Got Any Change?

I rode my bike over to Photoworks to get some prints made for an upcoming art show.
After looking at all of the choices for paper, image size and borders I made my selection and was told they would be ready on Thursday.  It was still morning so I decided to ride over to Tartine and get something to eat.  I arrived at the bakery.  There was no line out the door and there were open tables on 18th street.
 A woman in front of me wanted the hottest morning bun that was available. 
"Well they were made this morning at 8AM.  Would you like it heated up?" asked the clerk.
"I don't want it microwaved."  she insisted.
"We don't have a microwave" he said

"And I want that to go" she said.
I ordered a double pain au chocolat.  It was big.  There was another woman customer in front of me was taking photos of every dessert in the display case.  She had an interesting way of photographing.  She would snap away at anything in front of her without looking at the photo once she had taken it. I snuck peaks at all of her photos.  They weren't very good but she did adjust her camera to get the correct exposure everytime she took a picture.  I  was impressed by that.  
I got my pastry and stood at the counter by the window and watched the line swell.  A tourist read a guidebook that was open to a picture of the Castro theatre marquee.  There was also a map beside her book with various places circled in red.  Golden Gate Park, Haight St. and Cliff house.   It was one of those tourist maps that leave out most of the Richmond district. 
Good looking tourists waited on the corner for their Uber rides.  I rode home with my coffee and chocolate buzz. 
My friend in Berkeley emailed me and asked if I was coming over to go through a bunch of books he was going to get rid of.   After a long journey due to some delays at BART  I was in Berkeley.  I walked up to his office on campus and saw two tourists taking photos of a squirrel.  It was a fat squirrel.  I thought of the woman taking pictures in the bakery. 
Maybe those tourists in Berkeley eat squirrel!  I once saw a video of someone making a squirrel melt.

I met my friend and went through several boxes of books.  I got a small bag full and had plenty to read on the trip home.  They were all film books.  My favorite was a weird catalog from Japan featuring all of the Elmo film projectors from 1965.  In '65 I was four.  Back then going to the movies was something almost everybody did and I thought Pillsbury crescent rolls were the best.

"Energize"

     I texted one of my friends on Saturday to see if he wanted to hang out. "We are moving out today and its almost cleared out" was the reply text.
I was shocked.  Why would anyone move out of a rent controlled apartment in a great neighborhood?
Maybe he or his girlfriend got some killer job?  I rode my bike over to their place and on the steepest part of their street, there on the sidewalk I saw a familiar couch. I locked up my bike and just as I was about to text my friend to tell him I was here I saw him crossing the street.  He must have been bringing some stuff to his car.
We went inside the apartment and as we walked up the stairs to the fourth floor he told me how his landlord was raising his rent to $4000.  He wasn't an original tenant on the lease but he had been paying rent for the last twelve years.  They could go to court but before the court date whenever that would be, they would still have to pay the 4G rent. They were moving to the south bay to live in his girlfriend's parents unoccupied house.  "Score!" I said eagerly.
Then my friend said "Well not quite.  "Out of the six weeks we've been there, the parents have been there four."
"Ouch"
When we got to his empty apartment  I was amazed how spacious it was.  I noticed the high ceilings and empty closets. It got morning sun and afternoon sun and had  a nice view to the west.  It was a great apartment.  His girlfriend was in the kitchen cleaning out the refrigerator. She told me how she had started gardening at her parents house.  I gave her some tips on growing carrots.
After hanging out for a while he had to get back to cleaning.  I said my goodbyes to both of them and walked down the stairs for the last time. I thought about how we never did watch "Marketa Lazarova"
Yesterday I had to mail something and needed to check an address.  I went through my old address book and counted 34 friends who had moved out of the city.  It probably explains why I eat so many burritos see so many movies by myself.
If there were such a thing as a transporter like on Star Trek and it accepted a Clipper card, I'd be happy. 

Vegeterian Lunch Special

It wasn't until I unwrapped the entire ice cream sandwich and put it on a plate did I realize the genius in the diagonal ice cream pattern. 

I Am a Foodie

 There is a Grocery Outlet near my house.  It's now the market where I shop. Grocery Outlet sells products that are still good but set to expire within a month or two or already expired.   I bought a box of Peanut Butter Pop Tarts that were only $.48!  How can you go wrong! When I got home I put one in the toaster oven.  Within minutes the kitchen smelled like freshly baked cookies.  The toaster bell rang and I took my Pop Tart out and put it on a small plate.  It smelled great.  I took a bite and it tasted like a warm peanut butter cookie.  I was happy.  A while later I put the other Pop Tart in the toaster and in a few minutes I ate part of the second one.  It was hard to finish. I realized it was not good at all.   I looked at the box on the counter.  I had four more Pop Tarts to eat.  I was mad at myself for buying that bullshit food.  
I thought about the pain au chocolat I had at Tartine earlier in the week and how it was so much better but for the same price I could have had 10 boxes of peanut butter pop tarts or 5 outdated Toblerones or 2 tacos!

Give Me Five and a Knuckle Bump!

I had a screening of one of my films in an experimental film show.  When the show was finished, the host stopped me before I walked out of the venue.  "Hey I have something for you."
It was a piece of paper (actually the program of the evening's show) folded in thirds.
Maybe I was going to get paid!  I slowly unfolded the white paper  to reveal Abe Lincoln.
It was five dollars or 500 pennies.  'Well I can get two tacos"   I thought.  I was sort of hungry.
I went to the taqueria I used to frequent when I worked in the Mission.  I ordered two tacos.  Then I saw a sign on the register -CHIPS .50. They used to come with your order.   Later in the week I told my friend the chips story and he said "chips at my taqueria are $.69!"

You Want Butter on That?

I am thinking about what type of job I'll do next. I was at a friends house and met someone who was in town for a wedding.  He was from Atlanta. When I asked him what he did he said "I work for Delta" 
My friend who was sitting across from him said "Like baggage handler?"  I thought this was kind of rude and I'm not sure if the comment might have been based on the color of his skin.  Then I found out that my friend gave the guy a ride home last night so they must have talked about his job during the ride.  He wasn't a racist.
The wedding guest actually was sort of a baggage handler but he shipped animals.  I never even thought about this job existing.  I wanted to know what type of animals are flying around in jet airliners. Apparently there is a woman who travels with her pair of cheetahs and often passes through Atlanta.  I think I need a job that pays a lot!

Leviathan Part 2

Yesterday was free day at most museums in SF.  I decided  to visit the Conservatory of
Flowers.  I was enjoying the beauty of the water lilly and the reflection of the glass windows.
Suddenly a hand comes out of nowhere with a GoPro Camera and plunges into the water like its the Flying Sub from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.  It really annoyed me even more than the coins in the water next to the sign that says "Don't throw coins in the water"