Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit

For Easter weekend, we took a staycation up in San Francisco. R. made all the arrangements, found the hotel, bought tickets and all that; I just tagged along and provided company. He did spend a lot of the time at various clubs while I found a place to Hobbit up in, and I feel a little bad about that. Not bad enough to actually go to these places, but bad enough to remark on it.

He really wanted to go to the FLEX Party at the Powerhouse. It's held every 5th Friday of the month, so I think that works out to four times a year? If you're into the muscle scene, it's definitely the place to be. There's a biceps contest at midnight, and the judging method is apparently different every time. Last time judging was based on applause; this time, blindfolded judges awarded the trophy by feel -- and R.'s was the best feeling! I'm not sure why they had to have a whole contest for it, I could have told them that. ;)

So now my husband's muscles are award-winning, which is a pretty great feeling I must say. He received a one-month membership to an SF gym, a harness, and a gold lame handkerchief (IYKYK) as part of his spoils. And, most importantly, the pride of his jackalope. :)

While R. was out conquering the local muscle scene, I hung out with a friend who had recently moved to the city. They had been wanting to spend more time with friends so we thought it would be an excellent time for it. They're a quiet couple who emerged from the pandemic pretty much the same way we did; one person decided to really pursue new social opportunities, while the other embraced their Hobbity nature. It looks like they have a fairly cozy life -- not without its problems, surely, but they seem reasonably content.

I'm not sure how they took us, though. R. can be a little intense if you're a Library Gay, and I think our sense of humor might be rougher around the edges than they're used to. I liked them both, though, and would like to keep in touch with them enough so we could at least do this again. I'll be sure to check in with our hosts through the week to debrief the weekend, as it were.

On Saturday we went to the Barbary Coast (our favorite SF dispensary) and the Zide Door, which I won't say too much about here. Then we went to the Exploratorium, a local science museum filled with interactive experiments that encourage kids to participate. It was a really fun time, and re-awakened that long dormant fascination with both the very distant and the very small.

When I was a kid I was obsessed with two sciences: botany, and astronomy. The Botany room was super-cool; not only could you take a look at the plants that were chilling in their nursery for various reasons, but they also brought in Native experts to share what they know about the botanical history and terroir of the region. There was a display featuring the many different kinds of corn that grew locally, and there I learned that we really only grow one variety for eating in this country. But man, there are so many beautiful species of corn out there -- I'd really love it if we could normalize a little more variety in our regular diets.

There was also a display called a "cloud bank", where they produced a controlled environment that could detect the passage of cosmic rays. The different streaks indicated different rays (or particles?); some were long and straight, others were a little corkscrewy. What really got me was how frequently these lines appeared in their cloud bank, and while they could be blowing smoke it lit me up thinking how we're being bombarded by this stuff all the time and mostly just forget about it.

Another display visualized the movement of electrons from one ring to another (and a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics), which was awesome. There were a lot of exhibits about color, perception, and movement; it struck me while we were there how hard it must be to find a simple, effective way to externalize these hidden principles we all live by AND explain what's going on under the hood in a way that's accurate, succinct, and memorable enough for kids to retain it through that sugar-bombed haze. So hats off to that staff!

For dinner we ate at John's Grill, one of those tourist restaurants right across the street from our hotel. It boasts the "real" Maltese Falcon -- the prop from the Humphrey Bogart movie; and it's apparently the headquarters of the Dashiel Hammett Society. Not a bad place, to be honest, but VERY close and fairly overpriced. We had an $85 dollar pris-fixe menu with lobster bisque, filet mignon, Maine lobster tail, a baked potato and roasted veggies. The potato and the veggies were unseasoned, which was a weird kind of offensive to me. I think it's because waking veggies up with a bit of seasoning is so easy -- just hit 'em with salt, pepper, olive oil, and maybe a bit of lemon juice. Then you have sides worthy of this really expensive meat you've clearly put most of your effort into.

Ah well. The cheesecake was excellent, though I'm sure they didn't make it in-house.

Overall, it was a great weekend. R. really got a confidence boost, we got to hang out with cool friends, and we really enjoyed each other's company.

Now it's a brand new quarter and I have...hopefully manageable, but ambitious, planning. The plan won't come together unless I make specific choices when it matters. This was one, in case you didn't know.

Now, onto the next one, and the next. I'm really pulling for a good week to start. :)