Voodoo Child v. 16: it doesn't have to be eternal to be immortal.

I went to the mall this weekend. Not just any mall. The Freakin' Westfield Center. AKA the "new" mall in San Francisco. Hated it. But before I go there, let me share a little history with you.

Back in the day, when I was but a wee Voodoo, I used to spend my weekends in the space now known as the Westfield Center, when it was the Emporium. It was a place where Mother V and I would peruse articles of clothing as well as other sundries. I can see the place in my mind's eye to this day. I knew the layout of the place. We used to sit underneath the beautiful dome and eat tuna salad sandwiches and chat about the things we saw. Soon, Macys would draw us away from the Emporium and its dome, and eventually it closed down, to be shuttered for years.

The new mall that moved into its space kept the dome. My dome, I used to call it, is still there in all its glory, ringed by the bannisters that kept it upright. There was a flash of something when I stood under it yesterday, part memory, part nostalgia, part wanting to remember everything from back in the day.

That being said, here's my review of the place: crow-ded. Bad flow. You rely on the architect's layout to create a natural flow of the customers, and that layout or flow just didn't do it for me. It felt chaotic, it was hot, and I was tired from thinking about where everything was, and I was not very excited about anything there, even the Bloomies was just another bastion for shopping that, well, felt predictable. I did see some cashmere I wanted tho ;-

If you're going, get there early. wear comfy shoes. Have a plan because it's easy to get lost and get very frustrated. Don't bother with Bread Papa, the lines were too long and I was much too annoyed to even bother. Husbandido and I ran into Borders, but even that seemed poorly laid out and confusing.

We went to Bloomingdales instead and focused our shopping there, and that was MUCH better. Something tells me that I need to save more pennies though. Isn't that how Bloomies makes you feel? Okay, maybe me.

Happy Birthday! to the Phredator and the Teach. Had fun at 111 Minna! Kinda worried when I saw one of my students there. I asked him if anyone else was there, and he said no. I finished my drink and was totally fine with it. If more showed up, I woulda bounced real fast. Ran into Heavy and Salsa, th e Weekender and Etcha, (Not So) Drunken Masta, Puki, Dr. Lady J, the Barrelman, so much love to all of you. Best part of the night? Three things: music was good, company was fabulously hilarious, and putting pornotube vids on the macintoshes and watching people walk by then staring hard at the action. Lovely.

Go Niners! Stupid bastards blocking my driveway again. Someone needs to get a ticket next time. Jerks.

But here's to a great weekend, and hope yours was fabulous too.

Voodoo