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Call me Kawa; default to they/them pronouns, but relaxed about adherence.
Mid-30s. Pansexual. Polyamorous, an open-relationship-plus-comets model at the moment, anchor partner previously called 'Harriet' on this blog but I'll probably just use her actual name, Alexei, going forward. I used to be much more active in NYC queer and poly social spaces, especially pre-2020.
Generally identify as neurodivergent, somewhere adjacent to autistic without formal diagnosis. Have skin and allergy issues that make some foods hard, and know far too much about food science and culture to overcompensate. Generally identify as an ethical hedonist in a number of ways.
For a living, I'm an indie game producer and administrative manager. I help cool people make cool things, force them to organize their thoughts, and clear the runway for them to be creative and joyful. Day job for a big game that had a big Kickstarter; I'll call it F here, with bosses C (engineering and process) and D (art and vision). [I don't want people from that fandom finding this blog on random searches, but it's not a secret where I work.] Formerly did freelance work for Strange Scaffold on a variety of small games for various platforms. I also volunteer for a virtual conference, Roguelike Celebration.
New York City will always be home (and Queens in specific), but I'm actively working on immigrating to western Canada in the next few years, primarily because of Alexei. Splitting my time between the two now as best I can afford.
My past professional lives include adjunct math professor and spreadsheet jockey in social services. My past personal life includes multiple long-term relationships, including a past engagement, and a nontrivial amount of time in central Florida. I still have many friends and some family of origin in FL, and consider it an extra home in some ways; my relationship to family is complicated, not quite no-contact and continually evolving.
I was intensely fannish for much of my life; I feel a bit adrift from modern fandom, but still believe in its emotional and creative power. I used to participate in Yuletide, but really don't have the time for that nowadays. A short list of fandoms in roughly reverse chronological order: the Yakuza/Like a Dragon game series, blaseball (particularly SIBR), Disco Elysium, European football (primarily Bayern Munich), various 2000s-2010s anime (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Ghost in the Shell, some very specific Gundam series, other things lost to the mists of time).
This is mostly a personal blog about my life and emotional state. I read and lurk on my circles far far more than I remember to comment, and learn a lot from the diverse ways people live.
I'm relatively open to friending others who friend me. Since this is so much real life rambling, I take no hard feelings about the lack of comments or non-reciprocal subscriptions. Almost nothing is behind access list.
I welcome comments of any length unless otherwise stated in the post.
Please let me know before you link to posts, public or private. Not to stop you, just want to know where things are going!
thinking and doing
Nov. 9th, 2023 12:26 pmwork: It feels like both a challenge and a privilege, to take a team with talent but little experience and get them to where their ambitions take them.
Working from home is a general pleasure and has given me a lot of energy, even when it's isolating. it's how i've pulled off all the other big changes this year has had in it. i can feel myself unmasking in a neurodivergent sense.
home: i've spent most of this year cohabitating with alexei, and the vast majority of that in various apartments in canadian cities, that by definition were bigger and more modern than kawa arena.
i don't miss how much effort it actually took to live alone in an old, rent-stabilized apartment, where the laundry was half a block away and the dishes all had to be hand washed, where if you wanted a home cooked meal you needed to do both the cooking and the cleaning, and day-of to avoid vermin.
i am finally feeling more settled in our apartment in calgary, but many things are still being unpacked. i do miss how the sun looked from my old windows (and i really miss the floor-to-ceiling windows where we stayed in Burnaby, but is that also that I miss spring as a season?) i like how regularly i see magpies, which might be my favorite corvid.
i am adjusting better than i thought i would to the cold, but also we've had a stretch of warmer weather in early November. i am not sure how well i am adjusting to the shorter days, the early darkness.
i kind of miss my old supermarkets. it feels weird to be in a "nice" enough neighborhood where the closest supermarkets are focused on higher class and organic goods, compared to the cheap bins at the place near the subway in woodside. we can (and do) drive out to the other places, or i can get there by transit, but it's not as easy to get to.
i definitely miss having a regular social get-together where i was already established, and time keeps slipping as i try to find one here in calgary to start becoming established in. for example: there's one this weekend by a local mutual aid group, but it intersects poorly with the postmortem meeting for Roguelike Celebration. then in a week from that i'm already in Florida, and missing a fair number of interesting Calgary-local things while I'm there.
crafts:
i've folded a small variety of origami flowers and stars, to decide what kinds of things i'd like to make more of for the wedding. getting origami paper in quantity might become the actual issue, we will see.
i tried home printing our save-the-dates but the printer i have access to doesn't like making a variety of blue shades.
i've mended several socks and one pair of jeans. i have an order coming in for a large variety of embroidery floss to do even more mending.
some feelings:
i've had to be the responsible one/hold onto executive function a lot. This is true at work, as my colleagues hit the limits of their mental capacities. This is also true at home, in times when my partner has been sick or grieving (and there's been things to grieve this year). that's tiring.
overall, i am being asked to be hopeful and patient and well organized, and while these are attributes i have and value, it is still work to do them.
i want to look outwards more, get more integrated into the community and know people. i feel intimidated by trying to get involved in activism, even as that is one of the more obvious ways to do so. obviously there is a lot wrong with the world, and even specifically with Canada, and even more specifically with Alberta. i tend to be bad at being a witness to anger, even (especially?) when it is warrented. i realize the way to get better at that skill is to practice it; it is hard to actively choose to practice it.
growth, change
Oct. 31st, 2023 05:06 pmI proposed to Alexei near the end of our time in Vancouver, in early July.
I then promptly came back to NYC and worked on closing out my apartment, getting rid of things and partially filling the smallest PODS container with the precious things that were left.
I closed out the Arena in early October and came to Calgary, to a new apartment Alexei and I now cohabitate in. For Calgary, it's a decently walkable neighborhood close to transit, but there's still some adjustment.
In between:
* the road trip back from Vancouver to Calgary was incredibly stressful but rewarding
* I finally attended Calgary Stampede, which was fascinating
* I had a work trip in Toronto, stressful but worthwhile
* Alexei and I spent a week in Montreal, including me taking the train from NYC to Montreal
* two of my comets helped make sure I could go to a kink party in Queens as my 'bachelorx' party
* CA Thanksgiving
* ran Roguelike Celebration again
* the tiniest Halloween get together
The near future:
* continuing to settle into cohabitation, Bridgeland, Calgary, and Canada
* planning the wedding, deciding what things we'll DIY and not
* navigating work and immigration
* head to Florida around US Thanskgiving, meeting family, friends, and some touristy Orlando stuff
I want the time to get into all of this, and actually sort out how I'm feeling about many things. It's mostly positive feelings, but nevertheless it's worth actually putting in the work, and rooting out the negativity that is lingering there. Hopefully I'll get to do so.
I then promptly came back to NYC and worked on closing out my apartment, getting rid of things and partially filling the smallest PODS container with the precious things that were left.
I closed out the Arena in early October and came to Calgary, to a new apartment Alexei and I now cohabitate in. For Calgary, it's a decently walkable neighborhood close to transit, but there's still some adjustment.
In between:
* the road trip back from Vancouver to Calgary was incredibly stressful but rewarding
* I finally attended Calgary Stampede, which was fascinating
* I had a work trip in Toronto, stressful but worthwhile
* Alexei and I spent a week in Montreal, including me taking the train from NYC to Montreal
* two of my comets helped make sure I could go to a kink party in Queens as my 'bachelorx' party
* CA Thanksgiving
* ran Roguelike Celebration again
* the tiniest Halloween get together
The near future:
* continuing to settle into cohabitation, Bridgeland, Calgary, and Canada
* planning the wedding, deciding what things we'll DIY and not
* navigating work and immigration
* head to Florida around US Thanskgiving, meeting family, friends, and some touristy Orlando stuff
I want the time to get into all of this, and actually sort out how I'm feeling about many things. It's mostly positive feelings, but nevertheless it's worth actually putting in the work, and rooting out the negativity that is lingering there. Hopefully I'll get to do so.
where to live
Jun. 11th, 2023 07:34 pmI've been in the greater Vancouver area since early April, and will stay until early July, with a move within the region in two weeks. Alexei and I are doing this together as a 'test run' of both cohabitation and of specifically both moving together to this region. I'm surprised by how much I like Vancouver; I thought I would find it an insufficiently "big city" but that turned out to not be a concern. Burnaby, our current neighborhood, could have been *far* too suburban but we lucked into a place near many resources including the local train system. It remains to be seen if we can afford this long term, or if our next place (Mount Pleasant, closer to 'metro Vancouver proper') is a better or worse fit.
I still miss some things about New York, about the way my apartment was really mine, about feeling sufficiently connected to a place to give back to it and support it. I wanted to be there during the recent smog making DIY air purifiers and giving them away; I want to be supporting recent efforts at a community land trust in Astoria and Woodside. I don't miss my old city job but I miss the feeling that I was making a physical location better, and don't feel tied enough to Vancouver to start the process here - but I think I could get there, with time.
I think some of the flip side to that is the connection to Vancouver is much more about its natural resources, as opposed to its human ones. I'm doing a lot more hiking, taking ferries to Victoria and Nanaimo, searching for creatures in forests and marshes. Some of that is just that those are things Alexei likes doing, but some of it is just...that's what's available here to do, and it is fun and lovely in a different way, and it's interesting to learn to enjoy it more. And if I want a street of weird little businesses and bars and what not, I can just walk down Commercial Drive or Main Street, instead; hell, even the malls here are more interesting than I would have expected. (Shoutout to the arcade in Metrotown, full of extremely specific Japanese rhythm games.)
Cohabitating with Alexei turned out to be much, much more teneable than I ever thought it would be; it really has just been simple to rely on each other this way and figure out how to live in a space together. Pushing for that long term requires a number of leaps of faith, but it gets more and more tempting all the time to just go for them.
There's lots more to say, about the shifts in my career, about things that are challenging for Alexei right now (and thus the challenges of how to be a good partner amidst those things), about some specifics of things I've done in the last few months - but this feels like a good place to at least start posting again, start synthesizing all the changes that are happening.
I still miss some things about New York, about the way my apartment was really mine, about feeling sufficiently connected to a place to give back to it and support it. I wanted to be there during the recent smog making DIY air purifiers and giving them away; I want to be supporting recent efforts at a community land trust in Astoria and Woodside. I don't miss my old city job but I miss the feeling that I was making a physical location better, and don't feel tied enough to Vancouver to start the process here - but I think I could get there, with time.
I think some of the flip side to that is the connection to Vancouver is much more about its natural resources, as opposed to its human ones. I'm doing a lot more hiking, taking ferries to Victoria and Nanaimo, searching for creatures in forests and marshes. Some of that is just that those are things Alexei likes doing, but some of it is just...that's what's available here to do, and it is fun and lovely in a different way, and it's interesting to learn to enjoy it more. And if I want a street of weird little businesses and bars and what not, I can just walk down Commercial Drive or Main Street, instead; hell, even the malls here are more interesting than I would have expected. (Shoutout to the arcade in Metrotown, full of extremely specific Japanese rhythm games.)
Cohabitating with Alexei turned out to be much, much more teneable than I ever thought it would be; it really has just been simple to rely on each other this way and figure out how to live in a space together. Pushing for that long term requires a number of leaps of faith, but it gets more and more tempting all the time to just go for them.
There's lots more to say, about the shifts in my career, about things that are challenging for Alexei right now (and thus the challenges of how to be a good partner amidst those things), about some specifics of things I've done in the last few months - but this feels like a good place to at least start posting again, start synthesizing all the changes that are happening.
it's been too long
Jul. 28th, 2022 09:48 pmshort form of what's happened:
- long Harriet visit, late January through late March, punctuated by:
-- having to return to Canada for a funeral
-- an oddball little weekend in Coney Island
-- a more intentional weekend out in Nassau
-- classical music
- shorter visit in June
-- Bronx Zoo
-- Queens Pride
- GDC and some time in San Francisco after that
-- avoiding a lot of pitfalls
-- some really big successes
- a short trip up to Edmonton for me, May
- a lot less time with other constellation folks than i maybe would have guessed, in general
- but some important in-person time with other friends
- shipping Witch Strandings, growing the Scaffold teams
- big shifts in dayjob reporting
- trying and failing to get a new job
- letting go of things at roguelike celebration
- covid a few weeks ago (on my birthday no less!) and recovery from such
///
media:
- everything everywhere all at once
- rrr
- winter olympics, almost entirely figure skating
- eurovision
- new Iron Chef
- dracula daily
- polysecure
- candy freak
- plus a bunch of books half-read
- cozy grove
- slay the spire
- powerwash simulator
- stacklands
- halfhearted attempts at a bunch of mario spinoffs, somehow
- yakuza 0
- owning the Switch collector's edition of Disco Elysium
- continued clothes mending
- more cooking; instant pot + air fryer lid
///
future:
- belated birthday shindig sometime in august, maybe
- a job change, i hope. which might mean a move.
- roguelike celebration - preview sept 11, main oct 22-23
- florida in late november with Harriet???
- long Harriet visit, late January through late March, punctuated by:
-- having to return to Canada for a funeral
-- an oddball little weekend in Coney Island
-- a more intentional weekend out in Nassau
-- classical music
- shorter visit in June
-- Bronx Zoo
-- Queens Pride
- GDC and some time in San Francisco after that
-- avoiding a lot of pitfalls
-- some really big successes
- a short trip up to Edmonton for me, May
- a lot less time with other constellation folks than i maybe would have guessed, in general
- but some important in-person time with other friends
- shipping Witch Strandings, growing the Scaffold teams
- big shifts in dayjob reporting
- trying and failing to get a new job
- letting go of things at roguelike celebration
- covid a few weeks ago (on my birthday no less!) and recovery from such
///
media:
- everything everywhere all at once
- rrr
- winter olympics, almost entirely figure skating
- eurovision
- new Iron Chef
- dracula daily
- polysecure
- candy freak
- plus a bunch of books half-read
- cozy grove
- slay the spire
- powerwash simulator
- stacklands
- halfhearted attempts at a bunch of mario spinoffs, somehow
- yakuza 0
- owning the Switch collector's edition of Disco Elysium
- continued clothes mending
- more cooking; instant pot + air fryer lid
///
future:
- belated birthday shindig sometime in august, maybe
- a job change, i hope. which might mean a move.
- roguelike celebration - preview sept 11, main oct 22-23
- florida in late november with Harriet???
no clever title
Dec. 18th, 2021 10:51 amoh good lord so much happened
( Read more... )
Yeah. Yeah. Looking forward to the Great Unwinding, however that ends up looking. Hope you're well.
Footnotes:( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Yeah. Yeah. Looking forward to the Great Unwinding, however that ends up looking. Hope you're well.
Footnotes:( Read more... )
"change the universe - with meat!"[0]
Nov. 7th, 2021 10:02 amhello! so!
CW FOR DISCUSSION OF HOMELESSNESS (not my own, but relevant to my career) UNDER THIS CUT / UNTIL NEXT CAPS.( Read more... )
END CW FOR HOMELESSNESS. Let's talk about the rest of my life, which is going in very different directions.( Read more... )
footnotes that are as long as the actual post, sigh-( Read more... )
CW FOR DISCUSSION OF HOMELESSNESS (not my own, but relevant to my career) UNDER THIS CUT / UNTIL NEXT CAPS.( Read more... )
END CW FOR HOMELESSNESS. Let's talk about the rest of my life, which is going in very different directions.( Read more... )
footnotes that are as long as the actual post, sigh-( Read more... )
something [*] is about to happen
May. 3rd, 2021 08:43 pm* - not necessarily beautiful. but maybe. it is spring in new york, and soon to be summer, when i most come alive, and the city will come alive after a long hibernation, perhaps. maybe maybe maybe.
March was all the things I said it would be -
an experiment in cohabitation with PartnerBeast, the data is gathered and we will not be doing that long-term at this point. i am maybe still recovering from it emotionally, synthesizing what i've learned about myself, my concepts of home, and my relationships.
some strange virtual reunions in early march. not sure what to make of growing and changing away from what i'd started from. glad for it, but also disorienting to look backwards.
harriet having really tough family stuff going on. only so much i can do from afar, but we continue to overall be good for each other. i went excessive with white day gifts, totally worth it though.
more blaseball, and the development of my next big twine project, a reference desk of a kind, whichtool. pretty proud of this strange helpful thing existing.
//
and then April -
Disco Elysium: Final Cut came out March 30, most of the way through a blaseball "off season", and also I got sick (standard head cold) right around then, so I played an entire 40 hour run in uh, a week. still such an incredible game, and coming back to it mostly-fresh was wonderful.
partnerbeast had some apartment struggles that were incredibly emotionally exhausting to deal with. but we're making it through. it was also his birthday at the end of the month, which i think i helped make pretty damn good, collaborating on a huge gift, etc. he's working on some cool personal projects, as well. we've been dating five years now! that's wild.
the city slowly starts to reopen. we're going back to once a week in the office starting the week of may 17. i am...anxious but excited? i want the change of pace, i will miss the flexibility, i am deeply deeply privileged compared to my colleagues on things like "not having to worry about childcare" and "not being afraid to be on public transit". i am slowly training myself to wake up earlier again. we will see what the future holds.
harriet and i continue as we do. canada's vaccine rollout is A Problem. further family stress and work stress and health blargh on her side, but i do what i can for her. we had a good double date with friends, and tend to our communities and mutual friendships, we make space for intimacy as best we can, and persist and persist and persist.
///
and trying these notes in another format:
weekends -
mar 6-7: getting the second vaccine, mostly
mar 13-14 (Library): friday night with [-----] in williamsburg - bushwick country club, noods n chill, freehold observing others drinking out of disco balls. david's brisket, i think? i literally don't remember which is kinda disconcerting
mar 20-21: first benfaremo of the year, and assorted other jackson heights-ish wanderings.
mar 27-28 (Library): brooklyn botanical gardens, hinterlands. dinner with the beastparents, fancy Korean (her name is han).
apr 3-4: sick.
apr 10-11: solo weekend, now more intentional - sunnyside, soto la stelle for fancy pizza, thrifting.
apr 17-18: soho art galleries, chinatown and financial district. sunday solo.
apr 24-25: red hook somtum der, bars, piers, and ice cream. fixing things, allan's delivers currant rolls.
may 1-2: mmuseumm, wok wok, chinatown ice cream factory, *shoreline* jersey city, ani ramen with [redacted], pint. prospect park, ballfields red hook, ikea (failed search for blahaj.)
///
again, may brings the return to the office, and possibly something about the strange opportunity that i brought up back in january. (maybe. who knows.) possibly planning for harriet's next visit? and roguelike celebration prep will get more intense from here, with the CFP being published soon.
i'm tired a lot, lately. my skin has enjoyed complaining a lot, some of which is probably my own damn fault, but still, unpleasant. i really need to get around to doing all the health stuff i punted during quarantine, but also my health insurance is currently kind of annoying about specialists and i can't fix that until october. bluh.
beyond usual blaseball blathering, i picked up the new pokemon snap game, which i am not great at but is cute and fun.
///
may 8-9: possibly yet another art gallery, chelsea this time. it's mothers day but i do not think i will hang with beastmom, i think i need a break.
may 15-16: ??? i think we are hoping to release the celebration cfp sometime around here
may 22-23: close to harriet's birthday but distance is what it is. nevertheless.
may 29-31 (memorial day): the beasts have invited me for fancy sushi in new jersey, but otherwise no real plans.
March was all the things I said it would be -
an experiment in cohabitation with PartnerBeast, the data is gathered and we will not be doing that long-term at this point. i am maybe still recovering from it emotionally, synthesizing what i've learned about myself, my concepts of home, and my relationships.
some strange virtual reunions in early march. not sure what to make of growing and changing away from what i'd started from. glad for it, but also disorienting to look backwards.
harriet having really tough family stuff going on. only so much i can do from afar, but we continue to overall be good for each other. i went excessive with white day gifts, totally worth it though.
more blaseball, and the development of my next big twine project, a reference desk of a kind, whichtool. pretty proud of this strange helpful thing existing.
//
and then April -
Disco Elysium: Final Cut came out March 30, most of the way through a blaseball "off season", and also I got sick (standard head cold) right around then, so I played an entire 40 hour run in uh, a week. still such an incredible game, and coming back to it mostly-fresh was wonderful.
partnerbeast had some apartment struggles that were incredibly emotionally exhausting to deal with. but we're making it through. it was also his birthday at the end of the month, which i think i helped make pretty damn good, collaborating on a huge gift, etc. he's working on some cool personal projects, as well. we've been dating five years now! that's wild.
the city slowly starts to reopen. we're going back to once a week in the office starting the week of may 17. i am...anxious but excited? i want the change of pace, i will miss the flexibility, i am deeply deeply privileged compared to my colleagues on things like "not having to worry about childcare" and "not being afraid to be on public transit". i am slowly training myself to wake up earlier again. we will see what the future holds.
harriet and i continue as we do. canada's vaccine rollout is A Problem. further family stress and work stress and health blargh on her side, but i do what i can for her. we had a good double date with friends, and tend to our communities and mutual friendships, we make space for intimacy as best we can, and persist and persist and persist.
///
and trying these notes in another format:
weekends -
mar 6-7: getting the second vaccine, mostly
mar 13-14 (Library): friday night with [-----] in williamsburg - bushwick country club, noods n chill, freehold observing others drinking out of disco balls. david's brisket, i think? i literally don't remember which is kinda disconcerting
mar 20-21: first benfaremo of the year, and assorted other jackson heights-ish wanderings.
mar 27-28 (Library): brooklyn botanical gardens, hinterlands. dinner with the beastparents, fancy Korean (her name is han).
apr 3-4: sick.
apr 10-11: solo weekend, now more intentional - sunnyside, soto la stelle for fancy pizza, thrifting.
apr 17-18: soho art galleries, chinatown and financial district. sunday solo.
apr 24-25: red hook somtum der, bars, piers, and ice cream. fixing things, allan's delivers currant rolls.
may 1-2: mmuseumm, wok wok, chinatown ice cream factory, *shoreline* jersey city, ani ramen with [redacted], pint. prospect park, ballfields red hook, ikea (failed search for blahaj.)
///
again, may brings the return to the office, and possibly something about the strange opportunity that i brought up back in january. (maybe. who knows.) possibly planning for harriet's next visit? and roguelike celebration prep will get more intense from here, with the CFP being published soon.
i'm tired a lot, lately. my skin has enjoyed complaining a lot, some of which is probably my own damn fault, but still, unpleasant. i really need to get around to doing all the health stuff i punted during quarantine, but also my health insurance is currently kind of annoying about specialists and i can't fix that until october. bluh.
beyond usual blaseball blathering, i picked up the new pokemon snap game, which i am not great at but is cute and fun.
///
may 8-9: possibly yet another art gallery, chelsea this time. it's mothers day but i do not think i will hang with beastmom, i think i need a break.
may 15-16: ??? i think we are hoping to release the celebration cfp sometime around here
may 22-23: close to harriet's birthday but distance is what it is. nevertheless.
may 29-31 (memorial day): the beasts have invited me for fancy sushi in new jersey, but otherwise no real plans.
alive, alive
Feb. 26th, 2021 09:23 pmyeah, i dropped off the face of the planet there
so some catching up:
may: finally seeing partnerbeast in person again. outdoor dining opening up. daily work on the Twine game, as well as a comic + fanfic retelling the beginning of *Disco Elysium*. tending deeply to my fan server. worrying some folks wouldn't make it, mentally. some attempts at a pathfinder game with the florida crew. Roguelike Celebration work, figuring out who we want to invite to speak. a lot of sitting on my fire escape. harriet's birthday, documentation for a project of hers. hotel census project at work. the bundesliga is the first european league to come back, which means for a brief week even my very American coworkers know Bayern exists.
june: the protests, of course. walking to astoria park wearing sunglasses and partnerbeast's info written on my inner calf. relatedly, the start of 'heartchat', a polycule group chat. partnerbeast and me in front of city hall with not enough city workers. worrying i'd lose my job due to budget cuts. releasing the Twine game. watching people leave the server due to discomfort with how DE intersects with cop narratives. (it's complicated.) roguelike work was all about the CFP at this point and speaker outreach.
july: my birthday, the Most Kawa of Servers. some people don't show up. others do. lots of gifts. help partnerbeast build some bookshelves. colossus of new york. roguelike work: speaker outreach, some mud development. starting watching The Untamed with a polycule I'm on friendly terms with.
august: i think this is roughly when i get switched to a different boss, who is...honestly not as great at being a boss. oh well. ramping up mud dev for roguelike celebration, a minimum viable preview event. harriet visits. lots of feeligns there. stereo weekend. get into blaseball. second chapter of my big kink-focused DE fic, after months of not making progress with it.
september: celebration and blaseball, blaseball and celebration. a whirlwind of spreadsheets on both sides. the pathfinder game is winding down. polyamory is hard, but we're making it. 20020. work is deeply, deeply confusing.
october: roguelike celebration, a huge and wild success. blaseball's finale for the moment, and my invitation to the SIBR council. a halloween party that ends up going awry (somehow i don't get sick. somehow that is a miracle, even with precautions taken by most people involved.) partnerbeast as the protagonist to my kim kitsuragi. learning backgammon.
november: the election. thanksgiving with the beasts. "that's nietzche!" blaseball "coffee cup", the creation of my 'child' bob e. cagayan. don't remember much else???
december: another harriet visit, shorter. all quarantined, because the rules had changed in those last few months. my first real christmas tree at the Arena, and so so so many cards sent. tons of origami ornaments. partnerbeast visits near the end. horrible stuff happens to my apartment.
january: decide not to drink until valentine's day. the failed coup. fixing the apartment stuff. a weird opportunity comes my way. harriet was supposed to visit in february but we end up cancelling, between my apartment stuff and her moving across the province for Reasons. another time at the beasts' in new jersey getting fed almost too much.
february: valentines, harriet's and my one year anniversary. making excuses for separate city adventures, piles of really good gifts. my first covid pod shift, helping people get vaccinated, my own first dose. plus a shift specifically for homeless services. so much fucking snow. candide. the war nerd's translation of the iliad.
that leads us to this point.
march has upcoming my second covid vaccine, the return of Disco Elysium and of blaseball, and a big experiment partnerbeast and i are doing. i have more of those pod shifts in april. it's possible the vaccine will mean i can travel in ways i couldn't before.
so some catching up:
may: finally seeing partnerbeast in person again. outdoor dining opening up. daily work on the Twine game, as well as a comic + fanfic retelling the beginning of *Disco Elysium*. tending deeply to my fan server. worrying some folks wouldn't make it, mentally. some attempts at a pathfinder game with the florida crew. Roguelike Celebration work, figuring out who we want to invite to speak. a lot of sitting on my fire escape. harriet's birthday, documentation for a project of hers. hotel census project at work. the bundesliga is the first european league to come back, which means for a brief week even my very American coworkers know Bayern exists.
june: the protests, of course. walking to astoria park wearing sunglasses and partnerbeast's info written on my inner calf. relatedly, the start of 'heartchat', a polycule group chat. partnerbeast and me in front of city hall with not enough city workers. worrying i'd lose my job due to budget cuts. releasing the Twine game. watching people leave the server due to discomfort with how DE intersects with cop narratives. (it's complicated.) roguelike work was all about the CFP at this point and speaker outreach.
july: my birthday, the Most Kawa of Servers. some people don't show up. others do. lots of gifts. help partnerbeast build some bookshelves. colossus of new york. roguelike work: speaker outreach, some mud development. starting watching The Untamed with a polycule I'm on friendly terms with.
august: i think this is roughly when i get switched to a different boss, who is...honestly not as great at being a boss. oh well. ramping up mud dev for roguelike celebration, a minimum viable preview event. harriet visits. lots of feeligns there. stereo weekend. get into blaseball. second chapter of my big kink-focused DE fic, after months of not making progress with it.
september: celebration and blaseball, blaseball and celebration. a whirlwind of spreadsheets on both sides. the pathfinder game is winding down. polyamory is hard, but we're making it. 20020. work is deeply, deeply confusing.
october: roguelike celebration, a huge and wild success. blaseball's finale for the moment, and my invitation to the SIBR council. a halloween party that ends up going awry (somehow i don't get sick. somehow that is a miracle, even with precautions taken by most people involved.) partnerbeast as the protagonist to my kim kitsuragi. learning backgammon.
november: the election. thanksgiving with the beasts. "that's nietzche!" blaseball "coffee cup", the creation of my 'child' bob e. cagayan. don't remember much else???
december: another harriet visit, shorter. all quarantined, because the rules had changed in those last few months. my first real christmas tree at the Arena, and so so so many cards sent. tons of origami ornaments. partnerbeast visits near the end. horrible stuff happens to my apartment.
january: decide not to drink until valentine's day. the failed coup. fixing the apartment stuff. a weird opportunity comes my way. harriet was supposed to visit in february but we end up cancelling, between my apartment stuff and her moving across the province for Reasons. another time at the beasts' in new jersey getting fed almost too much.
february: valentines, harriet's and my one year anniversary. making excuses for separate city adventures, piles of really good gifts. my first covid pod shift, helping people get vaccinated, my own first dose. plus a shift specifically for homeless services. so much fucking snow. candide. the war nerd's translation of the iliad.
that leads us to this point.
march has upcoming my second covid vaccine, the return of Disco Elysium and of blaseball, and a big experiment partnerbeast and i are doing. i have more of those pod shifts in april. it's possible the vaccine will mean i can travel in ways i couldn't before.
thinking back on april 2020
Nov. 3rd, 2020 07:04 pmAfter a heart-stopping week where it looked like it might not happen, I did end up starting my job after all, on April 13. I decided to start with nonbinary pronouns at work with mixed results; it took a while for all the technology to be set up for me; then I dove into my first big project, with weird political implications. But at least one of my bosses got the Pronoun Thing, and I enjoyed the new challenge, even with how tough it was to do and how unprepared everyone was for onboarding someone during a plague.
It meant briefly going into Manhattan for the first time since the plague started, and it was strange to see things so empty, so deserted. This was before proper outdoor dining got approved, so yes, all very odd.
For PartnerBeast's birthday I remotely ordered a bunch of food and arranged a small Discord get together, which worked out pretty nicely. We weren't ready to see each other in person yet though, and I remember that being very strange.
Similarly, Harriet and I started what's now become a tradition of weekly date nights, where we cook the same thing and chat on video, maybe do Some Other Thing, and then maybe turn it into something sexy. It's become a cornerstone of like...making it through all of this. And that's important.
I also got a lot of work done on the Twine game, and started doing some work for Roguelike Celebration 2020 - more on those in future month posts.
It meant briefly going into Manhattan for the first time since the plague started, and it was strange to see things so empty, so deserted. This was before proper outdoor dining got approved, so yes, all very odd.
For PartnerBeast's birthday I remotely ordered a bunch of food and arranged a small Discord get together, which worked out pretty nicely. We weren't ready to see each other in person yet though, and I remember that being very strange.
Similarly, Harriet and I started what's now become a tradition of weekly date nights, where we cook the same thing and chat on video, maybe do Some Other Thing, and then maybe turn it into something sexy. It's become a cornerstone of like...making it through all of this. And that's important.
I also got a lot of work done on the Twine game, and started doing some work for Roguelike Celebration 2020 - more on those in future month posts.
in the midst of it all
Nov. 1st, 2020 08:05 pmhello hello, yes, despite dropping the monthly posting i continue to persist.
the strange part is, despite 2020 being globally awful, I've actually had a lot of wins personally. a new job in a new industry, that survived despite itself, that is even thriving in its weird way; deeply moving, meaningful relationships; creative projects that have given me a lot of joy; and tending to communities that have helped me weather these storms.
so i'd like to write some about it.
let's call it the "Kawa's Some Writing Month", to contrast with the intensity of NaNoWriMo. Write *something* each day, with the goal being progress in all of these by the end of the month:
Stating that I'm trying this is enough for me for now, today. Let's see what happens.
the strange part is, despite 2020 being globally awful, I've actually had a lot of wins personally. a new job in a new industry, that survived despite itself, that is even thriving in its weird way; deeply moving, meaningful relationships; creative projects that have given me a lot of joy; and tending to communities that have helped me weather these storms.
so i'd like to write some about it.
let's call it the "Kawa's Some Writing Month", to contrast with the intensity of NaNoWriMo. Write *something* each day, with the goal being progress in all of these by the end of the month:
- Recreating monthly posts that I should have made between May 2020 and now, with a bonus of prepping for my end-of-year document
- Continuing my long, kink-exploring fanfic, with a bonus of picking up other WIPs I've lost
- Also a strange worldbuilding exercise with the PartnerBeast
- Also compiling my thoughts/feelings on custom skill generation in Disco Elysium as well, because why not
- A transparency report for Roguelike Celebration 2020
- Maybe other RC2020 retrospective documentation?
- Writing up personal journaling that won't be shared here, like say, responses to the exercises in The Ethical Slut or other things of that sort
Stating that I'm trying this is enough for me for now, today. Let's see what happens.
lots of stories. no energy to tell them.
Mar. 30th, 2020 11:58 pmalive.
between jobs. last day at old job was March 6. no idea if or how my new job, scheduled to start April 6, will go as planned or not. people were kind. burnout was hard.
traveled March 10-19: Chicago, then Amtrak to San Francisco, then just San Francisco. With Harriet, who is absolutely fantastic and lovely and a great travel companion. strange times. first multi-day train ride, which was honestly pretty wonderful. Saw my Chicago-based comet but not my San Francisco-based one because of everything, which is tragic.
my discord community continues to be a delight. writing is harder and i lost my groove but i'm trying to get back into it. turning one of my fanfics interactive with twine, with Harriet doing the work of making it look like Disco Elysium, which is a little exhausting but also super great.
roundguard is a cute little peggle-y game. sayonara wild hearts is a beautiful music game that is fascinatingly forgiving in a very modern-feeling way.
( directly on covid )
between jobs. last day at old job was March 6. no idea if or how my new job, scheduled to start April 6, will go as planned or not. people were kind. burnout was hard.
traveled March 10-19: Chicago, then Amtrak to San Francisco, then just San Francisco. With Harriet, who is absolutely fantastic and lovely and a great travel companion. strange times. first multi-day train ride, which was honestly pretty wonderful. Saw my Chicago-based comet but not my San Francisco-based one because of everything, which is tragic.
my discord community continues to be a delight. writing is harder and i lost my groove but i'm trying to get back into it. turning one of my fanfics interactive with twine, with Harriet doing the work of making it look like Disco Elysium, which is a little exhausting but also super great.
roundguard is a cute little peggle-y game. sayonara wild hearts is a beautiful music game that is fascinatingly forgiving in a very modern-feeling way.
( directly on covid )
So, uh, the last month and a half, huh.
I did find a group of people to yell with about Disco Elysium, and I can confidently say it's already changed my life. I'm running what amounts to a medium-sized international commune powered by love and fandom - a Discord server full of people's personal stories and emotional support. I'm writing fanfic again for the first time in years - have a couple of large things planned, and some smaller smut - and really, seriously, building up a daily writing habit.
And uh, said server was made by a girl I'd already had a crush on from roguelike stuff. Which became a blubbering confession from me...this week. Which became a *thing*. So uh, I have a girlfriend now? Who lives in Canada? !!! Let's call her Harriet here, a joke that works on a few levels, heh.
I also got the offer for my new job! And I am taking it - no weaseling. I feel ready and relieved for a change in my life. I'm taking March between jobs to just take it easy, which I think will be really good for me. <3
Busy time lately - about to head to the PartnerBeast's for Valentine's - will fill in more details later.
I did find a group of people to yell with about Disco Elysium, and I can confidently say it's already changed my life. I'm running what amounts to a medium-sized international commune powered by love and fandom - a Discord server full of people's personal stories and emotional support. I'm writing fanfic again for the first time in years - have a couple of large things planned, and some smaller smut - and really, seriously, building up a daily writing habit.
And uh, said server was made by a girl I'd already had a crush on from roguelike stuff. Which became a blubbering confession from me...this week. Which became a *thing*. So uh, I have a girlfriend now? Who lives in Canada? !!! Let's call her Harriet here, a joke that works on a few levels, heh.
I also got the offer for my new job! And I am taking it - no weaseling. I feel ready and relieved for a change in my life. I'm taking March between jobs to just take it easy, which I think will be really good for me. <3
Busy time lately - about to head to the PartnerBeast's for Valentine's - will fill in more details later.
have a lie-down, you look like you need it
Jan. 8th, 2020 03:26 pmIt took a third session, but as far as I can tell, the vermin are really and truly gone.
It was not the last bad thing to happen to me in 2019. I'm still recovering from a number of health issues. I think I'm also recovering from the emotional traumas of 2019 (and some par-for-the-course seasonal-ish depression too), which is not easy from where I am but damn it I'm trying.
Plenty of good happened too - holiday parties connecting with people, glorious art (my friend's art show, games worth playing[0]), strange coincidences.[1]
I managed to fit in many of my Christmas-ish traditions: holiday markets visited, rumballs made, cards sent. I didn't get much in return, but what I did get matters quite a bit to me and will hopefully last me a very long time - a new phone, the nicest boots I've ever owned, some beautiful art.
I've got a remarkably social month coming up, including finally hosting games at my apartment, so that's exciting.
Still haven't gotten tickets to the Philippines trip, because of some other things up in the air at the moment. I don't know what to expect from the future, which is kind of scary (and brings in fears of repeats of much of 2019), but again. I'm trying.
Hopefully soon, joy. Hopefully soon, rest.
///
[0] Someone else who has finished it, please, yell with me about Disco Elysium. I have SO MANY FEELINGS. Also I forgot to mention that I played Thimbleweed Park over my Thanksgiving break and that was fabulous.
[1] As it turns out, a particular liqueur I loved in Florida that I couldn't find in New York is sold in New Jersey - in fact, at the bottle store my partner's parents favor. It's in my fridge now and I love it immensely.
It was not the last bad thing to happen to me in 2019. I'm still recovering from a number of health issues. I think I'm also recovering from the emotional traumas of 2019 (and some par-for-the-course seasonal-ish depression too), which is not easy from where I am but damn it I'm trying.
Plenty of good happened too - holiday parties connecting with people, glorious art (my friend's art show, games worth playing[0]), strange coincidences.[1]
I managed to fit in many of my Christmas-ish traditions: holiday markets visited, rumballs made, cards sent. I didn't get much in return, but what I did get matters quite a bit to me and will hopefully last me a very long time - a new phone, the nicest boots I've ever owned, some beautiful art.
I've got a remarkably social month coming up, including finally hosting games at my apartment, so that's exciting.
Still haven't gotten tickets to the Philippines trip, because of some other things up in the air at the moment. I don't know what to expect from the future, which is kind of scary (and brings in fears of repeats of much of 2019), but again. I'm trying.
Hopefully soon, joy. Hopefully soon, rest.
///
[0] Someone else who has finished it, please, yell with me about Disco Elysium. I have SO MANY FEELINGS. Also I forgot to mention that I played Thimbleweed Park over my Thanksgiving break and that was fabulous.
[1] As it turns out, a particular liqueur I loved in Florida that I couldn't find in New York is sold in New Jersey - in fact, at the bottle store my partner's parents favor. It's in my fridge now and I love it immensely.
Weekends 2020
Dec. 6th, 2019 10:46 amTBH since I've gotten so reliant on Google Calendar this is probably moot but whatever
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( Read more... )
at the knife point
Nov. 30th, 2019 12:13 amcw: death, vermin. These aren't the only calamities, but probably the ones I should warn for.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
and through and through
Nov. 3rd, 2019 10:01 amI didn't really go into details here like I hoped, but my vacation was delightful. I managed to get the rest I wanted, the exploration I wanted, the culture I (generally) wanted, the touch I craved, the artistic stimulation I adored. I brought my film camera and took one roll of color shots in some Seattle tourist spots and another roll in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach. I brought my laptop and prepped for then gave a talk about roguelike culture. I ate and drank and shopped pretty well, read a few books and went to a pretty good electronica show! I saw dear friends and comets and made new friends that I'm still corresponding with!
The landing afterwards was a bit rough, and not just because I was stuck on a cross-country plane with a faulty in-flight entertainment system, a stressed out cat behind me, and multiple crying babies. Work got really stressful in ways I'm still digging out of, much of which was my own fault; basically, I haven't been quite up to standard, because my stressed out brain has been in the way for much of the year. I'm working on fixing it but it's hard to stay focused, aka my eternal dilemma. :/ I am very low key looking for different work, probably still using my data analysis skill set, but other than one interview (on Halloween, no less!) haven't been taking it super seriously.
I really do want to keep up the energy from Roguelike Celebration. (Getting paid to research procedural generation culture would be The Dream, but I'm really doubtful I'll be able to pull that off anytime soon.) I've put a lot more into my bot (and of course its Mastodon mirror) than I had before, and I want to add a bit to it each day for ProcJam. As I said, I'm still corresponding with people I met then, and even went to a local event which was weird and cool. I'll hopefully start doing more with my less-personal blog![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kawatan but we'll see.
Tagalog class is almost over - there's two classes left - and I feel...weird? I dunno. It's one long class a week, so it's hard to feel like I'm making consistent progress. It's also a very explicitly political class, which on the one hand is kinda neat and on the other feels like it's in the way of working on the linguistic fluidity I want and hope for. But I will acknowledge the resources I've gotten from the class, both in terms of "here's a pile of vocab and some notes on how this actually plays out in the culture" and "did you know there's actually Fil-Am political organizations in NYC working their asses off in the grassroots?" is pretty valuable, so maybe that's enough for now. I still need to find actually-Tagalog (as opposed to primarily Taglish) resources I actually want to listen to, which is hard considering how picky I am with cultural objects in English! But that'll take time, I guess.
My mom also visited for a few days, which added to the stress, but it was thankfully quick and I was out of the Arena for most of it. I'll be visiting my parents (and friends) in Florida in a few weeks - I leave a full week before Thanksgiving and fly back Thanksgiving Day, which should give me time to see everyone, decompress a bit, enjoy the sunlight/warmth/humidity, and leave before the combination of parents and suburbia gets too much.
The PartnerBeast has been a champion at helping with all the stress, and is the best. <3 We've done our share of exploring as usual since I've been back, through Williamsburg and Forest Hills, and are considering formalizing our exploring specifically by looking at Thai restaurants in the city. More details as that develops.
PartnerBeast and I have been taking a break from our story game group, which is a bit of a shame, but I recognize it's at least partly a burnout prevention strategy. I'd really love to host a game at the Arena, either with PB running or something GM-lite I could facilitate, but that requires steady people to play with, which is always a concern. I did get to play Dungeons and Dragons for the first time in years (and Fifth Edition for the first time ever) while in Seattle, which was wildly fun!
Hope you're well, friends. <3
The landing afterwards was a bit rough, and not just because I was stuck on a cross-country plane with a faulty in-flight entertainment system, a stressed out cat behind me, and multiple crying babies. Work got really stressful in ways I'm still digging out of, much of which was my own fault; basically, I haven't been quite up to standard, because my stressed out brain has been in the way for much of the year. I'm working on fixing it but it's hard to stay focused, aka my eternal dilemma. :/ I am very low key looking for different work, probably still using my data analysis skill set, but other than one interview (on Halloween, no less!) haven't been taking it super seriously.
I really do want to keep up the energy from Roguelike Celebration. (Getting paid to research procedural generation culture would be The Dream, but I'm really doubtful I'll be able to pull that off anytime soon.) I've put a lot more into my bot (and of course its Mastodon mirror) than I had before, and I want to add a bit to it each day for ProcJam. As I said, I'm still corresponding with people I met then, and even went to a local event which was weird and cool. I'll hopefully start doing more with my less-personal blog
kawatan but we'll see. Tagalog class is almost over - there's two classes left - and I feel...weird? I dunno. It's one long class a week, so it's hard to feel like I'm making consistent progress. It's also a very explicitly political class, which on the one hand is kinda neat and on the other feels like it's in the way of working on the linguistic fluidity I want and hope for. But I will acknowledge the resources I've gotten from the class, both in terms of "here's a pile of vocab and some notes on how this actually plays out in the culture" and "did you know there's actually Fil-Am political organizations in NYC working their asses off in the grassroots?" is pretty valuable, so maybe that's enough for now. I still need to find actually-Tagalog (as opposed to primarily Taglish) resources I actually want to listen to, which is hard considering how picky I am with cultural objects in English! But that'll take time, I guess.
My mom also visited for a few days, which added to the stress, but it was thankfully quick and I was out of the Arena for most of it. I'll be visiting my parents (and friends) in Florida in a few weeks - I leave a full week before Thanksgiving and fly back Thanksgiving Day, which should give me time to see everyone, decompress a bit, enjoy the sunlight/warmth/humidity, and leave before the combination of parents and suburbia gets too much.
The PartnerBeast has been a champion at helping with all the stress, and is the best. <3 We've done our share of exploring as usual since I've been back, through Williamsburg and Forest Hills, and are considering formalizing our exploring specifically by looking at Thai restaurants in the city. More details as that develops.
PartnerBeast and I have been taking a break from our story game group, which is a bit of a shame, but I recognize it's at least partly a burnout prevention strategy. I'd really love to host a game at the Arena, either with PB running or something GM-lite I could facilitate, but that requires steady people to play with, which is always a concern. I did get to play Dungeons and Dragons for the first time in years (and Fifth Edition for the first time ever) while in Seattle, which was wildly fun!
Hope you're well, friends. <3
9/29 I treated Capitol Hill like I was on a writer's retreat and worked on my talk
9/30 I went back to Pike Place Market then to the Space Needle and took photos with my film camera, and then was the lady failing to be classy alone at the seafood joint
10/1 I watched Bayern thrash Tottenham at George and Dragon in Fremont, the Morrisey concert was cancelled so I went to a much cooler one at Chop Suey and now I like Blanck Mass
10/2 I ate Vietnamese food in a Seattle suburb, flew to San Francisco, and ate at Kenji Lopez-Alt's incredibly good restaurant Wursthall with my comet P
10/3 I had a Mission burrito at FiveThirtyEight's winning burrito-selling establishment and walked through the Mission, Yerba Buena Gardens, and North Beach
10/4 I thrifted very successfully on Haight St (and got some zines) and went to the RogueCel preparty and flirted a bunch
10/5 RogueCel day 1 and cool talks and great drinks and karaoke
10/6 RogueCel day 2, my talk, RogueCel post-party, a new crush maybe
10/7 SF Botanical Garden and Ocean Beach
10/8 flying home (currently in progress)
10/9 maybe lunch with the PartnerBeast if I beat jetlag successfully, dinner with comet J
PHEW!
and after:
10/10 back to work and a test in Tagalog class
10/11 more work and therapy
10/12 more therapy and meeting friends of the RRS
10/13 more PartnerBeast time
10/14 work and Poly Cocktails
10/15 work and game night
and life will go on as it does.
9/30 I went back to Pike Place Market then to the Space Needle and took photos with my film camera, and then was the lady failing to be classy alone at the seafood joint
10/1 I watched Bayern thrash Tottenham at George and Dragon in Fremont, the Morrisey concert was cancelled so I went to a much cooler one at Chop Suey and now I like Blanck Mass
10/2 I ate Vietnamese food in a Seattle suburb, flew to San Francisco, and ate at Kenji Lopez-Alt's incredibly good restaurant Wursthall with my comet P
10/3 I had a Mission burrito at FiveThirtyEight's winning burrito-selling establishment and walked through the Mission, Yerba Buena Gardens, and North Beach
10/4 I thrifted very successfully on Haight St (and got some zines) and went to the RogueCel preparty and flirted a bunch
10/5 RogueCel day 1 and cool talks and great drinks and karaoke
10/6 RogueCel day 2, my talk, RogueCel post-party, a new crush maybe
10/7 SF Botanical Garden and Ocean Beach
10/8 flying home (currently in progress)
10/9 maybe lunch with the PartnerBeast if I beat jetlag successfully, dinner with comet J
PHEW!
and after:
10/10 back to work and a test in Tagalog class
10/11 more work and therapy
10/12 more therapy and meeting friends of the RRS
10/13 more PartnerBeast time
10/14 work and Poly Cocktails
10/15 work and game night
and life will go on as it does.
Seattle days 3 and 4.a
Sep. 29th, 2019 01:30 amI'm behind, and I'm doing this while *very* tired, so I'm just going to list a bunch of places/prompts for myself.
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No major plans Sunday; might head to Queen Anne, or just stay in Capitol Hill and do serious work on my talk and such.
Monday I have a sunset-ish ticket for the Space Needle; I plan to spend the morning in Pike Place or other parts of the tourist areas.
Tuesday I want to go back to George and Dragon for the Bayern vs. Spurs game, and see Morrisey and Interpol at CenturyLink that evening, but have no idea how I'll spend my time in between (and honestly going back to the AirBNB and doing work/laundry might be my best bet).
Wednesday is my flight - I plan to pack, take the Light Rail to Othello St for lunch, then fly to SFO...in time to get dinner at Wursthall in San Mateo!
( Read more... )
No major plans Sunday; might head to Queen Anne, or just stay in Capitol Hill and do serious work on my talk and such.
Monday I have a sunset-ish ticket for the Space Needle; I plan to spend the morning in Pike Place or other parts of the tourist areas.
Tuesday I want to go back to George and Dragon for the Bayern vs. Spurs game, and see Morrisey and Interpol at CenturyLink that evening, but have no idea how I'll spend my time in between (and honestly going back to the AirBNB and doing work/laundry might be my best bet).
Wednesday is my flight - I plan to pack, take the Light Rail to Othello St for lunch, then fly to SFO...in time to get dinner at Wursthall in San Mateo!
