Diary of an adult runaway

I'm so totally in love! And it's only $2.35 million!

Remember how last week I was all “Hey, can I have $8.5 million?” and you were all “Sure, here you go” and sent me that wicked awesome check? Well, good news! I only need to use $2.35 million of that—plus maybe another $100,000 on paint and the like, so let’s make it $2.5 million, shall we? Because, even though I pretty much have my heart set on living on the East Coast, I keep finding these rocking houses in San Francisco. Such as this one:

 

 
Okay, have to say, I’m not thrilled on the color scheme (it’s that mustard yellow—very 90s), but that’s where your $150,000 will be going. The back, I’m happy to tell you, needs no work. 28 Barbary Lane, anyone?

 
Again with the yellow! I’m thinking, hmmm, red? Or a calming green? Either way, we'll settle in for a good meal, and discuss books and men and whatever else you'd like. Preferably something salacious and bawdy. This is San Francisco.

I’m also going to have to finesse this living room (including returning the fireplaces to working status), but oh, those windows!

 

While I get the fire roaring, can you pop into the kitchen and open a bottle of red. By the time you visit, those yellowish cabinets will be gone. I’m thinking cherry wood will really make that stunning punched tin pop. Or just plain, crisp white. Yeah. White. That’s the trick. And the floor will be replaced with classic black and white marble tiles. If you want dessert, though, we might have to walk a few blocks down to the Ben & Jerry’s on the corner of Haight and Ashbury. Cherry Garcia!

 

 
You’re welcome to crash in one of the rooms that lead onto this deck, and enjoy the light unique to San Francisco. How lovely will it be to snuggle in bed and watch the fog wisping through those trees...

 

 
...on its way in from the ocean, visible from the top floor...

 

 
...along with the Golden Gate bridge:

 

 
And if when you wake up you can’t find me, it’s because I’ll be hanging out in the master suite...

 

 

...or taking a bath. Don’t worry, though, there are 4 bathrooms in this place, so no one has to wait.

 

 
We can either join the cats and have breakfast out on that sunny front deck, where we'll enjoy the view of Sutro tower...

 

 
...or we can take a pitcher of margaritas into the backyard and watch the hummingbirds. No, there are no hummingbirds in the photos, but I can assure you they’ll come to visit. Along with dragonflies.

 

 
And when you feel like watching a movie, we’ll laze in the media room--after we’ve relocated the TV to the adjacent wall. (Really, what’s up with the prison/hospital height thing? Almost as bad as hanging artwork far too high. No, people. Just, no.)

 

 
So, thanks again for the check. I can either change the amount for you, or you could just buy it directly for me and send me the keys. Your choice!

Quick update

No piccies now, they will return next week after the craziness of RWA National ends. Using a terminal in a coffee shop in the Mission while waiting for my washing in the laundromat next door and contemplating whether I should do something drastic (no, not really drastic--but my employers might frown.) Got into the B&B  Saturday evening after breakfast in Topanga (pirate alert! just managed to avoid them!), a long drive from L.A. and a mighty battle with the airlines (never fear, righteous indignation vanquished corporate bullshit!!) and it smelled the same as I remembered from '93. Weird, I love that smell. I think it's the woodwork or the cleaner they use--any time I smell it I instantly think "I'm in San Francisco."

Did a little running around with Laura but after 3 weeks of flatlanding and lolling about in cars, the hills got me on day 2. The great news is that another of the B&B guests is attendning the conference and wants to see a lot of The City so she and Laura have paired up while I hide away in bookstores and coffee shops and scribble in my notebook with the pink pen Tamara charmed from the lady at Pink Coyote in Santa Fe. My characters, after hiding away for 13 years, have charged back with a vengeance and I'm just trying to keep up. I need to finesse my agent pitch and decide which one to lead with because I have at least 4 good to go.

I will venture out later, into the sunshine (!! yay!! after 2 chilly days!!), wander around the Castro for some setting info for one of the books I'm pitching, then maybe... Hmm, you never know in this city, you just never know. Freaks and geeks. My heart swells with love and gratefulness for this place where everything is possible. Have a good one!

The awe continues (more spoilers!)

Yesterday I was all a-quiver over Rescue Me. Today--finally finally finally FINALLY--the adulation is directed at Michael Tolliver Lives.

I'd had my fingers crossed all week that it would turn up in time for the weekend, so yesterday afternoon when I went by our hussier's (officially "usher" but it also kinda means doorman/security guy) desk and saw him sorting mail and saw the Amazon package, I charged full on into bliss. Alain is sweetly indulgent with me, but when I clasped the package to my chest and said "Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod!" even he looked askance at me.

"I've been waiting for this for over a decade!" I tried to explain.

"Okay...enjoy..."

And that's exactly what I did--right up until about 11 when, crying, I closed the book. The jacket copy says it can be read as a stand-alone, but I wouldn't recommend that. You absolutely, positively, MUST read Tales Of The City, More Tales of The City, Further Tales of The City, Babycakes, Significant Others and Sure of You. If not, you'll probably enjoy this book but you won't get the full impact of it. Brian might seem a bit scattered to you (when we all know he's fucking HOT, esp. as played by Paul Gross in the first miniseries*) and you won't get just how deep the betrayal by Mary Ann was and how everyone is still impacted by it, or how bittersweet it is for Michael (who will always be Mouse in my mind) to call Shawna "Babycakes." Anna Madrigal might seem like a slightly eccentric octogenarian, instead of the life blood that flowed through 28 Barbary Lane and loved so many people into loving themselves. And when you hit page 148, you probably won't be sobbing like I was upon learning about Mona. I was especially touched by this:

Several years later, when those planes hit the Twin Towers, I remember thinking how shrewdly she had timed her exit. Her big wounded hippie heart would not have prospered in this cold new climate.

Reading this was a joy, but bittersweet--the same feeling I get when a favorite TV show wraps up. The 70s are way gone, these wonderful, vibrant people are older. 28 Barbary Lane has been sold and Anna can no longer handle the stairs so she lives elsewhere. I wanted everyone to stay happy and healthy and high in that Victorian house on the hill, but life goes on, and that's what made this such a special read to me. Because life has gone on for Mouse, when at the end of Sure of You, we weren't too sure.** This book has some obvious biographical touches (Mouse and his husband, Ben, met the same way Armistead and his husband, Christopher, did) and I adored the aspects of life in San Francisco, the strong political opinions, the sly subversive commentary, and the no-holds-barred account of the life of an aging gay man. Fearless writing is such a joy to read.

I said when I heard about this book that I wanted Mary Ann Singleton's ass kicked, and I was very pleased that she did it to herself so I can take her off my shit list. Yes, I know! I put a fictional character on my shit list, but she was as real to me as anyone I know. Now, thankfully, I understand what she did and I love her again. (Interesting to read that one of the people Maupin thanks is Laura Linney, who played Mary Ann so perfectly  in the 3 mini-series.)

I have one single, teensy weensy niggle. Remember the other day when I said it was Flavor Aid, not Kool-Aid? Yes, AM  referenced drinking the Kool-Aid! Armistead, I know you're a shameless self-Googler. If you happen to find this post, why Kool-Aid, especially after the whole Jonestown connection in Further Tales?

But you know, I would have loved this book for the cover alone, which reminds me of an old Sunset travel guide. I'm so grateful that the inside was even more beguiling than the cover. Maupin not only creates wonderful characters, he sculpts wonderful prose. It's a true delight to read a book that carries you along with delicious word play.Maupin's working on another Tales book, and I could not be happier--especially since it seems I won't have to wait 14 years to read this one.

(* 2 girlfriends went with Kurt and me to watch the miniseries at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival in '94 or '95. It was an all-day event and I've never had so much fun at the movies. The whole audience was cat-calling and whistling, and we all--straight and gay alike--cheered when Brian came down the stairs in his cut-offs, then applauded at the vignette of Armistead, typing away in his little cottage as Brian and Mouse sunbaked.)

(**Background info: Mouse's HIV+ status reflected that of Maupin's then-lover, Terry Anderson. I read that because he didn't know what was going to happen to Terry, Maupin felt he couldn't write more about Mouse. Thankfully, Terry is doing well.)