👩‍❤‍👨National Girlfriend Day 8/3/25

Hi Everyone!

I have a love/hate relationship with finding cheap gas. On the one hand, I will systematically check gas stations until I find the most cost-effective place, often going miles out of the way to get it. But, look at this beautiful $3.89 per gallon I found this week. I don’t think I have ever seen gas under $4 in California, so it’s the most newsletter-worthy I have seen.

On the other hand, finding cheap gas is so mundane, and my excitement over it is a true representation that while I don’t think of myself as old, I am an adult and have the fiscal and financial responsibilities that come with it. At the end of the day, though, I guess it is better to be irrationally excited by (by California standards) cheap gas than to be appalled by (by all standards) expensive gas. I wish you all the best of luck in getting good gas prices this week. May the odds be ever in your favor… (Side note: after writing that last sentence, I realized I never read the Hunger Games series. Is it worth reading at this point, or is it a little too YA for an adult with gas-price woes?)

Now, let’s find out What’s Up With Will…

This week, I had several Mini-Adventures, events that occurred on separate days and don’t need their own section, but are important enough to be included. In addition to a back-to-back game night slaying spires, and a laughable performance as an operative in Codenames (I clearly don’t have what it takes to be a spy), here are some other things I was up to…

When we heard Avery was in Walnut Creek, Rylee and I were like, “Oh My GOTT’S! We WILL RYLEE need to get lunch together and have AVERY good time”. If you couldn’t decode that, maybe you’re not cut out for the job of spy either, but Avery, Rylee, and I went to Gott’s Roadside to get lunch. We had a great time!

I stumbled into an ad for a pop-up museum in downtown Concord to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Concord Toyota Pavilion, Concord’s music venue. The museum was open during the Concord Farmers Market, so in addition to looking at fresh vegetables, I got to learn a bit about a local landmark.

The pavilion, which opened in 1975, was designed by the internationally renowned architect Frank Gehry and has hosted singers such as ABBA, Elton John, Frank Sinatra, and Whitney Houston. Funnily enough, due to the image of “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” of the ’60s and ’70s, the owners strictly prohibited rock groups from performing. I can only imagine that Concord had had enough of its neighbor Berkeley’s counterculture shenanigans, and it wanted none of that coming into its city limits.

On Wednesday, it was the double-header day trip of the century: visiting the International Museum of Art, and then going to see the Giants vs Pirates game.

The International Art Museum of America is a free museum in downtown SF that exhibits beautiful works by famous artists throughout the world across a variety of mediums. It is also unique in that it has one of the largest collections of Chinese paintings in the US.

The museum asks us to question what art is. It asks us to look at art not only as a set of aesthetically pleasing images, but instead as a painting’s spiritual resonance that is a result of skill and personal cultivation seeping into the work. I can try to draw one of the same paintings in the exhibit, yet it will look lifeless in comparison, because art requires the artist to put a part of themselves in the work. I think there is a sort of beauty in this interpretation, and it makes me think about how skill and passion work together to create something wonderful.

I then rolled up to Oracle Park for the game.

My seat was right next to the opposing team’s bullpen, an area where pitchers warm up. And today, while watching the game, I kept on peering over at the bullpen because of all the crazy things I was seeing. These “warm-ups” looked ridiculous to a bystander like me. Watching this occur, however, fascinated me with pitching, so I did a little research.

Pitchers are the DNA of baseball. As Tyler Kepner, author of K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches, explains, the pitcher is the planner and the initiator of the game. Without one, there would be no game. All the hitter can do is react to the pitcher’s move. While Kepner goes on to cover ten pitches, he makes it clear that every pitcher’s pitch is unique. What’s more is that even the slightest adjustment can completely change the pitch, so maybe there is a reason for the warm-ups that I saw.

At the end of the game, we lost 1 to 2. I feel especially sorry for the pitcher warming up because he didn’t even get to play that day.

Here is an announcement to all of the boyfriends that read this newsletter: August 1st is National Girlfriend Day!

We started our celebration by going to 1515 Restaurant and Bar. We normally like exploring new places, but at our last time visiting, we got to talking with the owner about how he was looking to move to Georgia, and we were giving him advice for places to look at. As we were leaving, he gave us our free drink tickets back to use again another day. Today was that day.

So there I was, sipping on a Lemon Drop Martini while watching a Polo match and a Savannah Bananas game. These are my kind of sports. I knew there was a reason I liked this place.

Afterwards, we visited a Cuban restaurant called Havana for our dinner. We ordered scallops, which were extra tender and atop a richly seasoned boniato mash, and topped with a silky truffle-cumin crema. For our main course, we ordered a classic paella, simmered in a fragrant saffron stock. This place also did not skimp out on the meats in the paella.

I’m going to give a big shout-out to Rylee for being the best girlfriend ever! She is my biggest supporter and best friend. Happy National Girlfriend Day, Rylee!

On Sunday, we started our day at a Wine Pick-Up Party at Rigger’s Loft. It has been a while since our last visit to Rigger’s Loft, and with all of our travels over the summer, we were happy to have an excuse to come back. We got to try all of the new releases while listening to the Jazz Band Fake Melody (@fakemelodyjazz). I am convinced that jazz and wine tasting are a top-tier pairing.

At the event, a little kid kept on walking up to me and giving me her otter blankie. I guess she thought I needed emotional support more than she did.

Unfortunately, the owners are in a battle with the city of Richmond to keep their beautiful waterfront property in the historic port of Richmond. It is such a shame, because this place is one of our favorite places in all of the Bay Area. It is also one of the few places that even our friends who have lived here their whole lives haven’t heard of, so we get to show them this awesome winery for the first time. If you are reading this newsletter and you are in the Bay Area, I would highly recommend you go out to Rigger’s Loft and support them.

Afterwards, we were off to the Mission District in SF for a concert and to get dinner with Peter at a Panchita’s Pupusa Kitchen. In my opinion, the standout pupusa was the chicken. It was packed full of gooey, melty cheese. So Good! Throughout our dinner, two separate Mariachi bands walked in and started playing music. We would be mid-conversation, and then we would have to wait 3 minutes to continue it because of how loud the band was. On the bright side, we didn’t think we would be getting a dinner and a show.

Finally, we walked to Brick and Mortar Music Hall. Brick and Mortar is a tiny music venue, but it allowed us to get a more close-up up intimate performance of opener Jacy (@maybejacy) and headliner John K (@johnkmusic).

John K is one of those musicians that you probably don’t know of, but you have heard his music before. He dropped one of his biggest songs, “if we never met,” 5 years ago, and then took time off to have kids. Now, he is picking things back up for a tour of his most recent album, SALT + LIGHT. I don’t want to brag, but he did say that we were his loudest show yet. Granted, we were only the third show, but that means we beat both Seattle and Portland. Take that!

Oh boy, do I have a gem of a video for you this week. Mikk showed us an Instagram Reel of an old tourism ad of Walnut Creek from 1991. I then did some sleuthing and found an extended version on YouTube. Enjoy!