MONDAY, APRIL 4TH, 2016 = SAN FRANCISCO VACATION

As the # 80 bus was leaving the Vallejo Transfer Center on its way to the El Cerrito Del Norte BART Station, us passengers became witness to a fight happening between two black teens across the street. It happened at 1:40 p.m. A black lady fetched a black bus driver to go and help break up the fight.

Approximately six minutes later, at the Curtola Parkway Park and Ride bus stop, a black man who decided to sit in the 6th bench seat on the right side of the aisle hit his head on an overhead projection as he leaned forward to unfold the bench seat. Well, so much for being tall. ( I was seated on the 7th bench seat directly behind him, by the way. )

I wondered to myself, Will there be another incident happening in the course of the day. Hmm ....

I exited at the Montgomery BART Station. I then searched for a particular office right there on Market Street before I headed for the hotel. I found the office and made a mental note of its location. I walked up on Montgomery Street and decided to take a different route this time around. I kept on walking until I reached the corner of Montgomery and Pine Streets where I decided to make a left. The hotel, Grant Plaza Hotel, is on the corner of Pine Street and Grant Avenue. I looked at the sidewalk ahead of me and realized that I had a steeper hill to walk up on---Note to myself, don't walk up this side of the hill next time, unless you want to end up with shin splints ( which I almost did )!

The hotel lobby and the reception desk had been totally remodeled. I checked in at the counter and told the desk clerk that I would need to leave a day early as I didn't get my appointment. I was given a card "key" for room 510. The elevator looked remodeled, too ( but whoever painted the walls sure did a sloppy job of it )! I checked into my room. It, too, was completely remodeled. But they still use the same type desks, blankets and pillows. And the Wi-Fi password remained the same.

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I rested for a while before heading out to Chinatown for some "window shopping".

So, I browsed around in the Far East Flea Market Liquidation Center. I intended to buy a folding knife which comes with a belt clip. But they seemed expensive for "made in China" stuff. I mean, on the wall behind the cash registers are displayed assorted samurai sword sets for practically the same price! So, I passed on buying one. ( I later went to three other shops; two didn't have folding knives and one had some but for a much higher price than I budgeted for ).

As I was browsing around, I didn't know that a car break-in had just occurred right outside the store and approximately 8 yards/meters from where I stood! According to an eyewitness, some tall teen broke the passenger side window, reached in to grab a bag left on the seat, then ran down Commercial Street across from the store. The break-in happened at around 5:24 p.m. As I left the store to go to the bakery across the street, the car owner, an older, tall white man, came. He was understandably upset as he drove off. I truly felt sorry for him.

I took this photo at the doorway of Eastern Bakery. You can see the broken car glass at the curbside parking space in front of the yellow object in the entrance way.

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I was standing next to the entrance of Far East Flea Market Liquidation Center when I took this picture. A car is backing-up into the space where the car burglary took place minutes ago. You can see the broken car glass on the street in this photo, below center. In the background, from left to right, is Eastern Bakery, The Wok Shop, a Chinese Eatery where I just ate a few minutes ago, and Snow Garden.

I bought a couple of chocolate-covered desserts at the bakery, one that reminded me of fruitcake and another one made of winter melon ( whatever it is ).

I went two doors up to a tiny restaurant to have a 3-piece combo meal of Pork Ribs, Tofu w/ Vegetables and Kung Pao Chicken with Chow Mein Noodles. Yeah, it was almost 6:00 p.m. but this was my lunch time.

I went back to my room at Grant Plaza Hotel to find out what movies were playing locally.

I was walking down Grant Avenue on my way to AMC Metreon 16 on 4th Street when I saw a white Lamborghini Aventador Spyder cross the Sutter Street intersection at approximately 7:34 p.m. It was driven by a Chinese (?) man.

The 5 following vehicle images are from the Internet:

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I don't know if it was a genuine Aventador or a kit car, because I haven't heard its exhaust before. Yeah, a V-12 sounds differently from either a V-8 or a V-6. I don't know about you, but I'd prefer a kit car over a genuine one for many practical reasons.

The Lamborghini Countach 25th Anniversary Edition is my dream car. I like its styling. Of course, I'd prefer it in kit car form. But I'm seriously dreaming ahead of myself now! Ha, ha, ha.

25th Anniversary Edition, plain front bumper design.

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25th Anniversary Edition, bold front bumper design.

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I could be mistaken, but I think the 25th Anniversary Edition came with three kinds of front bumper designs. No matter, I would like the Countach 25th Anniversary Edition in 7 different colors, one for each day of the week! There, I'm day-dreaming, once again! Sorry ....

A couple of blocks down Grant Avenue, I saw another exotic sports car cross the intersection. But I didn't get to observe what car and which model it was.

Heck, now that I am still in heavy day-dream mode, I might as well throw this out there at you guys:

Hey! What the heck are these girls doing blocking the view for? Excuse me ....

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Ahh .... This is much better! Introducing, the Campagna T-Rex Aero 3S. I'm not sure if this thing comes with heater and air conditioning. It doesn't even come with a windshield wiper. But, I don't care.  And I would like it with a Suzuki Hayabusa engine and with an extra gallon, or two, of gas capacity.

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I walked down to AMC Metreon 16 to go see ...

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This movie is about a boy with supernatural powers, who is on the run with his father from a religious cult that worships him and from government agents who are curious about the boy's ability to know certain classified information. As the movie unfolds, we learn that extraterrestrial aliens are also tracking the boy, who may or may not be from another dimension.

I went to see this movie at 7:40 p.m. on the 3rd floor in auditorium 9, 3rd row from the front, 5th seat from the left. The price of admission was $14.19. I bought a 16.9 oz. bottle of water at the concessions counter for $3.99 to go with the turkey jerky/cheese combo which I smuggled-in.

The audience liked this movie. I liked it, too. Although it does have some "slow" scenes. You may want to go see this movie.

After the movie, I realized that I still had time to catch another show, the 9:50 p.m. showing of ....

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This movie is about 3 childhood friends who decide to open a hotpot restaurant in one of the old bomb shelters in Chongqing. When they decide to expand their business by digging illegally, they accidentally tunnel into an adjoining bank's vault. All that money up for grabs proves irresistible to one of the friends who owes a lot of money to a loan shark. This and the stress of trying to run a profitable restaurant puts a deep strain in their friendship. Just as they're about to cover their tracks, a bank robbery occurs, further complicating their plan.

The audience liked this. I liked it, too. Go see this if you like Suspense movies.

I saw this movie in auditorium 10, 5th row from the front, 9th column from the left. The price of admission was $14.19. I refilled the water bottle at the drinking fountain to wash down the health bar which I smuggled-in.

I originally planned on seeing this movie the following day, Tuesday, in one of its matinee shows between 12:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. But I wanted to do a bunch of stuff the following day. So, I decided to just shell-out the few extra dollars to watch this late show because I already saved a ton of money by not buying anything any more at the concessions counter!

I decided to do a 32-minute 2nd Chakra Sound Meditation before retiring for the evening. Just before the session ended, though, my CD player died out on me. Oh, great, I said to myself, I'm gonna have to start all over again! I had the foresight to bring some batteries with me. 'Only thing was, I Brought The Wrong Type Of Batteries! I brought a bunch of AAA with me when what I needed most was a pair of AAs. Well, at least I put one of the AAAs to use by changing the battery in my alarm clock.

I set my alarm clock to sound-off at 8:30 a.m. I also set the hotel room's alarm clock to sound-off at 8:32 a.m. My alarm worked. But the hotel room's alarm clock didn't! They forgot to replace the alarm clocks when they remodeled the hotel, that's for sure.


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