Insomnia blogging

This one is specifically for you, Jeanne.

It's 1:50am. I can't sleep. I've been awake for the last hour or two; I'm not quite sure since the minutes seem to click away so slowly when I'm struggling to get tired. I've gone to the bathroom, twice. I've tried to read my New Yorker. I've tried to find my sleeping pills. I've even cried a little at my frustration. All have been to no avail. And, I think what makes it worse is that I'm envious of how soundly Ian is sleeping next to me. It makes me want to poke him awake so he suffers with me too.

I suppose insomnia and having nothing else to do at nearly two in the morning, means I sit at my computer in the near dark, trying to catch up on weeks of unwritten blog entries, and describing the rather lovely day I had actually, even though now I am quietly struggling to fall asleep and am hating every second of it.

The day started nicely enough. After a morning jog in the warm sun, I had a breakfast of blue corn tortilla chips and guacamole, made by Ian with the avocados that we picked from my aunt's neighbor's house in LA. My mom made us take home a box full of unripe avocados when we visited a few weeks ago, and we've been waiting for them to grow dark and soft. Since we had been waiting for days on end with no signs of ripening, I almost forgot that we even had them until a few days ago when I found a whole bunch of them squishy. We've been very deliberately trying to incorporate them into our daily diet since then. Avocados on salads. Avocados on eggs. Avocados in kimchi quesadillas. And, today, avocados for breakfast in guacamole form.

As much as Ian and I joke that we're the same person, in terms of our habits on salting food, we are not the same. On some foods, I'm the salter; he's not (but, I will not be accused for being a salt fiend, since I'm not; I just like my food to taste good and believe that salt, in the proper amounts, helps make that happen). I asked for salt in the guacamole. He said there was already salt. Since it didn't seem like he wanted more salt and that it wouldn't particularly be the nicest thing to do to ask for separate bowl of guacamole where I could salt to my heart's content, I asked if we could be Tapatio in it instead. He said yes, and after my reserved dashing of the hot sauce, he asked if that was all I wanted. I told him no but thought that that was all he would want. He reached for the bottle and added more.

For lunch, I met Brynn at Park Chalet. The weather has been gorgeous and really warm, hot even, in San Francisco, and Brynn and I thought that we should take advantage of that, as well as the fact that both of us have more time on our hands now since we're not full-time workers, and enjoy the outdoors, the beach, and a cafe. I thought the Park Chalet would be perfect for that. She and I had a slow, leisurely lunch on the shaded patio, where we had the chance to catch up on our lives, our jobs, our relationships. I had a burger and fries with the California Kind beer, all of which was decent but not spectacular. I was surprised at home many people there were though. Brynn and I spent almost three hours there, and it felt like more and more people kept coming. But, with so few gloriously warm and wind-free days in San Francisco, I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that people would want to enjoy a beer on the grassy lawn.

I took Brynn home and got back to my place just in time for Winnie to pick me up to go volunteer again for Jane Kim, who is running for district superviser in San Francisco. After making calls to local voters, asking who they were supporting, and if they would support Jane, we had a snack of cold pizza, leftovers from the day before, that was fed to the volunteers. I actually kinda like cold pizza, so no complaints from me about that.

And, I ended the day at Zeitgeist, the quintessential bar for a warm San Francisco night. Billy's college roommate was hosting a celebration there for selling his screenplay. Since Winnie and I were just down the street, there was no real reason why we wouldn't go for at least a little while. And, it was lovely, or as lovely as a biker bar with outdoor port-a-potties can be. The outdoor patio was full, but we were able to snag an almost empty bench (there was this couple super making-out at one end of the bench). I had a a Hefeweizen, Billy had a Chimay, Winnie had water, and Ian, who met us, had a veggie burger. It was nice to catch up with Billy though we didn't stay too long and only had a brief moment to congratulate his friend.

Overall, a pretty nice day. I only wish it had a better ending.