Saturday, November 15th, 2008

Clarisa had a date.  She follows the strict and complicated rules of the San Francisco dating scene.  Which is to say, once she has a “crush” on a guy, she operates in the slowest possible manner.  Also, preliminary dates are usually done in groups with several people from both circle of friends.  Further, dates are generally scheduled well in advance and never happen too close to one another.  You will rarely see someone you’re dating twice in one week… unless by accident.  This staggered effect is a result of the overly active lives of San Francisco residents.  A single San Franciscan is the busiest person on the face of the planet.  Every dinner, every lunch, every coffee break is scheduled for weeks in advance.  If you don’t have something scheduled… just fake it.  Everyone must be busy!!

For this particular group date, I was Clarisa’s escort and sole representative from our circle of friends.  We headed to the Fillmore for the Galactic concert.  Galactic, a funk/jam band from New Orleans, has no singer and notoriously throws down twelve minute songs.  They’re not on my list of favorite bands but the concert wasn’t the point of the evening.  We were there to spend a few “limited interaction minutes” with her crush before disappearing to another two or three events in other parts of the city.

Eventually we bumped into the “crush” on the main floor as Galactic jammed (and jammed some more).  I worked through fits of ’screaming-concert-small-talk’ with some of her “crush’s” buddies while Clarisa stood quietly in his vicinity and listened to the band blurr tunes together.  Apparently, Clarisa and her crush said a few words to one another at some point.  About thirty minutes after their HUGE concert conversation, Clarisa was ready to go.  We promptly ventured out to meet some of our other friends at another venue…  The date had been a success.