Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Visiting Jasper in the Bay Area




I haven’t been posting lately because I’m in San Francisco. I’ve been having a busy time for me, although for a normal person it wouldn’t be. Last Friday I hiked over a tall hill in Noe Valley to the Castro and later in the day Wolf and I walked to the merry-go-round in Golden Gate park where I rassled down a zebra and rode it bareback. I paid for my brashness the next day with exhaustion. It’s still the rule: a good day followed by a low energy day.

Jasper and his new girlfriend Sarah came over to visit on Saturday. I find that holding court at Wolf’s house is a much better idea than trying to chase all over the Bay Area to visit people. He and Sarah took me out to brunch. I didn’t resist because I knew how frustrating it was for me when my father would never let me pay for a meal. We walked over to Shrader Street to gaze at the apartment where he spent the first year of his life. It was a short jaunt back to Cole Street and Wolf’s house, which was good because I was only up to a short jaunt at that point. Wolf provided tea and berries.

Jasper has many projects in the fire. This year he is in charge of the show at Stage Left at the Oregon Country Fair, which is a large undertaking, as I can attest, having been put in that position a few times. He is lining up acts, begging for passes and money for them, and dealing with the intractable infrastructure and political patronage that makes the U.S. Senate seem like a simple child’s game. The idea is to bring in a whole new generation of performers, that is, our children, and let the old people stand aside for a change. It will be refreshing to see an ingénue who is under the age of 50 on our stage.

He’s also landed a day job doing some sort of marketing of cable systems. He can set his own hours. However he has to commute in a car to his area, which isn’t exactly to his liking. Unfortunately, he seems to be as allergic to earning money as his parents, preferring the arts, just as we did. I’m afraid that I’m going to be one of those people, who, on their deathbed, regrets not having spent more time at the office. Jasper, however, is young enough not to feel such regrets. He observes those whose only purpose is to make money and acquire expensive objects as basically shallow. And he points out that his dad and I seem basically happy, which is true. Money isn’t everything. I may be driving a 15 year old car, but it works and it’s a car that my parents drove and hence has great sentimental value. And we live in a lovely house with lots of pleasant people. Who could ask for anything more? Oh, ongoing health insurance and a secure old age? Surely you quibble.

Jasper is also involved in a show called Boylesque. He will play the accordion and keep his clothes on. However, they had a photo shoot and the photos of Jasper were the ones that stood out so he has become the face of Boylesque. Jasper is a little disappointed because the director is oh-so-predictably gay in a 1973-type manner, but it’s thea-tah so he’s going to do it. The show opens in June.

It was lovely to see Jasper and Sarah. We sat in Wolf’s garden until the fog rolled in and we turned into popsicles. It is so bloody cold here in the Haight. I had forgotten. I brought the sort of clothes that easily get me through a Portland winter, but they aren’t adequate for a San Francisco spring.

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