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A Free Day in the Bay
Dec. 28th, 2021 07:28 pmI said that Berkeley (and North Oakland) was much the same two pandemic years later, but there is one change I've noticed in wandering back and forth to our Air B&B. College Avenue is rolling up its streets at 7 or 8pm, except for a few of the pricier restaurants. Even the Wendy's up on Broadway had its lobby closed by 8pm.
Kimberly and I had no obligations this morning, so we went to Angeline's for lunch. It was very nice, having a lunch together, since we've done so much visiting with our individual friends, and Angeline's was tasty, as ever. We've been going there since it opened in 2006 or so (following a Katrina-related delay).
They checked Vaccine Cards to let you in to Angeline's! (Which is the rule in Berkeley; Oakland, ever late to the show, will be doing the same in February, which isn't criminally late or anything.) I felt empowered and safe! And newly annoyed at our shitty mayor Kawakami in Kauai who refused to follow Governor Ige's rule that restaurants be allowed to return to full capacity if they checked vaccine cards.
(And he wasn't whining about the full capacity; he was whining about the vaccine cards because he's spent two years trying to decide whether to overreact to the pandemic or ignore it.)
Had to yell at an idiot in Berkeley who kept getting in our face about collecting money or signatures or something for some charity or some cause. I don't know what because HE KEPT GETTING IN OUR FACE AND THERE'S A *#()@)#$ING PANDEMIC. After telling him to get the *)(#$ away from us the second time, I was about to move on to threats. But he moved on to accost someone else.
After our lunch, Kimberly was meeting some friends in the later afternoon, so I opted to go out to the SFMoma, to get a bit of San Francisco and a bit of culture into the trip.
No, stupid stupid BART lady, you don't take your mask off when you're about to sneeze. *)#@#*$.
(BART continues to be a cesspool, including an extra 15 minute late due to a missing train, a few more scofflaws, and a few more homeless, but still not as bad as that first trip.)
SFMoma was great. I'd never realized how few of their exhibitions are ongoing are how many are temporary. But that meant there was plenty new to see, even though the Moma was one of the last museums we went to before we moved.
Among the highlights:
(1) A new photography exhibit that included everything from historic shots of San Francisco and Oakland to people holding big circular mirrors in front of their heads (creating big light flashes) to a Native American posing with animal cutouts and blowups. Even the silly stuff was genuine innovation of form that I enjoyed. It was a bit crowded, the only place in the museum that was, but I was able to maintain my 6 feet by doing delicate dances across the galleries.
(2) Some dark and thoughtful paintings of Nazi buildings by a German.
(3) An LED message window displaying "truisms". Most were thoughtful things like "An elite is inevitable". One was "Always store food".
We're not going to get to see my sister M. on this trip. Their family has "coughs and runny noses", so it would be imprudent to get together with them.
That's been the main impact, thus far, of COVID on this trip. We've been avoiding sick people even more than we usually would, because if we get sick (a) we might be denied boarding on our plane; (b) we might be told to quarantine for 10 days in Kauai because we can't fulfill the Safe Travels requirements in the health form we need to fill out on the 30th.
More MOMA highlights:
(4) An architectural exhibit, much of which was drawings on the walls showing the full-color interiors of homes (real homes, but drawn) amidst black and white drawings of their exteriors. Very cool insights and commentaries on life.
(5) The Calder mobiles: always fun (and one of the few ongoing exhibits at the MOMA).
(6) An exhibit largely focused on letters and how far they can be varied from the norm while retaining their recognition.
One of the other big exhibits right now is on painter Joan Mitchell. Pretty much what I hate in modern art, as it was ugly slashes of paint across canvases. Which I suppose is better than colored blocks, but still.
She was apparently an important "abstract expressionist". I dutifully walked through her 8 or 9 rooms, but was unimpressed.
Because I was right there, I browsed through Yerba Buena Gardens after MOMA. I'm always moved by the MLK memorial and take the time to read all his quotes along the back wall, behind the waterfall.
Riding BART home was more crowded than I'd like, but that mainly meant that I had to stand from Montgomery to West Oakland, along with a couple of other people in my car, because one seat in each row was taken.
Dinner: Cactus taqueria and black cherry soda. Mm-mm.
Kimberly has been having dinner with friends, for her second get together of the day, which means I got a quiet evening at home.
Kimberly and I had no obligations this morning, so we went to Angeline's for lunch. It was very nice, having a lunch together, since we've done so much visiting with our individual friends, and Angeline's was tasty, as ever. We've been going there since it opened in 2006 or so (following a Katrina-related delay).
They checked Vaccine Cards to let you in to Angeline's! (Which is the rule in Berkeley; Oakland, ever late to the show, will be doing the same in February, which isn't criminally late or anything.) I felt empowered and safe! And newly annoyed at our shitty mayor Kawakami in Kauai who refused to follow Governor Ige's rule that restaurants be allowed to return to full capacity if they checked vaccine cards.
(And he wasn't whining about the full capacity; he was whining about the vaccine cards because he's spent two years trying to decide whether to overreact to the pandemic or ignore it.)
Had to yell at an idiot in Berkeley who kept getting in our face about collecting money or signatures or something for some charity or some cause. I don't know what because HE KEPT GETTING IN OUR FACE AND THERE'S A *#()@)#$ING PANDEMIC. After telling him to get the *)(#$ away from us the second time, I was about to move on to threats. But he moved on to accost someone else.
After our lunch, Kimberly was meeting some friends in the later afternoon, so I opted to go out to the SFMoma, to get a bit of San Francisco and a bit of culture into the trip.
No, stupid stupid BART lady, you don't take your mask off when you're about to sneeze. *)#@#*$.
(BART continues to be a cesspool, including an extra 15 minute late due to a missing train, a few more scofflaws, and a few more homeless, but still not as bad as that first trip.)
SFMoma was great. I'd never realized how few of their exhibitions are ongoing are how many are temporary. But that meant there was plenty new to see, even though the Moma was one of the last museums we went to before we moved.
Among the highlights:
(1) A new photography exhibit that included everything from historic shots of San Francisco and Oakland to people holding big circular mirrors in front of their heads (creating big light flashes) to a Native American posing with animal cutouts and blowups. Even the silly stuff was genuine innovation of form that I enjoyed. It was a bit crowded, the only place in the museum that was, but I was able to maintain my 6 feet by doing delicate dances across the galleries.
(2) Some dark and thoughtful paintings of Nazi buildings by a German.
(3) An LED message window displaying "truisms". Most were thoughtful things like "An elite is inevitable". One was "Always store food".
We're not going to get to see my sister M. on this trip. Their family has "coughs and runny noses", so it would be imprudent to get together with them.
That's been the main impact, thus far, of COVID on this trip. We've been avoiding sick people even more than we usually would, because if we get sick (a) we might be denied boarding on our plane; (b) we might be told to quarantine for 10 days in Kauai because we can't fulfill the Safe Travels requirements in the health form we need to fill out on the 30th.
More MOMA highlights:
(4) An architectural exhibit, much of which was drawings on the walls showing the full-color interiors of homes (real homes, but drawn) amidst black and white drawings of their exteriors. Very cool insights and commentaries on life.
(5) The Calder mobiles: always fun (and one of the few ongoing exhibits at the MOMA).
(6) An exhibit largely focused on letters and how far they can be varied from the norm while retaining their recognition.
One of the other big exhibits right now is on painter Joan Mitchell. Pretty much what I hate in modern art, as it was ugly slashes of paint across canvases. Which I suppose is better than colored blocks, but still.
She was apparently an important "abstract expressionist". I dutifully walked through her 8 or 9 rooms, but was unimpressed.
Because I was right there, I browsed through Yerba Buena Gardens after MOMA. I'm always moved by the MLK memorial and take the time to read all his quotes along the back wall, behind the waterfall.
Riding BART home was more crowded than I'd like, but that mainly meant that I had to stand from Montgomery to West Oakland, along with a couple of other people in my car, because one seat in each row was taken.
Dinner: Cactus taqueria and black cherry soda. Mm-mm.
Kimberly has been having dinner with friends, for her second get together of the day, which means I got a quiet evening at home.