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The following online journal entries are from September 2001. |
SUNDAY. 8:52 AM The weekend has been full but relatively uneventful. Friday night, I had a couple after work drinks with Nathan and some of his friends at the Attic, a small neighborhood bar on 24th Street (between Mission and Valencia). Saturday, Alenda came up to the city and we went to Union Square to shop for an evening dress for her. Of course, after nearly four hours in Macy's, the very first dress she picked was the dress she bought; it's a very nice dress, though. I bought some new square toed black dress shoes. (It's nice to know that with the impending recession and the lack of confidence in the market, people are still out in droves buying, buying, buying perhaps in the hopes of helping the economy.) Alenda and I had lunch at Sunflower, a Vietnamese restaurant on Valencia (at 16th) that make very yummy fresh (vegetarian) spring rolls. After lunch, I took advantage of her car and we went to Portrero hill to do a month's worth of grocery shopping at the Safeway. Saturday night, I trundled up to Western Addition on the #22 bus to attend a joint birthday party for Liz and Ethan, two of Rob's friends. Now, Sunday morning, I'm trying to figure out what to do with my remaining day of the weekend. I have been busy also trying to finish up the few bits of [the ED pages] for launch tomorrow. I have spent a lot of time getting the gallery organized; my scanner has been working overtime. The galleries are not quite complete yet and I have become aware of how many photographs of people and places I don't have, particularly of my time here in San Francisco. My tattoos are healing nicely. They're in the very attractive leprous stage of itching, peeling, flaking, and drying out. I carry around a bottle of dye free, fragrance free Lubriderm to keep them moisturized.
SUNDAY. 5:58 PM I am tired. I decided to head up to Rob and Murphy's house today mainly to get out of the house a little. Though I was tempted to just stay home and spend some time by myself. I haven't really had any alone time all weekend. They invited me last night to head to their house today for a little lunch and then a bunch of their friends were gathering to play board games. We played the Buffy the Vampire Slayer board game. It was fun, actually -- kind of like a cross between Talisman and Clue. We also played Cranium, a combination Trivial Pursuit, Charades, Pictionary, and word game. It was nice to hang out with people. But I am also glad to be home. The apartment is quiet. The whole building is quiet (for the time being). I'm just going to take the rest of the night easy and get ready for another week of work.
MONDAY. 10:12 PM I am in amazement. I decided to watch the season premiere of Angel on the WB. It was entertaining. But, an ulterior motive was that the WB was airing the theatrical trailer for The Lord of the Rings movie Fellowship of the Ring, the first of the trilogy to open in theatres December 19. I have seen the small teaser and trailer on the LOTR website. I am deeply impressed and literally shake with anticipation. Oh, the flood of endorphins and adrenaline! I'm a fantasy geek. I admit it. But I cannot wait to see the film. It's going to be like the original Star Wars when it opened in 1977. You can download the theatrical trailer also (I envy those of you with super fast connections). But, I taped Angel and will surely watch the trailer over and over again. Share in my joy! |
WEDNESDAY. 4:35 PM [the ED pages] have officially been launched via my email invitations to friends and family to peruse the site. I am working on updating all of the search engines as to my webography's presence. I hope readers find something interesting or unusual or entertaining everyday. And I hope the site makes it into the favorites folder of more than a handful of people. According to the site statistics for yesterday, [the ED pages] has already had over 700 hits. I'm not www.amazon.com, but it's a good start. Please, take a look around, read a little each day, stop by often, and join the conversation on the message board. Special thanks to Mike B. for hosting [the ED pages]. It has been two very long days at work. Normally, I'm slated to work between 5 to 6 hours a day, totalling no more than 30 hours per week. But yesterday and today have been pretty long -- nearly 7 to 8 hours. I know a good percentage of the world works 9, 10, 11, 12 hour days. I just can't do it. I'm not wired that way. But I am home now. I'm getting ready to have a nice quiet dinner. Then I am going to indulge more of my TV geekness and watch the series premiere of Enterprise, the prequel series to all the other Star Trek shows. I don't have a clue as to what it will be like. The Next Generation was pretty bad during its first season, but eventually grew into quite a good show. Let's hope for the best for this new endeavor, which has dropped the Star Trek moniker altogether. I wonder if the producers are trying to wholly divorce themselves from Gene Roddenberry's original vision. I'm sure the fans, the trekkies and the trekkers and the occasional viewer, won't let it happen.
FRIDAY. 12:25 PM I came home early from work today. I've racked up my thirty hours for this week. Plus, I'm feeling under the weather. I've been around sick people all week and the office is probably one huge petri dish of bacteria and viruses. Last night, my sinuses started hurting and I just feel poorly. I feel a bit emotionally, spiritually downtrodden, too, like a low-grade grumpiness, a malaise as it were. I have that disconnected feeling again. I think I am just lonely. I don't even think the LOTR trailer is going to make it better. What is a guy to do? There is a rally at Dolores Park (Dolores between 18th and 20th) against the anti-Arab violence and sentiment tomorrow. It starts at 11 AM. I plan on attending. It should be good to be outside and participating in something that has some meaning. I read a alert last night that a coffee shop on 16th (at Valencia), City Cafe I believe, was seriously vandalized; its owner is Iranian American. Clearly, the need for the rally and for continued education and communication is sorely apparent.
SATURDAY. 2:58 PM There's nothing like being out in the sun for a few hours to totally reduce you to a warm, sleepy, almost buttery numb state. I woke up and headed out to Dolores Park around 10:30 AM. The park was already beginning to mass with people for the peace rally. I picked a nice spot near the stage and sat down to watch, listen, and learn a little. "Patriots are not weapons," someone quoted Adrienne Rich. Another talked about the onslaught of government sponsored paranoia and racial profiling. A high school senior from Berkeley High School spoke nervously, voice breathy, about wanting to help her school and community to see past ignorance and prejudice; she was awesome, spontaneous, and honestly moved. People sang, people shouted, people chanted, people waved signs, people clapped, and people cheered. I am glad I went. I am glad I participated, showed my face, added my presence. I am glad I marched down 18th Street with hundreds upon hundreds of other people. I am glad I carried a sign that read "Act Now to Stop War and End Racism." It is a small gesture. But it was mine to give. And though I still find myself, in such big crowds, in the face of such amazing emotion and passion, uniquely detached, I confront my own insecurities, my own beliefs, and my own reasons to be there as an individual and there as part of a larger movement. I'm learning to define my own community one person, one moment, one day at a time. |
journal
© 2001 Edmond Y. Chang. All original material. All rights reserved.
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