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Out and About on Polk Street, San Francisco

Last Thursday, we had a good time hanging out with friends in Russian Hill at Amelie—a special place for us since that’s where Dean and I met.  It is such a romantic and lively French wine bar. Perfect date spot. Later on at night, we ended up at Kimo’s watching and dancing to a surprisingly good band called YNOT & Asian Diva Girls. They mashed up hits from Nirvana, Michael Jackson, U2. The female lead vocalist asked how many of us played the piano and I started cracking up. Almost the whole Asian crowd threw their hands up. Gotta love the robotic Asian culture. Piano, tennis, Lowell, UC Berkeley, optometrist. So friggin predictable!

Monday night, I went to my first ever Porchlight series at the Hemlock Tavern on lower Polk. Porchlight gets highlighted by literary blogs and calendars, but it is so not a literary event. It’s “literally” open comedy mic. There’s a theme for the night, you sign up, and tell your 5 minute story. 7-8 people typically sign up. Prior to the start, the host anonymously picks an audience member who will determine the winner; the winner gets $50. Props to the co-founders for this method of choosing the winner. I really like it. So much better than applause which always makes some speakers feel good, while others feel bad. That feel-good/feel-bad applause is like being at a baby shower and everyone oohing and aahing at the most expensive gifts.

It also reinforced that there are people in the world who will like what you do, for being you, and telling your story. Others won’t like you, but I guarantee you someone does appreciate and enjoy your talent. The winner was not someone I would have chosen myself; I thought her story was annoying—my personal opinion.

The theme Monday night was Kitchen Confidential—food-related stories about restaurants, waitressing, catering. The stories were a hoot. I thoroughly enjoyed at least half of them. Porchlight has been around for almost ten years and I have been missing out. Definitely a good time.

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06.28.11

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Welcome to my site, derived from an advice column I wrote while getting my MBA. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I give helpful, opinionated advice based on my own experience and from the expertise of my extensive network. For more, click here.

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