A free drink and lost shoes

        This past Friday was the official Day of the Dead. There was a celebration and parade in the Mission, starting at about 6. So I headed down to Garfield Park to look at all of the altars that people had built to honor loved ones. There were some pretty neat ones, very intricate, and participatory. I left Seth's name on one of them. Gosh, I miss that guy. I mean, even if he were still here, I wouldn't be seeing much of him anyway, since we wouldn't be going to school together, but knowing that the possibility doesn't even exist anymore just really sucks.

        Ben and I wanted to stay for the parade, but they were really dinking around, so we left before it really started, because he had gotten me tickets to see LP, which is this super awesome singer that I really enjoy. You can see her most popular song right here:  LP - Into the Wild.  She was playing in the Cafe du Nord, which is like a million miles away from the parade site. So we walked and walked and walked, and then stood in line. When we were almost to the front, Ben was like “do you have your ID?” And I was like “.................................... I need my ID?” I hadn't brought it from the house, so I was up a creek. The guy at the door was like “Yeah, this is a 21-and-over show, so, sorry, we can't let you in.” We found out that LP wasn't headlining until 11pm, so we had almost two hours to go back to the house and figure out a game plan.  We decided that Alyssa and I looked most similar, so I borrowed her ID for the night and memorized the information on it, just in case. The guy remembered me, which I was hoping wouldn't happen, but that's his job, I guess. He let me in, which was great, because on closer inspection, we don't look anything alike. I was just about to walk into the club when he was like “hey, hang on a sec,” and I was like “Oh no!” but then he said “Hey, I want to buy you a drink, for being so cool about this whole thing.” HA! 

 It was super cool to see LP perform live. I think she is a very good musician, as evidenced by the fact that I annoyed the heck out of my mod last year because I was constantly blasting her music. Sorry Emilie! She's got some SERIOUS pipes, though, I can't help it! And the place she was playing was a small venue, because she's not that popular yet, so we were able to be there with only about 80 people, so that was really cool as well.  

       Saturday was spent doing a whole lot of nothing. We went to the Mission so I could get a haircut at the cosmetology school. They did all right, but Allison Yoder is way better. Then we walked up and down Castro street, where I saw my first naked people. The people you see naked in public are never the people you want to see naked in public. They were old and saggy and very hairy. We had a late lunch at Cafe Flore, a nice little place at the intersection of Mission and Noe. I had mac and cheese, which may not sound like a big deal, but it was DELICIOUS. Nice cheese (not Velveeta) with breadcrumbs and BACON on top. Oh my gosh, it was tasty.

        In the evening, we went with the VSers to the East Bay, for a housewarming party for Emma, Rosanna, and Hannah, three girls from church who recently moved into North Oakland. Pretty much everyone from the young-adult group at church was there, which was really nice. We played a few games and talked about the election. It's coming up in a couple of days, and we're all a bit panicky. It's hard to accurately predict what's going to happen when you spend all your time in a little Democratic bubble, where everyone you know is like “Well, YEAH, of COURSE Obama will win, anyone with half a brain would vote for him!” But in reality, there are lots of people with whole brains who will vote for Romney. We'll see.

        Ben and I went to church with Alyssa on Sunday. I had brought a pair of heels from the house and packed them in my camera bag so that I could change from my Toms once we were in sight of the church. But once I got there, I realized that I only had one shoe in my bag! And I can't find it at home or at Ben's house, so my hypothesis is that somewhere in the Mission or Castro, there is a lone black size 6.5 high heel lying forlornly on the sidewalk. Too bad. I liked those shoes.

        After church, Ben and I hung out at Dolores Park, where I watched the dogs and took a nap. I also made a clover chain, which is something that I did almost every day during recess in second grade.  Then we went back to the house and he Skyped his parents while I read a book on the evolution of the English language and took another nap. Then he joined me and read his book while I took another nap. We cooked some supper, cleaned up, watched “Limitless” while giving backrubs, and then I headed for home. It was a nice, chill weekend.