2004-06-21 - 12:42 a.m. I'd gotten it into my head that I was going to head off to the Central Valley this weekend to see my childhood best friend and her new baby. I've been meaning to do this for a few months, but got spurred on by a txt message from my high school boyfriend saying he was heading out that way to visit his parents. There was a possibility I could catch a ride with him, provided he would 1) detour a little bit out of his way and 2) I would decide spending that much time trapped in a car with him was a good idea. Neither condition played out. fun happy thrifting However, as a result of that having been what I'd been planning on doing, I had abstained from making any plans, which meant I had a full weekend without obligations to be any specific place (a rarity). I took advantage of this freedom by tagging along with the newly laid off Miss Alicia and her friend N on a thrifting expedition. What better way to spend a gorgeous sunny SF day? En route to our destination, we stopped off at a sidewalk sale where Alicia scored the 7-volume boxed set (6 diaries plus one photo book) of Anais Nin's diaries for the amazing price of $5! Hell, each one would have cost close to that by itself at a used bookstore. The thrifting expedition unearthed many cheap finds for the gallery space the ladies are helping spruce up. All was off to a good start...until we tried to find Alicia's car, which had been left in SOMA the night before. And then things got ugly After wandering around for an hour or so, as it got dark, we stopped for sustenance at Rocco's Cafe. Post-dinner, Alicia called N who agreed to come get us and drive up and down the nearby streets to help us find the car. And wouldn't you know it -- it was down an alley just a few blocks from where we gave up. The jubilation at finding the car was swiftly set aside, however, upon discovering it had been broken into. They took everything of value other than a CD player stashed under the front seat. Alicia lost her backpack with her dayplanner and Palm Pilot, and thus all her contact information and dates and details for everything she's done since she got to SF several years ago. Gone also were her to-be-mailed packages and bills, a tea pot to be sent to her mom as a birthday present, some indie film videos, etc. Since leaving the car in this condition near her SO's house in the Tenderloin would be out of the question, I invited her to park it at my place, where no one should mess with it (and if they do, the landlord is accountable for it since it's "secured" parking.) She and the car ended up staying at my place all weekend. I'm glad I was around this weekend after all, so I could be helpful. I am hopeful that since her run of bad luck started with her bike being stolen, this marks the end of Alicia's bad luck. She deserves a break! my own bad luck I wasn't impervious to the bad luck either. Over the course of yesterday, my stereo receiver stopped working, meaning I couldn't play any music. After an hour or so of pushing all its buttons and turning it off and on, it started working again, but I don;t trust it now. I also had 3 kitchen injuries in half an hour: 1 did a deep slice into my index finger with a bread knife (while cutting a bagel of course. bagels are dangerous), jammed a sharp crumb under my thumbnail really hard, and burned my hand on a baking dish and then spilling the chicken tikka masala it contained all over the kitchen and the potholders. This morning, to round things off, I spilled scalding hot coffee all over my lap while trying to avoid spilling it on the cat. Ugh. House of Sand and Fog I've never been a fan of Jennifer Connely's, despite having a very strong emotional reaction to her performance in Requiem for a Dream. At the time though, I credited my extreme emotional reaction to that film, and her doomed relationship, to it being the 1st film my soon-to-be-ex and I had seen in a theater after he'd confessed his love and preference for someone else. It put me off of shopping and taking pain pills for months. But jesus. Watching House of Sand and Fog tonight...God, I started tearing up when she called her brother and confessed how lost she felt. And when she sat in the car with the gun... well, honestly, I sobbed. I've been there. I've felt the world ending and wanted to die. I've wondered why I should bother getting up in the morning. I've wondered how I would be able to go on... Simply amazing, and so powerful. Sure, perhaps I needed a good cry, but I think it's more than that. Highly recommended. Have to do a rewrite on my final travel class article today. I was really unhappy with the comments I received from the professor, since they were too much along the lines of "you need more self-deprecating anecdotes". I still refuse to bow to the cult of self-deprecating humor. It can't be forced upon me. I will bulk up the narrative arc of my story instead by making the reader sad. Ha! 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