Let me start by saying that I know my way around the city of Berkeley very well. I have lived my entire life in this area and I consider myself to have an excellent sense of direction.

That would, by no means stop me from getting completely lost on my way to Chez Nico v. 1.0. From getting confused between University and Bancroft to finally finding University -- just to realize a couple of blocks after I turned onto it that I had just left the street I was looking for -- and, sadly, to have forgotten to write down a crucial step or two in the process. Thankfully I was saved by a very helpful postman.

Slightly late, I arrive at Nico's Chez to find an awesome spread of various excellent Thai dishes waiting for me ...

as well as 10 loyal and devoted A's fans - as well as two younger and not nearly as indoctrinated future A's fans and a super cute puppy. We discussed the joy it is to be on AN, Voros McCracken's DIPs theories, the joy of high socks, and how friggin cute of a daughter Blez produced ... though, I should say, it's very clear that she got her looks from the right side of the family.

We laughed, we cried, we even repeated some of Oaktoon's thoughts on the A's poor play for the 3 millionth time. Most importantly, we got to oggle Barry Zito as he talked about his Strikeouts for Troops program. It was truly touching ...  Speaking of touching, though, we did craft a plan to send several female AN members on the road with the team to massage Bobby Crosby's strained Quad ... and any other part of him, or his good looking teammates (sorry Ruby) that might need a lady's touch.

After a quick trip to the gym, I was off to Concord, to watch an excellent film of a son and his dad, finally finding the time they never had and visiting all 30 ballparks in 60 days. It was an excellent and touching film. I don't want to give away too much of the film, because, as our own Princemilo mentioned, coming into a film without expectations is crucial to truly appreciating the art. I can't not mention one excellent directoral choice. Through 30 games in 28 cities in an hour and a half long film, not a single moment depicted Major League Baseball being played. There's a tremendous power in what is not shown. It was actually the key theme in the student film I made a couple of years back. In this case, it pointed to the key theme of what Princemilo was very clear to point out was a baseball movie - and that was, it was not about baseball. It was about living life and about the relationships that we can find, develop, and fully enjoy. We can sit on our asses and let life drag us into what is convenient or we can really live. Hopefully this film can encourage more of us to do so before lives start being taken away from us.

In short, I had a great day. I owe it to AN. I also owe it to myself being willing to take risks and trust in people and try something different. Nico turned out to be neither a serial killer, nor an Amway salesman - much to my relief. Princemilo did, in fact, prove to be a legitimate film maker - even if he has trouble with the html - who really created something beautiful and worthwhile. I proved to be someone, who, if nothing else, is willing to show up - and, hopefully proved decent company for one afternoon.

note: if this diary gets recommended (hint, hint) I'll add pictures to it from Chez Nico tomorrow. [ed] Unfortunately, my old computer (which I use for photos, since I haven't installed Photoshop on my new one uet) crashed as I was transfering the pictures, corrupting the data on my camera - which caused most of my pictures to be lost ... sorry.