First, it was really nice to meet all of you that I did. Second, Frisco is a great city, want to return and see more of it. Hell, want to see all of it. Third; short photo essay for extra credit:

San Francisco is full of monsters:


and monster talents:


colorful monsters, indeed.


So I was inspired to adopt a couple of cheap bandais and get around town. But first, I had to find familiar landmarks to orient myself:



Okay. I took my adopted bandai children on the bus to meet their birth mother. Seemed like the right thing to do. But on the way, I heard a lot of giggling and squirming in the convenient travel bag. Wouldn't you know it, the little sh*tz had a
PEN FIGHT and in their best clothes no less! Well, there was nothing to be done for it, so here are the little scamps with Mom, who has been in treatment, lives in a group situation and may someday be allowed supervised custodial visits:



Well, they said that they were sorry, so I took them to the Japanese Gardens, but we weren't allowed in because they violated the kaiju dress code:



That's all people! Thanks for all the niceness! It's a wonderful town.

Great photos poysntixels and I'm glad you had a good time in our crazy town. Love the photo of the Bandais on that ancient Midwinter Exposition pseudo-sphinx thing. I recognize Bert and PK in that one photo but who is the other man?

steve, great to meet you. thanks for coming out....

great pics.......it's always cool to see our city from the eyes of a visitor.

the 3rd Monster Talent is Connell, aka Plastic Hunter. one of the coolest cats around.

It was very fun to meet you at the show! Now I know how to pronounce your board name correctly! Thanks for putting up with me pouncing on you with an inquiry . You seemed to know everyone, a Ranger-Rick to my rescue .

Your pen-fighting critters are marvelous--they seem to fit in the Haight Ashbury mood. Nice pics! Hope you had a fun time during your visit. Did you stop in at any nice eateries?

that other man is light years younger than me. the collector, the artist, and the apprentice.

Steve I really enjoyed meeting and talking with you! Glad you made it to some of SF's great spots!

So...did you go to the Academy of Science? Remember I told you it would be a nightmare. I'm glad you made it to the Tea Garden...hard to take a bad pic in there...it's so beautiful. You mentioned maybe going to the de young too.

Da Quotes:
"It was very fun to meet you at the show! Now I know how to pronounce your board name correctly! Thanks for putting up with me pouncing on you with an inquiry . You seemed to know everyone, a Ranger-Rick to my rescue .

Your pen-fighting critters are marvelous--they seem to fit in the Haight Ashbury mood. Nice pics! Hope you had a fun time during your visit. Did you stop in at any nice eateries?"
...

"Steve I really enjoyed meeting and talking with you! Glad you made it to some of SF's great spots!

So...did you go to the Academy of Science? Remember I told you it would be a nightmare. I'm glad you made it to the Tea Garden...hard to take a bad pic in there...it's so beautiful. You mentioned maybe going to the de young too."

Da responsez:

Great meeting you people, too. I particularly enjoyed Mr. Mr. H's patience and quiet good humor about it all!

Food: I was searching on the cheap but I did have to go to Mifune and a couple of other places in the mall to check it out. Had the udon/soba combo at Mifune...tasty. Had trouble with slippery noodles and japanese style chopsticks (used to chinese blunt and rice) but I prevailed. Had a really nice "crunchy roll" at one of the other places whose name I have already gapped. Found a nice, but dingy coffee house by the Asian Art Museum one morning. They played Mozart instead of rap or alterna-teen, it was great, called The Celtic I believe. Tempted ptomaine death twice by eating breakfast at Minny's down the street. It was great and fast as well!

Museums: Went to the Asian on Saturday, spent 3 3/4 hours there. Could move in, if they let me. Loved it, but it was very odd that they had no Chinese ink brush painting from the classic eras. Someone should make a bequest. Sunday my adopted kids and I went to the de Young. Found the Warhol exhibit to be curiously de-constructivist and de-mythologizing or is that just me? The pre-Columbian stuff and the contemporary glass just knocked me on my butt, though. Absolutely tremendous and worth the admission. I understand that the de Young is newer and growing. If I lived there, these 2 museums would get all my spare change, dollars and bus tokens. Academy of Science had a line about 4 1/2 blocks long by my guess. It must have been family day, because you could smell the pampers and hear the howling from across the park...saving it for another day. Not down on kids, but have already paid dues on that issue, just looking for a nice, mellow day.

Video stores: Thank you, Bert! Scored 3 videos I'd been looking for at 2/3 the cost of an amazon order! Woot!

Toys: I bought just a few more to ship home with my stuff when the show ends, heh. Whatever I didn't spend eating or drinking Kirin winds up on my shelves. The little guys got doodled on some more with cheap markers I scored at the dollar store in the japan mall. Look for them in a tongue-in-cheek thread in the customs forum soon! Also scored a Billiken billiken at GR on the Haight.

Walking: Actually walked from the de Young back to SuperSeven by way of the Haight on Sunday. Walked almost as much the day before. I used to do stuff like that all the time (20+ years ago!). Boy am I out of shape! Well actually, I have a shape. It is based on the gourd.

And back to you guys....

it's nice when you meet someone in person cause i can literally hear your voice and cadence when I read your posts now.

anyone that met Steve can back me up. He sounds like a news broadcaster.