First week in San Francisco

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With a base of operations in the city i returned the hire car and then succeeded in contacting more friends and across the next week i met up with various friends, bought a quad-band phone and digital SLR camera (Jonathan's fault), booked a trip to Alcatraz with Jace.

On Thursday went to potluck at Tappie and Mike's new place. Potluck is where the guests bring something to share or go into the cooking pots, it creates a very good environment for just hanging out and talking while many people share the work of getting dinner ready and never really knowing what is going to be for dinner until all the ingredients arrive, though it always turns out good. The chocolate brownies that were there were so good they made me a little dizzy.

Friday night i went to Jonathan's in preparation for Saturday, we were going to the Renaissance Fair a couple of hours north, Tish was partying in Las Vegas for a computer security conference. Jonathan had a suitable peasant costume for me and we headed out early. Met with Bob and Michelle (designated driver) on the way and got to the site around lunch. Jonathan has been going to the fairs for many years and is a bit of known character here. This fair was a smaller one with only thousands of people instead of tens or a hundred thousand people. One of the first things i saw, after filling my tankard and leering at all the lasses in corsets, was some jousting. It was very impressive!!! I mean, here i was feeling the beginnings of another sunburn and these guys are fighting in full plate armour! After that there was more ale, many bawdy jokes, some ale to drink, leering at lusty wenches, honey mead wine, food of dubious ingredients, an arabian dancing show, even more ale, gambling with a wench that Jonathan set upon me to "entice me and then run away when i make a pass" when i tried to kiss her (have i said Jonathan is not nice yet) and to finish it all off some more ale. All in all a very good day.

Though we had gotten drunk, sunburnt and tired when we got back to Berkeley i was unable to convince Jonathan to come out to a psytrance party with me in San Francisco (he's a wimp also). Many other friends would be there so i went anyway, the headliner was Hyperfrequencies. Got ready and caught the BART and was at the party after midnight. I missed Ross Random's act that i was mainly going for but still enjoyed the party a lot, though i did feel uncomfortable sometimes due to what i had ate earlier, so i left a little before closing and wandered along a favourite route throughout the city. This route crosses hill/parks called Randall Hill and Buena Vista Park. As usual the morning was foggy and the views were very short and white but still very enjoyable. Finally got back to Jonathan's around midday after being away around 12 hours, he laughed at the sight of me since i looked a little travelled to say the least.

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Photos

Jousting at Renaissance Fair
I'm becoming sunburnt while these guys are roasting!

Drinking at Renaissance Fair
Sloshed at this point!

Comments

[Cheryl Forbes]

Chocolate Brownies!
LOL!! Chockie Brownies that make you dizzy? Now don't come the raw prawn with me mate. LOL!

[Danielle (aka Moonlit Ocean)]

Welcome Back to SF and all its Glory
Dear Andrew, Glad to have you near us again, and have enjoyed reading your news. Would love to see your new SLR toy, very envious! Drop us a line and have dinner sometime, Cory and I would be honored to have you.