It’s been an eventful 24 hours. Late last night I was surfing the strictly platonic section of craig’s list, as noted before, my new guilty pleasure, and I found a guy seeking a dinner party date for his friend that evening. Well, the dinner party had already started by the time I saw the post, but I sent a message anyway, because his friend sounded interesting. Well, a bit later, I got a reply from the guy with a webcam photo of all 5 people who were enjoying the party. Hilarious. I had mentioned in my message not to hold it against me for being on the internet on a Saturday night, because after all, based on where his post lived, he had to expect some degree of internet geekness. So yeah, he said to come on over and join in the dessert/drinking/wii-mariokart party, all of which sounded awesome, but it was already past 10pm and I hadn’t even showered (you’re not supposed to on lazy days), so I had to pass. The entire thing was just so funny to me. I’d made them out to be these “cool” people who had this “nerdy” friend they needed to hook up, but they were all geeks and it was great. Their friend didn’t exactly grab my eye, but they seemed like a fun group that I could possibly join. I must say, I continue to impress myself with my online courage.

So today, I got up early and headed down to Castro where I joined Paige & Hal at 2223 Restaurant for an early brunch. I must say, the place was really nice. The menu had too many yummy things to choose from. Paige caved in and went for the cinnamon roll, which turned out to be 8” in diameter. I suppose that explains the $5 price tag, which turns out to be quite reasonable. I didn’t love my meal. The brioche toast & home fries were great, but not the eggs so much. I think I might have to go back and sample some other items though. Hal raved about the homemade sausage, so I might hit up the biscuits & gravy next round. It was good times, as always, hanging with Paige & Hal, though. I don’t see them enough, but I suppose it makes our brunch time all that more fun.

I had quite a bit of time to kill before my movie at Castro Theatre, so I walked around the neighborhood for awhile and spent a lot of time at the local variety store. I finally got a dish drainer. I shopped for the one I wanted and came back after the movie to buy it. It has changed my dishwashing life.

So yes, I saw Sex and the City at Castro Theatre, which was a great time. The theatre lived up to all the hype. It was beautiful, only made better by the Billie Holiday soundtrack playing before the movie. It couldn’t have been more perfect. I have to say it was the best way to see that movie. It was a small crowd, split 50/50 between straight & gay couples, with a few other solo watchers like myself. The movie was so much funnier to me since it was mainly guys I heard cracking up around me. It was really fun. It’s interesting how in the darkness, you find a sort of camaraderie with the strangers around you. I always have a moment that I forget where I am, no sense of time or location, usually right before they roll credits, when I know the lights will be coming up. I suddenly realize…“Oh, I’m not at home. Oh, I don’t know anyone around me.” and now, “Oh, I’m in San Francisco.” I still have those moments where I feel I’m back in Indiana. I had a fluttering thought of walking out in to the Carmel movie theater lobby and on out to the massive parking lot where Holiday would be waiting. Strange how far our minds can take us from our physical situation.

The morning was blanketed by a heavy fog which felt a bit like a drizzle as I walked to the bus, but in pure SF fashion, by late afternoon, the sun was out with blue skies. I got home and took care of laundry and enjoyed my lovely monthly catch-up call with Amy. It’s funny. I feel like we’re almost better friends with this distance. She may be the first to survive as a long distance friend…well and maybe, Tyler, but only because it’s easy to stay in touch with people on IM. All other fears aside, I’m really looking forward to reconnecting with a few friends when I go home for the holidays. It was a tough call when booking the flight, but I decided I’d rather enjoy NYE with those people than hope I happen across plans here.

But yes, it was a lovely day. Castro was much nicer in the light of day and without the pounding beat of the massive Pride party. And I have to say, gay couples are pretty lovely. I feel like they’re not trying hard to look casual & independent. They’ve had to work so hard to earn the right to be together, that they embrace it for everything. Too much handholding to even keep a tally of. Really, the only thing about the district that bothered me was a neon sign that read “gay cleaning”. It was a laundromat of sorts, which I guess makes it less bad, but still, something about it seemed a bit wrong.

But now, I think I may try to squeeze in a movie before calling it a night. This weekend has flown, as they always seem to do out here.

See more Castro Theatre pics and others in my Life in SF set.