Zine Fest & Sand Castles

As I write this late Tuesday evening, it's raining, but this past weekend we had gorgeous, sunny weather & lots of competing events in the City. On Saturday I went to the Mission to check out the Zine Fest for the first time. It's much more modest in scale than the APE show & much more local, though I also met people who had traveled from other parts of the country for this event. I even bought a few things:

• Nonsensical is a small, personal & exquisite journal zine.
• The sensitive stories in Laterborn, by Jason Martin, made me think about being in love, though the subject itself is barely mentioned.
• I let Andy Hartzell talk me into buying the 1st 2 parts of his Biblical send-up, Monday, even though it may be a long time before he finishes this 5-part series. So far it's very clever & very funny. He better have part 3 the next time I run into him.

After a quick lunch at a Cafe Petra (whose awning plainly lists the four magical elements: Coffee Tea Food Internet), I shared a crowded bus ride to Ocean Beach with people heading to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass concert in the Park. At the beach I saw the sand castle competition. These sand sculptures were huge! My favorites were the steaming volcano & the animal version of Mount Rushmore.

While I was at the beach I got glimpses of the Blue Angels doing their air show along the water front. I spent the weekend deliberately staying away from my Marina neighborhood to avoid the big crowds that show up for Fleet Week. However, the crowds lingered in the neighborhood long into the night. I had wanted to go to Dolores Park in the evening to see the free outdoor movie, but I became trapped in my neighborhood. I waited over half an hour for the 22 but it never came, so I just gave up. Instead I stayed home, did my laundry & read my new zines.