Journal of Pirate Lingo*

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* not an actual journal
of pirate lingo

06.30.02 - 10:00 p.m.

Today was an exemplary Bay Area experience. I woke up at Cosmo's place, having crashed there after burn party 2002. (bp2002 was fun, but burning cds en masse is hugely tedious. Next year we're gonna outsource the whole process to a Malaysian sweatshop. It's a "win-win" situation, in that we get cds and they don't get shot.)


fig a: Bonnie (@ bp2002) attempts to drink out of a glass bigger than her head.
Do not try this at home.

When I left Cosmo's apartment, I encountered an art car. It reminded me of good times in Houston. I want an art car! If I ever purchase an automobile, maybe I can work out some kind of deal where instead of an AM/FM radio, I get a giant eyeball.


fig b: the ultimate anti-theft device

After gawking for a bit, I caught the bus downtown. As we were proceeding towards Market, I couldn't help but notice that there were a lot more musclebound cabana boys than usual. Then I remembered that today was the Pride Celebration. Lifestyles ahoy. I briefly contemplated staying to watch, but last year was enough for me.

My boss at work told us he was excited about going to the parade this year, because he wanted to get his picture taken with Ian McKellan (the British dude who played Gandalf in Lord of the Rings and Magneto in X-Men). Apparently McKellen was tapped to be the 2002 parade's grand marshal. I guess we'll find out on Monday whether or not the picture-taking mission was successful. (I wonder if my boss is gay. He doesn't appear to be, but then again the only time a guy ever registers on my gay-dar is if he propositions me or he introduces himself as "Will" from TV's "Will and Grace".)

From downtown, I took BART back to Berkeley. They have a big multicultural market every Sat/Sun in the Ashby parking lot. I got some salty food from the African food bus and felt a moment of pride as I watched Hispanic fruit vendors, dashiki'd African Americans (blacks? but they were wearing dashikis, for crissake), white folks with dreadlocks and Asian college kids interact. Berkeley/Oakland, land of diversity. You can mix & match the adjectives above; there were also African American college kids, Hispanic college kids, dashiki-wearing Asian fruit vendors with dreadlocks, etc.


fig c: Come to Africa Mon! Or Possibly Jamaica!

But then I wondered if this pride was more like smugness, and if it was justified. I mean I appreciate the multicultural aspect of the BART parking lot on weekends, but 9-5 M-F I work almost exclusively with white males. We need the African food bus up in the office. But then I thought, look, it's stupid to feel guilty about feeling happy that there's such a cross section of people at this market. Don't think so much. So then I just sat in the sun and relaxed and ate my food. The bus was blaring Fela Kuti, which is some good shit that will make you move your body.

I spent the rest of the day reading at Cafe Strada, listening covertly as summer students earnestly discussed problem sets and what is / isn't gonna be on the test. They sounded inane, but I found myself missing the excitement of studying something interesting. I wanna go back to school. But the $1mil question is, for what? I hatched a new plan. I'm gonna find a big university website (e.g. Berkeley's) and systematically make my way through their list of depts, crossing off anything that doesn't sound good. Once I've eliminated everything boring, whatever's left will be what I should study. Or, if I end up eliminating everything, I'll just pick randomly. "hmm, particle physics. (roll again) hmm, neurobiology (roll again) ooh, rock! (roll again)"

In the late afternoon the sun casts beautiful shadows on our garden. When Nate was working his landscaping job, he grabbed a sculpture that someone was throwing away. No clue who made it but my guess is Thom Yorke.


fig d: fitter, happier, more productive

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