Visitors!

I had lots of visitors this four day weekend! I picked Amy V. up from the airport on Friday morning and was able to show her a lot of the city. It was so good to see her and be able to share part of my San Francisco experience with her, by taking her all over the different districts and such, seeing many of the crazy, artistic things the Bay Area has to offer. We were able to ride the cable car, go to the Mission District, The Castro, Fisherman's Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, The Golden Gate Bridge, Union Square and more. Lots of walking and bus riding! :)

Chinese New Year Parade downtown!

Brent and Amy M. arrived Sunday evening, after driving up. Barrett and I decided on taking them all to the Embarcadero for dinner at a place called Pizza Orgasmica. What? It has delicious pizza. Our waiter was crazy and really was just trying way to hard to be funny. He comes up to our table and asks "What brings you in tonight?"

"We wanted pizza." Barrett replied, bluntly.

"Oh, have you been here before?"

"We have," I said, motioning to myself and Barrett, "they haven't.", indicating Amy, Amy and Brent.

"Oh, well I'm so glad I get to bring you your first orgasmic experience." he said as he danced away, singing to get our waters.

How incredibly awkward.

After dinner the awkward experiences just continued. Brent and I went to find the bathroom before leaving. We were instructed by our crazy waiter to go out the back door, up the stairs, down a hallway and then hit the intercom button on the wall to be buzzed in. We manged to find it and got yelled at by the person over the intercom to "Push the doors!" as we still thought they were locked. It was quite startling. What was even more startling was to find Brent standing right in front of the women's restroom door the second I opened it. He told me that his sink didn't work and he needed to wash his hands. As he washed his hands, I stood holding the door open and a man walked up to be buzzed into the men's restroom. As he waited, he listened to Brent giving me a detailed description of what noises the sink made when he had tried to use it. The guy gave me the weirdest look. You had to be there, but I could not stop laughing.

Anyway, the rest of the weekend continued with Brent's craziness and obsession of picture taking. It was such a blast having these three visit!

Brent and Barrett in the car
Ghiraradelli Square for the second time in two days. Both times the guy that sits outside with a guitar made rhymes about me as I walked by. This is something this guy does. He has become a sort of landmark on the corner of Ghirardelli Square. He just sits out there with his guitar and makes up two line rhymes about all the people that pass by, like "Doin' your dance, in your little brown pants.", which was one of the rhymes he made for me. The best part was that he cracked himself up for like 10 mins after that. Oh, such a character.
It was a really good weekend and some much needed connection with some friends. We also made it up to Twin Peaks to see the view and around to some different places to eat. In a way it was kind of cool to have my three "worlds" merge. Some of back home with Amy, some of Westmont with Amy and Brent and my life in San Francisco. It was a neat blend.

A couple of days after that, my mom came to visit me for the weekend. I had so much fun showing her around the city and just hanging out with her. We made it to The Arc, though it was a Friday so no one that I work with was around.

When we were walking down 11th St., lo and behold we run into Howard. I stopped to say hello and introduce my mom. He was talking with a lady, so my mom and I moved on, but a couple seconds later, I heard Howard's voice calling from behind us. I turned around and he had gathered up his several bags, guitar and his hat of the day (which was a park ranger hat), and was hurrying after us. I asked him if he wanted to walk with us to The Arc if that was where he was going and he replied, "Yes, I want to walk with you; I want to show your mom The Arc.". That just about made my day-his pure excitement and joy to show this person he had just met, a place that is meaningful to him. So, my mom got the ultimate tour from the one and only Howard. She really liked it and told me that she can definitely see why it is such a good fit for me.

The rest of the weekend, I took her to North Beach for an authentic Italian dining experience and we also made it to the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. I need to go back there-it is amazing and huge! I was intrigued by how many of the pieces make bold political statements, but not surprised considering the area. For example, an artist had constructed a replica of a cathedral out of several unique materials; bullet shells, gun metal, human teeth and a human spine. Quite symbolic and a little disturbing.

Anyway, it was very good time spent.