The first night I was back I went down to my favorite Thai restaurant King of Thai. They have an amazing boneless duck breast on rice. Next to me as a guy (with some amazing tattoos) and his daughter. They were talking about the difference between grizzly bears and polar bears, and discussing whether or not those two could have little cubs together. His daughter was maybe 5 years old - how cool is that!
Last week I went to the Asian Art Museum to listen to a lecture on Japanese tattoo art (there does seem to be a lot of tattoos running around the city.) It was really interesting to hear about the connection between woodblock print and Japanese tattoos. And even more interesting was the fact that there were several tattoo artists from Japan actually working in one of the exhibit spaces on actual people. Very cool. Here are some of the actual tattoos:
This past weekend there were four things happening that reflect the diversity of San Francisco. And all on just one weekend.
- The Castro Street Fair
- The Love Fest (great electronica music and massive crowds)
- The 9th Annual World Vegan Food Festival
- The 8th Annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival (or something like that)
A few days ago I saw a little boy with a fantastic mohawk in the park while I was reading. The new California Academy of Sciences building opened with a massive outdoor party for families. I remember going there when I was small. Now it's this massively impressive building with a living roof, tropical rain forest and aquarium.
Anyway, this boy was there with his family. The mohawk was very impressive. He was maybe 8. I also saw a dad with his little daughter. He has some tattoos that were very colorful - see, tattoos are everywhere. (Not that I want one, or lots of them, but I can appreciate them as interesting art!) Anyway, his little daughter (maybe 3 yrs old at the most) was laughing and trying to learn to ride his skateboard. It was cool. After playing around with that for a while they went over to watch the weekend roller-skaters dance around (see below for a link to this...)
Today when I was reading in the park I saw a guy with his iPod dancing to the music while he was on his roller-skates. Couldn't do that in a million years because I'd fall flat on my rear, but it was very fun to watch. Here's a video of some people in Golden Gate Park roller-skating!
Last but not least I met with about 10 of my Mormon friends who are absolutely opposed to Proposition 8 here in California. Proposition 8, if it passes, will remove the right to marry the person you love if you are gay. It's as simple as that. Sadly, the our church has come down on the wrong side of this issue - the truly moral, Christian and ethical way to behave is to love and support all of God's children in their quest for love. And there are few things that are more important than being loved and loving in return. Why people find that frightening is beyond me. But fortunately, the Gospel requires us to think, ponder and pray after we hear guidance from our leaders - and after we think, ponder and pray we HAVE to follow what the Spirit and the Light of Christ leads us to do. That's the wonderful thing about the Gospel! :-)
3 comments:
We're glad you're back in the good 'ole USA, but we're also looking forward to hearing about your next trips as well!
Oh and I'm finding the church's formal reaction & admonishments to CA resident members interesting in a confusing way...
I have a google alert set to Japanese tattoo so your entry on Horitaka's lecture came up. Wish I was able to make that one. I think Shige was there as well? You probably know about the San Jose Convention at the end of October - you've got to clear your schedule so you can make that event!
Post a Comment