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weekend update

2002-10-28 - 3:06 p.m.

I ended up having a busy weekend, too busy to write about it during, so here are some fragmented summaries.

Friday night we went out to a nice Japanese dinner (after my sushi lunch, and our attempt at udon/somen that ended up being dinner and lunch on Wednesday/Thursday). And then to see a play that my gf's roommate Emily is partially directing, The Fear Project. I was interested in seeing it after watching "Bowling for Columbine", as the topic of fear in the media started seeming much more relevant. I actually enjoyed the play, especially the segment directed by Emily; not what I expected when I first heard of it.

Saturday morning I dragged my girlfriend out to the anti-war protest. I had never been part of a protest before, but I finally decided that I should come out. It felt odd to see so many people in the middle of Market St. My feelings about the protest oscillated between feeling that it was nothing more than a disorganized group of people wandering around San Francisco and not making a difference and that when thousands of people are all speaking the same message, someone has got to listen. The lowest point was when a speaker was spouting off about radioactive shells being used to attack tanks during Desert Storm (it's depleted uranium!), and the possibility that the Russian early warning system would get confused about war in Iraq and send nuclear bombs to San Francisco. Political speeches are all the same, it seems, full of lies, oversimplifications, and empty rhetoric. The highest point was during the actual march, seeing an unending stream of people both in front and behind yourself, chanting "war on iraq: not in our name," and watching your mouth move almost involuntarily as you're a part of the group.

We stayed at the protest until about one, when my gf left for a studio open house, and I went to see the FlugTag happening nearby. There came more disappointment, as the staff wanted to search my bag and frisk me to allow me onto the pier -- what is this world coming to? Fortunately, I saw a large crowd watching from the sidelines in the public area, and decided to join them there. The FlugTag was pretty much what I expected -- a bunch of ridiculous allegedly flying machines dropping into the bay from a high platform. One of my favourites was a giant toaster, which was almost functional and ejected two pieces of "toast" into the bay, with a pilot sandwiched between them.

Afterwards, I caught up with my gf at her house, and we went to dinner in North Beach at Trattoria Volare -- I had been there once when my family was visiting. The food was wonderful, a nice change from overpriced mediocre restaurants that marked our last few visits to San Francisco's little Italy.

Then off to East Bay to get myself some warmer clothes (I had forgotten my jacket on Friday night and had been freezing since then). And then dragging ourselves out of the house (tired, after a full day) to join a games night with some friends. We didn't actually play games, but did get to hang out and talk, so I'm glad I overcame the urge to just be lazy, antisocial, and stay at home.

Sunday morning we went to a birthday brunch. We were running late, and arrived half an hour after the appointed time, surprised to find that no one except the hostess/birthday girl were there. We were informed at that point that we were actually half an hour early due to the time change. D'oh!

After brunch, we played tennis, or rather played at playing tennis -- neither of us is very good at hitting the ball. We need much more practice, but at least now we know how to get the tennis courts unlocked, so maybe we'll play more often. Then we saw "Auto Focus", an interesting and sad movie, although not the best movie I've seen. As Emily (gf's roommate) observed, it was a little inconsistent, and the casting for William Dafoe's part was somewhat wrong.

I had planned to go home afterwards, but decided to stick around for a chinese dinner (not the best), and a few games of pool (also not the best, but fun). Finally, it was 12:30 (even by after accounting for the time change), so it was time to bring this unusually busy weekend to a close.