Book of Jamez

55 y/o malcontent, something of a writer

Tag: San Francisco

  • Invitation to the Royal Wedding

    By now some of you have received your beautifully designed invitation to the Royal Wedding. Some of you have responded via the self addressed stamped envelope and that is very appreciated. You have no idea how much coordination goes into planning this kind of a shin dig and RSVPing with the provided materials is so very helpful. Sure phone calls, emails and telling the couple in person is a nice touch, but they went to the trouble of putting a stamp on the envelope, not only to help fund the Post Office, but to make each attendee counted on all the official forms. At the very least you should send it via mail and be counted like most of the other common folk. Bill and I are working diligently on the wedding details and head counts are very important in this phase of the planning…

    What’s that? There is another Royal Wedding? I hadn’t heard – I’ve been so wrapped up in contacting you to get you to actually mail the RSVP that I haven’t had time to notice other Queens getting hitched.

    What’s that? oh, those Royals… well sorry for any confusion.

    Sure our attendees wont be heads of state or celebrity soccer stars, but it will be during Gay Pride week in San Francisco and really doesn’t that sound a whole lot more fun than a bunch of photo hogs … well I guess SF Pride has those too… My point being everyone who’s anyone will be in San Francisco for my special day. At least I hope so, it’d be nice if they actually RSVP’d. Why is this such a big deal for you folks? The card  saying yes or no is there, the envelope (which is stamped and addressed) is included – how hard can it be to seal this thing and drop it in the mail? The Post Office needs work folks, help them out here.

    Some people, who shall remain nameless, begged and pleaded for an invitation to the wedding and then promptly declined. Like I knew you would Julie Zielger!  Oh… sorry about that, I forgot. She still managed to drop the card in the mail and if SHE can do it, really anyone can do it.

    If you haven’t received and invitation at this point chances are you probably aren’t going to get one. I’m sorry but there is only so much room and only so much food I’m willing to purchase. I’d be grateful since you don’t have to fly all the way to San Francisco.

    One of the most often asked questions is “Can you legally get married in California now?” and well, the answer is no. There was a time in California when same-sex couples could marry, but people who think the Church should be able to decide what’s legal have put a stop to freedom of love – temporarily. Bill and I will have to fly to Washington, DC after the ceremony in San Francisco to be legally wed in our nation’s capital… that is unless that is the next thing on the Tea Party’s chopping block. Well, I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to pull it off without a hitch… so to speak.

    For those of you that weren’t invited, once again so sorry to hear that you wont get to come, I’m hoping to get a webcast of the actual ceremony and I’ll be posting that information when it’s available… see, you don’t have to dress up, don’t have to fly all the way across the country and you can watch from the comfort of your own home.. unless something entertaining is on.

  • San Francisco – 2010

    Although I’ve never been a fan of the city, I just got back from an extended weekend in San Francisco with Bill where I grew to appreciate it more (thanks honey).  The trip out there didn’t go as smoothly as I would have liked (lack of coffee and good customer service were not helping) but once I arrived it was nice to see Bill there waiting for me.

    We stayed with one of Bill’s friends, Dorothy, who has a great view of the city and if it’s not foggy a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Our first night there we went for a walk in the Golden Gate Park, which was beautiful, the weather was just about perfect and the company really was. It had been a long day so we were in bed pretty early.

    Saturday Bill was kind and made sure we were up and about early so I could get to a coffee shop, we found a nice little place and the coffee was just right. Afterwards we spent the rest of the day with another friend of Bill’s, Patrick and a few of his friends touring the city. We hit Twin Peaks, Japan Town, Cable Cars, Zachary’s Pizza, Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream (where I tried several of the flavors but settled on “Elvis (the fat years)” which was quite good) and many shops in the Castro.

    Sunday, we again went out for coffee early, intended to go to the Folsom Street fair early, but ended up napping (and snoring if you believe Dorothy – Bill and I both deny we snore) while Dorothy, a nurse, went off to volunteer her skills at the first aid station at the festival. That afternoon Bill and I did get to the fair, briefly, before walking to the Castro and just being touristy until that evening when we went to the Castro Theater to see the classic film Metropolis which, despite being made in ancient times, was really quite good.

    Monday morning we went out for coffee and breakfast before heading off to the church where we plan to be married in June, The Interfaith Center in the Presidio. It’s perfect, cozy, sweet and just right…. I know, I know… but it really just felt like the right place to come to get married. Bill and I met with Sandi, the director there, and made arrangements for the day, we also asked her to officiate the event. She was wonderful and we hope you will think so too.

    After our visit to the church Bill and I drove up to Bodega Bay, CA where Alfred Hitchcock shot the film The Birds. If you didn’t know, Bill is a big movie buff, and this was always something he hoped to go visit, so we did. We  used my phone for it’s GPS and by the time we arrived my battery was dead so I don’t have photos to post from there, but we did have a really nice time there and the cooler weather was a nice change (it was in the upper 90s in SF most of the visit and remarkably cooler on the coast). Then we drove up Highway 1 for a bit before stopping in a very gay friendly town near the Russian River for Ice Cream and then headed home through some wine country.

    Then, sadly, I headed for home on Tuesday morning. Bill will be there visiting friends for another week. Fortunately, I’ll get to see him in San Antonio in just two more weeks :-).