I've been insanely busy, just have had zero time lately, so alas this amazing technology for blogging has been underutilized for about the last month.

Pixie and I have known of each other for some time now, but never got to meet in person. Late last year, I had suggested to Pixie that in the New Year, whenever I was down in LA sometime, we should try to meet to maybe have coffee, and to talk about art and photography. She had a series of shoots coming up in SF in late-Winter, so we made tentative arrangements to meet here, instead of LA.

As it happened, she invited me to a wonderful evening gathering of her friends, as her shoot commenced. Because I don't have a car, and would need to get across the city, Pixie had one of her friends meet me to help me find the gathering. In this process I was met by a nice gentleman named Matthew, who it turns out didn't have a car either, LOL. So we both hit it off really well, sharing both SF/BA geek and startup stories, plus our interest in photography. Matthew and I managed to find the address to the hillside bungalow after leaving the SF Caltrain via taxi. We arrived apparently a bit earlier than Pixie, but in not too long, she arrived with a friend.

That evening went by so fast, because I had to return in only a short while to Caltrain, in order to head back to South Bay on this weeknight. But first impressions are indelible. Pixie greeted me with a great big hug. Finally we meet! Then she immediately proceeded to offload gear, food and wine, and to start the gathering ... the overwhelming indelible thought of Pixie I still have from that night is: "Incredible Ball of Energy."

Highlights I can recall after a month ... our host is a very famous San Franciscan, his home was incredibly beautiful, and the view was to die for. I was re-introduced to a lovely dancer I had met before, Kristina Cañizares, and also a local SF photographer Juan Carlos, with whom I had photographed a show in the Presidio with some years back. I met another dancer Aradia, one of Pixie's favorite models/dancers. Several other friends appeared during the evening, including punk rock star East Bay Ray. I was also privileged to meet performer Jill Tracy at this gathering.

Pixie showed me her traveling camera gear bag ... ah, great minds think alike. Not exactly a mirror image, and I was little surprised that she carried a slightly larger bag then mine for airline travel. But, like me, every nook and cranny stored something useful to the workflow for ready access.

We also had some goofy fun. The photo was her idea, and it was taken by Matthew, using Pixie's camera.

There was great wine, excellent food, all of Pixie's friends were great, Matthew was great, the discussions about art were just awesome ... I was soooo incredibly sad I could not stay longer that night ... thank-you Pixie!