December 99 December 98 December 97 _________________ Saturday 11 December 99   2 59 pm pst   [ homefries ] "I'm getting hungry." "Shall I go get cereal?" He scrunched up a little and lowered his voice. "I want homefries." It was a confession. "Then let's go get some." I am always enthousiastic about fullfilling whatever desires he expresses and yet he is always surprised how easily he gets his way. We dressed.   I had so wished I had had my camera with me the night before when we went out to play pool so I remembered to take it with me to see what images asked to be captured.   The Night Before: Matthew's roommate Tom is a pool god.   Late last night he came into Matthew's room and whined, "I want to do something. Wanna go play pool?"   Matthew had told me of his legendary prowess, but this would be my first opportunity to see Tom in action. The doorman at Berkeley Billiards was reading The Way of the Peaceful Warrior so we had a little chat about the book.   I was at the pool hall with Matthew, and two of his roommates: Tom and Gabe.   I didn't drink, but the three boys did, and we played a spot of Ms. Pac-Man while waiting for a table to open up. I consider myself to be a bad pool player, but this is only because I haven't been to play the game more than three times in my life.   I am actually fairly decent at it! Tom said it would be me and his against Matthew and Gabe.   This was theoretically to match us more evenly, but Tom could play on a team by himself with all three of us taking a shot for his every one and he would still kick our tushies. Playing pool amounted to me asking for recommendations on which ball I should aim for and then having all three boys try to give me advice on how to shoot.   I had a very heavy stick (or so they said) and did fairly well with it when I managed to concentrate on both aiming and hitting hard.   If I didn't concentrate, I would either miss the ball of give some piddly wimpy hit. Needless to say, as a team, Tom and I kicked bum.   In the first game I sunk two in a row and felt like a stud.   Later on I got two in a row again.   Matthew was irked about the uneven matching, so he racked a game of 9 ball, in which you have to hit balls in numeric order, so the winner can change at any time until the very end.   We played a few games of that and the boys got more drinks from a cute and chatty waitress.   I got three in a row to win a game and announced that I was "in the zone". My feminine powers were in gear, and one of the men at the table next to us was feeling me pull.   MoJo was a punker with all sorts of peircings and various black, studded, and leather articles of clothing.   Eli was the one who kept checking to see if I was looking when he was going to make an impressive shot.   I was looking.   Pool is beautiful to watch.   I was in awe at the grace of Tom's calculated moves.   Eli and MoJo caught my attention because their style of play was so different -- MoJo especially.   He was exceptionally fast and arrogant.   He would swoop over to one side of the table, do his business, and then coolly pretend not to look at whether or not the ball made it in.   He would swear loudly with Fuck! or God damn it! every single time he missed. Our little foursome was getting weary, so I asked Tom how he would feel about me getting him a worthy opponent.   He made some joke about how I was just going to go over there and ask.   Of course that was what I was going to do!   I walked right over and introduced myself to Eli and asked whether he or MoJo was a better player.   He conceeded to MoJo, so I asked if he would be interested in playing Tom.   He said sure.   I told Tom I had gotten him a partner.   He replied, "You've messed up the whole social order."   How was I to know? Their game was a delight to watch -- conservative against punk, concentration against finess.   Tom won.   MoJo asked if Tom would care to bet, one dollar a ball [there are 15 balls].   I asked Tom if MoJo had been playing poorly before as a ruse.   He answered, "We're going to find out."   It was a fairly matched game, but Tom was obviously superior, and in the end he won.   MoJo suggested one hundred dollars a ball just so he could feel superior when Tom declined.   The hall was closing. I had further conversations with Eli and the doorman before we finally left.   The evening was lovely and I am so glad that Tom suggested it.   In addition to procuring homefries, our morning chores involved going to the bank and buying sketch paper.   We parked near my favorite breakfast joint in Berkeley (Ann's Soup Kitchen on Telegraph).   We swung by the bank and then made a quick jaunt to the drug store to grab sketch paper.   I made everything occur infinitely slow with my desire to stop frequently and photograph sights that beckoned. Matthew caught sign of three boys walking down the street together and pointed out their distinct but similar fashion options.   Each had on baggy pants but they were different materials and one guy was in a Hawaiian shirt while a second had a preppy look and the third was more casual.   The real treat is that eash of them had a backpack slung over his right shoulder and all three were walking in unison. Telegraph was closed off for a street fair, and I was enjoying soaking in the colors and sounds.   I got to snap a few shots of my old apartment for nostalgia's sake. We made our way to our desired breakfast location and enjoyed a yummy meal (I inhaled my homefries and toast with apple butter).   Matthew got bluberry pancakes but he couldn't quite finish them. "Is that ok?" "Of course," I reassured him. Walking back to the car I was captivated by a display of earings on fake ears.   I asked the vendor if I could photograph them.   She asked me why I wanted to.   I said I put pictures on my website ever day.   She explained that she had had a problem with people photographing her wares and then sending the images to Asia where the designs would be ripped off and manufactured for less.   She said if I wasn't photographing for that purpose, she didn't care what I did with the image. * * * On the way back to the car, we stopped in a store because Matthew wanted to look at the rave flyers (he likes the style of art they use).   I sat down to wait for him.   I realized that the pants I was wearing had been purchased at that very store. A woman came up to me shortly after to reming me that I was not allowed to film the store.   I quietly explained to her that I didn't want to film the store. * * * It was a glorious crisp Bay Area day, so I requested a stop at lawrence Hall of science so I could photograph the view. From the Hall of Science I found a new trail on which to take an adventure walk.   11 39 pm pst   [ snippets ] A conversation from last night: Matthew: "Do you ever think you are driving unsafely?" Tom: "No." Pause. "Well, yes.   But I don't care." He was driving rather boldly at the time. * * * Tom joined Matthew and I for a nummy Italian meal tonight.   It was expensive, but enjoyed all around.   When we were trying to decide on a place Matthew said he wished I had a web page of all the restraunts I liked so he could easily pick one.   How can I resist that kind of suggestion? My favorite restaurants...