Costumes

Last sunday i was sitting in delores park by myself with my bike making a few calls.
its amazing how many other people were doing that too. by themselves
just baking in the sun, and talking on the phone or reading.

so all of a sudden 30 people on bikes wearing their underwear ride through the park
over the grass, through the sunbathers on the grass. no one batted an eye, just smiled
and checked out the Y Front funky type underwear that all the cute boys and girls were
wearing. there was no explanation, just people wearing underwear on their bikes. Batman kind of underwear and goofy acrylic itchy kind of underwear.

yesterday i saw the critical mass ride take over and there were a few people wearing fancy shiny cocktail dresses with heels. i like that.

People like to dress in costumes here 365 days a year. It's normal.

"My car got broken into last night"

Something that you'll hear a lot here. Yesterday I walked by a car that had the entire back window smashed in. It was a beater. There was even a "Jesus is Lord" thing hanging on the rear view mirror.

People will break into your car here for a cd or some change you use for the meter.

I wish the police department would publish the stats of how many cars are stolen or broken into in the Mission every week. I bet it's at least 350, 50 a night.

I know at least 5 people who had their car stolen and then it reappeared a few blocks away a few days later.

You know that when you park your car that you may come back and it's gone. That happened to Louda, Lisa and I. We came back to the spot, and her little car was GONE. And I had left my bag in the trunk with my id and glasses. It really sucked.
And of course the car turned up 4 days later completely trashed.

The sound of grocery carts

I have always wondered why there aren't that many outdoor patios in the city.
How come it is hard to find places where you can sit outside?

answer 1: the hills. gravity. zoning

answer 2: the middle class white people don't want poor people who are hungry and living on the streets coming by their table every 5 minutes.

The sound of grocery carts filled glass bottles ready to be recycled is a sound I need to add to "her sounds" - that's just a fact in most neighborhoods. In some places, it's more concentrated. It's a sound like nails on a chalkboard. it's loud and it's the sound of survival. if you're collecting bottles you've hit rock bottom. but I have more respect for a person trying to make a few bucks on bottles than someone who just sits there begging for money.

e.

It's all about getting the idea and then sitting down and doing the work.  A bunch of people who are in the book have offered to sell it in their spaces. This is wonderful. I have a lot of work to do... but it's my passion so it's really not that much effort, it's more of a pleasure to do it.