So I Missed A Few Days, Sue Me 25 April 2000

9:42 PM: The good side is, I haven't been at work since Friday...

Saturday was Saul's birthday. For the most part a good time was had by all. Young Penny very kindly played chauffeur, and we all went to see High Fidelity. I officially endorse this movie. I know all of the people in it. I have dated several of the same women. I am or have been several of the men. It's funny because it's so fucking pathetically true. Also - Katrina & The Waves as the rock&roll reply to Belle & Sebastian? Heh! What's not to like. I particularly appreciated seeing someone with a decent t-shirt collection on the big screen.

Ah, The Grifters. And My Beautiful Laundrette?? That's, like, so eclectic, yuh!

Anyway. So movie fun, ha ha much. Then up to the Haight to attempt to go have dinner at Cha Cha Cha, wonderful Caribbean restaurant there (though Saul categorically refuses to accept that it's Caribbean food, on the grounds that it's too good - whatever). We found parking on the same block in our first try which is unheard of, but to no avail - the place was packed, a two hour wait for dinner, or M'sieur and his partie could eat at le countre - packed in like commuters on a Tokyo train, deafened by continuous horn-blaring ultra-volume salsa music - after only a brief 20 to 30 minute wait. Nein, danke.

This turned out to be a good thing, though. The same people had just opened another location, in the Mission, and we gave that a try instead. Again with the magic parking only a block away, and this time, everything was perfect. We walked right in and got a table. The music was good without being deafening. The restaurant itself used to be something called "Original McCarthy's", full of exposed brick and soft dark wood, dominated by a huge oval bar in the middle. Much more peaceful altogether. We ordered, well, pretty much everything, and it started arriving about 5 minutes after the waitress left. The food is incredible. I think the only conversation we had while eating was some growling, some "Get away from my food!"s, and a few burps (mostly me, sorry).

Then on to the bar. Our magic parking ticket had expired, but that's OK; any more and I would have started getting nervous. The bar was fine, kind of crowded but we found seats. Unfortunately, they were directly under the speaker, and the VERY LOUD YOUNG MAN WITH A STRIKING RESEMBLANCE TO ONE OR TWO OF THE CHARACTERS IN HIGH FIDELITY WAS DJ'ING THAT NIGHT. SO IT GOT A LITTLE LOUD. I SAID, IT'S A LITTLE LOUD! YES, IT IS KIND OF CLOUDY!

Which hurt a lot. Then some of the regulars, who had entered into a conspiracy more for its own sake than from any real interest in Saul's birthday as such, came out with a huge cake and some really unfortunate clothing. The coconut-shell bra and grass skirt on Dudley, particularly. The usual cake crap ensued - you know, kids, big sheet cakes, they really just don't fit with odd-shaped bar tables, pint glasses, and ashtrays. And when did the tradition start that the person having the birthday has to stand there and serve the cake? Seems counter to the point, ask me. Not that you did. But that's never stopped me before. Am I carrying on? Oh maybe. It was all just very crowded and noisy and awkward and loud and I think, this year, I'm going to be far far away when my birthday comes....

So that was Saturday. Sunday, we went to see Lies at the San Francisco Film Festival. A nice little Korean film, a family type movie, really, all about how nice it is when two people have interests in common, like walking through the park, scrounging for sticks and hoses to beat each other with. The girl is very cute. Highlight of the showing: the thunderous applause from the sold-out house for the line, "Now lick my pussy." (There, that'll generate some hits. Heh heh heh.) I don't think I've ever seen much Korean writing before - it's so alien looking. It's the circles, I don't know why.

Monday I went and got a temporary crown on two teeth, which'll only cost me $900! Whee! Ow. And that's post-insurance. I am beginning to think that this word "insurance" does not mean what I thought it meant.

The procedure itself was OK. I got nitrous, this was the important thing. No video eyephones, though. I dunno if you have to ask, or if they save those for more major oral surgery. The assistant kept wiping my face and mouth with alcohol, though, I hated that. It's such a nasty smell, and inevitably I ended up swallowing some of it. Lovely on an empty stomach, with the Novocaine wearing off and the Advil - which was all the pain medicine he gave me - having its usual pathetic effects knocked aside by The Throbbing Nerve. Crankiness.

It doesn't feel too bad now. I have to keep from picking at it. Plus, hah, he thinks I'm going to use this elaborate flossing technique involving threading the floss through a hole in the middle of the temporary crown. Uh, hi, I just started brushing every day a few years ago, can we come up with a more realistic approach here?

The other scary thing I realized is that my dentist is in fact Mayor Wilkins. He has just that hearty-chuckle Midwestern voice, and kept saying things like "Well, hey, that's pretty doggone good!" I kept waiting for the part where he turns into a giant snake, but I guess that's not until I get the permanent crown done.

Today I read a lot of email, was very glad to see that Elian was back with his dad and that the Republicans were acting like the lunatics that they are, and wrote this. Now, Buffy.

Willfully blind self-indulgent nebbish or amusingly quirky old coot? And how bout that local sports team? Discuss among yourselves.

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