Washington DC in winter.

After every Christmas, my wife and her parents drive down to Alexandria VA to spend several days with her aunt. On a total tangent, I love San Francisco...and as a San Franciscan (like most san franciscan's), we actually believe that we live in the best city in the world....and for many reasons, it is. So with every city I travel to, especially in the U.S., I find myself bashing it...and I do so from a place of complete arrogance and superiority...ie, "Look, it's flat and ugly...or...Where's the ocean?...or...We have more sushi bars than this town has restaurants,etc.etc."

But I have to say, I actually like the Washington D.C. area: including D.C. proper, Georgtown and Alexandria. First of all, the diversity is very impressive. Then you have the endless parade of very impressive and culturally important sights, the constant flow of awe-struck tourists, the truly magnificant Mall, and the massive sprawl of the D.C. metropolis. And behind it all is this very perceived sense that important shit happens here. The Senate, House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, yada yada yada, all here...I mean do we ever not hear at least one report coming out of Washington in our nightly news? I get blown away with just the exit signs on the D.C. belt-way: "NSA Headquarters, Restricted Exit", "Pentagon, next 4 Exits", "FBI Headquarters, next Right", etc. etc.

Anywayz, we spent the entire afternoon in just ONE museum at the Smithsonian. You can seriously spend several weeks just taking in all the Museums and exhibits here. My goodness, I've been here 6 times and I haven't finished going through just the Smithsonian museums. We decided to check out the Sackler exhibit on Early Bibles....ahem...I feel a rant coming on. I think we should drag every crazed fundamentalist into this exhibit. Super interesting stuff here...and here comes the "Did you know" part of my blog: Eusabius, an early Christian Bishop from about 280 AD, gathered a conference of scholars (not the council of Nicea BTW) where they decided which books/writings were to be codified/sanctioned and which were "heretical"...so they threw out The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Judas, and many more....and what happended to those books?...well they're sitting in the Smithsonian behind inch thick glass.

Anywayz, gotta run. Again, my turn to shower. And BTW, have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Christmas in Doylestown

So to continue where I left off from my last blog....my in-law's town.

Doylestown Pennsylvania Township is the county seat of historic Buck's County; the county directly north of Philadelphia. The town itself was nearly a hundred years old when the colonies declared independence form the British Empire. Today, the township is a semi-rural (moving into suburban) bedroom community to Philadelphia. The families that live in Doylestown are, for the most part, well-to-do WASP's. The pervasive Colonial style homes in this area reflect this traditional lifestyle. And I still can't get over the football field sized backyards and 100 foot long driveways!

Her parent's church was founded a generation before the signing of the US Constitution and by the same guy that founded Princeton University. The dates on the gravestones in front of the church just blow me away,...Born 1642 or something like that!! Her dad and brother-in-law also sing in the choir. But I have to admit, the whole Christmas experience, in a church and a town this old and this american, has been extremely rewarding....maybe it's the nostalgia, the warm christmas cheer,...or maybe I'm a sucker for the traditional. Part of my initial apprehension had to do with the utter lack of diversity and complete homoginaity...and hence all my crazy projections. But I've come to discover that this town, much like most of Pennsylvania, is in fact quite liberal....what a relief,...which did much to dispel alot of my irrational ideas about folks in these kinds of communities.

Anywayz, Christmas was good. We've spent alot of time with my niece and nephew, who are crazy cute. Yesterday we went to the Philadelphia Zoo, the oldest in the country and sat literally 2 inches (about the thickness of their huge glass walls) from a massive Silverback Mountain Gorrilla, Black Jaguar, Mountain Lion, and Black Bear! I couldn't believe how utterly lucky I was. I suppose the cold weather had something to do with it, but those animals decided to lean up against the glass and look at us! Soo cool.

Anywayz, I gotta run....my wife is back from her walk with her mother. I'll blog again as soon as I can.

Christmas on the East Coast

Happy Holidays everyone!

So I'm on my father-in-law's computer and can't blog for too long. The story so far:

Friday evening, my wife and I packed over 140 pounds of clothing and presents into 4 bags. We had to spread our stuff out despite having spare room in each bag due to the airline's 50lbs limitation on checked baggage. Fortunately, my dad gave us a ride to SFO the next morning. We adhered to all the new carry-on regulations, ie. no liquid bottles exceeding 3 ounces, etc. and managed to whiz through security in less than 20 minutes. We flew US Air...not a bad airline; not quite as good as Alaska, not nearly as bad-ass as Jet-Blue, but MUCH better than Southwest..the flying sardine can. With a hefty tail-wind, even while taking off 40 minutes late, we arrived into Philly on time. And to my surprise, Philly was actually warmer than it was in SF.

BTW, Philly is an ugly-ass town....I'm sorry but its the truth. Even compared to other US cities, it's just plain ugly. I've been through it close to a dozen times now and everytime it strikes me; the vastness of the run-down areas...it just goes on and on, block after block after block. It's quite sad actually. Also, the town has absolutely NO geography,...totally flat. They do have a couple of rivers but they're not the beachy kind,...you won't find swimmers here. The skyline is just ho-humm and the weather sucks...sorry, now I know THAT is a completely unfair statement but I've been there only during the muggy summer months (100 degrees with 99 percent humidity) or the bitter cold December month.

To be fair, I do find the oldest parts of Philly very interesting, entertaining, and culturally important. And their sports franchises, their respective facilities, and fans are extremely impressive. And the people, at least the folks I've run into, are enormously friendly and kind.

Anywayz, back to our Holiday. We arrived late saturday, was picked up by her parents, and got into my in-laws home near midnight. We ate like pigs (US Air does NOT feed you anymore) and got to bed by 3 in the morning. We went to church the next morning for 1 1/2 hours of carroling, got back home to open gifts and have lunch with her parents, sister and hubby and 2 little kids (3 and 11 months). Laid Luminaries out on their drive and their half of the street, took a nap and went to the 11 o'clock Christmas service. It is completely safe to say, we've more than fullfilled our yearly church time qouta in just one day. And yet, I have to admit, I had a great time. Christmas on the east coast is nothing like Christmas in California....and I can't even begin to describe why it's just soo much more evident and sincere. I know it has alot to do with the town I'm in....and that will have to be described on my next blog.

Gotta run...my turn to use the shower.

The Bachelor Party

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I haven't had the urge. The Discourser is soo good at it and I envy his deligence. Anywayz, the bachelor party:

I haven't been to many in my life. To the bachelor parties I have attended, I've found that I would typically get myself in situations where I would look back afterwards and say to mayself..."Jeez, that was embarrassing". But then again, I suppose thats the point. I was actually relieved to find an Episcopal minister attending the festivities. His presence kept us pagans, with our juvenility and uncaged libidos, in check. I suppose I'm simply getting "old"...not "crotchety, partypooper" old, but "self-respectful" old.

I don't like being the out of control drunk, AND I've discovered I really don't like seeing the friends I care about looking foolish....I guess it bothers me. So, we began the evening with poker and shots...and beer....and more shots, all the while with the groom's favorite movies playing on the big screen projector (that would be Full Metal Jacket and Caddyshack). I brought my guitar and digital effects pedal and had a great time playing through a Marshall tube half-stack....simply awesome. BTW, the host's roomate loves musical instruments and owns about a dozen types. As the night wore on and as the alchohol continued to flow, a Didgeridoo was busted out,...along with a trombone....then the bongos, an acoustic guitar...then the piano, and finally a uke. I really felt sorry for his poor neighbors.

After losing my buy-in playing Texas Hold'em, we decided to hit a strip club, for tradition's sake of course. Mind you, I've never been to a strip club and I kinda wanted to get it out of my system, so to speak. We ventured down to Broadway and got into a pretty up-scale joint at around 1:30 in the morning. It was actually good just to get out of the rain after a six block juant in a downpour. The foyer was dim and the music was thumping throught the walls. I was soaking wet, a bit nervous and quite a bit tipsy.

A short hallway opened into a large dimly light room. Dark figures huddled around tables while two dancers gyrated on two stages to 50 Cent. Now I have to admit, the dancers were Astounding,...not their dancing mind you, but their appearence. Even in person, the dancers bodies looked air-brushed!...I mean not one flaw, scar, pock, or wrinkle! In a way, they didn't look real. I suppose the lighting had something to do with it. In anycase, the gyrating was purely carnal and utterly pornographic. As for the lap dances,...now here's the rub....the women sound like used car salesman. Now I told my wife the whole story and she'd reminded me about the damaging effects of objectification as well as typically sad and dysfunctional personal histories of erotic dancers, and I realize that. But you have to understand; Knowing is very different from Experiencing. So when you see and hear the single-mindeness of the women in their attempts to seduce you into forking over the entire contents of your wallet,...well, the entire exercise is transformed into the sham that it truly is. I knew that it was all "fantasy", to use the industry parlance...but even that is a euphemism. I'd rather call it "phoney" and "fake",...I feel thats more accurate.

After about 20 minutes, my buddy (who shared in my disillusionment) and I really just wanted to leave. My other good friend also received a text message from his girl-friend about wanting to break up with him....crazy timing

Soo, I'm actually very pleased to have walked away without a lap dance. Needless to say, I'll probably not venture into a strip club ever again.

In a nut shell, and to fast forward...the wedding ceremony and reception was fantastic. Very sincere and touching. The groom shed a tear and it brought back memories of my own vows to my wife and my uncontrolled crying. I can't get through a wedding now without holding back my own tears of happiness for the couple uniting. Those two truly love eachother...and I wish them a long a happy marraige.