raybear | She rocks the airwaves from coast to coast.

It was hard, but we bought compact fluorescent lightbulbs for the house. I know in the long run, they will save money and the earth, etc., but still. Hard to pay several dollars per lightbulb upfront. Then I came to work, and there was a free one on my desk from Mayor Daley. Strange. I've also recently come to the decision that all milk/cream in the house will be organic, hormone-free, etc. I mean, I've known for ages that it's better and I should do it, but again, that price tag makes it hard. But I need to change this lens about what things are 'worth'.

I feel like there are lots of lens I have been sort of adjusting lately. This is just typical birthday musings I suppose, which means I can segueway back into some other SF stories......cue music and wavy lines across the monitor......

On Friday, halfway into my SF trip, and a couple days after DYA left, I spent the morning and early afternoon with my friend C (who is featured tinyly in the Flaming Gorge icon used for this post). I had a date that night and I needed to recharge a little before I moved onto another intense socializing experience. (I should pause here to say though, that everyone I saw and spent significant time with SF were all old and dear friends who are the definition of low-maintenance. Its just, I'm not an extrovert, so even among people I adore, I get tired.) I decided I needed a nap and would do it Deloras Park, but before I did that, I pulled out my little laminated map and took my rental car for an adventure to the top of Twin Peaks. I was driving a Prius for a week, I fell for the rental-car upgrade pitch because I've been curious to drive a hybrid, we are considering buying one next year perhaps, and hell, its my birthday, why not? It was so strange and when we got in, we marvelled at every bizarre notion -- the non-key key, the push-button on button, the strange shifting stick and the mysterious "B" gear, the driving panel (odometer, speedometer, etc.) being so far in front -- and I just got the thing started and took off before DYA could read from the owner's manual how everything worked. Trial by fire, an act of faith that nothing nowadays could be invented that's so ridiculously user-unfriendly that an average american couldn't figure it out eventually. The car was eerily quiet, I enjoyed the posh things that new cars have to offer like satellite radio and CD player and climate control (hello, I'm easy to please) and the smell of course, of probably fresh plastic chemical fumes or whatever. So anyway, I wanted to take the car out and get my money's worth and didn't feel too self-conscious about gas (I averaged 45 mpg by the end of the week), and on Friday afternoon, on a day of sunny clear skies on one side of the mountains, and cloudy cool fog on the microclimate to the west, I drove up to the near top of Twin Peaks. Then I illegally parked and hiked up to the very top. I forgot my camera this trip, though I did take a camera phone pic that I will post. (I also used the camera phone to take a picture of poster advertising the return of Madame, which I sent to Liza, one of the few people in the world who understands my fascination with a weird puppet of a sex-crazed elderly woman as controlled by a flaming gay man, and especially why its BACK! And in San Francisco! Of course.) The wind was harsh up top, so much so that climbing down I feared getting blown over and sent tumbling across the jagged square rocks. I had previously claimed one of these rocks for my pocket, in part because I was so taken with the reddish color and the trapezoidal shape of how they were eroding off the mountain. I stood with my left side facing the fog and the right side facing the sun and it was just a spectacular view of the entire city and east bay area. I sat for awhile and just looked and breathed. I thought about trying to nap, but knew the steady wind, and the occasional traffic of other lookers would make it too hard. So I stayed awhile, then I left to take my nap on the park. And went on to have a fabulous date that night as well.

In Other News^TM, I met a cute boy this past weekend and we might have a date later this week. I'm enjoying the flutter of the crush, even if it's just the mere flash of potential. It's been awhile since I've been hopeful about such things.