Thursday, March 27, 2008

the big easy

Look out - I am en route!


Friday, March 21, 2008

55 Fiction Friday: Haiku table edition

Friday worked at a dot.com back in the day, and had a table that it adorned with haikus written by coworkers. A selection:

Goth club
black black black black black
black black black black black black black
black black black black black

dreaded 404
error: cannot find page
the web is not mine

billy dee, muse
Oh, Colt 45
divine amber pungent brew
Sooth my ailing soul.

Fishing is alright
But you mostly just stand there.
I guess you could sit.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Pedestrian


J.M. Fischer sign, originally uploaded by maisnon.

Weekend update, y'all!

My Saturdays are more-or-less spoken for right now: I am doing Hike for Discovery, a fundraising/training program through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This means I get up WAAAAY early Saturday morning, drive somewhere beautiful, and them tromp over hill and dale. And take photos. Then, I get in a car and drive home and walk gingerly during the afternoon.

This has affected my Sundays as well. My recent pattern has been to make brunch plans in the Mission, cab in, and then take the long way home. I get in, usually, 2 miles of walking and the soreness works itself out. I've also discovered the absolute flattest path between the Mission and my apartment. Necessity is the mother of a lot of things, people!

This Sunday, helas, I had no brunch plans. Instead, I had BOOK CLUB! This is the book club I started on craigslist. Basically, I posted an ad seeking other people interested in a book club meeting in Noe Valley/Mission coffeeshops and reading fiction. Sunday was our third meeting. (We previously read The Yiddish Policemen's Union, and no one made it through The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano.) (More about Book Club in a future post.)

I want to focus on one small thing that happened at Book Club: we were gathering around a table, and I said that one person who had RSVP'd had yet to arrive. Emily pulled out a book and said "I hope it's Alex because I have her book." I said, "Oh! You know Alex?!" (Alex had not been able to make the prior meetings.) Emily said that she had been at the bookstore on 24th after our last meeting looking for A Thousand Splendid Suns (March's book) and found it waaaaay up high on a shelf. When she went to get the ladder, another woman was also moving it over. They joked that they had better not be trying to get the same book , ha ha! Which, of course, they were. Because they are in the same book club. Without having met before.

LOVE IT!

On the way home, satisified with intellectual chat and the promise of more books in the future, I took the photo I've been wanting to take for days. This sign was uncovered as a work crew renovated a little spot on the corner.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

shrinkage

And the world gets a little smaller, still. (carteblanche is a law school friend who lives in SF.)

carteblanche: it's nice that roonie is back.
maisnon: um, you do know that roonie is in real life one of my best friends, right?
carteblanche: She is? Really?
maisnon: are we talking about the same one? (is there more than one?)
carteblanche: Is she ... ahhm... dare I ask - cute?
maisnon: yes .....
carteblanche: damn
maisnon: but wait, this can't be right - how do you know her? i.e. in what context/which blog?
maisnon: b/c I don't think MY roonie has posted pics?
carteblanche: Texas law grad?
maisnon: so, phew, not my roonie
carteblanche: ahh bummer
maisnon: (although my roonie is a law grad, and currently lives in TX)
carteblanche: well, you're on roonie’s blog roll.
carteblanche: wait - geezohpetes.
maisnon: uh oh, is it getting weird again?
YES
carteblanche: yes
maisnon: that is my very good friend
carteblanche: she rocks

..........

maisnon: do you mind if I blog part of our convo ?
I can change your name (to anything you'd like, even.)
carteblanche: Sure, whatever you want.
maisnon: oh - carte blanche!
carteblanche: LOL. As long as I don't look like an ass.
maisnon: I may just go with carteblanche
maisnon: man, I have a weird sense of humour

Sunday, March 16, 2008

pb & j

Over the weekend, I was making myself a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and realized that I was using two knives: one for the PB and one for the J. Growing up, we rarely -- if ever -- had peanut butter in the house. Some of this is the typical "we're Indian, we didn't grow up eating cheese" thing, but most of it is because my little brother has peanut allergies. Using two knives on the rare, rare occasion of having peanut butter in the house was a way to limit the contamination of the jelly. I can remember just how illicit it felt, sliding the knife into the peanut butter and it's exact heft. The texture as it was spread against the bread.

But, in my kitchen, with the light making patterns on the floor, I didn't need two knives. In two and a half years of living here, my little brother has visited me once. During which time he consumed exactly zero jelly.

I looked at the two handles sticking out from similar brightly colored jars. I'm continuing and propagating old, vestigial habits. It's not that the double knife technique is a jarring interruption (other than washing an extra knife, it's meaningless.) I'm just feeling.... Thoreau-esque: I want to live awake.

Friday, March 14, 2008

55 Fiction Friday: three point one four edition

Friday thanks ashvin for the reminder that it today is Pi Day.

Joni warbled over the bar's scratchy stereo system about the Northern Star being constantly in the darkness. I swallowed the last of my beer, and thought of Juliet proclaiming that Romeo should not swear by the inconstant moon. Those chicas had it right: promises on astral bodies are romantic, but I'll take my constants mathematical.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

silver & gold

Email from a new friend:

I decided to get a new cell phone. Here's the new #
415-255-5372

Notice how every non area code digit is prime....


Oh man, I loves me the math geeks!






(number changed, naturellement)

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

in absentia

I've stuck to the blogging rule that nothing is more boring than being all meta and writing about blogging. And yet, I've violated that rule often. And I'm doing so again. I took a solid break from blogging for a number of reasons, some of which I can't talk about. (Yes, this is a reference to my alterna-life as a superspy.)

But, I've been missing it. I've had these moments, thoughts, experiences and wanted to share them. I've written a dozen blogposts in my mind. I've taken photographs and thought about how they could help me tell a story. But, the longer you stay away the weirder and more daunting it seems to come back, to start again.

I missed the friendships I've made through blogging. Three years later, many of my original readers (and the writers of the OG blogs I followed) are still my v. good friends. I think that golden age of blog friendships may be over, but I'd like to think that type of connection is still possible. I miss the small thrill of getting comments. I miss a lot of things.

That is all to say... I'm back, bitchez!

Sunday, March 09, 2008

the paris of the prairies

I had this quintessential moment of connection and I need to share it. About three weeks ago, I was at this Tiny Mexican Joint in the Mission. (Hereinafter, TMJ.) The food was great, and I totally vibed with the waitress. We ended up talking about this little tattoo that she had on her arm that a friend had done for her. She wanted to tweak it, and I recommended going to Body Manipulations on 16th Street where I had recently had my nose ring swapped out. A lot of piercing/tattoo places are pretty disdainful if you aren't all "modded" up, but the people here were great - super helpful and (important!) great sterile technique. (Which didn't really affect me as I wasn't getting something pierced - but it's GOOD to see!)

Then, last weekend, I was waiting for a bunch of people to meet up for brunch at Luna Park (catty corner across the street from TMJ. The organizer told me that he wanted to have brunch there next time. I raved about the food and the waitress.

After brunch, I wandered over to Body Manipulations to get my nosering tweaked. That process took about 2 minutes, and I walked out of the back room .... and there was the waitress! We did the whole "OMIGOD!!!" hug thing, and then had to follow it up with "Wait .... what's your name?" Hilarious. As it turns out, she wasn't even there for herself. The friend that she was having brunch with asked to stop by to get something looked at.

I can't get over the coincidence of it all - 5 minutes either way, and I would never have run into her!








(And, yes, we exchanged info - she's clearly meant to be my new BFF!)