THESE ARE SOME of the words I've been thinking about: hermetic, worm, hero, arrow, and gaga. Onion is always a good one, but I haven't put much thought into that.

The other day, working on my coat of arms, I closed my eyes, opened up the dictionary, and brought my finger down on any old word – you know the trick. I wasn't expecting any voodoo or juju or anything even meaningful on some parapsychotic level. I just had this blank spot right in the middle of my picture, between the bike with training wheels and a gun rack and the stack of 379 pancakes, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what to draw there. The center, representing the heart of the matter, seemed to me the most important and meaningful part of a coat of arms. And yet, what could possibly be more illuminating than a stack of 379 pancakes, or a bike with training wheels and a gun rack?

I opened my eyes.

cloak-and-dagger adj. of or characteristic of the activities of spies and undercover agents, esp. as extravagantly depicted in fiction

In other words, how bad am I?

Not to mention how lucky I am, cloaks and daggers being 2 of the 17 or 18 things I am actually capable of drawing. One page earlier: Clergy Reserves. Try drawing Clergy Reserves.

But you're thinking, what does this mean to me, from a cheap eating perspective? It means you better just fucking watch out, buddy, because one of these weeks, toward the end of the novel, you're going to find you've been the victim of subterfuge, and that all this time whenever I said hamburger I meant hot dog, and vice versa. Not to mention other seemingly innocuous points of deception and trickery, if not downright espionage, which when added up and divided by three will create such confusion and chaos that before anyone knows what hit them, the Bay Area will have been taken over by Canadians. And not French ones, either, but British Columbian. See you spell unfavourable then.

Meanwhile, speaking of Ed's Diner, here's something else to think about: Bob's Sushi. Yes. Bob's. You think I'm cloak-and-daggering you, but I'm not. Go see for yourself: Bob's Sushi and Japanese cuisine, down there on Bay Street, near Fisherman's Wharf. I couldn't believe my eyes, and then I couldn't believe my luck.

And then I couldn't believe how much the sushi was: $3.25 for an order of saba, which may be going rate, but so long as I can get same for $2 on Church Street, Bob doesn't stand a chance. 'Cause once you multiply everything by five, you're looking at $16.25 instead of $10. What does Bob take me for, some Fisherman's Wharf wahoo?

Lucky for him and me both, he's got lots of other stuff on the menu, including noodle soups, including ramen, my favorite. I got chicken ramen for $8.95, and let me tell you it was a good, big bowl of sheer slurpy fun, with a half a hard-boiled egg in the all-important middle, staring up all yellow-eyed at you. Then around the outside, where I've got bikes and pancakes, Bob puts some sort of cabbage and onions, seaweed, three of those pink-rimmed fishy things, and a whole mess of chicken sprinkled with chopped green onions. It's beautiful, it's organized into neat little sections, it's colo(u)rful, and it's delicious – especially once you get underneath the surface stuff and into the noodles. Excellent noodles.

And if you think $8.95's a bit much to spend on a bowl of soup, I should point out that this bowl of soup came with soup (that's right: an introductory bowl of miso), salad, and tea. And I liked Bob's miso soup probably better than anyone else's I've ever had. I'm not a big miso soup fan. So, way to go, Bob.

Another important thing to remember, cheapnesswise, is that they have lunch specials: bento boxes for $6.95; teriyaki, tempura, ramen, udon, and stuff for $5.95 to $6.95; and various sushi combos for $6.95 to $10.95. Good deal.

Atmospherically, we've got the weirdo back-lit wall on one side of the room, opposite the sushi bar, black ceiling, tile floor, paper-ball lampshades, Japanese art, nobody there, and two TVs – one for Bob, or whoever that guy behind the sushi bar was, and one for the waitressperson. He was watching ABC news, and she was watching some dufus USA movie with Kevin Bacon (I think) and some other very serious people in lab coats, making apes out of thin air. Stupidest thing I've ever seen, with some pretty stiff competition ... from ABC news, for example.

Back to work.

Bob's Sushi. 393 Bay (at Mason), S.F. (415) 693-9218. Lunch: Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m; dinner: daily 5-10 p.m. Takeout available. Beer and wine. American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa. Wheelchair accessible.