Be Mission Market

Mission Local is a great local blog that covers all the important shootings in my neighborhood! I kid, I kid. They cover a wide range of topics and I read their blog on a regular basis. So, I'm pretty excited to be a part of their new marketplace, the Be Mission Market, where they sell products from vendors based in San Francisco's Mission District. You can check it out here: http://missionlocal.org/bemission/

Renegade Prep

Last night we assembled a mock-up of our Renegade Booth (which will be booth #82, by the way) last night in our kitchen. Usually we merchandise while we're in the booth but this time, we actually planned where everything is going to go. It feels like we're getting it down. Renegade is this weekend (July 9th and 10th) so I should hope that we're at least somewhat prepared for it.

We've nicknamed the fixture with the window "Big Ben". Last week, I painted Big Ben black. I think he looks just fine in black.

I've got some new products and designs.

Fishy!

Guess what it says inside?

New Design!

I don't think I officially introduced everyone to my latest design, "Goldfish". Not too shabby, eh? You can get one online or you can swing by the Renegade Fair at Fort Mason on July 9th and 10th (and get some deals!).

Renegade Craft Fair

It's Renegade Craft Fair time again! Myself and this humble abode will be sharing booth #82. It's worth noting that the summer fair is back at Fort Mason. This year, preparations have felt much less hectic than in the past. Much of that is due to the fact that this is the first year where I could afford to buy a ton of towels well in advance, so each time I printed a design, I was able to print for Renegade too. It took a few years but I knew that someday I would be able to get my production in line.

I have a new design to introduce at Renegade as well as a few new products to test out. I'm pretty excited to show you what I've got! More information and web flyers can be found here: http://www.renegadecraft.com/san-francisco

It's Coming!

And I'll be there.

Renegade! A rebel!

Two things arrived while I was on vacation: my new business card and the flyer for the August 11th show at Hotel Utah. Allow me to plug a local business. I've dealt with Clubcard Printing for a few jobs now and they have excellent customer service, great pricing and are super-gay. If you live in San Francisco and have printing needs, they are it!


The Renegade Fair is this weekend. Everything is printed and waiting to be tagged. I'm no stranger to being "booth candy" but this is my first time selling my own wares. There's still a lot left to be done and I go back to work tomorrow. Sigh... Anyway, last night I sanded and shellac-ed these six foot poles (*wink*) for use in our display. Ciuccio and The Heated and gonna tear it up. Here's the info on that:

Hello! The second annual Renegade Craft Fair in SAN FRANCISCO will take place JULY 18 + 19 from 11am – 7pm, at Fort Mason Center Festival Pavilion. Located on the sparkling waterfront, shoppers needing to cool off from all the excitement indoors at this FREE urban art, craft and DIY extravaganza can pop right outside for a refreshing gust of bay-breeze! We’re so excited, let’s say it one more time: FREE!

(click here! for directions and parking information!)

Sometimes I hate the city I love

This morning, my walk to work was miserable. Buckets of rain were coming down. I had rolled my pants up before I left the house (I'm bringing pegged pants back, people) but had underestimated how bad it was and by the time I was rounding the corner in front of my workplace the front of my pants were soaked. On the sidewalk in front was a large pile of syringes along with a few crack pipes and used plastic lighters. Drug addicts suck.

My building has a security guard so I let him know on my way in. I told him that if he called the police they could give him the number for the Needlestick Hotline. Yes, such a thing exists. A hotline solely dedicated to syringes. Drug addicts suck. They suck so much.

The reason that I know about the hotline is because months earlier, over the summer, there had been a similar situation outside my apartment building. Except instead of just syringes dumped on the sidewalk, they were in an open shoebox. It wasn't really a shoe box, it was a box for a cell phone but it looked to be about the same size as a shoe box. Just overflowing with syringes.

I saw it on my way out of the apartment with my wife. I called the police as we walked to the store. They were the ones who told me about the Needlestick Hotline. The Needlestick Hotline was not in service over the weekend but their message gave me a city department to call. I called the city department. I was promptly put on hold and forgotten about. I called back and had a tense moment with the woman on the other line who instantly softened once the situation with the box had been made clear. She let me know that someone would be by in the next couple of hours to pick it up.

It was just sitting there and dogs could have run up and sniffed it or a kid could have run up and tried to touch the orange plastic caps. I resolved to get it off the street as soon as we got back from the store. As we came down from the top of the street on the return trip, there were two people hunched over the box. They were taking pictures with a very nice camera as their nice, new station wagon sat running at the curb. I had a strong urge to walk up and punch them in the mouth. They could hear the party that my upstairs neighbor was having for their six year old son. They could see that this horrible, filthy box was sitting on the sidewalk for anyone to stick themselves with and they decided that the best thing to do about it, the most sensible plan of action, was to fucking taking pictures! You assholes. People suck. They suck and they suck and sometimes I hate living in San Francisco.

I have seem homeless people stop beggging to answer their cell phones. I once saw a homeless man pushing a shopping cart full of God-knows-what (boxes full of syringes, apparently) with a Bluetooth headset on. I have seen people smoke crack, swing at each other with baseball bats, fight on the train. Of course, urine pools abound and the other day someone shit in one of those tunnels construction crews build when the sidewalk is closed. It hadn't been there in the morning but then, on my way home, human feces in the tunnel, which is even worse because it means someone felt free enough to do that IN BROAD DAYLIGHT! There is nothing worse than coming across someone using the street as a toilet. And to the homeless man who sleeps in front of Flax, I SHOULD NOT KNOW WHAT YOUR PENIS LOOKS LIKE!

C'mon. You knew I would do this.

Yeah, I held a video back from the El Rio show in case I had nothing else to blog about. I got nothing, people. It's been all work and some fun but not the kind of fun that's bloggable. Predictable, three-Tecates-and-dinner, kind of fun. But mostly, work. As in, work-all-day-then-screenprint-then-class-then-screenprint-then-dinner, kind of work.

What's awesome about this video is that it looks and sounds like there are no people there until the camera turns around at the end. Also, the sound person is setting up the room as I am playing, which looks a little funny, like I just showed up and started playing before they were ready. The chairs were a good idea though.

Thank you, sisters-in-law for the foresight of taking video.

I'm not interested.

As I was walking home from work today, I saw two young men walking towards me, up the sidewalk. They caught my attention because they were wearing suits with nametags, which really made them look like they worked at a hotel. But as I got closer, I realized that they were not bellboys. We smiled at each other and one of them pulled out a flyer and said, "We're from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Can we talk to you?"

Without even thinking, I waved them off and said, "I'm gay. You don't like my kind." I wasn't even thinking of the whole gay-marriage debacle. I was just thinking, "I'm gay and I have no problem with it." And they say we recruit? Ok, I've recruited one or two for my people, myself. Zing! God, I love being gay.

My people

I sent this letter out to almost everyone I know so why not you too?

Hello friends and family,

As much as I keep joking that I'm going to vote yes on Prop 8 so that I don't have to pay the government another $98 for a marriage license when I've already got a domestic partnership license (what, I should have to pay twice?), I'm writing today to ask you to consider voting no on Prop 8. I'm asking you to consider this for several reasons:

#1) I think some people might be confused as to which way they should vote in order to keep gay marriage legal. The way to do that is to vote no on Prop 8. I'm not saying you're dumb. Just lazy.

#2) Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with gays marrying each other, I think we can certainly agree that a bill intended to take away the rights of any group, which is what this bill does, is downright un-American. Even if you don't morally agree with gay marriage, imagine if there were ever a bill proposed that specifically targeted your ethnicity, religion, beliefs, etc to say that since some people do not agree with you on a moral level, your legal rights should be removed. That would be weird and insulting, right? It kind of goes against everything that America was founded upon.

#3) If you vote no on Prop 8, a lot of gay people in California will get married. This will bring much needed money to the California economy. On top of that, you might even be personally invited to one of these weddings and everyone knows that the gay people, as a whole, know how to throw a good party. A no vote on Prop 8 increases your chances of attending a kick-ass, gay party.

Most of you that I'm writing to are already planning on voting no on Prop 8. But what about your family or friends that live in California and are kind of on the fence about it or don't really follow politics? That lazy cousin in Fontana? The confused aunt in Paso Robles? Maybe drop them a line.

I thought about giving money to the "no on Prop 8" people but decided that this email would be more effective. If I get even one of you to change your mind and vote no, then I just saved myself twenty bucks. And if you pass it on and get one more person to vote no, then you owe me twenty bucks, or at least a beer the next time I see you.

Love,

Cristina

Represent

I wrote to Nancy Pelosi not once but twice asking her to vote against the bailout because I think it is complete and total bull feces. She is actually my representative since I live in San Francisco. I didn't bother to tell her that I will never, never, ever vote for her again, even if the only other choice is a nut-job (which will undoubtedly be the case, since I live in San Francisco).

My father sent this to me. He's a registered Republican and it's nice for us to agree on something political.

This might sound familiar

Did my brilliant press release make it to the masses? Hell to the yeah. Many thanks to The Deli Mag for their remarkably sound decision to post it on their home page.

Turtle Hill

Here is where I went not this last weekend, but the one before that. I grabbed a pretty girl and headed up a big hill with a picnic. Or she packed the picnic. Either way, I found Turtle Hill.