« November 2005 | Main | January 2006 »
December 28, 2005
Holiday hijinks
so after an excruciating busride back from reno, i'm home in SF. i say excruciating because an hour out of reno, the bus blew a rear tire. the driver continued along for a few miles, and it was pretty exciting to hear the sound of the bar rim grinding against the pavement directly beneath me. Several of the asian passengers began to scream "stop!" in english as well as in their various mother tongues. I shushed them, and then strapped on my bike helmet, prepared for the worst. we rolled to a stop on the side of the highway, and ended up waiting there for three plus hours as some tire rescue squad from reno came up to change the tire. already exhausted after staying up so late the evening before, i read most of The Scorpion's Gate, which turned out to be a fun read. Finally the bus got underway, and i drifted between sleep and consciousness until we finally reached SF.
That was probably the crummiest thing that happened all weekend, everything else turned out to be very fun. i arrived on friday evening, and after having dinner with my folks, relaxed at Daveo's house with him and Jen. Daveo and i watched Kids, a film he was obsessed with back when were were 17. that's nearly 10 years ago now, my how time flies when you're getting old.
Saturday i went for a bike ride with my pa, then had dinner with his whole family, including my stepmom jane, my stepsister sarita, and my stepgrandfolks, Joe and Dorothy. Xmas eve is dorothy's birthday, and we had a nice dinner followed by me falling gracefully into a food coma on the couch. i retired to daveo's house, again calling it an early night.
Sunday was Xmas day, not that i noticed. my mom came out to pick me up, and we headed back out to her house in Washoe Valley. Mom and i went for a hike along the old V and T railroad line, which ran right behind where we used to live when we first moved to reno, 15 years ago. it was a nice walk, i took a lot of photos, and had good memories of riding my first mnt bike along that same trail many years ago. Then we headed to my mother's best friend Bobby's house, and had a nice hannukah/xmas/atheist gift exchange day dinner, again, i succumbed to a food coma shortly after the meal. bobby's grown up children gave me a ride back to daveo's, calls were made, and i was soon on my bike, headed over to meet up with Andrew, Brad and Paul.
We drank some gin at brad's, then walked over to corrigans, where to our surprise we found tons of our friends, both from the punk scene and from long ago high school days. i dedicated 50 dollars to buying shots for my crew, and before long we were all quite fired up. daveo showed up and even more whiskey went down the hatch, and the last thing i recall of the evening was daveo dropping me off at brad's house, which i ended up breaking into though an open window when i realized i'd left brad's keys in daveo's car.
sunday i awoke at brad's house, completely dehydrated. soon paul, brad and myself were headed for the black bear restaurant, to cap our hangovers with greasy breakfast food. paul was in rare form, held over form the prior evening, when he was ejected from corrigans for reasons which none of us remember. He lated stated that he'd been kicked out of almost all the bars on wells avenue.after they both took off, i ended up kicking it with Mac at Sound and Fury records, chatting about what it means to be from Reno, why people move away, why they move back, and about a bunch of other things as well. good old mac, i figure i'll always be able to count on hanging out with him whenever i visit Reno, for the rest of my life. that's comforting.
i went to a flick with dad and jane, and then headed over to the punk show off of wells avenue, my favorite street in reno. Tons of kids from the scene were there, including good old Lauren, down from Seattle. After the show, we all headed over to the hideout lounge, and found an array of other punk kids-turned-old at the bar, drinking away. it was a grand time, ending with a bunch of us going over to Brad's house to talk and fall asleep on the floor.
I must say, this was one of my favorite visits to reno in a long time. i was thinking on the busride back about how when i had first moved away, i had a lot of hostility towards the town, which i should have directed at myself for staying there too long, Now when i return to visit i have the perspective of distance and time, and i find that i can more appreciate the good parts of the town, especially the trashy but trustworthy downtown and the beauty of the surrounding desert. I also remembered how good it is to visit during the holidays, when everyone else who's also moved away
Posted by bendan at 01:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 18, 2005
my tattoo doesn't hurt enough, a year later
i listen to the band from which it came
and want it to sting again,
deep into my skin
like the music should,
as it did when i first became a believer
when i was 18.
3 weekends in a row
of my best friend
playing it for me
before that refrain stuck
forever,
and suddenly i knew why young people
make these decisions
that are law
for the rest of their lives,
and they,
and we,
how we laugh when people ask
if this color
forever into our skin
will look shabby when we are old,
if we will regret??!!
i leave for colombia the 20th of january, unsure but excited about what i will attempt to write there. my life has been beautiful lately, so much so that i feel like it's boasting to talk about it sometimes. i'm going to reno for the holiday weekend, excited to see friends who i only see that one weekend a year. right now i want my next tattoo, the one that will commemorate how much i love and have loved bicycles since when i was young, but i still lack the appropriate art, so it must wait.
Posted by bendan at 02:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 08, 2005
reprieve from the rain
there are times when i give thanks for global climate change. for instance, when it's december and i'm riding around San Francisco on dry pavement, in a short sleeve t-shirt. we've only had 1 bad rain day, last thursday it was, and i had sufficient rain gear that only my feet got soaked, and that not until after 1 pm. today was supposed to pour, and instead the sun came out and i had long deliveries all day long and i felt happy and strong.
my friend clare from scotland came and visited last weekend. we met 4 and a half years ago on a train in greece, and i went to visit her in scotland shortly after that, but since then it's only been occasional emails. her visit was really fun, we walked my neighborhood and the park a lot, went on a good drive with colin to the beaches and the russian supermarket (my new favorite place for weird groceries), saw the de young museum, visited poor molly, who was hit by a car last friday and broke her poor ankle, and did a lot of catching up. all my roommates were fascinated by her glasgow accent, and we had some good times hanging out with the roommates, talking about traveling and politics. phil even drove us up to muir woods, which i hadn't visited since right after i moved here the first time, with buzz and kristy.
poor mollie
so i'm at a similiar place to where i was a year ago this time, deciding whether to buy a plane ticket to south america, when everything here is so good. i'm happy with my job, my house is treating me well, i have tons of friends, and i'm beginning to work on some good projects that i've been thinking about for a while. at the same time, colombia calls, as well as a chance to go to caracas first and attend the world social forum with my friends james and antonio. these decisions always vex me, but what helps me decide is ruminating on what i'll regret doing, or in this case not doing. that's gonna help me decide.
other things that are good: megan is back from being gone for a month, there are 2 alleycat races coming up the 17th and 18th, my folks will be down that weekend as well, i'm going up to reno for the xmas/hannukkah weekend, i bought an ibis cyclocross frame for a really good price, my new bike is rad, and there are tons of friends and parties to attend to this coming weekend, so much so that i won't get to do it all. man, life is good.
be well all, i'll stick photos on this entry later today or tomorrow.
Posted by bendan at 05:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack