Skip to content

Monthly Archives: July 2002

The Frequently Alluded-To Monkey Story Settles Down

Wednesday, July 31, 2002

I was at a zoo with my family, watching monkeys swing around in two big side-by-side cages. This was when I was very young.
I watched them do the usual monkey-things and make the usual monkey-noises for awhile. I really liked it of course, who wouldn’t have? Then one of the monkeys in [...]

Filed in Before | | Comments (1)

Easy

Monday, July 29, 2002

We joined Ingrid’s mom and a former student of her’s, a French teenager, for a big many-course dinner.
I was asked if I spoke French and I repeated my oft-used response, “I know enough to order one, two, three, or five croissants.” That’s a real crowd-pleaser. (The Spanish version by the way, effective only [...]

Filed in Before | | Comments (0)

My Dream Car

Saturday, July 27, 2002

This morning I was driving home in Ingrid’s car. My mind was still moving a little slowly – I was under-caffeinated. The next stoplight turned red. I flinched slightly as I released the gas pedal and eased my foot down onto the brake. I knew that the brakes were bad and [...]

Filed in Before | | Comments (0)

Sharp Edges

Friday, July 26, 2002

A long walk around the city and I’m almost home. I haven’t walked the edge off my mood as I’d hoped, I’ve just worn my body down. I take a good look at the sky when I get to the busy corner by the park. There’s a blanket of grey-orange tinted cloud [...]

Filed in Before | | Comments (2)

The Way Home

Monday, July 22, 2002

I flip through Harry Mathews’ The Way Home. (A book I bought three years ago at City Lights Bookstore on the first evening of my first real business trip. Victoria and I skipped our Silicon Valley hotel’s social hour, in favor of a good Italian meal in North Beach and the requisite stops [...]

Filed in Before | | Comments Off

All Before Dinner

Monday, July 22, 2002

I sat on the floor, running my eyes across the titles in John’s big CD collection, arranged in alphabetical order. I stopped when I noticed a sequence of five CDs that were sitting in the same order in my alphabetically arranged collection, four blocks away.

In the shade outside a coffee shop (a coffee shop [...]

Filed in Before | | Comments Off

The Bottom of a Well

Wednesday, July 17, 2002

While walking around today I came across a group of four year olds yelling into a wide grated manhole cover. There were three or four women standing in a half-circle behind them, smiling – the kids’ pre-school teachers I assume. I could hear one of the kids crying, but I couldn’t pick out right [...]

Filed in Before | | Comments Off

I Am Back Inside Now

Monday, July 15, 2002

I was reminded of the acrylic-cutters and the likely oft repeated, “Enjoy your acrylic,” comment last week while buying shorts and a t-shirt at Nordstrom Rack. (Or as I once heard it called in the elevator of an office building where I worked, The Rack. As in, “The Rack is getting a new [...]

Filed in Before | | Comments Off

I Am Locked Out

Monday, July 15, 2002

When I left my apartment this morning, I did two things simultaneously. I closed my door and realized that I didn’t have my keys with me. I do that a few times a year.
When I did this at an apartment I lived in six or seven years ago, I’d wait for my neighbor [...]

Filed in Before | | Comments Off

Homes

Sunday, July 14, 2002

I’m walking up from the waterfront late Sunday evening. I pass a man, he’s moving at a shuffling pace, blinking at everything with wide eyes, smiling openly.
He stops me, “Excuse me. Are you from here?”
“Yes.”
“Are those all homes?” He points up at two 15-floor box-shaped towers, the Harbor Steps buildings.
“Yes. They’re [...]

Filed in Before | | Comments Off