Blissfully, I was allowed to sleep in this morning. I remembered to put the "do not disturb" sign on the door, so I didn't have housekeeping knocking while I was trying to sleep, so that's a good thing. When I finally hauled myself out of bed and headed out, I walked up Lexington to get a good shot of the Chrysler building (one of which I posted with my last entry in addition to the one here), and to peek in at the lobby. I hate to say I wasn't surprised at the phalanx of security guards gazing back at me as I peered inside...every major high rise in SF has increased security these days too. I'm not likely to have room for dinner since I have been filling up on the Michel Cluizel Chocolat Grand Amer (85% cacao) chocolate bar I picked up at Dean & DeLuca this afternoon. Red wine and chocolate is such an excellent and irresistible combination though, much like champagne and chocolate (a.k.a. last night's dinner). This is good stuff, on a par with Valhrona - I should've picked up some extra bars to bake with when I get home... One of the weird things about travelling is not listening to as much music. In a typical day at work, I listen to 3 or 4 CDs (or the same CD 4 times if it's that kind of a day.) When travelling though, I historically haven't brought a CD player or music with me. This trip though has felt a lot more comfortable and relaxing since I got it together and burned the music I have been listening to the most as of late onto my hard drive. I was even able to listen to my favorite jesus and mary chain tunes while waiting for my plane to board at SFO. This makes me a very happy girl indeed. MAJOR DIGRESSION: OK...someone just walked past my room whistling "Paint it Black..." What's funny though, is whenever I hear someone doing that, I expect to hear Ian McCullough's voice, not Mick Jagger's. It's always funny when you start to associate certain cover songs (like Siouxsie & the Banshees' "Dear Prudence") with the cover artist rather than the original authors...I had a really funny conversation on this topic with strangers and my lovely hostess in London, at a Thai restaurant. They were all horrified when I told them, in all sincerity, that I preferred the Bauhaus cover of "Ziggy Stardust" to the original. Heh heh. It's so easy to get under peoples' skin sometimes... Clearly, I am too distracted, for some reason, to write about my day's adventures. I promise I'll come back to it soon. Now, off to dinner at a place our concierge recommended and my guidebook said was "popular in the 80s though serious foodies are turned off by the rude, inattentive staff..." Oh joy. I hope I earn major brownie points for this. any comments? (0 so far) previous - next recently on almostgoldsf... in defense of an email box I came to do battle with SPAM - 2008-05-17 hello 2006 - 2005-12-31 Happy Thanksgiving - 2005-11-14 bon voyage - 2005-11-05 October already? - 2005-10-09