Chuck's Bay Area Adventures

I'm Charles the Handicorn. These are some of the hyphy hijinks I've been up to since moving to the Yay from MPLS last Spring! <3 <3 <3

[charlesthehandicorn]

One of the installations at the Yuri Kochiyama gallery showing included making cotton candy. But, the mfing facist State shut it down cuz they didn’t have a stinking permit or some shit! What! Smash the State!

[charlesthehandicorn]

I went to this dope af Yuri Kochiyama art exhibit in SoMa with Emily and her friend, Taeva. It was SO COOL. There was a ton of really beautiful and significant political art about her, in her honor, and/or aligned with issues around which she organized. They had wine, too.

If you don’t know about her, check her out - she’s a-1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Kochiyama

[charlesthehandicorn]

Here’s a longer video of the start of the liquid nitrogen vegan ice cream making process -- there’s more, but, I mean, you get the idea. That day in the park was great! That’s Emily’s mother on the left at the end of the clip - the short lady, and the two people on the ground on the right are folks Emily grew up with...all the other people are from other walks of life! :)

[charlesthehandicorn]

Nitrogen is 71% of the atmosphere! Wow, the things you learn making vegan ice cream!

[charlesthehandicorn]

Wooo! Driving around Bayview with Emily, Stephanie, and Tim. Those kids really know how to have a good time. Also, this 1980/90-something Mercury Grand Marquis is a BEAST, which is good cuz Tim drives like he gives zero fucks when we get on the highway to visit our friend in Pacifica and go to the tiki bar. It is so much fun, it’s like riding in a pirate ship.

[charlesthehandicorn]

I went on an amazing hike at this place called Briones. Emily took me there on a “let’s go to someplace pretty” date she had with this guy, Dibs, who plays classical guitar and recently became a therapist. We forgot to take photos until the end, but that meant we caught the sunset!

[charlesthehandicorn]

I got put in a kind of “time out” during gamenight after the money eating incident... but I still got to watch the game play!

[charlesthehandicorn]

Sometimes I drink a lil too much wine and things get kind of sideways...

[charlesthehandicorn]

I got to hang out with one of Emily’s weird friends. He is super into cryptography and the politics of privacy and stuff. He’s lowkey paranoid. He’s got on his Noisebridge shirt, which is a hackerspace that is super cool, and he’s also got this elf jacket situation. Emily saw Chelsea Manning speak at Noisebridge recently, but the space might lose their lease soon -- it’s in the Mission, so, you know how that goes... :/

[charlesthehandicorn]

I went with Emily to visit her friend, Steve, who was visiting his father in Belmont (which is wayyy the fuck away! so far from the East Bay where I live!). We used the bathroom in the Belmont City Hall, where I got to see their pretty city poem. Then, we took Steve to catch his flight at the Oakland airport. Doesn’t Steve have a great smile?

[charlesthehandicorn]

Don’t tell the homies at Alchemy, but I do sometimes drink coffee - it’s gotta be Philz, though, cuz I fux with the Tantalizing Turkish blend with the cardamom and mint. This was my first time at the Berkeley location, though, and the vibes were not that high (i.e. hectic North Berkeley energy 😒) - I usually hit the one in La Mission.

[charlesthehandicorn]

My back was bothering me again after Russian River tubing adventures (and making out), so three whole humans took the time to help me crack my back! Wooooo. One of those people is Ilana, who lived in Minneapolis for a minute - plus one of her longest term best friends who lives out here now!

[charlesthehandicorn]

Emily took me to Russian River with some friends and I met some gorgeous creatures! Alexa the human took me for a swim, and I made out with a tubicorn! I didn’t catch their name, though - don’t hate the player, hate the game!

[charlesthehandicorn]

Sometimes my back goes out, but I still gotta stay hydrated -- my girls took care of me. Drink some water, take your meds, call your person.

[charlesthehandicorn]

Chilling out with Emily and her eldest brother, Matthew, at Melo Melo Kava Bar in Berkeley. We’re play-testing the first edition of Bloc by Bloc - an anarchist revolution cooperative game! You can get the second edition here: https://outofordergames.com/blocbybloc/ Let’s start a riot!

[charlesthehandicorn]

Whenever someone comes into town, I always take them for coffee in the morning at Alchemy Collective Cafe, a worker-owned cooperative in South Berkeley. I prefer the milk to the coffee, though, partly cuz handicorns don’t usually drink coffee.

[charlesthehandicorn]

I go to a lot of bars - but, I mean, I love booze! Also, wings. I went to Willows (a biker-ish bar in SoMa) to get some beer and wings. The wings were improperly seasoned, however, so we had to get the various flavors of hot sauce flowing to compensate. They have one cocktail one tap here - it’s vodka and soda water, when you get the printed bill, it’s on there as the “Basic Bitch Cocktail.”