Balsamic vinegar

I went to a dinner tonight where we had to make a dish that had balsamic vinegar in it. I made a cabbage something. Observations from the night...

Differences between SF and DC and other cities. Y0u can identify the cities by what their excesses are. NYC=money. DC=power. SF=creativity. I buy this categorization, but only to a certain extent. There are all types in all places. I did have a couple conversations tonight about what types of people fit where, and what's normal to those people. I've never really considered what effect my background (growing up in the deep south) had on me, but I'm sure it's had some effect on my perceptions of difference, and my judgments. For example, tonight I took notice of everyone's visual appearance. In Alabama, these people would not fit in (or at the very least be mainstream). Here, the weirdos and iconoclasts are more of the norm. I admit, I'm partially in awe of this diversity, but part of me thinks "are these my people?" It is cool, though, to consider the diversity of tonight's crowd: totally euro french guy with long hair who is starting an online platform for anyone who wants to create a virtual school, info database guy who I had a "conversation" with for an hour and literally didn't say a word, the host for the night who, after dinner, gave a dramatic reading of a William Wordsworth poem for everyone from his iPhone while standing on a chair, the blogger, the biochem PhD student, the Norwegian guy, etc. Then me. As interesting as these people are, I'll put my story up against any of theirs.

Other observations:

• Because I live in SF, apparently I need to get a quarter-length peacoat thing. It's what everyone wears.
• Everyone here seems to be "starting something." Its really remarkable how these people all have taken their (seemingly) original ideas and "started something." I can't tell how much of this is BS, though.
• Meeting people at a party, and then saying goodbye forever is an awkward position to be in. Tonight at the dinner, I liked a few of the people I talked to and could easily
• The database guy asked everyone who he met, "what are you passionate about?" But he asked it in a non-pretentious way. I liked that.