Today is the birthday of one of my favorite friends (FYI I am Rain Man at birthdays). We met in a stairwell in high school while he was talking about my backpack loudly enough to get my attention. My backpacks in middle and high school were legitimate masterpieces of funk and flash. Years after high school I ran into a tripped out classmate at my birthday friend's house, and he told me that based on my backpack in 9th grade, he had always assumed that I had taken a mega dose of LSD in middle school. MIDDLE SCHOOL! LOL. Spoiler alert -- it's a natural trip and I don't know if I could get off the ride if a I tried. (Y'all should see the jeans I've been working on for the last couple months. Blog post on those and the inspiration behind them coming soon...)
I'm at Coffee to the People again, my usual spot when I leave the apartment. My boyfriend is doing a paid call right now and our apartment is quite small. I don't actually have a desk, so writing is hard to get to unless I'm sitting here at a table with little else going on (i.e. he cat is not screaming for his 47th meal, the dog isn't staring at me, I'm not surrounded by 339348379375938403403 possible other things I could/should be doing). It was pretty empty in here when I walked in, giving me a choice of prime tables. Usually I pick the corner spot by the wall of leftist bumper stickers, but today I decided to sit near the window. It's sunny. This gives me a clear shot of the intersection of Masonic and Haight, which isn't as amazing for people watching as Ashbury and Haight (as much as I wish I had a view from my apartment, it might be better that I don't because I know I don't have the discipline to wrangle my own hyper-curious/voyeuristic tendencies) but it's pretty good nonetheless.
Living here has made me wish I was in the practice of drawing almost daily! There are so many characters to capture in these few blocks. After almost 5 years I still haven't started, but maybe that will end today. It's a bummer not to have a desk, but like how many of my currently embodied earth peers also don't have a desk? They're still doing shit. As I write this, a man has walked into an out of the coffee shop and watching his walk away, and now crossing the intersection, I can't help but see his cartoon form. Big cowboy hat, huge pants, normal size sport coat, sneakers that don't fit, a mustache and a wild look in his eyes. He's about 5'6.
When I pulled my out my laptop, I glanced at the intersection and saw one of my elderly neighbors in a power chair motoring across Masonic with his devoted poodle mix companion on his lap. 1. I love power chairs, and really all forms of mobility+machine. Movement is a miracle, no matter how mundane it seems living in the 21st century. 2. I love to watch people with their dogs. Each of us dog people is on a unique with their canine. It's a trip to witness. Urban canine + human partnerships are different than rural or suburban ones. Not having a yard, means walking together in a very "connected" way. Or power chair scootering in an even more connected way.
Okay, now to get back to some type of creative work while I have this little table and a sunbeam to myself.