12.16.03 - 5:56 p.m.

mattch came last weekend, such a great time... well let me rewind to my face, an expression of befuddled pleasure, as southbay peeps presented me with inflatable speakers. add ipod and you have the most compact boombox going. they are empty inside! the air is the mechanism. i can't believe they work.

so i'm down there, we're having chinese food, the first thing i did upon seeing matthew is check for new piercings. last time he came he was sporting an eyebrow stud he got in barcelona (or should i say barth-a-lona). no new holes in his body, though i admit i didn't check all regions (and that is for the best)

some drinks over at sandeep's place, and the early the next morning we are at stanford smacking around racquetballs. i got housed but man it was fun. shawn joined in later and we did the three man version, rotation, i hate team sports but at least they both had me as team mate so it evened out.

jenny picks us up and we're off to the city, raining like hell so we catch a movie-- station agent-- a movie about a handsome trainspotting dwarf, a big lug and an attractive Older Woman who paints alone in a huge empty house. i liked it because the performances were, how you say, bravura... or perhaps that is not how you say

back home, meet up with az, we ate expensive sushi at country sushi (where it's all hardcore music, all the time, but luckily less hardcore that night... they were playing stuff like hendrix's star spangled banner, we met dre's friend who isn't friends with dre anymore because dre stole her cat!!! stole her cat!! possibly the most evil thing imaginable.

post dinner we headed out to the fashion show, here's a picture from said show. it got grainy when i shrunk it down, where is my photoshop genie to prevent such mess?

the next morning we ate at boogaloos, had to show matt the hipsters (not that they are unknown in north carolina, but the density is lacking) and then shopping, shopping. jenny wanted a hat so we took her to the hat store. the most expensive hat there costs $220. it is made of solid gold

more thriftin, brandy-sniftin. az. wants to be jackie o but the pricetags betray her

we made a dagnasty (?!) meal consisting of asparagus, sauteed peppers and onions in garlic, tilapia flanks with ginger-pepper sauce, extra-large couscous, a bottle or three of pinot. fine dining i tell you. liquored up (etc) , we head to ben's toys for tots thing. it was staggeringly lame, all 80's music and people standing around looking uncomfortable-- and then, the kicker-- we realized it was a SINGLES EVENT and everybody wearing glowing bracelets was on the make. no wonder they all looked so awkward.

outlook was grim but rachel's friend was having this party in a warehouse... i was skeptical but as usual, az's adventurous side paid off as she convinced us all to pile in a cab and head to china basin. the warepad (as it was called) was elaborately decorated, colorful geometric objects hanging from the ceiling, a series of blue orbs that jenny was convinced she could convince herself were floating, not suspended... afro-jazz in the style of fela kuti, they had a 10 piece band cranking it, really awesome music, if you've heard "Nigeria '70" it was that exact sound. very danceable, very funky (but not cheesy like funk). i cut a square if that is the term. we all hung out there for a good long while, discussing love and symmetry and the things good friends discuss.

next morning he's off on a plane and we are feeling the wind through our hair. cheers matthew.