Last night I drove up to S.F. with the Francisco’s, Ross & Tim. No one had any real idea where we were headed, so we sort of stumbled randomly around until we found a likely looking area along … somewhere… I dunno, Fillmore or something. Fillmore & Pine? Anyway, we spotted a bar, which was a start, while driving along, found a park – surprisingly easily, only one trip round the block – and found, conveniently, a light restaurant next to the bar. The bar itself was small, busy and full largely of older people. Didn’t bother me, but the other guys took all of twenty seconds to decide to leave. Pfft. :)
Anyway, Francisco 2 and I hadn’t eaten, so we had some things called “Genoa”s which are basically round bread things with chicken breast, layered in cheese and with some sort of tomato paste thingy on top. Surprisingly nice, actually.
And they had big schooner glasses for their drinks, which worked fine for my smoothie and pleased everyone else with their beers. :)
We were there for a little while, chatting and whatnot, but people had friends who knew people who had an aunt with this band that was playing somewhere, or some crap. Some band that was either country, or rap, or hip-hop, or blues… ahuh… so anyway, we started over to this place called the Attic on Market & 24th, along the way receiving intel suggesting the “band” was in fact a DJ. Which it was, as it turned out – some guy ‘Victor’ that people knew from work.
That place wasn’t too bad, although it had that mild dope smell from all the people smoking in the toilet there, and then – humorously, I thought :) – stuffing the joint stubs into the desk fan that drifted back and forth across the main area. :)
It was very loud, though. Conversation was difficult, and I don’t think people were nearly drunk enough when we got there to enjoy that. We were there for an hour or two, though, before F2, Ross & myself finally played spoilsports and initiated departure.
And so we left, going via some random guy’s maybe-house – the actual address didn’t seem to be known with confidence, so F1 tried some random house which he apparently had a good feeling about, but no-one answered. From there we headed back.
We hadn’t left until quite late – I’d wanted to leave at about 7pm, but between F1 & Ross being held up, my own troubles with traffic, and whatnot, we didn’t really leave Cupertino ’till 8pm. I think it was well after 9 by the time we got to S.F. We left sometime between 1 & 2am. I was somewhat resentful that I too was angling to go home at that relatively early hour, but in my defense I’m getting old :P, and I was up late Thursday night doing some extensive stress testing of… er.. *coughhidehalocough*… :)
So, a bit more exposure to S.F.’s nightlife. I’m still searching for familiar scenes – all the places I’ve been have been the kind of niche, grungy inner-city style; the random doors that belie no hint of their purpose… dark, smoky and filled with locals and regulars. That’s all good if you’re a grungy, regular local… kinda off-putting for the likes of me.
The drive back was entertaining, in a way… somehow or rather it turned to politics, and we – meaning, everyone but me, being a filthy foreigner ;) – had a rather spirited debate on the topic… somehow bloodshed was averted, but it seemed almost an inevitability at some points. :/
It is refreshing, though, to hear such arguments… from outside the U.S. you typically see Americans portrayed being grossly patriotic and espousing the virtues of their country, and then said country invading other countries and generally being vile, which leads you to think that Americans are all for the crap that goes on. But the disconnect there is that Americans are patriotic and sentimental towards their country – whether the concept, or the people, or their lifestyle, or whatever; I don’t know – but definitely not their government. Not in California, at least.
It’s really no dissimilar from Australia… I like the country, but not the government or what they do. The parallels are very striking, actually, which is kind of scary sometimes.
That F2 started quoting Winston Churchill on government surprised and amazed me… I think Americans are far more aware and concerned about their government and their place in the world than Australians. So looking back to the criticisms I’ve had in past, it seems now a bit hollow, even hypocritical.
Anyway, I digress… it was a very interesting conversation, but I was glad when I started dropping people off and it slowly and safely dissipated. :)
