the offWhites

I’m waking up after my first full day in San Francisco, slightly surprised not to be hung over, and super excited about everything we’ve done so far. James and Emily took us into the city yesterday for Dim Sum in new China town, where I ate more shrimp in one sitting than I’ve previously consumed in my entire life. Then we toured old China town, which we’re told is about one-fourth as crowded as Taipei, and doesn’t smell like diesel fumes and cigarettes.

We went back to James and Emily’s house for a fish barbecue, and it was just killer. There were creatures I’d never tried before, drinks that tasted just like lemonade but were distinctly more than that, (see above, “slightly surprised not to be hung over,”) and I ate sashimi. And liked it. A lot. I liked all the fish I had last night, and was shocked each and every time. But especially at the sashimi. I wanted to try it, sort of, but raw fish was a bridge I wasn’t quite ready to cross yet, until Chippy walked over and insisted that I just close my eyes. Then he fed me a piece of the most incredible tasting fish, it was just unbelievable.

Sometime around then I found out that not only had Andrew worked at Broderbund, but that Myst had been “his game.” I yelled at him about the puzzle that made me give up. He was gracious, and laughed instead of getting angry when he told me it had been long enough that not only did he not remember “the three digits with the two levers,” he didn’t remember any of the puzzles. He told me some great stories, which seems to be a hallmark of this area. Everyone has great stories, and many of these tales involve people I’ve heard of but never met.

Eventually Lisbeth suggested we walk down to a bar to hear the Marones, a Ramones cover band that plays every Sunday night down the road from where we’re staying. I wasn’t too surprised to see Lisbeth was familiar with Blitzkrieg Bop, but when they played Rancid’s Ruby Soho I was very much impressed to see her singing along.

I know I’m leaving out a lot, but I’m typing this literally first thing in the morning, so I haven’t had coffee yet. This place is beautiful though, and we’ll be here just long enough to fall in love with it, and we get to leave before we could possibly begin to see any of the downsides. How much better could it get?