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"The Unraveling Storms" posted August 3, 2004 at 01:06 PM

This entry was going to be called The Gathering Storms, and it was to limn pictures of Zazas Under The Thumb--me in New York under the threat of Terror, and Mom and Dad in North Carolina under the threat of Hurricane Alex. But it seems the intel on the terror threat turns out to be a few years old and the government just wants to scare me. Well, it's true, I am scared--of a government that provokes fear in its people for political gain. Similarly, and more happily, Hurricane Alex seems to have even less teeth than Tom Ridge. Wilmington may get a dusting of tropical storms, but then Alex heads out to sea. Good riddance--I wish it would take Bush and his Cabinet of Fear with it.

Speaking of the weather, I went to San Francisco this weekend. My dear old friend Michael Poremba finally married his long-time lady Anna Moniuszko. San Francisco was a wonderful retreat out of the heat and smelliness of midsummer New York. I enjoyed three foggy, cold, damp days and two foggy, cold, damp nights in the city by the bay. I stayed at the fabulous Mark Hopkins hotel:

mark-hopkins.jpg

Patsy stayed with me for the weekend, and we pretty much concluded that this luxurious life is definitely for us. The wedding was wonderful (see the photos section of this site for some pix). San Francisco continues to fascinate me--sometimes I think it's just gorgeous, and then I turn one corner and think "what a hole." It's pretty, but it's also pretty boring. But I ate the best burrito of my life at El Toro Taqueria in the Mission. I ate there years ago on my very first trip to SF, and have eaten there on every subsequent trip. I cannot understand why there isn't a single New York burrito that compares. Anyway, Golden Gate Park is lovely. The wedding ceremony was held in the shadow of a large windmill right across the Great Highway from the cold, grey Pacific. Lovely flower gardens brightened the weather for us. The reception--dinner and dancing at the Top of the Mark, right in my hotel--was a cheery blur of champagne, laughter, and boogie. The after party found 20 people back in my room drinking vodka. The aftermath found Patsy and I waking up hung over, with one of her shoes on top of the 6-foot dresser. Hmmm.

We had a laugh upon checking out about moving back "down the hill" to Patsy's less-than-fancy neighborhood, the grossly-named "Tenderloin." But it wasn't long before we went back up to Knob Hill to drink tropical drinks in the touristy, weird, and wonderful Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel. It's a Polynesian restaurant and bar, featuring an indoor thunderstorm (complete with rain showers) every half hour. Three mai-tais later, I was back at the airport for the red-eye home.


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