Through My Eyes: Monday, June 22nd, 2009: My 55th Birthday

Hey there Readers,

Today is the second day of Summer, and also it's my 55th birthday, and let me tell you, I feel great!

I worked on my birthday for the first time in I don't know how long.

Usually I take this day off to go out to Ocean Beach in San Francisco, but I couldn't find anyone to fill in for me so here I am at work with my wonderful family of friends.

This is one of the greatest support groups that a person could ever have, so being here at the office today is actually quite a blessing.

I want to thank Loretta & Erin for the Happy Birthday balloon that they left in my workspace for me to see upon my arrival at work, it was so very very sweet of them.

And speaking of very sweet, I want to also thank both Loretta & Erin for the yummy box of mini-cupcakes with the variety of decadently sweet frosting toppings.

Thank you both, you totally rock!

On Sunday, the day before my birthday, I went out to a free rock concert at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park, that featured Gavin Rosdale from Bush as the headliner, along with Matt Nathanson, Sugar Ray and Parachute opening the concert, pun totally intended, lol.

It was a beautiful first-day-of-summer afternoon with clear blue skies, warm temperatures, minimal wind and lots of great music.

My pre-birthday morning started with the quadrennial head shave into a Mohawk, and the best part about that was no nicks this time, unlike when I did it in 2005 and cut myself pretty good, ouch!

Before coming to The city I stopped off at Carmen's Family Barbecue in Hayward to get some pork links & ribs to take with me to the park, along with a couple of Tecate's, and made my way to The City for an afternoon of fun in the sun.

While I was at the concert I was also multi-tasking by listening to the San Francisco Giants on my Walkman (no, I don't own an ipod yet, lol) as they swept the Texas Rangers right out of town with a thrilling and tense 3-2 victory behind the bat of the recently struggling Randy Winn to give Barry Zito his 4th win of the season.

After the concert was over I drove down to Ocean Beach where I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets in recent memory.

As the sunset on the Pacific Ocean, I snapped this photo to capture the essence of the longest day of the year.

Having worked up quite an appetite after a long day of fun in the sun, I stopped off at my favorite Outer Richmond district taqueria, Chino's on Balboa & 36th Ave., for a burrito, which I stood and ate out in front of one of the last of the great district movie theaters in San Francisco, the Balboa theater, which was showing "The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3", and "The Proposal".

One of my favorite things to take photographs of is neon at night, and what better neon signs are there than the neon lights of an old movie theater, such as the Balboa.

So after taking this parting shot, I made my way home for a good night's rest before starting my 56th year of life.

After working all day at the office, my girlfriend Jamie & I celebrated my birthday by going to Japantown in San Francisco for a nice Japanese dinner before taking in a show at Yoshi's Jazz Club on Fillmore St.

Yoshi's presented a program called the "Go Left Fest: Where Creative Arts Collide", that featured performances by, among others: legendary 85 year-old Sun Ra Arkestra leader and saxophonist Marshall Allen, noted author Ishmael Reed, pianist Matthew Shipp, trombonist Roswell Rudd, drummer Sunny Murray, pianist Myra Melford-Mark Dresser duo, bassist Joe Morris, clarinetist/saxophonist Beth Custer, saxophonist Oluyemi Thomas and more.

It was quite a fabulous evening of Jazz improvisation that was both unique and adventurous, thanks to my good friend Erik Seibert for the table with the a sweet view.

At the restaurant before the show, my lovely sweetheart Jamie gave me 2 awesome birthday gifts, a beautiful, flowing Egyption shirt with a pseudo tie-dye look that has many vibrant colors, as well as a black baseball cap with a small Egyption scarab beetle on the front, and King Tut Exhibit on the back.

Thank you Jamie, my love, for celebrating 8 years worth of birthday's with me!

So all in all, it was a great night, after a great day, following a great Summer opening weekend.

I am very lucky to have so many family & friends that love me, and that I love too.

What a great life I have!

Here's some Summer music for you all to enjoy...

Cheers,

Mick