Flautas part 2

Inside Esta Noche, there was some quiet latin music in the background. There were two others besides Laura, Joe, and I. The guy who had hustled us in, Emilio (apparently he went by Antonio as well), was sitting next to a man in a navy blue pirate suit. Emilio had his arm wrapped around the pirate's shoulder and was whispering soft words into his ear. We ordered some drinks, and Joe generously got the first round. I downed my margarita like it was ice water on a hot day. We talked to Emilio who was now ignoring the man in the pirate suit. The bartender kept glancing at me. Emilio told me that the bartender liked me, so we talked and I practiced my mediocre Spanish with the two men. The pirate slinked away in the background muttering something about his parrot. The bartender gave Laura and I two bigass Long Island Iced Teas. Emilio started telling us his life story. He was from Salvador. He studied medicine there but his units didn't transfer to the U.S. when he moved at 23. Now he teaches Special Ed. He said his bosses were kind of racist (they told him that he couldn't speak English well enough), and so he couldn't move up, but "I still love my job and my kids," he told us. I didn't know what to think.

He told us about his French boyfriend who wasn't as horny as Emilio was, about the problems they were having. Emilio was getting more and more shitfaced. We listened for a while, but soon decided that we should get going to the spoken word performance at the Bart Station.

We dragged our three drunk asses a few blocks over to the BART station. There were lit candles in a semi-circle. Probably about 20 people in heavy overcoasts and scarves were attending. There were a few dead cats that had been killed in an earlier satanic ritual. Up at the mic (well there was no mic) was this guy going off on Oprah. He was saying some funny and poignant shit, but I was so drunk it didn't make sense to me, and I thought he was probably just some nutty homeless guy. So I laughed.

We watched another act, but weren't too impressed and hit the streets of the mission once again. I went into a liqour store to buy a 40 and the clerk brownbagged it for me. Outside it was getting colder and more homeless people were starting to come out from their hiding spots. Warm steamy air was rising from the sewers. There were lots of noises. Bums negotiating for their fix or loudly arguing with one another. Voices would rise up into the air and then die down into the stillness of night. We passed bums on every corner and I handed out lots of singles. I guess I'm more generous when I'm drunk.

Finally we returned to Esta Noche, and the Drag Show was in full swing. We went up to the stage and danced like drunkards. The queen invited Laura up to the stage and Laura went up there. They grooved well together to the latin music about love and longing. Maybe the folks at the bar would find love this night.

As for me, I was hungry as shit, so I went outside to look for some food. I talked to a bum about God knows what and he told me to tap on a restaraunt's door that was on the corner. The dude inside the Mexican restaraunt was mopping up all the dirt from the day's business. He opened the door and handed me a bag. Inside were flautas, big and bountiful, greasy, grimy, and phallic flautas. I offered some to the homeless dude, but he just wanted some money so I gave him a single.

I started back to the bar.

So what happens next? These were no ordinary flautas, no, in fact they were magical flautas. What special powers did they give to me? Stay tuned.

Eat my scurgy poo

Nothing too spectacular, just some random photos taken haphazardly. Dedicated to my photographer at large, Joyce, whose currently living it up in Glendale before she leaves for Alabama, of all places. I will take some good photos, and set out solely with the purpose of taking photos and bring only my camera and my eye, very very soon! How do I make these bigger?

Poems!!

Oakland at Night

Quiet buildings rest
Along the darkening street
Silent lampposts glow

Randomness at Berkeley BART station en route to SF

The fair feeling of going
somewhere
while people wait together
seperately
thinking of long lost nights
and days.

Overhead clouds sleep-
ily move
past the horizon's long
gone grin
swirling with the night's
sky.

I think back to older eras when
everything was new
when the first ones
walked through a garden.

We talk about the first morning
but what
about evening
when
the sun's burning flame
sunk into
an ocean
for what must've seemed
like an eternity.

Why did I get a bag of Flautas at 1:00 in the morning?

It all started at the 16th and Mission BART station, a lovely square heavily populated with homeless people. It was abot 9:00 pm. Lots of people were hanging outside the station. Most of the stores were either closed or they sold liqour. Honestly, I was a bit frightened because...well, the only other people there were homeless and looked vaguely dangerous. But I pretended not to be, only because people who are cool are not frightened by "shady" neighborhoods. In fact, cool people are perfectly at home in shady neighborhoods and constantly insist that the danger is overexaggerated.

Laura came and met me on 16th and Valencia (about a block away), and after happy greetings and hugs, we headed over to Joe's apartment. We narrowly escaped being mugged by a crazed Australian on the way there, but nothing else of importance happened as we made our way up Valencia. When we got to Joe's apartment, which is on the second floor of a narrow building, he was in the bathroom, so Laura and I walked into the living room where I met his roommate, who was quickly apologized because she had just farted. I explained that I fart all the time (in fact i do, i think i have a parasite or something) and gracefully defused the social tension created by the passing of methane gas out of his his roommates ass (i forget her name). Joe soon emerged from the bathroom and greeted us in a white jump suit that looked like it was out of A Clockwork Orange, setting a surrealistic tone to what would certainly be a surreal night.

"No, I'm not a killer and a rapist," he replied to my question, "I simply do some fencing." Although he later told me it was for fun and not for pay, I was still pretty impressed.

After Joe took a shower, dressed, and showed us a cut he had got on his knee from the fencing, He, Laura, and I hit the streets to get some Mexican food at the lovely "Cancun" restaraunt. Cancun is your basic small taco stand except for the fact that it is run by a giant Dominican proprietress named Lulu. Laura and I got the "super tacos" and Joe got a burrito. After finishing, we discussed what we should do over the ensuing evening. Following some polite chitter chatter, Laura suggested we go get drink somewhere and think about it. Joe and I both heartily agreed.

We chose the Mission over the Castro, perhaps because I subconsciously feared I would get picked up at the Castro and leave my two friends. Or maybe I feared I would get really drunk, take my shirt off, and make a buffoon of myself. That kind of behavior I reserve for a select few. Haha.

Walking down Mission, we bumped into this hot Salvadorean guy in front of the both lovely and classy Esta Noche. All four of us chatted for a while. He told us that Esta Noche was one of the best bars in town. Thusly, we found our bar for the night (or at least the next hour). But we still had to go see a spoken word performance that loosely assembles every Thursday night at the 16th and Mission station. And I still had to get that bag of Flautas. So did we go to the Spoken Word performance? Did I get that bag of Flautas? Tune in tomorrow (or the next day) and find out.

Berkeley

Well, to my loyal Blog readers, Joyce, and maybe 1 other person, here is an update. I'm slowly getting used to Berkeley. At first I had mixed feelings. I still have mixed feelings. But since I've been here, I've wanted to keep an open mind about it. Moving up here forced me to confront certain things which I guess I had been ignoring down in Los Angeles. Stuff is improving though! I know this is very vague. Anyways maybe I'll post some photos on here soon. Later!!