Stitch on 29/8/2007 at 05:37

---

I hit the top and had to stop and that's what's been bothering me

doctorfrog on 29/8/2007 at 16:46

---

Ah, my greatest sorrow (aside from being prominently featured in only a single photo :mad:) was that I only experienced a half-day of the festivities. But I gotta tell you, the pictures and descriptions put me right in it like I was there the whole time.

When we going to Oz.

crunchy on 30/8/2007 at 00:33

---

Spiders :confused:

It's the snakes and American tourists ya have to worry about. :cheeky:

Gingerbread Man on 30/8/2007 at 01:52

---

Well, y'all have a lot more killing to do, then. GET CRACKING :mad:

Scots Taffer on 30/8/2007 at 06:19

---

After stopping off at a pretty terrible Irish bar where U2's five greatest hits were on an endlessly repeating cycle and I dared Shug to eat the remaining spring onion and garlic sludge from GBM's garlic fries (upping the ante from his $1 original offer to $5, but he declined), we met up with (http://www.christopher-morgan.co.uk/images/sanfran/DAY2_9.JPG) RBJ at Ghiradelli Square.

We decided to chill around the fountain after a perfunctory stroll around Ghiradelli's Chocolate Emporium or whatever it was called, where I tried a sample of their sickly sweet chocolate and made a bee-line for the exit, trailing a disappointed Stitch who found no massive pool of chocolate to frolic in. As we awaited the impending doom that was the apocalyptic arrival of MsLedd and Strangeblue, I whiled away the time until Armageddon by taking a few snaps:

(http://www.christopher-morgan.co.uk/images/sanfran/DAY2_10.JPG) <img src="http://www.christopher-morgan.co.uk/images/sanfran/DAY2_10.JPG" height=300 width=400>
The inimitable Shug, Fafhrd and doctorfrog

(http://www.christopher-morgan.co.uk/images/sanfran/DAY2_11.JPG) <img src="http://www.christopher-morgan.co.uk/images/sanfran/DAY2_11.JPG" height=300 width=400>

Soon, we were joined by the stragglers of our meet, the two ladies. MsLedd greeted us with a foul mouth tirade and it was on before anyone even knew it had started. I got to meet with Strangeblue and we chatted about her new book and upcoming deals as we made our way to the restaurant pictured in "E-Harmony" with GBM and Starreh. However, soon there were threats about tequila being made, drinking people under tables, and a penalty of crotch-booting upon anyone who ventured to take MsLedd's photograph without her express permission.

Which is precisely what I did!

(http://www.christopher-morgan.co.uk/images/sanfran/DAY2_12.JPG) <img src="http://www.christopher-morgan.co.uk/images/sanfran/DAY2_12.JPG" height=300 width=400>
AINT NO WOMAN THE BOSS OF ME! *
* Interesting sidenote: I'm actually cowering behind Stitch in order to take this shot, knowing that, like any good friend, he'd gladly take my place and dive in front of any boot aimed at my baby-producing loins.

Unfortunately, (http://www.christopher-morgan.co.uk/images/sanfran/DAY2_13.JPG) David paid the price for my bravery and was devoured shortly thereafter by MsLedd in a freakish incident. In his last moments one can actually see that he's trying to shout to the waiter for the menu to dispute that he was actually on it in the first place... but sadly, we lost one of our party.
But then he got better, and returned for (http://www.christopher-morgan.co.uk/images/sanfran/DAY2_14.JPG) this snap of the prettier end of the table.

But then...

(http://www.christopher-morgan.co.uk/images/sanfran/DAY2_14A.JPG) <img src="http://www.christopher-morgan.co.uk/images/sanfran/DAY2_14A.JPG" height=300 width=600>

This restaurant also served as the scene of a chilling encounter with the duality of one Mr GBM, a cheerful graphic designer by day, also known as Dr Hyde, Admin-Monster by night.
I managed to snap off a quick photo of him in dark, evil scheming mode, but he immediately countered with a bright and airy tip-of-the-hat photo... just in time for Starrfall to turn around. Watch out, Starreh. He's not all that he seems.

I don't recall much about dinner, other than it being particularly uninspiring fare for a seafood restaurant - my crab legs were a soggy over-garlicky pile, though they could not compete with Shug's "garlic salmon" which was literally a broiled salmon with about fifteen chopped garlic cloves on top.
I got to try both the clam chowder varietals, and I'm sure that the tomato-based one RBJ had came out on top. The gay jokes were flying thick and fast like the proverbial ropey boner juice, and that was just fine. I think we knocked back a couple of bottles of wine and after that, it was time to move onto greener pastures. We decided to break apart, freshen up and regroup for the remainder of the night, a subject of much debate and contention amongst our posse, and that led - finally, at long last - to us ascending one of the glorious hills of San Francisco.

KNOB HILL

(http://www.christopher-morgan.co.uk/images/sanfran/DAY2_15.JPG) <img src="http://www.christopher-morgan.co.uk/images/sanfran/DAY2_15.JPG" height=400 width=300>

*UNGH* We're Doin' It!

Some Time Later.

Still doin' it...

A Long Time Later.

We... did .... (http://www.christopher-morgan.co.uk/images/sanfran/DAY2_16.JPG) it

And so concluded the photographic journal of our meet! Well, for the most part. Shug and I went off to our hotel, showered up (separately, of course) and got ourselves all spruced up, before heading down to Uncle Stitch's for a room-crushing of epic proportions.

We arrived first, interrupting a moment pregnant with sexual tension between Stitch and doctorfrog, we opened a window to let that air out for a bit and Stitch and Shug started necking a bottle of Jim Beam they'd split. Slowly but surely more people arrived, first David with GBM and Amanda, then Fafhrd accompanied by (I think) Strangeblue and MsLedd, lastly RBJ showed up. I may have gotten the order messed up slightly, but who gives a fuck.

Everybody piled onto the bed, tequila shots were taken, more tequila shots were threatened, I stood my ground, MsLedd drank all the more tequila, promises about more tequila were made, arrangements were done, club opening times were close at hand and so, we began the last epic stretch of the meet. THE DARKNESS OF NIGHT WHERE THE STREETLAMPS BURN.

Enroute to the club we couldn't help but stop by a bar we passed, it was hopelessly crummy looking, opposite a porn-video store, but inside it was actually a riot. There were a bunch of latino dudes having a freestyle friendly MC-off or whatever you call it, they were spitting their rhymes with the women hanging off their arms and giving props to one another and so on. I stood and watched them for some time, just soaking up the Americana... the bartender completed the MADE IN THE USA moment with the most hilariously gravity defying breasts. Oh man, it was just a wacky place but I was loving it. There was something about a tequila shot and salt and lime, but I can't quite remember... Someone else will have to fill in the details there. Apparently Fafhrd chugged a full bottle of beer in about three seconds when it became clear we were leaving, although it might have been better if we'd stayed...

The club was located on a road-work strewn street and the unremarkable entrance had a steel plate next to it, embossed with the opening hours which didn't exactly look right. According to this it was closed Saturday and Sunday, only open til 9pm on a Friday? Then we realised it was a delivery entrance and, in the only thing resembling logic that night, we decided to circle the building in search of the main entrance. On the other side was a Service Entrance, presumably for bar staff and the likes, still no main entrance. RBJ and I legged it back around and realised that the roadworks and scaffolding were actually closing off the walkways to the club entrance, meaning there was no way we were getting in there.

Shaken and confused, we wandered to the closest tacky establishment in search of a quick, cheap drink and the chance to get our bearings and make emergency readjustments to the plan. Unfortunately, given that the choice to go to a club in the first place had been a decision fraught with doubt, misgivings, and a general air of resigned commitment, it soon became a bit of a debate about where we went from there. I went for a piss and came back (TOO MUCH INFORMATION, CHRIS) and when I did, RBJ was splitting. They were making a bee-line for Ruby Skye, presumably before the queues got big or something, and a quick handshake later; he was gone. I was a little stunned and so I got myself a strong drink and consoled myself that the fellowship was still strong.

Then there was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing about where we were going to go next. No one knew the area well. We wanted somewhere with an atmosphere (music and people) but at a level not at odds with having a discussion (difficult), we wanted someplace close by and not ridiculously priced, we basically wanted a custom built TTLG bar, unfortunately - and this rates highly in one of my criticisms of the city - this was not an option made available to us. Hmph. So much for a city of liberal values!

Anyway, Stitch had a bolt of lightning idea that was the double-whammy of bars we'd hit the night before... no, not the dodgy ones, but the Tunnel Top and Chelsea's Place, the good DJing place and the cheap crummy bar that still had a jukebox and a ton of atmosphere, so we finished our drinks and moved on. It was around this time we lost doctorfrog, I can't recall with clarity if I got to shake your hand and say "so long", but if I didn't I wish I had. Cool guy.

God this is tiring to write. I'm starting to flag here but I'll try to finish up.

Basically once we arrived at Chelsea's Place we were the proverbial plantlife, sunk our roots deep into the sticky carpet, comandeered the environment by taking a table or two, started to drink deep of the available wellsprings and adjusted our adaptability by converting one or two elements in our favour: case in point, the jukebox. With a steady flow of decent rock, we drank, we talked, we joked, we picked people up, we drank some more, I pulled up a chair with David and GBM and found out exactly how many admin forums there are and who they want to ban and why, hahaha, I KNOW SO MUCH YET ITS PROBABLY JUST A TIPTOE IN THE VAST OCEAN OF HATE THAT THEY HOLD BACK IN RESERVOIRS, drank some more (including a whisky with GBM, I think it was a Macallan again), lifted MsLedd along with Shug and Stitch, witnessed mouth-rape at its finest, talked to 'blue about her books again, and finally, when we left, I got in on the manwich that was Me-GBM-Shug. God, it never felt so good to imagine myself as a slice of white-white bread covered in mayo touching a HUNK OF MANLY MEAT... oh wait, where was I, oh yes, shortly after someone tried to pick someone else up and dropped them (Shug and MsLedd) and someone tried to pick me up by surprise and dropped me (Starrfall), the police told us TO MOVE IT ALONG.

It was 1amish at this point and the only place still available to us that was going to be open for any length of time was... ironically... Ruby Skye. So we started heading there as a group, bidding a fond farewell to GBM, Starreh and David, who were all getting up super early and heading to Monterey or something for camping. We vaguely sketched out a plan involving a 10am breakfast, given that we figured if we hit Ruby Skye, the latest we'd be out til was probably 4amish.

How wrong that was.