The 2nd-best moment of the night was when I had to ask the scantily clad madame/bartender at the transgender bar called "Divas" to sign a form confirming that the establishment was, in fact, GLBT-friendly. He/she stared at me blankly, taking in my prim up-do, Banana Republic sundress, and pearl earrings. I shrugged and was about to make an excuse for my extraordinarily obvious inability to blend in, but he/she cracked up laughing and grabbed the form to sign, saying, "Honey, you need a drink."
The 1st-best moment of the night was crawling into bed and snuggling up with my book before dozing off. Here's what my Zen room looked like:
This morning was a little less heavenly. I was awakened by the morning meditation bell... at 5am. I was in no mood to meditate or do anything besides roll over and fall right back asleep, so I didn't get up until 7:15am for breakfast. I sauntered into the kitchen, right into the middle of all the Zen students and monks getting ready to chant for mealtime. I froze and began to back out, but one of the men took my arm and said, "No, it's okay! Look, the words to the chant are posted up there," and he pointed to the wall. So I awkwardly squeezed in between him and the next guy in long black robes, bowing my head as they began their monotone chant.
After waiting in line for some oatmeal and quiche, I grabbed a table to myself in the big dining area. I opened my book and tried to read, but I was distracted by the behavior of the center's inhabitants. They would press their palms together and bow slightly in greeting to each other, then bow again before eating, then bow when they got up... there was just an exorbitant amount of bowing going on. I had to stifle a laugh when a student dropped his bowl on the table with a clatter, then freaked out, bowing frantically to everyone at the table and to his bowl of oatmeal in rapid-fire succession.
I noticed someone with a cup of coffee and made a beeline for the door through which she had come, hoping to get some for myself. I greedily filled a mug, then looked around for some sweetener. I cleared my throat and asked the man standing next to me at the counter. "Oh, sure, here you go!" He said in a friendly way, handing me a tin of... something. I read the label: "Organic Evaporated Sugarcane Juice."
...?
Whatever, I needed caffeine, so I experiemented with this Zen version of sugar. Then I spent the rest of the day braving the hills of San Francisco yet again. I discovered a fortune cookie factory, where you can order special "adult" fortunes. How fantastic!
Now I'm in Napa, and tomorrow I'll explore six different wineries. I'm pretty excited since the only time I've been to a real winery (aside from the warehouse in northern Massachusetts that we went on as a senior field trip last month) was in Tuscany when I was still too young to sample the wine. I'm writing this section of the guide from scratch, so it should be a ton of fun - I'll really get to fulfill the writer part of my researcher/writer job title.
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