Epic. 

I travelled up to San Francisco for the big Decompression. I seem to remember going to a decom years ago. It was nothing compared to how awesome decom was this year! 

I got to travel up with my friends Ryan and Radhika. Better traveling companions, I couldn’t ask for. Obviously, the conversation driving up was brilliant. As we were driving up, our place to stay fell through. Luckily, our friend Doc hooked us up! He had a great guest room for all of us. Not only that, he ended up being the best possible navigator that we could possibly hope for.  I love SF, but, I always end up getting lost when I am trying to find anything. Doc was so much better than any GPS. And great company!

Some Adventures: 

We also kept running into Paul from Helios Jive!  We must have met him ten times over the weekend all over the city. 

We met an awesome friend of Radhika’s, Ashley! We broke her out of research hell and took her out on the town! 

As we drove into the city to the Decom, we got an awesome demonstration of the American Millatary Industrial Complex! The Blue Angels flew all over the city as we drove over the Bay Bridge. It was like a Michael Bay Movie. 

The Decom was incredible. I was totally impressed. Six blocks or so, a park, maybe six stages. But what I was impressed most with was the participation and turnout. People were lined up for blocks to get in!  It was incredible. We had a blast, saw old friends, made new ones. Fantastic. 

We closed down two late night burrito shops. Both times, the burritos were excellent. This is important. 

When searching for the afterparty, by chance, we were rolling down Valencia, when we heard a massive crash. Ryan was first on the scene.  It was a terrible accident. It was a grim reminder of how deadly cars really can be. Intense.  But the real trip was when we got into the car, Radhika got a message from her friend who she hadn’t talked to since Burning Man. On the message was just the sirens. The sirens we were hearing at that moment.  A description of one of the drivers fit her friend exactly! Holy crap!  Still don’t know how that turned out. If it was him, he was looking at a DWI. 

As we were leaving on the Bay Bridge, Angel Island was on fire. Interesting coincidence. 

And before we left, we had the best breakfast ever in Berkley. 

I had such a great time. I need to travel more. Much more.

Somehow it happens every year, people get back from Burning Man and they get sick. Some years it’s been nightmare bad. Some friends have gotten so sick they don’t ever go back.  I wasn’t sick until we finished that Denver Job, then as I was heading home, I started to feel those familiar sniffles and sore throat tickles that reminded me of years past. Last night, i woke myself up with coughing. Today I went to the Pharmacy and hooked up some Robitussin DM and Nightime (every time I taste it there are dissociative memories) and Tylenol PM.  Nothing short of explosions or orgies will wake me when that stuff kicks in (which could be any minute now, I just took it!

The thing about being sick really is that I just don’t have time for it. I have so much to do. I have too many plans, to waste some of my precious free time sleeping! I think that may be at the heart of the problem. When I am sick, it is this great excuse to slow down and lay down. But just like when I was a kid, the only time I want to be sick is when I am not having fun. Now, I have so much fun, being sick is a major bummer!

It’s on the way out. It’s like we come from this really toxic environment, and then we get back to this whole other kind of toxic environment and our bodies just have to cleanse.