Essay #1 Rough Draft

Opium

            This picture was taken in Washington Square Park in San Francisco. It was almost dusk and the air was cool and fresh. This image has a great significance to me it was a turning point in my life. Just one night changed my outlook on today’s world. When you look at this picture you probably don’t see much or you might see a lot but regardless of what you see it reminds me of a story. When I close my eyes and concentrate I can re-live that night like it was yesterday the sights, smells, and sounds are still vivid in my mind.

We drove down in my sisters Ford Explorer with my sister, brother, brother-in-law, and niece and we were planing on meeting friends down there. We booked two rooms at the downtown Hyatt Hotel off Market St. near the Embarcadero district. But before we headed to the hotel we had to drop off Isabella (my niece) at her grandmothers.

            The show we were attending was on 6^th street at Club 6. Before the show we had to check in at the Hyatt. This place was elaborately elegant. It had massive ceilings with layered balconies inside and out with white Christmas lights cascading from the top balcony. The lobby was sparkling clean and had a fresh smell and feel. Not to mention the staff was top notch meeting all of our needs with a smile. When we got to our rooms we were blown away. We had plasma flat screen television, pillow top queen beds, and marble floors. Best of all we had a view overlooking the bay from our balcony and every once in a while a refreshing cool ocean breeze would blow across the building. Where we were headed was somewhat the opposite.

Club 6 located in the heart of grime city a.k.a. 6^th and Market. In order to get there we had to walk down a block of 6^th and let me tell you the ground and air was littered with the sight and smell of garbage, feces, urine, and eccentric shouting and mumbling. I felt sad for all the street people scattered down the block but at the same time wanted to get to the destination as fast a possible with the least contact as possible. Once we arrived we got right in with no problems. It was a small hole in the wall club that smelled like perfume, sweat, and beer. There were two performers before Opium, they did their thing then left the stage as if they were scared of someone. Op (nickname for Opium) got up there and killed it. He had a fog machine, professional dj, and an entourage which made his performance very effective at capturing the audience’s attention. So two ringing ears and six beers later it was time to head back to the hotel for the mini after party.

We had about five city blocks to walk. It was about 1:30 in the A.M. at this point. The corona was running through me pretty quickly and I had to find a bathroom fast before my bladder popped. Our group was rolling twelve heads deep taking up the whole sidewalk. Just a couple blocks away from the Hyatt and we passed a homeless couple sitting on the ground in front of a seven eleven. The man on the ground said “you want some of my sausage?” and in unison we said “what!” and that’s all it took we gave him some attention. He started to follow us down the street asking if we wanted some of his nasty looking half eaten sausage with relish and mustard on it. This didn’t sit to well with the crew. It got to the point where he was in our face trying to push his food on us. He didn’t know what he was getting into. Enrique (my brother in law) slapped the food out of his hand and things got serious, he wanted to knock dudes head off because he was raised in  the city and doesn’t take back talk from no one. At this point a couple of us got between them so he didn’t kill this dude because he’s an ex-boxer with the golden gloves. Right as we dispersed the SFPD pulled up and “said keep it moving and head home now” so we did we just wanted to get back as soon as possible. Finally we made it back to the telly and I collapsed onto a bed.

Now back in the room I was relieved somewhat. It was now 2:27 A.M. The rest of the night was a blur of hops, noise complaint calls from the front desk, and drug encrusted faces. Would I do it again? For sure. What did I learn? Sometimes the journey is the destination.