THE FRISCO CHRONICLES

the golden gate bridge from the ferry ride out to Alcatraz

Journal Entry
January 28, 2006
San Francisco, California, USA

It's Saturday afternoon and I'm taking things slow today. Last night was another late one, but the drinking was minimal. The "official" Friday night pub crawl left at 8:30 immediately following yet another free dinner...sweet (3 in a row...total score) and a group of us about 10 people deep were interested, but not right at that early time. We made sure we could get a hold of Julian (Aussie, roomie, leading the crawl) and chilled out for another drink or two. I gave Travis a hand cleaning the kitchen and by 10:00 we were ready to join the pub crawl festivities...too bad we couldn't get a hold of Jules!

So, we created a renegade pub crawl and headed off to parts unknown. China town was the mission and we accepted it so we set out to see what caught our collective eyes, although really Michael was doing all the looking out. Our first stop, couldn't tell you want it's called, didn't seem like much more than a chillin place to have a drink when we chose it, but once we entered we heard a band playing downstairs. Apparently it was a birthday party but the music sounded good and none of us could resist the temptation to go downstairs. We found a back route and snuck down to join the festivities. We weren't so sneaky though rolling up to the back stage area where the entire (small and intimate) audience could see us front and centre. Oh well, no one seemed to mind too much. We stayed for a few songs and finished our drinks, deciding that we had already outdone the original pub crawl since we had managed to totally crash a birthday party with a live band.


the infamous green tortoise from the side, those are the windows for the ballroom

From there we hit up two more places, both playing hip hop which was great! Got to do some dancing, which I always love. The first one was still in Chinatown and the second, much bigger club was conveniently located across the street from the Green Tortoise. When I got tired of dancing and was no longer feeling the music I headed back to the Tortoise for some foosball, pool and a late night cheese slice before my head finally hit the pillow.

It's a grey and overcast in Frisco today. I was thinking about going to Haight Ashbury today but I may just lay low. Tomorrow I will still be here so I can do it then. That and the Golden Gate bridge.

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Journal Entry
February 3, 2006
Los Angeles, California, USA


Okay, so I got a little carried away with the good times in Frisco and now have some catching up to do. Where to start I don't know. I think I dropped off the updating map sometimes around last Sunday when "Team Canada" decided it was time for a party in The Ballroom.

I had taken it pretty easy on Saturday night, though I stayed up until the wee hours talking to Bryan (Canadian, Kitchener). It's always so great to find someone you can easily talk to without even realizing how much time is passing. Sunday I grabbed a $4 bottle of wine and sat down in the unofficial Canada booth in The Ballroom. Team Canada consists of myself, Bryan, Darryl (London), Ryan (London), Aidan (Toronto) and JD (Guelph). In some ways it wasn't even just team Canada but Team Ontario! Sometimes it's just nice to hang with people from your homeland.


Team Canada - still near the beginning of white wine night

The first bottle of wine disappeared pretty quick so we got another, a magnum, and continued the party. That bottle disappeared too, although it took a little longer this time around. It still didn't stop us from cracking open yet another magnum mind you and at some ungodly hour that I can't even give you. Before the night was up we would consume copious amounts of wine, see the sun show it's face and eventually even great the early birds as they arrived for breakfast. That's when the four of us who remained decided bed was probably the best call. The all nighter ended up giving me a bit of cold to contend with now but I'll just smile with good thoughts every time I blow my nose.

Now, I'm still in Frisco and have decided to stay on for a couple more days at the Tortoise so of course the partying did not stop there. Most of the daylight hours on Monday were obviously spent in bed but once I did get up and try without success to shake the cobwebs from my brain, I somehow managed to keep my eyes open and help my roomie Jules (Aussie) make Monday night's free pasta meal. Took it pretty easy Monday night both out of necessity and the desire to enjoy Tuesday's free beer and open mic night.


bryan and i on free beer night

I had never seen The Ballroom as full as it was on Tuesday night. Of course with two free kegs that didn't exactly come as a surprise. The open mic brought in many a person with their talents; guitar playing, piano playing, singing, hoola hooping, break dancing, it was great! So much talent out there, it never ceases to amaze. Apparently some girl even did a little routine that ended with her topless and the word censored written across her chest. I didn't see it myself but I heard about form many a male friend. As can probably be assumed that Tuesday night WENT OFF!!


bryan, ryan, aidan and jd on free beer night - it's still early here

When the kegs ran out at the Tortoise we made our way to a bar on Grant St. (around the corner form the hostel) for some karaoke. I've never seen such wild karaoke. Unlike the usual mic on a stand on a stage set up that I'm used to, this bar was all about the cordless, handheld mic and taking it to the dance floor. Though only Ryan (Canuck, London) and Drew (Aussie) were given mics, you know we all got in on the action. The group of us from the GT (about 20 people big) invaded the dance floor and kicked the party up a few notches all the way to last call.

I opted to turn in upon my arrival back to the Tortoise but from the stories I heard the next day the, the party just kept getting elevated. Apparently The Ballroom floor was pretty polluted come the morning hours. The members of my infamous room #1 were all in fine form, one puking in a bucket, a couple passed out in The BAllroom and Travis woke up, somehow having reached his bed, with his shoes still securely fastened to his feet. As Jules announced at free dinner the next night, he's still looking for Travis' dignity so we should all keep our eyes open for it!

My last day in Frisco was grey and rainy and after heading out to discover Haight Ashbury district to get in touch with my hippie side. For those who don't know it's an area of Frisco that was made famous for the role it played in the hippie movement back in the day and all the famous, infamous and not at all famous hippies that hung out there.

First thing was first though, we needed food ASAP so we stopped along the way for a Burrito. We polished off the food and made our way to the bus stop to head out to hippie heaven, I was super excited. That excitement came to a screeching halt when we were waiting for the bus and I realized I no longer had my camera on me. I figured it would me a pointless exercise but I retraced my steps in the hopes I would fine it anyway. I didn't...SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHITTY! That's that, don't want to talk about that one anymore! All I can do is be thankful that the film in it was fresh so I didn't lose any shots and I guess now that I'll be purchasing a new camera (going digi for this) I'll be able to post some pics for you all to see as I write about stuff. Guess what I want for my birthday this year...you guessed it a 35mm SLR, preferably a Minolta to match the beautiful big lens I now have no use for.

I went out to Haight anyway and enjoyed my time looking in shops and walking in the rain with Bryan. It was one of those days where it just feels nice to be walking in the rain and getting wet just doesn't seem to matter. Too bad there were a lot of pictures I would have love to have taken while there. I do think though, that should I ever find the opportunity to live in Frisco Haight would be my preferred neighbourhood if I could afford it.

My last night in Frisco was a calm one. It was a mixed bag of emotions as I thought about leaving the next morning. A bag that became a little torn when I actually did have to leave the next morning. Got a little emotional and couldn't hold it in, a few tears were shed I can't lie! Obviously I was feeling very excited about heading to LA to meet the Shortills...all of them literally...but definitely sad to be saying good bye to Frisco, the Tortoise and mostly all the great people I met. Thankfully there's a good chance I'll see Team Canada again. After all they live within just a few hours of my hometown. As for the others form various parts around the world...you know you're always welcome to visit the Tdot!