Masters of the Universe

Last night was my combination belated-birthday-slash-getting-my-masters-degree party, which LL decided should have a Masters of the Universe theme. The party was in SF at a bar called Shine and it was pretty much awesome (So thank you, LL, for throwing me a party!).

To get there, we took the Caltrain up to Millbrae and transferred to the BART, which runs through downtown. That’s basically our “usual” method of getting to the city on weekends. It takes about twice as long as driving – a 2-hour ordeal no matter how you spin it – but it saves LL the trauma of watching my blood pressure rise like a bottle rocket while I try to find a place to park (not to mention the 45-minute cool down period following, when I lecture on revolutionizing urban parking and devise effective-but-nonlethal punishments for various parking offenses spotted while driving around…LL really is a saint for putting up with me sometimes). On top of that, we needed to stay overnight (mostly ‘cause LL had to come into work today/Sunday), and parking can cost upwards of $50 in a hotel garage.

The hotel we got was great. It’s called the Adante and it‘s right on the edge of being in perhaps a bad neighborhood. Well, on the way there we walked by lots of homeless people, one of whom was screaming about how his girl stole his meth and another who was looking for his kingdom but had not yet managed to find it. I hadn't seen it either. But the hotel’s immediate surroundings were cool and the rooms were spectacular. I knew we had scored with this one when we walked in and the lobby music was provided by The Kinks.

Here’s me in our room. I personally like the cottage scene set against the purple-dabbed walls, but LL was more taken by the random boat in the surf at sunrise above it (hmm...without the aid of any obvious landmarks, is it possible to tell a sunrise from a sunset in a photo? Are the colors affected by differences in air temperature or something like that? Sorry...). Anyway, the bathrooms had some really nice fish painted on the walls. The great thing, though, was that we only paid $72 including taxes and surcharges and everything. And the rooms were squeaky clean. And it’s a short walk to Union Square. We really were just super happy with it.

Oh yeah…Ruby Skye. We didn’t actually go there, but we did go to the dentist earlier in the day, and apparently our dentist had been at Ruby Skye the night before (I think this is why she rolled in late for our 1:30 appointment). So, in case you ever question how cool LL and I really are, just keep in mind that even our dentist goes clubbing and she knows the DJ. That’s how we roll.

Bocadillos is where LL and I grabbed dinner. It’s a tapas place and we loved it. My two favorites were the ceviche and the aged, thin-sliced Serrano ham with olive oil. So, so good. Plus we had a gift certificate (thanks Liz and Meg!), so, when in doubt, order more. Yum.

So...moving on to the bar. Shine is bar/club/whatever just up Mission from where LL works. There’s just a small sign out front…I don't think they were going for that whole you have to know where it is vibe, but as a practical matter of finding it, you do actually have to know exactly where it is. It has a great setup for small parties...for a reasonable cost, you get your own little booth with a built-in mini-fridge, which is stocked with a semi-customizable array of drink options. There are two really cool things about this. First, you don’t have to go to the bar to get drinks, because you can just make them yourself. And second, you can use your own glassware, like so:

Here’s me making a vodka tonic for LL. I have the power! (Actually, the entire quote is “By the power of Castle Grayskull, I have the power!” I think it's such an awkward phrase. I mean if it’s something that’s gonna come up in every episode, and, you know, it does, you might as well make it better).

And because I feel like you need to know these things, our mini-fridge had the following:

• 1 bottle of vodka
• 1 smaller bottle of raspberry flavored vodka
• Plenty of tonic
• A carafe of cranberry juice
• Four Red Bulls
• Two airplane bottles of Jamesons
• Two airplane bottles of Jager
• Two airplane bottles of some nasty Jager-like stuff that I’d never seen before
• 1 bottled water
• 1 can pf pineapple juice
• 1 Stella Artois
• 1 Corona

The two beers were totally random. And why Corona? Strange. You might think that this is a lot of alcohol for nine people. We agree.

Not only did we provide our guests with free drinks, but everyone also got party favors. Each guest got a goodie bag filled with toys, bubbles, bracelets, tops. Pretty much everything you’d expect for a six-year old. They were a big hit.

Here’s Liz and Bart playing with their new toys. Actually, Liz is double-fisting (pocket pinball in her left hand). Bart said he wasn’t good at this game. He was right.

Here’s Kim, realizing that she is engaged to someone who is actually blowing bubbles in a bar (they got engaged a couple weeks ago!). The funniest part was how Kim told us (earlier) that they had picked a date for the wedding and Jim saying, “I didn’t know we had a date for the wedding.” Haha. Welcome to my world, Jim. You’re lucky you’re even invited to the wedding. And it won’t stop there. All the big decisions in your life are now out of your hands, which is actually liberating once you get used to it. For example, I have given LL write-access to my Google calendar. That way she can just schedule me for stuff without having to tell me about it. In fact, you should probably go check your Google calendar and find out when your wedding is.

Here is most of the group (except for our hot photographer). Left to right is Jim, Kim, me, Alireza, Liz, Bart and Pedram.

SWAP!

After the party we made a pizza run. Is there anything better in the middle of the night than hot, cheesy pizza? Judging by LL’s squinting (which is usually the most accurate gauge of her present happiness), she rates her slice of pepperoni just above a full-body massage in the Bahamas. I kinda look completely savage…definitely taking my pizza a little too seriously.

These are the guys who made the pizza. Being the kind of joy-spreading people we are, LL and I presented the pizza guys with some of our leftover party favors. I think they look pretty excited. And did I mention there were airplanes too? Airplanes, with rubber band launchers. And a box of Hot Tamales.

I also wanted to point out what a better bubble-blower this guy was than Jim. Way more bubbles.

For no good reason, I took a bunch of blurry pictures from the back seat of Liz and Bart’s car and made a big blurry collage out of them (Bart apparently lost an arm wrestling match with Liz and had to be their designated driver). It was nice of them to drop us off at the hotel on their way home (“on the way” in the sense that they had to go in the opposite direction of their house to drop us off. LL uses this one all the time, like “can you stop at Safeway on your way home?” “No,” I answer honestly).