2009 in San Francisco

Celebrated the countdown to 2009 in San Francisco.

First thing first, 2009 is gonna suck. I can feel it already in my bones. Sure enough, analysts are predicting a negative 2% growth for Singapore in 2009. What a nice way to kick off 2009!

Second, I spent the countdown in 2009 sick in a crummy room in San Francisco. After the splendid room I had in the Flamingo, Las Vegas, this room was the dump. It didn't help that I had a really bad sore throat and a blocked nose. And the fact that I almost killed myself three times driving between Las Vegas and San Francisco. Add to my misery, the crummy room in Cathedral Hills Hotel in San Francisco was practically falling apart. Bah.

To make things worse, I had the cheapest and nastiest dim sum buffet lunch in Chinatown, San Francisco. That is what you get for US$5. Haw Gous that consisted 90% of floor. Cold, stiff chicken. Super salty spring rolls. Deep, fried pan dumplings and all the oily chow mein that a white man can eat. This restaurant is not getting any michelin star soon!

Nastiest buffet in the universe.

About the 2009 countdown. Remember what I said about LA having the most number of homeless? I take it all back. Hell, I eat my words with oily chow mein. There are more homeless in San Francisco than anyway in the US. You may ask how the heck do I know and show you the evidence. My reposte will be that I spent the 2009 New Year Countdown in San Francisco and all the homeless were all out on the streets. ALL the hobos. There were so many hobos that the homeless had their own New Year Party right enough of the San Francisco City Centre.

Nice party at City Hall with all the disco lights in the sky. But what is in front?

Have you ever seen a homeless New Year Party? It is an amazing sight and I shall never forget this. In a city crawling with beatiful women in mini-skirts and flashy jewellery, there were thousands of hobos lying on grass lawns dead-drunk and their dogs running all around the place. Hobos were grilling strange meat and using dustbin covers as plates.

Hobo's 2009 New Year countdown. Whole place smelled of filth and pee and dogs running everywhere. Disturbing.

During the whole night, the city streets were swamped with people from all walks of life. Loud, black man dressed in stereotypes rapper shirts and baseball jerseys. Chinese boys trying to be "black" and ended up looking like douchebags (let me just say that asians trying to be "black" are human trash. If my son comes back dressed like a black rapper and all the bling-bling, I will kill him). Young girls dressed up in dresses too short to be described as dresses really. Beautiful women going to parties in their glitzy skirts. And of course, more people vomitting on the streets than I can count. People throwing water bottles at police. I even saw a black man arrested by the police. He lost his shirt in the scuffle but managed to flash a smile at his friends.

Oh, and the countdown itself. I saw the fireworks at Pier 1.

On my left is a pair of gay young asian boys hugging each other tightly. They looked disgusting. Before I am accused of homophobia, let's just say that one of the young gay guy was trying to sport a moustache. I contemplated pushing them into the water on the pretext of celebrating 2009.

Happy 2009.