Line Up

Today I began the annual bittersweet ritual of lining up for the Toronto International Film Festival. Today it was picking up the program book. Thursday morning, it’s lining up to drop off my film picks. Monday morning is lining up to pick up tickets and see how many of my picks I got, then lining up again to pick alternates. Then during the actual festival, it’s lining up at every film to get in. Lots of interesting conversations are overheard in line. Stay tuned…

Welcome Home James!

From an email I sent to my gracious hosts, Dinah, Kristin, and Jish:

“Just wanted to let you all know I’m back safely, even though I had an aisle seat in the second to last row on my SF-Pittsburgh flight and we had awful turbulence and the freakish looking permatanned “flight attendant” almost spilled things on me and some old guy almost “air raged” at me when I tried to get past him on the way off the plane since he couldn’t get his bags out of the overhead container and somehow I lost my key and couldn’t wake Brooke since she had the phone unplugged and so I had to wait almost half an hour in the lobby of my building at 1am on a Monday night when no one comes in or out until Brooke finally woke and plugged the phone in and got my pathetic message saying I’m stuck in the lobby and please come down and let me in…”

Last Day in San Francisco

Well, it’s my last full day in San Francisco and I’ve really enjoyed my time here. Today I spent a few hours in Golden Gate Park looking for a well-hidden treasure. Then I braved the crowds to score some Ghirardelli chocolate, returned to North Beach for some great pizza, and am back in the Castro for coffee. This morning, I met with Heather and Derek who treated me to breakfast at the Pork Store (a lot better than it sounds!), and I received an autographed copy of Derek’s new book. Stay tuned for a review, and if I get a second copy in the mail, watch for another contest, a la Zeldman. I’ll be home tomorrow, but don’t look for me until Tuesday. Jet lag, you know…