Explore. Create. Thrive. (original) (raw)

After gaining my freedom at 5pm yesterday, I left work and met my friend for a drink. We walked a few blocks down Market St to the Embarcadero because it was very sunny out and I have been wanting to just sit, drink and watch the Bay Bridge. We walked into the first bar we came to- Sinbad's which we soon realized was an old man's bar. I hadn't seen my friend in a couple of weeks so we started chatting animatedly. Apparently an older man in his sixties who we overheard trying to give pot to another couple at the bar, felt the need to interrupt our conversation and patronize us. He walks over to us, hands me a cocktail napkin with a sentence on it and says "I want you to know I have five grandkids..." I'm thinking okay he's not going to be creepy and say we're beautiful, but where is he going with this? I looked down to read the note. It said, "Just a little less 'like'." What an asshole. If he was my grandpa (which he reminded me a lot of), it may have been within his place to critique our language, but since he was a random stranger at a bar, who shouldn't have been listening to our conversation to begin with, I think he acted inappropriately.

The night got a lot better. After my friend started telling me about all of the fun she's been having going out, I got pumped up to go out. We left Sinbad's and the mean old man and went to Union Square to buy a cute outfit for the night. We ate Blondie's pizza then ended up at Blondie's Bar in the Mission where we danced and met some drunk assholes, I mean guys. This one guy was super drunk but he started to dance with me, I wasn't into him, but I wasn't going to refuse a dance. But all he did was twirl me around...girls love being twirled, but not 4 or 5 times in a row. When alcohol is involved, this invokes the feeling of vertigo. Not cool.

This afternoon my friends and I went wine tasting in Alameda (http://www.rockwallwines.com/ ) It was held in a big warehouse building that the US Army used to own and operate. All of the tastings (and appetizers!) were set up inside and then one wall was opened up so we had a great view of the Bay Bridge and the San Francisco skyline. It was one of those really great afternoons when you feel grateful for living in such a scenic city.

Tonight I'm going to stay in and work on my writing assignment. I'm really hoping this class I'm taking will provide me with the structure and discipline I need to continue working on it. Verbalizing my plot with the group (in 2-3 sentences) helped me work out the logistics. In a nutshell, my novel is about a young girl living in the South in the 1950s (not unlike Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird) with her psychiatrist father in a small town. The KKK is alive and well, sparking a succession of racially motivated crimes. Then some of the members are mysteriously found dead, one by one. The girl stumbles onto the killer then she is forced to make a decision that determines the fate of someone's life.

Also realizing that I don't have to write the book from chapter one until the end has helped. I can write the ending, then a scene in the middle, etc. I like this break from writing in a linear manner. It allows for more creativity and eases the toughness of writing.

I read this article in the Huffington Post books section today: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-pinter/why-men-dont-read-how-pub_b_549491.html It's really interesting. Women read about 3x more fiction than men. My friend brought up a good point though- what are the gender breakdowns with newspapers, magazines?

Oh! I forgot to mention the awful date I went on the other night. Wasn't terribly interested in the guy but he was personable and very interested in art/music. I chalked it up to a practice date and met him for a drink in this dive bar (think dogs running around and couches in the back for napping/passing out). Things were going okay until he began to dominate the conversation and proceeded to bring up religion. Not just religion but his view that religion is for the ignorant and that he doesn't believe in God. All of this is fine if that's his opinion but a fifteen minute monologue/bash of all religions is a little much. You're not supposed to bring about politics or religion on a first date, in front of family, etc (in mixed company). There's a reason why. He called me today so I'm going to email him and tell him that I just don't think things would work out/ best of luck!