Thursday, June 15, 2006
Beachside Babe (Pt.3)
My friend P and I head up to Harbin Hot Springs up above the California Napa Valley. P has been there many times. I have never been there before, in fact I had never heard of the place. And me who had lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for most of the late 60s into the late 70s.
Harbin was a hippie hangout back in the early 70s. Now the crowd arrives more in BMWs and they are definitely more gentrified. Harbin is a large spa, clothing optional. Meaning you get to run around naked in the main tub areas. They have a large-sized heated swimming pool, a large hot tub and smaller ones, saunas, cold plunges. For extra bucks they give a whole gamut of massages, body work, whatnot.
The Human Awareness Institute crowd seems to have discovered this place too. We arrive Sunday early afternoon. The weekend crowd is leaving, the kids are going home too. It's a more raucous place on the weekends, and according to my friend P it can sort of turn into a sex party if you're lucky and happen to be there on a Saturday or a weekend night. So we get to see Sunday, and a bit of Monday too. Monday is much nicer. Quiet, few people. But on the weekend there is definitely a more cruisey feel.
Unfortunately P and I have a rather contentious debate just before retiring for the night in our tent that P has brought along. For about $25 bucks, a person can camp alongside the creek, and use all the facilities. It's a great deal. So we've pitched the tent, smoked a joint, and next thing I know we are in the middle of a debate.
About anger, whether or not it is useful. I say yes, it is a trigger to alert the person. Of course what we do with our anger is another matter. But in and of itself, I think anger can be quite a useful thing. P does not agree with me. She finds it totally destructive and a negative force from the get-go.
Ah, P, you are truly a child of the 60s! And I am no longer. Trent Reznor and NIN and Ministry occupy my soundwaves now. Screw the classic rock.
So we argue, and smoke the joint, and I tell P about how angry I felt recently, after a night alone in the city. You don't want to spend much time in San Francisco now after dark. It is just getting too dangerous and dirty a place. Crime has soared there now. I had dropped a friend off, and while waiting for a light to change I saw some black guys who started throwing rocks at my car. I managed to get away, but it was a scary moment. I told P that part of me wanted to gun the car up the curb and into the bastards. She was quite upset with me.
Wow, numerous times in my life I run across women who have a hard time dealing with anger. Mine or anyone else's. P and I close the evening on humorous notes, finally, and we both end up sleeping well.
I don't think it's caused inharmony in the weekend. We head back to town. On the way we have another discussion about Disney's Bambi movie, and what a traumatic experience it was for P and I as kids. I said I was going to go and post something on Craigslist, like "Did You Survive Bambi?"
I enjoy P's company. But we seem not to have a long shelf life together. We start slacking off in our pool playing. I run across P at a few Santa Cruz socials, but then she seems to drop out of sight for a while.
Friends say she had to have sinus surgery. After she recuperates, I know she was eager to head back to work. She had no health insurance, so working off her medical bills was probably at the top of P's To Do list.
She heads up to north Berkeley to stay for a while with her daughter, and I do not see P after that. I enjoyed the woman. She had the right kind of head. In the end, I don't really know how she saw herself. Was she bisexual? Lesbian? Queer? Those words did not seem to need to cross her lips. She just did her own thing, and inspires me to carry on in the same fashion.
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Harbin was a hippie hangout back in the early 70s. Now the crowd arrives more in BMWs and they are definitely more gentrified. Harbin is a large spa, clothing optional. Meaning you get to run around naked in the main tub areas. They have a large-sized heated swimming pool, a large hot tub and smaller ones, saunas, cold plunges. For extra bucks they give a whole gamut of massages, body work, whatnot.
The Human Awareness Institute crowd seems to have discovered this place too. We arrive Sunday early afternoon. The weekend crowd is leaving, the kids are going home too. It's a more raucous place on the weekends, and according to my friend P it can sort of turn into a sex party if you're lucky and happen to be there on a Saturday or a weekend night. So we get to see Sunday, and a bit of Monday too. Monday is much nicer. Quiet, few people. But on the weekend there is definitely a more cruisey feel.
The large hot tub is dimly lit and quite lovely in the evening, and a goodly number of people are in it. P gives me a sample of "watsu," a kind of water massage. Your partner holds you against her chest in the water, and gently twirls your body in the pool. It feels very relaxing and calming. Of course, if you are a male, you are more than likely to get an erection. If you don't there's something wrong with your masseuse. It's a very sensuous experience.
P gets a Swedish massage while I chat with an interesting older British woman in the communal kitchen. You can stash your purchases of food in the fridge. The kitchen is large and has all the cooking utensils one would need.Unfortunately P and I have a rather contentious debate just before retiring for the night in our tent that P has brought along. For about $25 bucks, a person can camp alongside the creek, and use all the facilities. It's a great deal. So we've pitched the tent, smoked a joint, and next thing I know we are in the middle of a debate.
About anger, whether or not it is useful. I say yes, it is a trigger to alert the person. Of course what we do with our anger is another matter. But in and of itself, I think anger can be quite a useful thing. P does not agree with me. She finds it totally destructive and a negative force from the get-go.
Ah, P, you are truly a child of the 60s! And I am no longer. Trent Reznor and NIN and Ministry occupy my soundwaves now. Screw the classic rock.
So we argue, and smoke the joint, and I tell P about how angry I felt recently, after a night alone in the city. You don't want to spend much time in San Francisco now after dark. It is just getting too dangerous and dirty a place. Crime has soared there now. I had dropped a friend off, and while waiting for a light to change I saw some black guys who started throwing rocks at my car. I managed to get away, but it was a scary moment. I told P that part of me wanted to gun the car up the curb and into the bastards. She was quite upset with me.
Wow, numerous times in my life I run across women who have a hard time dealing with anger. Mine or anyone else's. P and I close the evening on humorous notes, finally, and we both end up sleeping well.
I don't think it's caused inharmony in the weekend. We head back to town. On the way we have another discussion about Disney's Bambi movie, and what a traumatic experience it was for P and I as kids. I said I was going to go and post something on Craigslist, like "Did You Survive Bambi?"
I enjoy P's company. But we seem not to have a long shelf life together. We start slacking off in our pool playing. I run across P at a few Santa Cruz socials, but then she seems to drop out of sight for a while.
Friends say she had to have sinus surgery. After she recuperates, I know she was eager to head back to work. She had no health insurance, so working off her medical bills was probably at the top of P's To Do list.
She heads up to north Berkeley to stay for a while with her daughter, and I do not see P after that. I enjoyed the woman. She had the right kind of head. In the end, I don't really know how she saw herself. Was she bisexual? Lesbian? Queer? Those words did not seem to need to cross her lips. She just did her own thing, and inspires me to carry on in the same fashion.
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