I can’t find another thread reporting on yesterday’s Bay Area dopefest so I’ll start this one. Some of the participants (Demo, Doob and PCW) were going to a play today and probably won’t check in till later.
Eight dopers showed up (in rough order of arrival): Democritus, pluto, Old Scratch, Sassy, Doobieous (sp?), PurpleCrackWhore, VogueVixen and SeaDiver. We had dinner and pleasant conversation at the restaurant, Puerto Alegre, in SF’s Mission District. The only problem was the serious lack of parking in the neighborhood. Demo had to feed a meter two blocks away, pluto and PCW were at meters closer by but with shorter time limits. After occupying most of the restaurant (it was a small place) for most of the evening we adjourned and re-convened at Jack’s Elixir Bar a couple of blocks away.
I was sworn to secrecy by the other participants – probably because I didn’t have anything to drink and they were smart enough to realize that one of the characteristics of a really good blackmailer is sobriety – so I don’t have any tales to tell other than the unsurprising news that some people had too much to drink. If they want to confess they can.
A couple of highlights were provided by unexpected visitors. A mariachi band turned up at Puerto Alegre and one of the dopers joined them for a stirring rendition of “Celito Lindo” on a dare. They also sang the Mexican equivalent (I guess) of “Happy Birthday” to Democritus.
At Jack’s Elixir Bar a very persistent fellow decided he wanted to join our little group (or at least he wanted to annoy the ladies). He was friendly enough but he just couldn’t quite grasp that he wasn’t welcome.
Pictures were taken, notes were made. Others can fill in the details. I have nothing to confess.
It was very nice to meet all of the attendees. They are all genuinely nice people. Yes, we talked about people on the SDMB. No, we didn’t make a list. If you think we mentioned you we probably did. I will mention that Coldfire’s May 5th thread got special notice. And that pig noises came up.
What the hell is the matter with you people…lets here some details…the Teeming Millions wanna know.
Pics, pics and more pics you goofballs.
Demo I expected more out of you, Sassy after Chicago you can’t possibly think I’ll believe you were a part of anything nearly this mundane. If there was a Purple CrackWhore in attendance I’m gonna assume that there was excitement.
Yeah, I noticed that about some people too. Oh wait! You mean me! LOL! I’m extra curious to see the pics. I have a feeling they may contain blackmail material. ::looks around nervously::
Well, I ended up getting there an hour and a half early because I was going to go hang out in the Haight for a while but was so pissed about the parking situation that I decided to just stay and get a beer (or a few beers…). Basically, there were no parking lots for about a five mile radius. The lot that I finally found had two hour meters in it! Christ! Needless to say I was more than ready to get sloshed.
I sat and had a few until four, at which time no one showed up. Bah! Oh well, I was pretty lit by this time anyway, but at about 4:15, Pluto showed up and I joined him at the table. He hadn’t had the greatest driving situation either (had just got a parking ticket). Shortly thereafter Oldscratch and Sassy followed. PurpleCrackwhore and Doob came a bit later and finally VogueVixen and SeaDiver.
SeaDiver tripped a few of us out because we thought she was in her forties, but was actually in her 20’s! Then again, I thought OldScratch was an older woman as well but…
Everybody was totally cool. It was fun meeting new people and great to reunite with the ones I had met before.
There was much drinking and some spilling of margaritas (by me, whoops!) The food was excellent. SeaDiver’s singing was very impressive and I loved the birthday song/dance (Thanks SD!). After a pit stop for a bottle of tequila from the liquor store, we headed to another bar where mass quantities of booze were consumed. Plus, we got to screw with this looney guy and, well…hmmm…
On Sunday, Doob and I headed to the Mountain Play, where we fried our asses off in the hot sun. The play was great but, unfortunately PCW didn’t find us until it was over.
As for pictures, I didn’t end up getting too many, so it’s going to be a while until I finish off the roll. Probably after Psy and I’s trip out here to CA next week.
Thanks all you guys for a great time!
(Happy Omni? Oh! You wanted the juicy details? Sorry, those are being held for blackmail purposes…;))
Now, I assure you that I can keep a secret. And considering that I wanted, and tried to get there to participate so much, I’d hope I could be included in the festivities. Come on folks, include a honorary SF Doper.
I’m not an SF doper – I’m hoping for another PNW one to be arranged, and that it will actually be ANNOUNCED this time – but I just had to mention that the title of this thread sounds remarkably like a Paul Simon song.
Even I dont remember everything that happened that night, and all I had to drink was two margaritas!
Anyway i’ll try to recap my bit, as detailed as possible without anything incriminating ;):
Around 2:30 PCW came to pick me up. We headed out from my town, and proceeded to get to SF. On the way we talked of many things like some of you Dopers, life, The board, Relationships (well, PCW told me about hers), things like that. Around 4:00 we hit the city. We were so busy talking we missed the turn to get to the mission district. So, we ended up near the Zoo. After some hair raising driving ;), we finally got onto the right streets. We didnt even know if it was the right area til we saw the sign for Valencia.
Well, we finally got to Valencia St. Our first impression: “What a slum”. Well, that’s not surprising because the Mission Distric isn’t one of the best areas of SF (it’s not totally the worst, but there are bad parts). But, it wasn’t in the worst section of the Mission. It was relatively safe there (I wouldn’t walk alone there at night). The restaurant looked a bit like a dive from the outside, but when we went in, it was pretty decent if a bit old. PCW noticed Sassy I guess, and we walked in. Sitting there was Dem, Pluto, Sassy, and OldScratch (Who has these cool plugs for his ear lobe piercings). So, we said our hellos and sat down. I showed off my new haircut ;). PCW and I sat towards the end and we started talking with everyone. Not too soon after, VogueVixen walks in. Then we talked for a bit, and SeaDiver shows up.
Let me tell you, no one knew who she was. I thought for a minute she had the wrong group. We tried to trick her into thinking we weren’t the group, but she was too sly for that. I have to clarify something here. Democritus was the one who thought SeaDiver was in her 40’s (he said he thought she was 50! (Sorry dem, but I knew she was in her 20’s LOL). SeaDiver is much more talkative IRL than she is in the chatroom (that’s where she’s to be found a lot). So, the group was finally all there.
Finally we all ordered our dinners. The food was good. Margaritas were also ordered. Regular margaritas, and blended margaritas. Dem poured the drinks and spilled all over. He even got some in the salsa. As we ate we talked, and soon, a small band of Mariachi came in to play songs. SeaDiver was dared to Sing Cielito Lindo. She thought she did bad, I thought she did well. Several more songs were played, and SeaDiver asked them to sing Happy Birthday in Spanish to Dem.
Soon, we decided to get up on out of there and go to a bar up the street. But first we stopped off at a liquor store. I’m not too sure why we went there because we were going to a bar, but well, the ones who wanted to go there were drunk ;). Dem and I decided to go back to his truck because I was going home with him that night, and I had a bag of goodies given to me by Sassy I needed to drop off(Sass, thank you again for those things. I love those “Carlifornia Lemon” Candies). When Dem and I headed back to the bar, we almost forgot what it was called. When we got near it, we noticed the others just entering the bar across the street. I’m wondering what took them so long to get there.
So, we all entered the bar and decided to sit at one of the tables. The place was small and intimate, and not the most high class place, but it was cool. There was this nasty ass barfly who was trying to get in on our group. Sassy didn’t like him, I didn’t care too much for the guy, but Dem got some pics of the guy (I think. He also kept telling the guy to go away. I think one of the bartenders said the guy was pretty harmless). Not sure what the others thought of him. He kept doing these vulgar hand gestures and also babbling on, which I didn’t understand at all.
It was a bit tight, but we were all talking. Not as many people had drinks there as at the other place. Dem had a Guiness (i think, i’m not all about beer ;)), and also two shots of Jagermeister (I forget if he shared that or not). Also, SeaDiver broke out her bottle of Tequila, and Dem, Sea, Vix, and Old Scratch had a shot of. Sea and Vix had a few more drinks. I was fine, because at the restaurant i was getting up to go to the bathroom every ten minutes (I had two cokes and those two margaritas). Also, I dont drink a lot (Clarification: I will have drinks but I don’t get drunk ;))
I’m not too sure how long we were there, but I think we got there around 6, and stayed there 'til it was getting dark. We walked down the street a bit and stopped to decide what to do. At the corner of one of the streets, we decided to split up (some people had to get home, like PCW, and Me and Dem). We were going to take Sea and Vix to the nearest BART station, but they wandered off and we lost them. PCW decided to walk with Pluto to her car (they were parked right near eachother, coincidentally). Dem wanted to walk Sassy to the Bus Stop, which was right near us, but I think he decided to drive her to her place, because it was on the way that we had to go to get out of San Francisco.
When we got to the Garage, there was a jeep parked right behind us, and the owner was no where to be seen. So, all we could do was sit there and wait. We talked for a bit which was quite nice. Finally, after getting a tow truck there, we got that jeep moved and we were on our way. We got to Sassy’s place, dropped her off and said our goodbyes. Dem and I proceeded to his place up in Santa Rosa. I think that was the first time I crossed the Golden Gate bridge (impressive art deco architecture BTW). On our way there we talked about the board, the night, life, things like that, and about different posters. We agreed how much we liked this board.
When we got to Santa Rosa, we decided we were a little hungry and went to the Denny’s there. We sat near the back and ordered some things. While there, we talked mostly about the oddness of the night. Finally we got to Dem’s place. His house is a very small townhouse. The driveway only fit his truck, and the street is basically 10 feet from the house. Dem was embarassed about his house. The place is immaculate. I swear it was the cleanest house i’ve ever seen.
Dem was pretty tired and decided to go to bed. But first he showed me around and told me to make myself at home. He’s the ultimate host (Thanks dude). I stayed in his guest bedroom. He also got whatever I thought I needed (shampoo, soap, toothpaste, gel for the hair, etc). He also let me use his computer, and while he was in bed, i chatted for a bit.
The next day we got up to get ready for the play at 7:30 in the Morning. Dem had already prepared a cooler the day before. We were hungry and looked for a place to get something to eat. We really couldn’t find anything, so we decided to drive towards the place where the play was. We stopped off in a Supermarket there and got some stuff for our lunch. Dem with his eagle eyes spotted a jack in the box, and we finally were able to get something to eat. We were looking for the road to get up Mt.Tamalpais, and well, it seems no one in the town below knew how to get there. After driving around a bit and asking people, we finally got there.
The amphiteater was cool (stone seats and you can bring food and picnic there). There’s a view of the bay beyond the trees up there (you can see SF’s skyline). Dem and I got roasted in the sun (it felt like it was 85 degrees there). I got sunburned on my arms, and so did he. Luckily, we brought hats so we didn’t get burned on our faces or heads. The play was quite funny and I really enjoyed it (it was “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum”). We were there for a few hours before the play, talked, ate, and looked for PCW but she was no where to be seen. Unfortunately we didnt see her til the very end of the play. But, we were able to talk for a bit.
After the play, We decided that instead of PCW and I taking the bus down, we’d go with dem in his truck Dem. This allowed us to talk even more (ha! as if that wasn’t enough ;)). Soon, we got to the place where PCW had parked. We said goodbye to Dem, and headed off for home. PCW and I talked about a lot of different things on the way home. Finally we got to my place and the weekend was offically over.
Overall, it was a great weekend. I hope Dem enjoyed the play and I hope his birthday was a good one. It was great seeing everyone I had met before, and the new faces I met on Saturday. It’s too bad more people didn’t make it, but there’s always a next time. Everyone is such great company and it makes me happy I can meet them once in a while.
Well, i hope this was detailed enough for you all ;).
Oh boy, I must have been blocking this when I posted. This parking fiasco had me so pissed off I almost kicked the parking lot attendant’s ass! I seriously asked him if he wanted to fight because the bastard was so in my face and giving me shit. Thanks Doob and Sass for calming me down. I was close to letting go during that episode.
Hmm, I also forgot about the Jaeger and that I had tequila too. Coincidence?
Yeah, I was worried about you there. I told Dem later that if things were getting too hairy I would have gotten out of the truck, pulled him to the side and calmed him down. Oh man, I had never seen him (or anyone for that matter) so frustrated before. He had gotten in and out of his truck a few times and Sassy and I kept talking him down from it. Sassy and I kept telling him we could wait all night and it was no big deal for us. But i’m happy Dem thought about what consequences could have happened if he had hit the parking attendant.
Anyway, that was part of what made the night surreal and odd…
I knowSassy has pictures and I know some of them are definitely blackmail material as there was a long discussion with a potential blackmailee about potential life-destroying consequences of posting them. Sassy had to promise not to post the best ones. But she will provide the authorized ones to someone who can get them scanned. (Right, Sassy?)
I’d forgotten about Demo pouring margaritas everywhere but into the glasses, which was particularly troubling for me as I was sitting directly across from him and thus in the line of fire, so to speak.
As for my continued sojourn in San Francisco I am currently at the JavaOne Conference typing at a public terminal, surrounded by every possible variety of computer geek. They told us there are 2.5 million Java programmers and I swear every last one of them is here.
Mrs. Pluto flew down for a day yesterday and we did all the tourist things (again). We love this city. Went to Alcatraz where I got a sunburned nose and walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. We went to two high-priced restaurants – enjoyed the one (Scoma’s) but not the other (the Crown Room at the Fairmont). The cool thing about the Fairmont, though, was that King Abdullah II (of Jordan) was staying there and as Mrs. P. and I and about forty German tourists were riding up in the elevator it stopped at his floor (accidentally, I guess) and we were greeted by armed guards and an attack dog. We didn’t linger.
Life destroying?!?! Man, I don’t think we’re talking about the same pictures, lol. (I am curious now, though) Say, this doesn’t have anything to do with that pervy barfly, does it? EWWWW!
Hmmm. Well VV, let’s just say I thought you were in at least one of the photos but you weren’t the one pleading pitifully to keep them hidden. I think you can safely tell any blackmailers to publish and be damned.
I would like to add that while we were at the restaurant the sun was shining in the front window so that anyone sitting closer to the windows was backlit and could only be seen in silhouette. VogueVixen and SeaDiver were seated to my immediate right and when I told them I couldn’t see them they assured me they were beautiful. It wasn’t till we left the restaurant that I found out how right they were. All the ladies there were very easy on the eyes.
:: Note to self: Next time sit closer to the window. Or bring a flashlight. ::
But she will provide the authorized ones to someone who can get them scanned. (Right, Sassy?)