The Hood

A friend of mine, who I met last summer abroad, asked me what my neighborhood was like. I think this picture says it all. Half the folks have fancy ass cars and the other half have beat up old ones.

There is a first for everything

This month I got my very first real studio. It is the perfect romantic artist's studio. In a shabby part of town, nice light all day long, and over looking a parking lot. It makes me so happy to go there it makes me want to cry. I introduced myself to a guy who has a studio downstairs and told him that it felt more like a tree fort than a studio and he replied, "Yeah. You will get used to it."

Life and Death

Yesterday I rode my bike downtown to see some shows at the galleries. When I got there the police had blocked off some of the streets. There were traffic jams, cars were honking, nobody was happy. While I was at the Paule Anglim Gallery I looked out the window and saw a pro life march heading down Market Street toward the ferry building. I left to go home and rode my bike up Geary Street thinking I could avoid the madness by cutting across Hyde. When I got to Hyde there was a funeral procession up and down the street as far as the eye could see. It was a mess. Maybe if the right to lifers and the funeral goers had teamed up they could have brought that guy back to life.

Oops

On the way to work out one morning I passed the gas station between my apartment and the gym. The umbrella, or whatever you call the roof that protects patrons from the sun and rain, had tumbled over. I wondered how it had happened. There has not been any wind. It is winter here and the wind doesn't come until the summer time. I got closer and saw what went wrong. The worst welding job you've ever seen.

Dog Hair and Spider Webs

The other day before I went to work I walked to the bank. On the way there a woman almost ran me over. Twice. Once when I was in her way in the crosswalk and the next time when I was in her way on the sidewalk. When I got to the bank I couldn't make my deposit because someone had graffitied all over the ATM screens. I gave up and went to work. I've been painting a house out in Orinda. Yes, students who are reading my blog, I make more money painting in a week than I do teaching two classes for a month. Anyway, it is nice an quiet out there and it smells good and there is parking everywhere. No garbage, barf, or human shits on the sidewalk. "Why do I live in the city?" I thought to myself when I got out there. Later in the day I went to deposit my check at the ATM in Orinda and watched overly self entitled people honk and yell at each other from their Lexus'. Isn't there an in between? I am trying to figure out where that is. God, please don't let it be Pacifica. The most beautiful place in the world with the worst weather and the worst architecture. The house I was painting had spider webs all over the ceiling. When I was on the ladder they would get all over my face. There was also fluffy yellow dog hair all over the floor and when I painted along the baseboards the dog hair would get all over my face. Here is a photo from the house on New Year's Eve. Guess what I also did on New Years Day?

Gobble

A couple of weekends ago a bunch of us from SF went up to a crab feed in Valley Ford. It's a fundraiser for the fire department there. It's the fourth time I've gone and I look forward to it all year long. $40 for all the crab you can eat. When were there my friend, Marc Capelle who organizes the event event every year, told us that when the Google bus goes past his house on 24th St. in SF he looses cell and internet service. Talk about all you can eat!

When Push Comes To Shove