Here are a few that are fun.

MOMA.

Jaguar Love.

Mark Growden.

Meghan & Shalaco.

Laura.

Ernie.

Valentine’s at Dolores Park.

Brandom & Lewis’ roof.

That’s all for now. Hooray for catching up!

- I was working yet another Eve in the service industry, this year as a cocktail waitress at Blue Martini in Raleigh. The bar is shoulder to shoulder, but all of the customers are ordering from the bar (therefore not from me). I remember the pinnacle moment of my night, where I’m stuck in the middle of the bar crowd, carrying a tray of several dozen mini champagne flutes over my head, trying to get to my tables. As I attempt to push through the crowd, the people around me begin stealing the flutes off of my tray, getting so out of control that the entire tray falls over and I find myself covered in champagne, flutes strewn all over the floor. This all happens as the clock strikes midnight. I silently observe the entire crowd begin screaming and making out around me as I stand, defeated, soaked in champagne. I remember thinking… “next year things will be different.”

Other general conditions of the time -

- I lived in North Carolina.
- I was in school.
- I was waitressing at Blue Martini and bartending at Sitti in downtown Raleigh.
- I hadn’t really begun pursuing photography, and didn’t even own a real camera. I just knew I liked taking pictures.
- This blog didn’t exist.
- I had no intention of moving to San Francisco or pursuing grad school.

So yeah, a few things have happened.

January: I bought an SLR and began taking photography more seriously.
February: Friend Kate called and asked me if I’d join her on a random trip to San Francisco, knowing I say yes to every travel opportunity offered to me. I said yes.
March: Visited San Francisco, accidentally fell in love with an MFA program and decided to pursue it. Applied, got in.
May: Graduated from NCSU. Decided to start a blog to have somewhere to place my stories and photos. Bought Queen of the Pavement domain. Also decided to make a project out of my upcoming trek across the country and plan a national phototour.
June: Gave up my apartment + began floating around houses in an effort to save money for traveling. Have my first (and last) photography showing in Raleigh at the Busy Bee in promotion of the phototour.
July: Set up phototour website. Leave Raleigh, begin phototour. Spend six weeks traveling the country with photographer Tim Lytvinenko, meeting up with Bowerbirds and Megafaun for the later portion of our trek.
August: Arrive in San Francisco. Realize I haven’t lined up a place to live or a job. Decide to drive to Arizona instead of figuring it out. Arrive in Arizona. Land a temporary place to live in SF. Drive back to SF and settle in to my temporary home in the Mission. Begin to settle into life in California.
September: Find permanent place to live near Hayes Valley. Begin graduate school. Meet neighbor Mark Growden and am incredibly impressed. Begin doing some freelance projects for him.
October: Quit PR job to help work on Mark’s CD Release. Mark gets signed to Porto Franco Records.
November: Porto Franco Records offers me a full-time job.
December: I finish up my first (and last) semester of grad school. I decide not to go back to fully pursue my career in the tech and music spheres, accepting the job with Porto Franco. Dream life begins. Spend New Year’s Eve dancing in the backwoods of NC with great friends + a bonfire.

So yeah, the year’s been good. It’s been a fucking whirlwind, frankly. I feel incredibly fortunate to have crammed this much intense life experience and adventure into one year, and there are so many incredible people I have met along the way.

Now as for last night. I started the night off with pizza night at Reagan’s. I did not know Reagan until I arrived in her home, but I feel like I knew her already, as she is girlfriend of David Millsaps, who I have known for a bit. Tim and I had a photocolumn for a short bit in his incredibly successful blog, NewRaleigh, while we were phototouring. Reagan apparently reads my blog from time to time and feels like she has known me for a while as well. I always love finding out when that happens. We became ladybros quickly.

Other new ladyfriend Katie Aiken was responsible for introducing her mother’s signature pizza recipe to us for the first time ever. It was a succcess. Lots of fun things involved – homemade wheaty crust, kalamata olives, mushrooms, goat cheese, pine nuts, etc etc. Awesome.

After we had all consumed our fill, we headed to the backwoods of Wake Forest for Burninator, hosted by our friend Will Reynolds. You may know him as “dancing Will.” Apparently his family has property out in the boondocks, which he decked out for the event, with a giant circle of Christmas lights (“the dancefloor”), three bar areas, lounge areas, and a huge bonfire area. Oh, and a waffle making area, naturally. We spent the night burning Christmas trees (at least a dozen of them), eating waffles, and dancing around the woods til the wee hours of the morning. It was wonderful.

I think the year is starting off just fine.

Ok, that’s all for now.

END!

Seattle is one of of my favorite cities on the planet. Not that I’ve been to many places on the planet. But Seattle currently stands as a favorite regardless.

In college, I would take my spring breaks and, instead of going to the beach or on a cruise like everyone else, I would go to Seattle. I cared much more about the inevitable adventure I’d encounter in an unfamiliar city than the inevitable sun poisoning I’d acquire after being on a beach for more than four hours. You can read about some of my old washington adventures in my old blog entries.

I hear the weather is pretty shoddy in Seattle. I have never really had issues with it. For the most part, it was beautiful every time I was there.

Anyway. Seattle greets us with black skies and freezing rain. This must be what I’ve been hearing about all these years. I don’t care. This city is still amazing. We head straight to the house that is to host us for the night – The Beery House, which apparently hosts many great shows for Seattle music lovers. Tonight we are the guests of honor.

We enter the house to find a feast waiting for us.

I was too busy with smoked salmon to notice the 40 or 50 extra people that had filled the living area by the time I looked up.

I don’t have much experience with house shows. But I like them. It’s so fascinating to me. People opening up their home to dozens of total strangers (the majority of these people were here for Mark alone and had no personal connection whatsoever to the owners of the house), offering food and drinks, and hosting guests after the show. Door is (in our case) donation based, and people are way more generous than I could have fathomed. Musicians can easily surpass what they would make in earnings from a traditional music venue (not to discourage you from playing them – I’m just saying, there are options out there).

So yeah, that being said, the show went incredibly well.

More highlights of our stay in Seattle:
- Being told to go into the Beery House bathroom and pick any rock that I want to take with me. I picked a nice orange slug-shaped one. Apparently it was a gift from Brazil. It’s sitting in my orange room now.
- Waking up to a giant pile of bacon + a breakfast torte that measured what seemed like 2′ in diameter.
- Mark’s great + talented friend Billy joining us for breakfast, and bringing pear butter with him. Pear freaking butter. Who knew?
- Mark receiving a complimentary trumpet and hand-sewn bird (carrying a miniature banjo) as a going-away gift.

Thank you Beery House! Now, off to Portland.

I feel like I would normally pack a significantly larger amount of observation in my descriptions of these places, but it is a winter tour, and everything is dark, all the time.

Highlights of Portland:

- Eating an overwhelming amount of home-cooked chicken parmesan, fruit, oysters, cheese, bread, salad and cheesecake at new friend Justin Mackewich’s house. Justin has actually known Alex for years… me only for a few hours or so. It was great hanging out with his wife and family nonetheless.
- Mississippi Studios. One of my favorite venues to pass through. The space is spacious and complex, the lighting is great for photos, and the music I hear here is always incredible. 3 Leg Torso opened and blew. my. mind. Apparently the bassist, Mike, was playing his last show before moving to Los Angeles. (update – Mark and Mike now play together regularly in LA).
- Having Justin play violin on stage with Mark and Alex for the set, having only been told he would do this a day ago. How you manage to master that amount of material that quickly without being dysfunctionally nervous, I will never know. I was so impressed. Preston Howard, a Chico-based friend who recently moved to Portland, joined in on Uillean pipes. Wow.
- A quoteable point from our friend/host Genia: “Moby’s not a great DJ.” “He probably not a great long-distance runner either, but that’s irrelevant, isn’t it.” Well said, Genia, well said.
- Meeting Genia’s incredible little lady, who is already holding intelligent conversations at 18 months. Yeesh.

We say our goodbyes to Portland, then head south. Next stop: home.

We drop Mark off halfway at his Thanksgiving retreat in Northern California. I fall back asleep immediately. I dream that I am in a high-speed car chase for the next few hours until I wake up at my front door, much earlier than expected. Apparently Alex hauled ass to get us back to San Fran so he could finally meet back with his ladies at home.

Another tour ended. I’ve gotta say, I’ve never toured with a more appreciative, kind couple of fellas. They were great company and it was great to get back on the road again. I met so many interesting people and can’t wait to cross paths with them again next time I’m wandering around the PNW.

If you haven’t yet, check out Mark HERE and Alex HERE.

END!

We awaken in Chico, CA, greeted by heavy freezing rain. I am quickly becoming acquainted with how lovely winter touring conditions are in the northwest. We say our goodbyes to our gracious host Sara Rose and prepare to head on our way.

We take a quick tour through downtown Chico, in which Mark had previously lived for a bit, stop at a grocery store to restock our fruit supply, and pay a visit to Naked Lounge, the local coffee/tea spot. It is here that I discover “The Vietnamese Hammerhead” – a double espresso topped with coffee + condensed milk. My dreams are finally realized. Alex gets a quad-mocha, only to top it off later with two tall energy drinks from the gas station. Truly impressive.

A day of driving later, we arrive in Eugene, OR. Alex spent a few years here getting one of his degrees (he has his pHD, so it could be one of many), so we were expecting a warm welcome from Alex fans.

Mark & Alex were playing an in-store performance that night. Things began to develop in a most interesting fashion… setup became an epic battle of performance vs. feng shui.

By the time we had finished setting up, all I had to say was this. And I’ll leave it at that.

[6:42 PST]

Rargh. These are the times when I sort of wish I still had a relatively small, little-known email list where I could post detail after ridiculous detail of my tour stories. I suppose I still could, but I have unfortunately started to develop some sort of tact-filter in my effort to avoid posting any sort of blatant negative material. Alas.

Next task: find sustenance. We decide to go to the nearby mall and find some food.

We find ourselves in the middle of a department store, completely overrun by crowded store displays and agitated families, the children completely jacked from of the abundance of edible samples every few feet or so. People are looking strangely at Alex, who happens to be carrying a human-sized cello case on his back. Mark and Alex and I weave through the chaos, grabbing cheese samples as we went. Alex almost accidentally takes out a child with his cello. I am the only one who notices.

We find ourselves in the middle of the food court. It is still oddly crowded. There are children in costumes everywhere. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone.

Mark wanders off to explore, and Alex and cello and I sit down to eat our delicious food court meal. Next thing we know, we are in the middle of a holiday dance recital. Yeah. In the food court. Dozens of children dancing to The Nutcracker within the confines of a 10′ x 12′ space cleared out among the food court tables.

Here’s to another normal night of tour.

Back at the venue, the show begins, and the listening room is so packed that people are overflowing into the side retail area. People were astounded, whether they be old friends of Alex, or old fans of Mark, or curious newcomers who happened to read about the show as “pick of the week” in the local paper.

After some post-show grub with old friends at a local brewery, we head to our night’s final destination – the Cortesia Sanctuary.

Hm. Where do I begin. Cortesia Sanctuary is a beautiful, secluded 22-acre property located in the woods of Oregon. It’s owned by Dr. Forrest McDowell and his wife, Tricia Clark-McDowell. Both are renowned best-selling authors of countless books, launching international movements in gardening, and becoming popular speakers at conferences around the country. They are also internationally-noted authors and contributors in the field of herbal remedies and philosophy.

I of course had no idea about any of this upon my arrival.

I knocked on their front door to be greeted by Forrest and Tricia, who I had not met until this moment. I found myself in the middle of an incredible, rustic but architecturally complex cabin, adorned with high ceilings and lofts, both of which I have a weakness for (I am an architecture nerd and originally planned to be one for a living – I’ve changed my mind approx. 80 times since then).

Forrest and Tricia were prepared for our arrival. They pulled homemade cookies out of the oven immediately and told us to feast. And that we did.

We all ended up sitting comatose around the living room, discussing life and our careers and aspirations until the wee hours of the morning. I finally decided to retire, and was led by Tricia to my own personal yurt, a domestic pod of sorts, located behind the house, for me to sleep in my own privacy. This place gets more amazing by the minute. I left the guys to play music together for the rest of the night (apparently they didn’t go to bed until 4 or so in the morning).

Morning arrives. Forrest cooks us a wonderful breakfast. We take a minute to explore the incredible property and gardens, located 1000 feet over a valley bank, then pack up our bags and say our goodbyes.

So ends another normal town adventure. Next stop: Seattle.

To see a bit more about Forrest & Tricia’s property, visit their website – onesanctuary.com.

END!

The tour posse:

Mark Growden – musical mastermind/reason why all of this is happening.
Alex Kelly – cello prodigy/giggler/noise maker extraordinaire.
Helena Price – record label representative/doer of business-related tour tasks/photogger/myself.

I love my crew. We are eating fruit and listening to the Porto Franco Sampler. Mark just poured a rather large quantity of water all over his pants while driving. Things are going well.

Night one found us in Chico, CA. It was a fairly quick drive… only a few hours including some delays due to San Francisco outbound traffic and a few wrong turns along the way.

The venue was hidden quite well in what appeared to be a giant industrial vacant warehouse storage area. The exterior lot was pitch black and scattered with empty cargo trucks. Alex and I were fairly convinced that this would be where our lives would end.

However, we soon found ourselves within the venue, and my faith was restored.

The Frame. It was exactly what I previously mentioned – a giant warehouse space – but it’s been renovated into a wonderful open lofty venue area and film studio. One Night Music, a SF-based project, was presenting + shooting the show that night.

One Night Music films and showcases live performances by indie musicians around the country, incorporating quality HD film, photos, and illustration for a very Daytrotter-esque online presentation.

So yeah, One Night Music seems pretty awesome. The guys behind it certainly are – I know that for a fact. Ryan, Ian, and their Chico crew – Skylar, Daniel, + others (including the pug stage hand) – were great company and I can’t wait to see what they produce. I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted when it’s released.

Small world note – I was browsing One Night Music’s website, looking at their contributors, and who do I see other than… my good friend Scott Boone?? What? Scott and I went to college together in North Carolina. Scott was riding his bike across the US at the same time as I was driving across this summer, and we both ended up settling down in San Francisco. Looks like he found himself a good crew to work with. Crazy.

We knew it was going to be a good show, as Mark used to live in Chico, so this was a homecoming of sorts for him. And a good show it was. We hung around the venue for a good bit, then said our goodbyes to our new (and old) friends, then headed on our way to friend Sara Rose’s for post-show times.

The house was quite large, and conveniently happened to have three vacant bedrooms for us to sleep in. I crashed immediately, having spent my day packing for tour + working on projects + meeting with Porto Franco + going to grad school + taking a quiz + driving to Chico + all of the above. I would probably have additional day 1 stories for you otherwise. I heard there were hot tubs involved.

On a side note -

Random projects I’ve started on the road:

Creating a photo collection called “tour diet.” Subjects generously provided by America.

Collecting and forming a general appreciation for finding two-word combinations that wouldn’t logically go together but somehow work in specific contexts. Today’s example: “dollar spicy.” It’s a grammar revolution.

On another side note -

A few ironic things to share with you.

I’m on the road with my laptop. I am shooting RAW files with my camera. I forgot that my laptop does not have the necessary software to edit and convert RAW files. So…. I can’t edit any of the photos I shot the first night! Hooray! I’ll post them once I have the means. Hope iPhone photos will suffice for now. **(Update: the regs photos are up, obviously).

END!

I really couldn’t ask for better people to be honorary third wheel with. First round was with Kelly and Jim. I spent last Sunday with them shooting some engagement photos. I still feel like a total novice when it comes to shooting people… with a purpose or objective… the pressure is intimidating. But they were fun and cooperative and took lots of breaks to eat diner food and dumplings (in two separate meals). My kind of folks.

This weekend I found myself with my mother and her boyfriend, Barry Barrington (who I will always refer to by his full name because it is incredible), visiting from NC. It’s much easier photographing cute couples outside of any assignment whatsoever, as it was free and pretty much comes with the territory of hanging out with me and my camera, and they can’t get mad at me if they suck.

We adventured through the city on Saturday, then rented a car and ventured northward on Sunday. Lots of good food and good views. I was pleased.

Day1:

Somewhat relevant story (that I still need to tell Andrew):

After hanging out on the top of that epic hill above, we all walked down the path that takes us back down and around the other side, towards the Castro. I suddenly found myself quite overwhelmed with deja vu. I then realized I was in fact on a museum property that I had trespassed on just a year previous while vacationing in SF (having no idea I’d be living here a year later). It was the site of one of the photos I used for my grad school portfolio (that contains the Andrew of note). I actually wrote about this experience in my old mass-travel-email-list that I used to maintain before I started this whole blog thing in May.

An excerpt from July 2008:

Once home, I got a message from Dakota to meet her in the Mission.  We had a date.  Our friend Zack, who we met at the cookout my first weekend in town, had offered to take us out to dinner at an eclectic little spot called Delfina, on 18th and Guerrero.  Italian/American/French-inspired cuisine, big emphasis on fresh ingredients and innovative food combinations.  Sounds like my cup of tea.

On the way to dinner, I pass Delores Park, and see a phenomenon I could have never fathomed – bike polo.  Really.  Like… polo.  On bicycles.  How awkward and amazing!

I wish I had some sort of scandalous story for you, but no cops came, the dogs were not sent for us.  We just wandered around forbidden museum property and enjoyed a fairly good view.  We eventually tired of being bad asses and headed back on our way.

Day2:










(PC: Barry Barrington)

In other news: I leave for tour today. BTW… I’m going on tour? I’m pumped. I’ve been having tour withdrawals for a couple of months now. I’m supporting Mark Growden w/ Alex Kelly, and representing Porto Franco Records. Best job ever? It might be. If you live in CA, OR, or WA, you should come see us. It would be neat. Just sayin’.

More on that as we hit the road. Until then…. END!

The event I’ve been working my tail off for, along with producer Will Chase, Porto Franco Records, among others.

Mark Growden‘s CD Release was Friday. The sponsorships were secured, the programs were designed & printed, the last promotional waves were complete. I could relax… sort of.

Relax enough to go receive my mother and her boyfriend, Barry Barrington (yes that is really his name) into town, as they were flying in from NC to visit for the weekend. I figured I could grab a quick fabulous German dinner with them at Suppenkuche, then head to the venue with time to spare before showtime.

(PC: Barry Barrington. Yes, I am aware that she looks like she should be my sister, not my mother. Let’s hope those genes translate.)

Well, I knew something ironic was bound to happen before the night was over. It just came sooner than I expected.

Long story short:
Head toward bus stop
Receive text message requesting that I find metallic sharpie pens for show
Ponder where the hell to find metallic sharpie pens
Run to Walgreens, find metallic sharpie pens
Return to house with pens to meet mother and Barry Barrington
Head to bus stop
Wait for 15 minutes at the wrong bus stop
Wait 15 minutes at the correct bus stop
Decide to call a cab, walk away from bus stop
Watch correct bus pass us as we walk away
Wait for cab in front of house for 20 minutes
Call to check in, as said cab is nowhere to be found
Receive information that cab has forgotten about us
Finally get cab 15 minutes later.

I arrive at the venue at 7:56. The show starts at 8. I still need to find my sponsors and give provide them with their well-deserved treats. This should be interesting.

Fortunately, I managed to find my sponsors prior to the set starting, and I settled down in time to catch the whole show.

The set was beautiful. The 350-person crowd knew every word. John Law (oh, you know, just the founder of Burning Man & renowned pioneer the SF arts scene as we know it) hopped on stage and gave a kind speech about Mark’s talent and quality as a musician and human being. It was definitely a notable night in the San Francisco arts community.

I happened to snap some photos from my seat.

Oh, and as for the sort-of-major career updates – I have been offered a position by Porto Franco Records. For those of you who already thought I was working for them, I wasn’t. I happened to be working on the same team as them for this event, which was a contracted freelance gig that I am EXTREMELY fortunate to have had the opportunity to work on. But Porto Franco seemed to dig the work I did, and want me to join their production team.

I don’t think I can begin to explain to you how perfect this job is for me. I will still be doing freelance stuff here and there, but this is a project I know I’ll be putting 200% into, because I absolutely love what they’re doing. My brain is on fire. I can’t wait to get this rolling.

So yeah, things are good. Really freaking good.

I’ll have more photos from this weekend coming up later.

For now… END!

Here are some photos from the week… the first few being from Kelly & Jim’s engagement shoot (more of those to come when I find the time to finish editing), the latter being from me frantically running around my neighborhood doing a color assignment for homework that I put off until the morning it was due (being busy has its downfalls).

I have some great news and updates coming for you, but I’ll wait until next week to announce them. Things are good in mi life though, as crazy and hectic as it is at the moment.

Also – My mum flies into town today! I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am. So begins a weekend of adventuring with my soul-twin who happened to birth me.

END!

My most important project as of late is working as a project manager for Mark Growden‘s upcoming CD release show at the Cowell Theatre. I’ve put together a program that finds event contributors, then connects them to the SF arts community, using Mark’s show as a platform. It’s pretty neat. I’ve been working with one of the most noted producers in the Bay Area, Will Chase (of Burning Man fame, as well as countless additional huge SF events), as well as Porto Franco Records (Mark’s records label), for this event. Pretty incredible opportunity for my first contracted job since moving to SF.

Mark got home from his tour of the western half of the US on Saturday, and we’ve basically been working non-stop ever since, preparing, planning, researching, promoting, networking…

We can do this at parties too, of course.

Wednesday we headed over to the Tom Kennedy Art Auction. A bit more about the event:

Tom Kennedy passed away April 12, 2009 while body-surfing off Ocean Beach in San Francisco. He left behind a legacy as a pioneering sculptural artist, social agitator and builder of more than 20 art cars. As a founding member of the art car movement, his works of art work evolved into symbols of political protest and peace keeping. Tom envisioned his beloved and most recognized art car, Ripper the Friendly Shark, traveling around the world with a crew called the Friend Patrol. Together they would inspire and support friendship and peace in conflict zones where people perceived as enemies live and work together. The art auction will raise money to send Ripper the Friendly Shark on this mission at least once a year.

Mark was a guest performer for the event. View a video of his performance here.

Here are some of Scott Beale from Laughing Squid‘s photos from the night: http://laughingsquid.com/photos-tom-kennedy-art-auction/

Thursday was research night. We headed to Mezzanine for the CD release show of Rupa & The April Fishes. It was a fun time, and the bands were great.

I was particularly captivated by the opening band, the California Honeydrops. I found a song from Thursday night on youtube:

Thursday night research conclusion: We have two weeks to find a mime on stilts for the CD release.

Friday was blogger party night. We headed to Violet Blue + Ben‘s for a pre-Halloween shindig. I didn’t take any photos (the only ones were from Scott playing around with my camera), but Scott took plenty to make up for it. View them here.

Saturday was Halloween. I was the Spirit of the South. Gotta represent my homeland and all its beautiful people, y’all.

I spent the evening at Cellspace for the Ace Auto Junkyard Benefit. Ace Auto is a junkyard. It was the fostering grounds for the San Francisco arts scene. I don’t think I’ll ever quite be able to comprehend the level of influence the property has had on SF. Unfortunately, it is being forced to close down and move out after nearly 30 years. So a fundraiser involving ridiculous art and costume and debauchery is only appropriate.

Mark was a guest performer once again. I helped operate some gigantic robots in battle. That was fun. Scott, who was once again also in attendance, posted some additional photos on his blog. You can view them here.

And now it’s time to relax. And by relax I mean blog and plan for another week full of preparing for Mark’s CD Release. If you’re in San Fran, you should go. It’s November 13th at the Cowell Theatre in San Francisco. All of the producers are quite certain it will sell out soon (all 439 seats!), so I’d recommend snatching up some tickets while you can.

If you happen to live elsewhere, I suppose you can listen to him instead. He’ll come to your town eventually. Listen to a track from his newest album here.

That’s all for now. END!

Like, more-busy-than-I’d-prefer-to-be type of busy. I suppose it’s a good problem to have, if you’re going to have a problem. I’m currently balancing full-time grad school work, full-time photogging, working at a PR firm, and doing some serious freelance PR/production work. I’m basically working on projects from 8 AM to midnight, every day. Needless to say, I feel like I’m spreading myself pretty thin. But that’s fine. I’d rather be busy than bored, any day.

Unfortunately, the blog posting opportunities are lacking. I mean, I could just throw some photos up and post, but I like to have some substantial bit of writing accompanying my posts, if for no other reason than to remember what I did in September of 2009.

So here are some photos that haven’t found their place in any other September posts.

The first set is from a dinner/fundraiser held by my friend Laura #1 (and roommates Ilana and Lisi), for the other roommate Laura #2 (different Laura from the former). Laura #2 is an amazing, strong lady, who happens to be battling cancer. We got a bunch of friends together, cooked and ate an amazing meal, and raised some cash money to help pay for Laura #2′s insanely high medical expenses. It was good times and GOOD food. Lordy lord.

(PC: Jim)

(PC: Jim)

Set 2: Oktoberfest.

After living in Switzerland and having the opportunity to attend THE Oktoberfest, my compadre Tara was elated about the opportunity to go to anything reminiscent of the event, conveniently located in San Francisco. If it has the same name, it has to be similar, right?

Tickets were thirty dollars. That’s not terrible, assuming it’s a day-long festival and you have unlimited access to beer, right?

Well. Things get off to a good start. Tara and I time our commute to arrive at the event at the same time, she coming from Berkeley, I coming from Hayes Valley. I arrive at the venue: Pier 48, in a fairly desolate area of waterfront SOMA, other than a sea of drunks in line to enter the warehouse venue. It’s fine. Tara should be here any minute.

I get a call from Tara. Her friend gave her incorrect directions, and she has found herself on the westernmost side of the city. I am on the easternmost. She is waiting for the train to retrace her tracks and eventually make it to the correct destination. Not a problem. I can just go in and explore the venue and have a beer while I wait for her to arrive. Right?

But she has my ticket. Oops.

Looks like I’ll be wandering the streets of this strange foreign neighborhood for the next hour or so. So that’s what I do.

About half an hour into my walk, I cross paths with some lost French boys. They ask me if I know where the “beer party” is. I tell them that I might as well head that way and they can follow me. We all quickly become bros.

Tara finally arrives, and finds me in line with the Frenchmen. We soon find out that our $30 ticket was valid for zero beers. I’m way into this.

Either way, the night ended up being fun. We met a lot of strangers, made some new temporary friends, and saw some sweet German dance moves. Check San Francisco Oktoberfest off life’s to-do list.

And some more random photos from my random adventures.

END!