Fun in Oakland 7-27-14

June 27-29th me and the Boobear went on a trip up North to see Devo and hang with the Tiffster in Oakland. We stopped at Milt's for a quick bite to eat and we both decided on Fish n' Chips since they're only served on Friday and we've never been there on a Friday. Twas OK, not awesome, but they were aiight. We like to go in there Sundays because their chicken noodle soup is amazeballs. 

As long as we've been together, he never ceases to surprise me. This "premium" only dude who is picky about his water and coffee wanted coffee at this rest stop vending machine. When I came out of the bathroom, I found him giggling around the corner, and lo and behold, I found him by this "Pronto Cafe" machine. When he said, "I kind of want some Boo" it blew my mind! I took a video of this experience but then my phone got messed up and I lost it...so sad about that! But the machine was pretty cool. Probably the closest thing I'll ever get to using one of those coffee vending machines in Japan or South Korea haha.

When we got to Oakland and found Tiffany's house AND finally found parking, here comes Tiffany walking down the street with beer in hand, "WHAT'S UP BITCHES!?!?!?" Can't beat that welcome!

So, after we gathered our stuff and made ourselves comfortable, Andrew went off to record shop while me and Tiff got caught up with life and stuff (beers in hand, of course). We also got to meet her roommate named Ruon who is going to be publishing an adult vampire series soon. 

When Andrew got back from his excursion, we got a little freshened up and Tiffany took us to this place called Beer Garden. Pretty good food and beer but it's picnic style seating and it was packed. Not gonna lie, it was like walking in to an Urban Outfitters catalog. Plus there were people who were by themselves who had plenty of room to scoot down to make room for us three, but were probably too high to move or too emotionally numb by the shitty music they were probably listening to through their headphones. I know, sorry if it sounds like I've been hitting the Hatorade.

^This pose is so funny because I wanted to take a picture, but she was sitting down and I felt so tall and so as I crouched down, she started to stand up hahah.

It seems every time we're in Oakland we always make it to the Stork Club. Nice comfy dive bar that has bands play every now and then.

When we got home, I stole some googly eyes from Tiffany and did a performance (which Andrew video taped...grr)

The next morning, Tiff had a Dieticians meeting in her place but it was over by 1pm so after that, she took us to Downtown Oakland area for some Blue Bottle Coffee. That area is pretty cool if you like artsy, newly restored old timer buildings. We checked out an estate sale that had a lot of plates and scary dolls. Tiffany was going to get a bowler hat but it was made out of hard Styrofoam stuff. I think it belonged to a doll but she didn't care because she still put it on her noggin.

When we were crossing the street going back to the car, Tiffany held out her hand to an approaching car and the car stopped. The guy who was driving was like, "Yeah yeah I see ya! CAN'T MISS AAALL THAT!" which made us laugh so hard. Tiffany was like, "That shit happens all the time!"

We were starvin' marvins so she took us to this gourmet mac and cheese place called Homeroom which was pretty dang good, but the cheese sauce is super rich. There's no way anyone could finish a whole bowl. Party Man Steven works there so it was pretty cool seeing him. Andrew finished his meal pretty fast because he wanted to go record hunting at 1,2,3,4, Go down the street which is in a new location. I actually liked that there was a small stage and seating. Andrew discovered that when Billy Joe from Greenday was really into what they were doing so he bought that building where 1,2,3,4, Go now currently resides. His son also plays there quite a bit, hence the stage so that was a pretty interesting tid bit.

Me and Tiff stayed behind and had a beer and then we went on a long walk around the area, walked through the park, and talked. I had to use the bathroom and there was no place in site, plus people are so anal to let you use their restrooms...so I went into a Kaiser Permanente building where there was a security guard right in the front. I knew he was going to stop me but I held out a tampon and waved it around (subtly of course) so he could clearly see it and not say anything to me when I walked in and went straight for the bathroom.

Two chicks were hanging out in this small bathroom with probably everything from their purse dumped out into the counter. They had makeup, hair brushes, what have you, everywhere. They were just talking shit and taking stupid selfies, one right after the other. They seriously looked like they've been camping in there for about a couple days...yikes.

Five O' Clock rolls around and Andrew is still record shopping and poor Tiff wanted to get ready and put on her special lipstick for the festivities. Andrew keeps telling me 20 min, which turned into an hour... 30min. more which turned into an hour...so I told Andrew that I was going to leave him there and I did. I took Tiffany home so she could doll herself up which didn't even take us that long. Andrew finally called and was like, "I'm done now!" So we picked him up and we went to a Tapas bar down the street from the theater Devo was playing at. There we met up with Andrew's homies and we had drinks.

Devo time! 

After the show, me and Tiff went into a random bar to use the restroom and it turned out to be a really cute place with an amazing beer menu. So we had a beer there and then we met Andrew's homies at a bar across the street from the theater.

 

After the shenanigans, Andrew's homies invited us over to their house (super cute house by the way, and SUPER nice people) where we hung out there for a bit and then Andrew drove me home because someone got a little too crunked...eek.

The next morning, we met up with Andrew's friend Rob (such a super nice and funny dude, always a pleasure seeing him) and we had crepes for lunch. After lunch, he took us to a record store and Andrew got to peruse the selection for a little bit. Then Rob took us on a longer route and we saw more of Oakland which is surprisingly a very pretty city.

After saying our goodbyes, we took off to San Fransisco which was such a bad idea. Pride or something was going on, so traffic was horrific and detours were up the wazoo. Parking was horrendous as ususal but Andrew really wanted to go to Ameoba so we went there and I drove to Ocean Beach and hung out at Goldent Gate Park. Then we wanted to stop at Sight Glass Coffee to visit Joe but he wasn't there. Very good coffee though! And then we went home. Andrew got us home in like 3.5 hours...that little speed demon haha.

We had such a great time and special thank you to Tiff who let us stay at her place and for being so hospitable and accommodating always!

And to end this post, here's a pic Andrew sent to me...haha...