Jungle Journal, 03-02-2009, by tsdaly
Some San Francisco Reminiscences
uttered by a dottering old fool.
an e-mail to David L. Brown
It's almost 0500, no point in going to sleep now.  Looks like its a double header for me.  I'm gonna be in
great shape when I go over to do the interior pics.  Hopefully I can do it quick and get outta there.  I
hope nobody talks to me.

$550 to share an apartment?  I remember when I moved to The City to go to school our flat in Haight
Ashbury was $190, and we split it three ways.  I got $300 a month for my G.I. Bill payments, and had
saved some money from the three years I worked for the pipeline after Vietnam.  My girlfriend, Kathy,
was a respiratory therapist at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, and made pretty good bucks, and Rusty,
Dianne Lockyer's old pal, was an air-traffic controller in Hayward, and shared the place with us.  It was a
big move for me to quit a good paying job and move to SF as a student getting 300 bucks a month from
Uncle Sam.  It was great.  I loved San Francisco, and studying photography, and the whole vitality of it
all.  It seemed I had finally found a purpose, and I jumped in with mucho gusto.  I soon got work from the
head of the Latin American Studies Department at City College making his slide shows he used in his
classes.  It was a good gig, and I could do the work at home in my free time.  Later on I got the job
driving an ambulance for SF Ambulance Services, and took a little sabbatical from City College, then
went back and finished up my classes.  Dr. Alvaro kept me enrolled in classes like Mexican History etc,
so I could make his slide shows when I was driving the ambulance.  He gave me "C's", but that's not bad
considering I never attended a single class during that period.   I got an A in the one class I did take
from him, which was how I got hooked up with him in the first place.  I remember him loving a paper I
wrote bashing the Spaniards and Catholic Church for enslaving the Incas and steeling all their gold and
so forth.  He was a good guy, and helped me a lot getting through school.  

This will be such a great time for her.  It's strange to think that was 35 years ago for me.  How old is
Christine?  She did "no face" modeling?  What did that entail?  You never said what she was studying at
SF State.  I'm curious.  I am excited for her, and it brings up so many memories for me.

I have been out to dinner with you a few times..maybe that's how I could be so accurate in my
description of you dodging the check.  Just kidding...ha

I wish it was 0900 so I could go over and get the photos done.  I'm not getting any sharper as the hours
without sleep pile up.  It's not exactly rocket science, but I don't want it to be obvious to the tenants that
I'm all fucked up.  Sometimes I have to stop and think, "In this situation, what would a REAL professional
photographer do?"  Probably not show up drunk and high after not sleeping for two nights.  Lucky thing
that sort of behavior is part of my job description as Gonzo Photographer, TSDALY, gonzphoto.com
yada yada yada.

HMM..I want to write more, but can't think of anything else to say.  fuck.

Once again, good luck on the new job placement, assignment, whatever.  I have my fingers crossed for
you, figuratively speaking.  They haven't given you any clues beyond letting you know of the
possibilities?  I wonder why they are doing it on Monday.  Did they have a pow-wow over the weekend to
sort it all out?  That would be cool if you got a job in Auburn, huh?  Which facility was the one in
Auburn?  I have forgotten what all the options entailed.
Would you rather have a job you liked more out of town, or one that was so-so in Auburn?

If any of those Vatican types even look at me funny for my asexual escapades, I will bring to bear the
entire might of The Church of Gonz, where masturbation is not only accepted, but taught, in basic
and advanced classes on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

0600...maybe I should eat something.

Tom..out
know, ever.