intellectual properties

Summer 2009: in bits and pieces

i haven’t done a ‘this is what i’ve been up to’ bulleted post since the end of may, which means this one covers June, July, and August. wow. so i guest that makes this a “Summer 2009″ who/what/where/when summary. much of this has already been referenced in singular posts or tweeted, but if i don’t summarize like this i lose track.

after the beautiful zimtrix wedding came JUNE:

the first weekend of june i did two performances with BadUnklSista, one large group performance for the raygun gothic rocketship and one small super intense one where we broke things on stage @ burning man precompression.

june 9 we went to see Rushkoff talk about his newest book, Life, Inc. but the reading was crowded and honestly sort of boring. we left.

june 13 i took reagan to imperial spa and we got SCRUBBED! (read all about the scrubbing here)

june 14 we did not go to Raindance and i did an experimental photoshoot in which i was covered in body paint and posed with oranges. hm, i guess i never posted any of those photos here. here you go.

june 16 we went to a pre-screening of the new woody allen movie, Whatever Works, and i thought it was good, funny, and thought-provoking.

june 18 jay crashed on his bike and scared the living sh@#t out of me. then that evening we went to see our friend Deb in a play based on Moliere’s “Misanthrope” at Berkeley’s Central Works. good stuff. i should read some Moliere.

friday the 19th we hooked up with our friend Jayeesha at the Mind Power Collective summer picnic in the oakland hills. always a good and interesting group of people, doing a lot of important work.

on june 20 we went barhopping in Uptown oakland, and went to several new bars i didn’t even know existed. and had drinks at each. and i really don’t remember getting home. all the new bars in uptown are great. diverse. unpretentious. but SWANK.

june 21 i went to the famous Chapel of the Chimes in oakland for solstice. that was haunting. i’m not creeped out by death, but i am creeped about by everlasting memorials.

on june 27, helen had a going away party (chile!) and then on the 28 we took the 33 stanyan bus from the mission to golden gate park and had a picnic for SuzPo’s birthday. it was a gorgeous day. i got a sunburn.

and then suddenly it was JULY.

july 4th weekend was the 4th annual PRICELESS, with a Midsummer Night’s Dream themed party-within-a-party. we were impish. priceless takes about a week to prepare for, execute, and recover from.

a week after priceless, on july 11, there was an enormous party at American Steel warehouse across the street from us. several thousand people, literally tons of sand, and BIG ART. it got crowded enough by 10pm i left and started the afterparty at our house early. it went late.

july 13 was logan’s housewarming, and we walked from west oakland to upper market.

on july 15 i went indoor climbing for the first time with @benchun, and then we went to ecstatic dance. we should do that again.

july 17 we went out in the mission for aurabelle’s 30th birthday. there was a lot of tequila involved. the next day i was in serious pain. not from the tequila, but from a workout injury, and i couldn’t move my head. pretty much killed the rest of that weekend, except that i spent a fair amount of time in jason’s hottub.

july 20 – went hiking at china camp while the boys biked.

july 23 we went to the redwood grove at UC Botanical gardens to see our friends Gojogo. it looked like this. it was beautiful.

on saturday july 26 were the SF Fashion Awards, and i won Best Blogger. thanks again to everyone who voted!

july 27 lisa and JD had a birthday party and we treated monday like a friday and that was interesting.

july 31-August 3 a bunch of us went camping on the north coast. all i have to say is: the legend lives on.

AUGUST:

august 5 we went to see Phish@shoreline. first phish show since 2003, and it was really good to see them again and i do honestly think they sounded great. the set was good; i especially liked the cover of velvet underground’s oh sweet nothing. we definitely did not blend in with the crowd this time around. more than one tie-dyed/t-shirted/patchworked person in the lot wanted to know if it was our first show or commented that we didn’t “look like we belong here”. it’s always amusing when scenes who claim not to judge people by how they look/dress instantly judge you on how you look/are dressed. the night ended with jay and i literally passed out on the golf course next to the music venue until we woke up later and drove home. if that isn’t a sign of a good night out, i don’t know what is.

august 7 we went to see our friend keith’s magic show, Phantoccino. he’s been working on it for quite some time, and it is indeed magical. even if you can see the strings

august 9 i went on TransportedSF’s foraging adventure, where were taken out into the marin headlands and briefed on edible plants along the coast. not *quite* as informative as i thought it was going to be (too large of a group), they told us NOT to pick/collect any of the edible plants we saw (even though we were told we would be collecting them to cook&eat later), and then at the picnic at the end they ran out of food and i got nothing to eat. but they tried. and i’m still at least a little more informed.

august 13-16 we went to mexico with my parents and had a blast, even though both of them got sick :/ we drank a LOT of margaritas (at one point i claimed i had even hit my limit!), swam in the warm ocean (i’d never been swimming in the pacific!), went into town and were tourists, went on an exciting jungle adventure, went ocean kayaking, and made it out without sunburns or food poisoning.

august 19 i did the fashion show @ supperclubsf for Gelareh Designs.

august 21-25 jay’s family was visiting, and we went to a lot of parks and playgrounds with his 2-year-old nephew.

thursday the 27th we went to see American Casino, a documentary about the mortgage crisis produced by some friends’ parents. there was a lot of information presented, and very journalistically. not with a heavy angle or really emotional like a michael moore film.

finally, last weekend, we had a birthday potluck for aD, did the photoshoot with kyle on saturday and then had a nighttime walk around lake merritt with friends, and sunday was a group day trip to angel island which was super fun followed by a yummy cantonese dinner and hottubing at whit’s while he’s out of town .

.::.
i think part of what has been making me really have a lot of sadness about missing burning man this year (which officially started TODAY) was not so much because of really missing burning man, but because looking forward to, preparing for, and going to and recovering from burning man defines a HUGE PART of your summer. and even with europe trip booked an on the horizon, that is IN THE FALL. so this summer just sort of felt a little empty. and while i’m sure some of you look at the list above and think it’s a crazy amount of activity, it’s been a much chiller summer than many past, and i’ve realized that i am not as good/motivated as i would like to be at creating my own experience, to having the kinds of fun/crazy experiences i THRIVE ON and love having without having someone else structure it for me. not having burning man as the end goal this summer really brought that into focus, and so it wasn’t so much oh i’m so sad i’m not going as oh i’m sort of depressed i don’t have a focus.

i’ve always sort of joked when people ask if i’m a designer, or an actress, or a dancer, or an artist, etc. that i am not a creator, i am a consumer. i consume art. i consume life. i take what other people produce and process it, redistribute it, push it back out through my filter, either here, with my writing, or with fashion or performance. but i almost never create. and most of the time, i am ok with that. that i am not an artist. but i think it’s important to also be able to create life. and this summer has shown me, more than i wanted to see, that i need to work on that.

Filed in art, autobiographical, bay area gems, burning man, events, fashion, friends, phish | Tagged with badunklsista, false profit, mexico, oakland, priceless | Comment (0)