Noc-Noc

I hated this bar at first, but when my buddy started to tend bar there, I started to like it a lot more.
On a part of lower haight which already has a great beer only bar (Toronado) the Noc-Noc has a lot to prove. Offering sake, champaign and wine helps, but it does not make it a must visit, unless you are into it's decor. I think it looks like a cave version of the Beetlejuice house, which must make it popular for the burning man crowd, cause smelly hippies sure like it, and is the reason I avoided it for so long.
One of my good friends there began tending bar after working as a DJ for a while. After he started tending bar on Wednesdays and Sundays, he started getting friends DJ gigs, and the bar changed a little bit for the better, in my opinion. I've met the owner's son, and he's cool enough and started flowing me drinks after he'd seen my face enough. One time, I went into the bar as it was playing the same song I listened to to get motivated to walk to the bar, and as soon as I made it up to the bar a frosty pint of Liberty awaited me, with my friend serving some girls some champaign instead of looking at me for payment. That was my favorite time at the bar, besides chilling in the DJ cave and picking tunes myself.
With the discount drinks flowing, I saw a lot of old friends I hadn't seen in a while at that bar, and regularly saw people who lived close by and made a lot of friends.
Eventually, my friend was fired for giving away too many free drinks, and the ride came to an end as all good things must. I sure as hell haven't been back, and every time I walk by I hear some god-awful dance music, and I remember my all hair metal DJ set with fondness.

Krispy Kreme Mini-Ramp

I was pretty excited when they build the In-N-Out and Krispy Kreme in Daly City, I had just gotten into eating them the summer before in Sacramento and was happy to find some fast food I would actually eat. But I was even more excited when they built a ramp and crappy little skatepark down the street.
Located directly across from the Daly City police office, the park offered little when it was first built, but it did have a five foot wooden mini-ramp. I grew up with a ramp with the same dimensions, so it was soo on when it opened.
The ramp saw a lot of abuse from the local Daly City creeps. For some reason bikes were allowed on the ramp, and their pegs made divots which would pitch you off your board, and created a deathbox under the coping on one side which you could catch your wheels on. Rollerbladers were even worse. Besides waxing the coping to a ridiculous amount (just go faster idiots), someone though it would be a good idea to wax directly down the middle of the ramp. This same thing ruined a ramp in half moon bay, and it sucked to see happen again. Not long after winter, the water logged Masonite was replaced with metal, and the ramp got a new lease on life. I've taken many friends to the ramp, and skated it with home-made extensions which made gave it some vert. I've learned a lot of tricks there, and killed a lot of time waiting for DMV appointments.
The four way stop near the ramp has always been a speed trap for police, and for a while the ramp served as a sting location for police to give helmet tickets. I got one, out of a crowd of at least twenty one day because I was taking a run when others were silently sulking away from the fuzz. That sucked, but not as bad as the day when another group of roller bladers, who were being called out for waxing the middle of the ramp again, decided to get rid of the wax by starting a fire on the ramp with gasoline. Stupid stuff, but that was the day I got away clean.
Whenever I have a free moment, and Daly shitty isn't covered in a slippery mist, I wanna go to the Krispy Kreme ramp.

Strybing Arboretum

Boy do I love Strybing Arboretum.
I first went there with a nature class, and was immediately happy I didn't ditch the field trip. The arboretum fits so many plants into the space it has, and is free and easy to reach from public transportation, making it one of my favorite places to relax and escape concrete.
Every time I go to the arboretum, I see something new. With plant species from all across the world, it's a lot of fun to see what species are adapting to San Francisco weather, and which ones obviously need special attention to survive.
I always try to get my friends who take picture to go with me, because I definitely have my favorites. Plants of all types exist together, and the staff is cool because as long as you aren't picking a plant, you can touch and get a close look at all the species, which may pique your curiosity in plants.
My favorite find there was in the redwood grove. After learning about how redwoods have shoots coming of their base which eventually split off into other trees once they grow strong enough, I was fascinated to see, deep within a family of shoots, an albino redwood sapling. Without any color, the growth was obviously not photosynthesizing it's own food; it was leaching it's energy off it's host plant like a parasite. A lazy freak of nature right here in San Francisco.
Often, I like to go to Yellow Submarine on Irving for a sandwich, and take it to the park to relax. Sometimes I think about buying some of the plants for sale and starting my own plant paradise, but I usually look for turtles, make a walk around the perimeter, and skip rocks at birds. Definitely in my top ten for places to relax.

Al's Comics

Although I took some six years off from buying them, I've been reading comic books to some extent as long as I can remember. Whenever I go home, I check out my old collection: it's the one thing I've talked my mother into saving for me through numerous moves. It makes me feel like I have a good memory when I think of all the stores and countless hours logged reading comics over the years, remembering covers and story lines so I wouldn't re-buy an issue, and filling my head with nearly useless information about places and people who don't exist.
I came back to really reading and buying comics about five years ago, and started to check out the stores in SF to find which one would get my money. All stores are different: some bag and board, some have larger display racks than others. Although I usually went for the store closest to my home, after I made some friends who read comics i heard about Al, and started to go there.
Being in the business for as long as he has, Al has a lot to be jaded and awnry about. Some fans are fickle, only following the titles which have current movies. Some can talk your ear off. Al's location on Market street seems to only add to his social plight: more busters come into the store but you have to deal with it because rent is high. My friend Ryan always got nervous whenever I said I was stopping at a comic store, he'd always ask me to make sure to buy something because he didn't want to feel uncomfortable in a store without making a purchase. Al did that to him. He told Ryan "you don't look tough enough for a black shirt," when Ryan had gone in to browse and not buy.
After going into Al's enough with loyal customers, I noticed he relaxed and would answer my questions with a grimace, but without insult.Not to say I haven't seen him in full form. After the Superman movie, lots of people would stop in and ask just for that title, and they were directed to every other corner of the store save for the DC rack. God help you if you try to read more than 1/4 of a comic, save that for Jefferey's or Borders. I've heard the "it's considered disrespectful and douchey to read an entire comic in the store" speech more times than I can count. Al's store is exactly what the comic industry needs it to be: a place where loyal readers can look down upon trendy readers for their lack of knowledge of comic universes. It's a good thing too, because that is about the only time this knowledge is useful.

Naan and Curry

When I worked in coffee, I worked the early morning shift because that was when you made the most tips. At 5:30 in the morning, you get to know your co-workers very well, and sometimes know more about their lives and routines than they do.It was early in the morning, glossing over favorite movies and what you had for dinner last night, that I learned about Naan and Curry.
Certainly not the best Indian/Pakistani food in the city (it is a chain after all,) the Naan and Curry on Irving street will always have a place in my heart.
By growing up refusing all types of condiments on my food, later in life when I discovered hot sauce on pizza and what type of salad dressing I could actually stand I discovered a new world of tastes. I started chasing down all things spicy, from salsa to Arribita, and as my stomach grew stronger my tastes became more varied, and I decided to try new things.
The food at Naan and Curry knocked my shoes off. Although I had no idea how to eat it(use the naan as a tortilla?) I fell in love with saffron and the other spices which made my curry sizzle. I always get the paneer tika masala, and got so involved in the dish that I tried making it myself. I discovered they hide chiles in the began bartha, much like the beans at taquerias. When I started eating seafood again, I was finally able to try vindaloo, the hottest of the curries. I had started a new Sunday tradition for myself: enough Naan and Curry and beer during the Simpsons to give me sweaty nightmares.
Although I've branched out and found more other Indian food restaurants, each with their own subtle changes to recipes I know so well, I still get excited when I return to my first, and that will always be Naan and Curry on Irving.

New Spot

When I moved to San Francisco, I had three things on my mind. School, going to shows, and skateboarding.
San Francisco was the mecca for skateboarding in the 90's. Everyone came down to Justin Herman plaza to kick it with the local pros, and skate the famous spots. It was a measuring bar: San Francisco hills are steep, many of the spots are rough, and it weeded out many skaters who were "too SoCal" to hang with the gnarltude. It's my blog, I can make up words if I want.
I moved down to San Francisco from the Sacramento area at the end of 1999, and things were changing. The 24 hour cops who patrolled Justin Herman plaza had gotten a break, the plaza was demolished and re-designed. Although the plaza was almost more fun to skate during construction and for a short while after it's completion, the skatestopers went on quickly and that was it. Justin Herman, along with the old Union Square were gone, and I was left with two less spots that I thought I was going to spend a lot to time at.
Somewhere needed to pick up the slack, and that spot was the bus depot at 3rd and Army. Why anyone would want to sit on the benches in the area is beyond me, the area is smelly and although it offers a view of the waterway, it's nowhere anyone would want to hang out. Unless you skate.
3rd and Army is one of the few "bust proof" spots in San Francisco, and everyone knows about it. Although it's hard to skate one way when the wind is blowing hard, and there are occasionally homeless camps among the big ledges, the spot has been in heavy rotation since it's inception, and I've spent many, many afternoons there loving life.
I remember getting so excited to skate the spot with my friends from home that we've lit it up with car headlights. I've met many pros at 3rd and Army, and seen many major tricks in videos go down there. I've seen the cops come through, and just hassle whoever had an open container, and leave as quickly as they came. I've seen bum rafts sail the waterway, and met countless friends and idols.
Skating at 3rd and Army made me feel incorporated into the skate scene in San Francisco, and now that some renegade concrete has been erected, the spot seems new again and is fun to skate again, with old friends or new ones.

Q TV

http://qtvnews.tv/videos/view_video.php?viewkey=d92734d78fcbd3fdb95a&page=1&viewtype=detailed&category=mr

I decided to mix it up on Nov 24th and watched the video news broadcast from Qtv, an online gay news and entertainment station, who stated Qtube on youtube to show their programs to a larger audience. It was a good day to watch, The Gay and Lesbian Day at Great America was on the 23rd, and there was some crazy partying going on!

I always wanted to know why they have a Gay and Lesbian day at Great America, and although the interviewed Great America source only said it was to honor the Bay area culture, damn those interviewers have a lot of energy. Everyone was so excited about what they were talking about on the program, from the Milk premier to checking in with clubs in the Castro, people where laughing and appeared quite overcome by it all. Also, the host's last name was Fudge, which in all good humor is hilarious to me.

the broadcast did a good job of capturing the voice of the culture as far as I could tell, because it seemed well rounded with it's interviewing subjects. They tended to ask young,energetic guys and gals questions, along with the older who seemed to think about what they were going to say more before they said it.When watching a story about prop 8, and the marriages being performed knowing full well that they could (and did) get overturned, it left now doubt in my mind that people should be allowed to persue happiness together. The sources were compelling, and although over-the -top with excitement at times, you couldn't look away.

In an area with such a large draw for this type of audience, the program was well written, had a good host, and was interesting to me. I think that a program in this arena needs a clear tone, and the tone of this program was energetic hope.