I knew i was going to be busy when we came back to the bay area, but this is ridiculous ...

Last Wednesday i met up with old UCSF pals Tracy and Margaret in the Sunset for appetizers and drinks at PJ's Oysterbed. It's only 8 blocks from UCSF, but despite the rave reviews i never made it there during grad school. At 7:30pm we grabbed a seat at the bar, and i quickly learned that T & M were regulars and were on the receiving end of much free booze and food. I quickly joined the loop, and got pretty damn sloshed before heading home at 11. The cuisine (cajun seafood) was fantastic. Plus we had fun looking through the chef's photo albums of croc hunting and Mardi Gras. A great time catching up with two good friends.

After putting in a full day of work on Thursday, i drove over to Berkeley to meet up with Michael for sushi. The lack of traffic these days amazes me: i drove through SF to the Bay Bridge at 6:30, a trek that four years ago would've involved bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way, but on this occasion it was smooth sailing. I made it a bit early and headed to the Conga Lounge for pre-sushi drinks, meeting Michael's friends Casey and Keisha in the process. I also met Michael's old friend Peter, who i saw last at a barbecue at my apartment in Berkeley in 1995. At 7:45 we crossed the street to Uzen and were led upstairs to the private room. After being joined by Leigh Ann, Chris, and David, we ordered several platters of tekka maki, hamachi, uni, unagi, and shrimp heads (!!!) and washed it down with lots of Sapporo, Kirin Ichiban, and sake. For the second evening running i collapsed as soon as i stumbled in the house at midnight. And for the second evening running it was a lot of fun hanging with friends from back in the day.

I only worked until 3:30 on Friday as i had some errands to run, and needed to run home before heading to the opening reception for the 2nd annual meeting of the Society for Molecular Imaging at the Hyatt Regency (home of the revolving Equinox) in the city. About fifteen friends from my old lab in Boston made the trip for the conference, so i gave them the 411 on my voyage back to California over wine and dim sum until midnight.

I intended to get up early for the 8am plenaries of the meeting on Saturday, but my three nights of merry-making caught up with me and i just couldn't do it. So i skipped the morning sessions and instead drove to Oakland airport to head down to L.A. for the long-awaited wedding of Michelle and Sean. Gary and Robin were nice enough to pick me up at LAX, then we headed off to Pico Rivera for the service. V looked terrific as a bridesmaid, and the ceremony came off without a hitch. The reception was held at the lovely Luminarias in Monterey Park, and gave me a chance to catch up with another friend from 1995, Dionne. We stuck it out to the not-so-bitter end, grabbed a burger at Del Taco, then finally hit the hay at 1:30am.

Despite not having had a nice lay-in for a week and having spent the last four nights intoxicated, i rose at 5:45am to shower, then Veronica took me to LAX so i could fly back north and return to the conference. I don't know how i survived the whole day. I almost nodded off in several sessions. I kept telling myself that i would just go to one more talk ... one more reception ... one more dinner ... one more drink. I didn't leave until 11:30pm. I've lost my mind. Today i finally let myself sleep in, and missed the first two plenary sessions. But i did manage to have a nice lunch with CMIR chums Jan and Andreas, then went on a little hike to Coit Tower with Vasilis and Eyk. I was only at the meeting for four hours, but it was good to see off all my friends.

Looking over the last week, part of me is sad that life has to be constructed as a series of partings. Watching my labmates from the last 2 years head back east is tough. But another part of me is thankful for the reunions that to which parting gives rise. I enjoyed reunions this week with friends from Berkeley and UCSF, and although i miss Vasilis and co. already, it's only a matter of time before our paths cross again.