It was the best time of my life
Her bee stung lips,
Kisses sweeter than wine
The things she whispered
With breathless sighs
The summer air was soft and warm
Her eyes were making silent demands
As her hair came undone in my hands
Driving her home after midnight
I felt so good everything was alright
Her thoughts seemed lost in the night sky
I remember everything
I don't know why these things ever end
I sometimes wish it was that summer again
I still see her in my sleep
And hear the sighing of the summer wind
Still I don't regret one thing
Inhabitat just did a write-up about the Seasteading Institute. Of late, Ephemerisle and TSI have been getting a fair amount of media coverage. Here is some for you to read, if you care:
(German) Wir fangen noch mal an: Bestehende Gesellschaften kann man nicht verändern, glaubt Patri Friedmann. Er will schwimmende Staaten im Ozean errichten, in denen Menschen so leben, wie sie wollen. (Blog interviewing Patri).
I have recently started working with The Seasteading Institute, a non-profit organization devoted to exploring offshore living. Its primary focus is the exploration of alternative forms of government, and it appeals to people like me who are somewhat disenfranchised with the current red state/ blue state system, that seems in reality to be more akin to one big purple nation. I could rant a bit about my belief that Republicans and Democrats are basically the same thing these days, but instead I'll talk about Ephemerisle.
I'm working as project manager for a water-based festival the group is holding October 2-4, 2009. We'll be taking over the Sacramento River delta that weekend, at a point near Paradise Point Marina. Attendees will all be on boats, and we expect many of them to arrive an homemade boats. There has already been talk of hamster-balls-on-the-water, fire-breathing robots, pirate ships, SCUBA divers, and more. It's pretty much an anything-goes weekend, and it's free to the public. I'm sure I'll post more information here as I continue to create the event.
In the meantime, you can read what the New York Times Idea Blog had to say about us, as well as a handful of commenters. The first guy even took the time to compose an insulting limerick, though it doesn't quite scan. I still applaud the effort.
Nearly a week has passed since my extended birthday weekend, and I want to capture it all into a journal entry while it is still semi-fresh in my mind. I think the best way to encapsulate it is to take it day by day:
Friday, May 22
Mury and Paper Mache had been in Oakland for three days now. Those are two really great bands that are on tour right now, and they were staying at the Club House. That's the name we've given to the house in West Oakland where four of my dearest friends (Teddie, Alex, Kevin, and Kyle) live. All told, with both bands, roadies, girlfriends, groupies, and myself, there were 17 people living in that four-bedroom house this week.
It was time to show the bands around San Francisco. We managed to rally 15 people, and rode BART into the Mission District. Here we are, at the Macarthur BART station, ready for a night of fun:
back row: Trick, Drexler, Bash, Me middle row: Kate, Cathy, Burt, Bash's Girl, Cole, Jay, Brad front row: Kevin, Olaf, Teddie, Erica
We were already tipsy by this point, and rolling 15 deep, so we commandeered car 2515 on the San Francisco line. We led the crowd, actually just our group and one incredibly trashed female passenger, in rousing renditions of songs like You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin', Stand By Me, Don't Stop Believin', and Give Me the Beat Boys. Most passengers seemed to take it in stride, but we did get a few glares.
We wandered from 16th and Mission to Dolores Park, hitting up a few liquor stores on the way, as well as Truly Mediterranean, where I purchased a chicken schwarma. That is one of the tastiest things you can eat; no one else makes them as well as does that spot. I shared half with the various band members, one of whom described it as the single greatest tasting bite of food he'd ever had in his life.
In Dolores Park, we drank, and swung on swings. Drexler and I split off for a moment, and walked to the Haight to check in on a house party. It was rocking, but we didn't really know anyone. The drunkest-girl-on-earth tried to molest me, but I escaped intact, and chaste. We hopped into a cab and made it back to the Mission, literally getting out just in time to see our crew spilling out of Kilowatt, and Trick screaming at some random girl. I'm not sure if the picture does him justice, but Trick is a belligerent, 6'7 punk rocker. The girl was maybe 5'2. She had apparently misbehaved, and Trick was screaming at her, and attempting to goad her boyfriend into standing up for her. Her boyfriend merely turned and faced the wall in silence-- what else do you expect in the Mission? I think in order to become a hipster you have to renounce your manhood. Anyway, we dragged Trick away, and all was well. Everyone needs one friend like Trick-- he makes life so much more interesting.
From there, we walked to Van Ness, but stopped in for shots at Martuni's. I ponied up for 11 shots, but a couple people vanished, so Teddie and I took it upon ourselves to down the extras. As these were already double shots, we were each faced with a glass of whiskey. I managed to get it down, but Teddie, who'd drank far more than me, had to dash out to quickly barf. He is a pro drinker, and did so in a quick, discreet fashion. Props to him.
We made it to Van Ness and Market to catch the famous party bus. The subway doesn't run 24 hours in the Bay Area, and you have to rely on the hourly 800 bus to get you from the West Bay to the East Bay. I bought a box of doughnuts for us to eat, and we hopped on the 2:02 bus. We were all far drunker, and more subdued, on the ride home. At one point Cole attempted to pry the doors open while the bus was still moving, then proceeded to vomit all over them. At the next stop two bus patrons tried to get him off the bus, but I rescued him and we made it home. Amazingly, we didn't lose anyone, anywhere, and we walked home to the Club House like conquering heroes. Except Cole, who spent the night emitting house-quaking dry heaves.
Saturday, May 23
This was the day of the actual party. Some of you (49 people in fact) watched the webcam stream, but for those who missed it, my friend Kyle and I hosted the Triumvirate of Doom-- ice cream, bowling, and dancing, to celebrate our birthdays. Mine is May 25, his is May 26.
I started the day by staggering to Cesar to pick up some party favors I'd had made for the occasion. Badges for each aspect of the triumvirate:
You had to attend the particular event in order to collect the relevant badge. Fun, no?
I breakfasted on a bloody mary (hair of the dog, right?), then headed back to the Club House where a BBQ was in full swing. This was unrelated to the festivities-- Teddie's sister graduated from... something. Not sure what. She had some friends over for BBQ and a keg. At 4:00, some of use headed to Fenton's Creamery, a Bay Area institution, for ice cream. All told there were perhaps 25 to 30 of us there.
back row: Matt's GF, Matt, Kelly (peeking from behind the big guy), Kathryn, Kaiya, Danny, Alex, Jackyl, Dan, Kate, Kevin, Robert middle row: Big Ben, Taryn, Ben Witzke, Maya, Jenny, Barak, Jenn front row: Grayson, Me, Kyle not pictured because he was outside smoking a cigar: Nick Drexler. Don't worry. He'll show up in lederhosen later.
After ice cream, about 17 of us made our way to Manor Bowl in San Leandro and bowled a few frames. And then it was back to the Club House for drinking and dancing.
I don't have any pictures of Clara, the DJ, so instead here is Kathryn playing pretend during setup. That's Kyle next to her. The zombie in the back is an unfortunate picture of Brian Bash.
I set up a sound system, and Clara and I took turns DJing. I'd estimate that at least 100 people showed up. I had 60 buttons created for the party, and by 11:30 they were all gone. People kept arriving, and the dancing lasted until nearly 4:00 am. I drank a lot, and, in rare, rare fashion, took a puff of whatever it was that Chad was smoking. After that, the night was a blur. The next day, Sanchez was mentioning various songs to which I'd danced (I vaguely recall at some point he took over the DJing and I just picked songs and danced), and once he'd tell me about it, I'd be like "oh yeah, that TOTALLY happened." I remember Teddie and I topless, dancing in a circle to Add It Up, a soaking wet, and also topless Kyle, and I, and maybe 20 other people, in a massive rotating hug as Major Tom (Coming Home) played, and a group singalong to Disco 2000.
As promised, here is Nick in his party attire:
This was a super hella fun party. I passed out at about 5:00 am.
Sunday, May 24
I woke up at about 8:00 am, completely hungover. I slept intermittently until about 10:30, at which point a few of us started mobilizing to get breakfast. I didn't even bother dressing. I put a bathrobe and slippers on over my pajamas and joined Kevin, Kate, Chad, Brad, and maybe Erica and someone else (sorry, it's all hazy). We went up to Piedmont Avenue. Piedmont Cafe was the destination, but talk of chicken apple sausages, pesto, and eggs was too much for my delicate condition, so I joined the bagel contingent, Chad and Brad, and went to Posh Bagel. After I finished I walked across the street to rejoin the others at the cafe, and received a text from Robert, who works at Cesar, next to Posh Bagel: "Did I just see you walking down Piedmont Avenue in your bathrobe?" Reply: "Affirmative. Hungover. Needed food."
I felt far better after eating, and was even able to put on my professional face and meet a client. I must have done well, because she signed the contract and gave me $3200 for a bat mitzvah. After that I picked up Kathryn, randomly drove by BART in time to pick up Mike, ate at La Fiesta (my favorite Mexican restaurant) and then headed to Blake's. It was finally time for the big show. Mury and Paper Mache, and Kevin's band Weekender, were finally about to take the stage. It was great to see a crowd full of familiar faces, as at least 40 or more friends came out to see the bands. I even ran into my old friend (arch-nemesis) Aaron Cole, and bought him a Coca-Cola while he played Galaga.
It was a fantastic show. All three bands put on terrific shows. At one point Mury incorporated Give Me the Beat Boys into a singalong chorus. The entire crowd loved it, but a few of us flashed back to Friday night and exchanged smiles. I highly advise anyone who has the chance to go see any of those three bands perform do so at the first opportunity.
After the show, we meandered back to the Club House and drank and partied well into the night. Though I didn't drink anything. The previous two nights were enough for me. I did, however, eat some cake. As fate would have it, When Nick Drexler showed up to the party at about 2:00 am, he had with him a friend who had found an entire chocolate cake sitting on the sidewalk during the walk over. Now, I realize eating street-cake like that, especially 2:00 am West Oakland street-cake, may not be the best idea I've ever had, and I can't even use drunkenness as a defense, but as it was after midnight it was technically my birthday. So we all tucked into the cake. It was delicious and no one died.
I made a Jack-in-the-Box run and brought back bags of tacos and burgers for all the hungry, and broke, band members, and by about 5:00 am the drinking stopped and we all went to sleep.
Monday, May 25
My actual birthday! The most nondescript day of the extended weekend. The bands packed up and left. I headed into San Francisco to Ton Kiang with my friend Barak and his friend Jenny. His visit from Los Angeles serendipitously took place during my birthday weekend. He also came to Fenton's on Saturday, but this was a better chance to catch up without hella people around. We ate prodigious amounts of dim sum, then wandered Clement Street for awhile. It's always nice to hang out with him. One of my chief regrets about Los Angeles is that I moved there a few days after he left for seven months in Israel, then moved away two weeks after his return. We barely got to hang.
Meanwhile, Kate's flight back to Ohio was delayed by a day, which meant Kevin got to drive her to SFO, return home to Oakland, get her call, and drive back to SFO. It also meant she had an extra vacation day, so she and Kevin and Kyle and I drove out to Ocean Beach, ate sandwiches while the sun went down, then sat around a bonfire for a couple hours. It was the perfect, mellow way to cap off an otherwise action-filled weekend.
Here is a picture from the beach. Do you see me sporting my three badges?
And then I had a long night of sleep on the Club House couch.
My birthday happens on Monday. My friend Kyle's on Tuesday. Those aren't very good days for a party. Saturday, on the other hand...
Come one, come all! Saturday May 23rd is The Greg/Kyle Co-Birthday Ice Cream-Bowling-Dancing Triumvirate of Doom. We start at 4:00 PM at Fenton's Creamery in Oakland, move on to Manor Lanes in San Leandro at 6:30, then dance the night away at the Club House from about 9:00 until 3 or 4 am. I may broadcast the dancing live via webcam on my iStream channel. Check my Twitter for details!
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