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We took Rae’s roommate Michael out to San Francisco to celebrate his 30th birthday this weekend. For dinner, we went to the busy Indian Oven restaurant, located in Lower Haight. We met up with some of their mutual friends, including Keith, Terri, and Lee, and Deb. At first, our table sat six people in six chairs. Lee came a little late, so we were stuck with a conundrum. Seven people, six seats. Hmmm… Rae, Michael, Deb, and I placed our seats next to each other and made one giant sofa for the four of us! Seven people and six seats? Nothing to it! Michael is left-handed, and I’m right-handed. It made eating a little difficult, but I’ve had it worse when my elbow was dislocated back in February of this year.

After dinner, we drove a short while to the Fillmore, where Reverend Horton Heat was playing. He plays a style of punkabilly rock. I’d never heard of this band before, but hundreds of Reverend fans lined up the insides of the Fillmore, dressed in very interesting garbs. There was even a guy dressed in a kilt! Lots of leather and old-school looks at this concert. The music itself was not bad… I’ve been listening to a lot of female performers lately, so it was a definite change of pace. There was a mosh pit that I jumped into at the end; I don’t think that I’ve done that since I was a junior in high school, dancing at the Locomotive nightclub in Paris, France! You have to be extra careful in a mosh pit, since there are some big, burly guys who can hurt you with their flying elbows or prodigious beer bellies!

No cameras were allowed at the Fillmore, so I wasn’t able to get some cool shots of the Reverend and his band. They were filming something at the concert. Perhaps it was a VH-1 Behind the Music episode on the Reverend! Funny how all of those episodes all are the same? Rock band gets famous suddenly. They fall into drugs, sex, and depression. Someone gets kicked out of the band or dies. Band experiences a carthartic rebirth. There’s finally peace on Earth again. It’s as formulaic as Hollywood movies now are these days!

Mike’s friends were big into motorcycling apparently. Lee had a nice midnight blue Ducati M900. I love Ducati bikes ever since my former roommate Guillaume bought one in 1998. His was a red M900 and it was sweet! When I sat on the bike and revved the engine, I realized quickly why people like to ride cycles! At the same time, I see it as being pretty dangerous. You wipe out in a bike and you might not be getting up anytime soon. Wipe out in a car and you have a better chance. One of these days, I’d like to learn how to ride a bike, if only just to know what it’s like.

Turning 30 is a big thing for me. At the time of this writing, I’m 26 years old. Thirty used to be a number that was soooo far away, but now it’s just around the corner. I have a few friends who are 30 and they seemed to have handled it well. One person told me, “I love being 30.” Me? I still feel like I’m a kid at heart. 30 sounds sooo old. But, if I can maintain my positive attitude in my 30’s, I’ll be a happy person.

Sunday Vienna

On Sunday, I went to see Vienna Teng sing at the Red Rock Coffee Company in Mountain View. Steven was there, along with Eric Miller and this clone of me who used to go to school with Steven. Kyle had an interesting look, I thought. Long hair with a big messenger bag. Vienna played another nice set from her current album and some songs that’s she’s been working on recently. I can’t wait for the next album to be released!

I picked up two more Waking Hour CDs from Vienna. I figure that they’ll make great presents to give to people. If you haven’t bought her CD, do it now! You won’t regret it! It’s like that scene from Predator when Arnold is in the trench, urging the Predator to come towards him, “Come on, do it! Kill me I’m here, kill me now! Do it now!” In this case, I’m urging people, “Come on, do it! Buy her CD here, buy it! Do it now!” Hmmm… Predator and Vienna Teng in the same sentence? I never thought it’d be possible!

Earlier in the day, Vienna was at Eric’s place, taking some headshots for publicity stills and the like. Eric had these cool red window blinds that make for a great backdrop. The headshots turned out really well (scroll to end of page), I felt!

Adam Nash is getting married today in the Bay Area! Eric’s in the wedding party, so there won’t be that many pictures from him at this event (we’ll see though… I hear that they’re making Canon D30 camera bag attachments to tuxes these days! Not!). Adam and I worked on a few CS projects while at college. It’s great to see he’s tying the knot and settling down. Somehow, though, I don’t think that Adam will be slowing down one bit!

I don’t meet that many Adam’s, since it’s not as common a name as John, Michael, or David. When I do, however, it’s strange to say my name and have someone else turn their head and say, “Yes?” It’s also strange when you see someone who has a similar look to you, like that Kyle guy from the Cafe yesterday. I know that there are at least two Adam Tow’s out there in the world other than myself. One of them is in Iowa and the other is apparently in the U.S. Marine Corps. Somewhere out there, there’s someone who looks like you, acts like you, and is called you. In a world of billions of people, what are the possibilities of that? Similar to the chances of life existing outside of this planet, I’d say that it’s greater than you’d think.