To Journal or Not to Journal

I have journaled extensively for almost fifteen years now, having in recent years contemplated putting excerpts online. I can't expose everything publicly or then where would I release my endless thoughts? I always have more to say, however, and thus find this opportunity to journal in addition to my own handwritten journals one I cannot pass up.

What shall my first entry be, you ask? I suppose I could write about my past weekend. That's a place to start. It began with a leisurely day Friday, May 21, meeting with various friends throughout the day - Elena, Pam, Julie - for meals and coffee (at my place or in cafes), heart to heart talks and catching up on our lives.

The evening provided Dan & I excellent free seats at the San Francisco Symphony's Beethoven festival with my former housemate, CaSandra. CaS is now employed with the Symphony in their HR department and can get free tickets at any time. This concert was Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 (the second movement was particularly gorgeous and a favorite of Dan's). After our deliciously filling, authentic Italian dinner at "Il Borgo" - toasting with a warm glass of chianti to our friendship and the night - we went to our concert, savoring the rousing flow of the Symphony and the guest pianist, Jean-Yves Thibaudet. We occasionally had to break the reverence with our own colorful jokes, then attempt to cover our laughter during the quiet moments.

Saturday provided a leisurely morning with a three hour conversation with my Anita... always good for my soul, though we never can begin to say it all. How thrilled I am that we can go to NYC and Boston this Fall and see her and sweet Dave. I didn't want to have to wait too long following the wedding.

Sherri joined us in the afternoon and we headed out to Pier 30/32 to meet Vic, and eventually Natashia & Giorgio, for the first band at the (free) KFOG festival. With Vic waiting all day in line, we bypassed the miles long line to head straight to the front of the stage for a rousing Robert Randolph & the Family Band show. Wow! The spirit was in the house! People are calling him the new Hendrix and I have to say the shoe does fit. With 70's funk, soul, gospel, blues and rock, he and his band tore it up! Everyone, from the hippies/granola kids on one side of us to the drunken middle aged trucker guys on the other side, was completely caught up in their riotous, spirited sound and Robert's truly inspired steel guitar work. "Shake the goose bumps off me, man!" the guy behind us kept shouting after the opening number. The best part was to see the joy with which he played: so infectiously exuberant and part of every moment was he, that in watching him, you desired to celebrate music and life with as much zest as he did. The clouds flew by over head, allowing the sun to send its rays down on us intermittenly, while the water of the Bay behind us and the towering Bay Bridge next to us, created an outline surrounding us of a perfectly free moment in time. I am glad we went... and no ticket price for all that.

We took Sherri out for a birthday dinner & drink at The Last Supper Club following the show and then spent a cozy evening at home, just Dan & I.

Church was excellent on Sunday and Dan & I had a leisurely day following with naps, walks, a rooftop pipe smoke (Dan smoked the pipe), recipe browsing for the week, making dinner and watching TV. And with that, I must rush off.