Day 6: Soft serve and a park full of hipsters

I have to be honest, I'm getting a little sick of writing. I've been a photographer since I was a teenager, and have realized in the course of trying to take photos at events where I'm having fun that putting a lens between myself and the action completely removes me from it. If I'm an active participant in the fun, picking up a camera to document the moment only takes me out of the present fun-having mode and places me squarely into a future-thinking headspace, focusing on how the photos are going to look after I clean them up in Photoshop, what people are going to say about them, so on and so forth. Facebook also has a similar curse for me. Instead of just having fun hanging out at, say, Jerry Day, I feel like I have to post to Facebook that I'm having fun hanging out at Jerry Day and that that somehow validates the experience. I have to wonder if this blog somehow takes me out of fully enjoying Staycation because I feel like I have to fully document it.

I decided on doing a blog, and having a list of things to do, because I wanted a way to keep some structure to my daily life. Without it, I could very easily go down the path of staying in pajamas and watching TV all day, every day. I couldn't imagine a worse ending to my vacation than to wonder, What did I do with my time? (Trust me, I feel that staying in pj's and watching TV all day has a lot of merit, but I can't do it every day or else it loses its novelty and is no longer rewarding.) Now I wonder if I've gone overboard via the list, but especially the blog. I tend to be a prolific writer once I get started, wanting to capture every nuance, and it takes forever to articulate myself the way I want to. So, I'll try to keep Day 6 a bit more brief.

I did actually stay in pajamas until I left the house. TV was a part of it... I watched the not-so-satisfying Revenge of the Bridesmaids. I could theoretically call this chick flick #2 but I'm not gonna. And sidenote: what's up with ABC Family lately? I regularly watch, and wait weekly with bated breath for, two of their shows (Huge and Pretty Little Liars). They show the Harry Potter movies all the time, which I love. Meanwhile they also have Secret Life of the American Teenager, which is the worst show I've ever had the displeasure of watching. Huh.

Anyhow, I knew I had to get to Bi-Rite Creamery on Thursday because it's the day they offer Malted Vanilla soft serve. I've had their regular ice cream before and it was pretty good. You do have to stand in a long line, a la Disneyland, to get access to their ice cream because it's that popular. It's the kind of thing that divides San Franciscans, too. You either love it and talk about how much you love it with other people who also love it and standing in that line is a small and easy price to pay to get your lips around your favorite ice cream; or you hate it and talk about how much you hate it with other people who also hate it and you sarcastically make fun of people within earshot as they're carrying their cones around.

Me: I like it. I'm not going to profess my undying love to it like I would Holy Gelato or Three Twins. Honey Bunny: hates it. He thinks it's too sweet and much ado about nothing.

I'm a Sunset subscriber and in a recent issue they had a feature on great local ice creams. Bi-Rite Creamery was one of the illustrious few, but not for their regular ice cream. It was for their soft serve. Who knew? I didn't. Sunset said to "bypass the long line and go to the soft serve window instead." They mentioned the Malted Vanilla specifically as a favorite flavor. Hence, my going on Malted Vanilla day. Sunset magazine said so.

They even had a copy of their Sunset feature taped up in the window.


They have two soft serve flavors per day and I'm a sucker for Chocolate so I got a swirl of the two instead of going full-bore Malted Vanilla. I'm glad I did because the second that damn Malted Vanilla hit my tongue, I could see Honey Bunny's point. I hate when sweets are cloying. In general, I love super dark chocolate and I love when somethings sweet and salty are paired. The MV was just not doing it for me. The Chocolate was much better, but dare I say... not much better than any regular ol' chocolate soft serve you'd get anywhere.


But hey, of course I finished it. Hipsters walked past me as I rolled into Dolores Park holding the thing, and commented "I hate that stuff, it's everywhere!" At the very least, I wasn't going to give any angry Bi-Rite-hating Mission hipster the satisfaction of throwing away my ice cream.

Given our apartment's location on the western side of San Francisco, and the summer fog that goes with it, Dolores Park was nice to hang out in. It's always warm and sunny in the Mish. I actually walked away with a bit of a burn on my face and arms because I wasn't thinking about putting on sunscreen when I left the house in overcast 55 degree weather.


While hanging in the park, I got to read a bit of my new book, which is my book club's book for August, and also had a long convo with my sister who had some shocking but wonderful news to share. All the better to keep my attention from the vast array of young hipsters, all of whom seem to have droll, wry, sometimes outright judgy and constant commentary on other parkgoers. In combination with all the homeless people walking around and stopping randomly at people's blankets for long, awkward bits of time (and you keep asking yourself, When will it be my turn??), I take my foggy and cold Golden Gate Park any day of the week.

On a last note, somewhere along the line I invited my book club members to attend Jennifer Weiner's book reading/signing with me, which is on my list. Two have already said they'd like to join me! This is awesome as I've never actually met the members of my book club having just signed on in mid-July. I love outings with people I don't know well or at all where there is a focus, where we can have a shared experience and then talk about it if we want, or just leave and go home if we want. The invite took place in cyberspace, where my huevos are big. I never have the nerve to meet new people in real life, so this was a big one for me. Yay for me.