Quatro de Mayo?

May 5, 2006


Today is Cinqo de Mayo, a date that is celebrated by Mexicans as the day that Mexican people exhibited great courage and determination to defend themselves against a major colonial European power by fighting a battle and winning against all odds - thereby eventually securing their right to self-rule. The day is symbolic of Mexican pride, unity and patriotism.

It's also a day where most people take advantage of the festive nature and consume burritos and many, many Tequila-laced drinks or Coronas.

Unfortunately for me and several of my fellow Kickball teammates, we had a very festive Quatro de Mayo that almost sabatoged any Cinqo de Mayo festivities. Our team, the Lager Louts, played our game in GG Park on Thursday night (May 4), and it was Will's first Kickball game since the season started. Our first inning was demoralizing for the other team, as we went ahead 6-2 from the get-go. Will's bowling arm came in handy as he pitched really well. The cooler full of Tecates were disappearing at an alarming rate, but thankfully, our team's skills put away a point in the Win column in quick fashion. We were so pumped after our 8-3 win, we headed over to the sponsor bar, Kezar Pub, for after-win drinks and free food (we had a coupon). Not even the fact that one of my teammates, from 10 feet away, beaned me on the side of my head with a Kickball and my ears had finally stopped ringing, could stop me from going.

The scene at Kezar Pub on a Thursday night after Kickball league can be a scary one, as it reminds me of a frat party, or my favorite college bar. Everyone is still wearing their Kickball t-shirts, so you can easily distinguish what team they're on. You're temped to ask everyone: "What's your favorite greek letter?". In the backroom, there are massive wood planks that cover the two pool tables so that teams can play the infamous drinking game, Flipcup. Needless to say, our team wasn't very successful at winning against other teams, but we were foolish enough to try playing against eachother. However, I've discovered that I'm actually quite skilled at Flipcup, I can flip the cup on the first try almost all the time. Thankfully, I started playing later than the rest of the crew, so I was in much better shape than everyone else, but I was still a pretty shady baseline. Three hours later, it was time to stumble home and fall into a very deep sleep.

Friday was painful, particularly for Will, Ashley, Shaun and Woody. I had a couple tough morning meetings, and held on until the I could escape from work and get a pedicure with Wendy in Noe Valley. I went home and chilled out briefly, and then Abe, Will and I headed down to the Mission to get some sushi at Yo-Yo Sushi. I know that a sushi dinner doesn't really coincide with Cinqo de Mayo, but all the same, I was jonesing for some raw fish.

After dinner, we were joined by Anna and Wendy, and we rallied to go meet a bunch of friends...at a bar. We stopped along the way at Blondie's Bar and No Grill, the infamous $10 ginormous martini place where Katharine works the door on Friday nights.




From there, we strolled 6 blocks down Valencia towards our destination, the Latin America Club. We were meeting up with our good friends, Trent & Shelly, and a bunch of peeps in town that used to make up the bulk of the Rumpshaker crew (known for dj-ing the Cole-To-Breakers party): Brian Stein, Ali and The Roge.

Trent & Shelly

Shelly's jello shots

Ali & The Roge


Bea & Stein

Many other folks rolled into Latin America Club and joined us, namely the big frisbee drinkers: Pete, Woody, Ron, JonZ...trouble. The Latin America Club is one of the first San Francisco bars that I ever went to, and in 5.5 years, it has not changed at all, particularly in the manner in which they make their super-strength drinks (uhh...can I get some Coke with my Captain Morgan's????). I was successful in nursing my Capt'n & Coke for most of the night, with the exception of when Woody would notice and "refresh" my drink. Woody taught us the fine art of "yurting" and all of a sudden, it's last call. From there, we headed to meet up with some folks who went dancing at Beauty Bar, and then went in search of a taqueria on Mission street that wasn't swimming with drunk people at 2 am. We finally ended up at some taqueria at Mission and 17th, where Wendy and I split a very yummy torta.







So although I was a good girl, and could actually walk in a straight line, it was still late o'clock, and Woody was shocked to see us out so late two nights in a row...