Wednesday, September 06, 2006
DAY ONE: Travel from San Francisco to San Diego (with a stop in L.A.)
I left San Francisco by 10 am after a sweet, attentive send-off by my long-time friends Kate, Nicole, & Amy. Then coffee with Amy Mac (met in grad school) at Farley's, breakfast with Jordan (also grad school) in his new TenderNob kitchen, and loading up with L.A.-bound boxes from Ginna (brother's mother-in-law).
It was a nuts-o visit to SF. I swept all floating dust particles out the door, including myself. I do not feel sentimental or regretful. Yet.
The gas gods conspired against me today. I pulled into a station in Fruitvale, and as I pumped $3.09 gas, I faced a station across the street that advertised $2.83. When I stopped before the Grapevine to L.A., I was trapped in $3.19 hell. Those fuckers will get you whenever & wherever they can.
The Central Valley was hot. Not Paris Hilton hot. Sweat-soaked seat and tea-temperature bottled water hot. The Iron Maiden lacks the benefit of A/C. As I chugged up the mountains, the temperature gauge wavered precariously close to the red H. Ahead a large orange cloud loomed, ominously filling the sky. As it blocked out the sun, I noticed fires atop the mountains by Pyramid Lake. The light outside was deeply tinted and it looked as if the windows of the Iron Maiden were sunglassed. I was on the phone with Jason. He said it's like this every summer in the Sierra Nevadas where he grew up.
I made Eagle Rock, where my brother and his family reside, by 4:15. The heat had wiped me out and the run I imagined I'd go on slowly faded away. Josh returned from school on his bike in bright yellow shorts and a purple t-shirt. We unloaded Ginna's gifts and two pieces of my work I'm loaning to them. I complimented him on the finished frontyard fence, a project we'd worked on with Dad over Christmas and President's Day Weekend. Bevin and I picked up Amon and his play date (damn that phrase), Benjamin, from day care. I succummed to my heat exhaustion as I tried to write out instructions for hanging the art. Amon & Benjamin watched "Wonder Pets," an animated show in which singing pets, who go to day care and stay after everyone has gone home, rescue non-singing animals from dire circumstances. The songs have themes like "Team Work." Amon and Benjamin sang this song as they ate their veggie hotdogs for dinner.
Bevin and I ate dinner on the porch where it was mercifully cooler. I left soon after Josh returned with a borderline grumpy Lachlan. He is now good at smiling when he sees me, remembering my name ("Annaomi") and accepts hugs and kisses. Bevin has the habit of making chocolate chip cookies ALL THE TIME and I consumed about 46 of them before I could escape. It was a calm short visit.
San Diego lies 2 hours south, and downtown appeared new and mysterious in the darkness. Who knew Sea World is here? What's that strange church-like twin tower structure? I began to sense that I was in a new experience and that theoretical plans were turning into concrete action. My month of work/play had arrived. As I passed Jason and Colleen's second floor apartment, we caught eachother's attention and Jason waved. My attempts at pleasant and grateful small talk were hampered by exhaustion.
I'm stationed on their livingroom floor on an airmattress, guarded by Odin, their white impressive dog. I already feel a tug at my nebulous status as both a houseguest and artist in residence. They are so kind to jump into the pool with me without knowing what's in there. I must stop writing before my skull becomes a vessel of quince paste.
