when the lights go down in the city....

Last night was a great San Francisco night. The weather was fantastic at Ocean Beach, instead of the typical cloudy/foggy weather as of late. For my non-SFers, the weather here is insane. Different parts of the city have completely different climates. Where I work, by the Embarcadero and the Bay Bridge, it is typically pretty warm and doesn't get foggy. Then there is where I live, clear to the opposite side by the Pacific Ocean....a mix of nice weather and sometimes foggy/cloudy skies. Sometimes the fog rolls in and you can't see much at all driving down Geary Street.

But anyway, weather was warm and sunny and it instantly put me in a fantastic mood instead of an "I'm tired don't wanna do anything" mood like I have been as of late. I ran across the street to Safeway and bought what I needed for dinner. I asked Howie for his garlic chicken receipe and decided to make it along with roasted potatoes and corn on the cob. Of course no corn on the cob could compare to what I grew up with in Connecticut... but at least these were grown by local farmers and they were pretty tasty. Alex came over to eat and we enjoyed great conversation like always. I was blaring some INXS that reminds me of my walk to and from school in Rome and it felt nice to be enjoying a nice meal with atmosphere in my apt. (Sometimes its just so lonely in there.... I don't spend a lot of time at home though).

After dinner Alex brought me down to Fort Mason and we walked along this abandoned pier that was used during WWII. From there, you get a great view of the SF skyline downtown where I work, Alcatraz, the Marina, part of the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate bridge is right there to your left and then straight ahead you can see the North bay (Marin county and really pretty mountains), and then the lights in the East Bay (Oakland, Berkeley, etc). It was a beautiful night, not too breezy and warmer than usual at night. Very romantic.

We left there and went to the exploratorium to walk around outside it. It has huge columns and a big dome structure outside it. I enjoyed looking at it and walking around it and comparing it to architecture/monuments in DC and Rome. It is much more ornate than you typically see in either of those places... extremely large and ornate Corinthian columns, lots of half columns on the walls and lots of large vase-like statues up high with figures carved all around them, multiple reliefs with elaborate carvings on the side of the large dome. The whole structure is very dominating and oversized. Here and here are some pictures of it to get a feel. The view from the lake there looking away from the structure is very peaceful. There was no wind blowing (very unusual) and it felt very serene looking out at the opposite side of the lake. In the darkness the buildings across the way reminded me Italy. Very mediterranean feel. I then decided to go on an entire rampage about how this piece architecture is different and then explain arches and victory monuments and the colosseum in great detail. Alex was impressed with my intellect. As he should be! I guess he thought I was just witty in my humor but he was not aware of my academic intelligence. ;)

It truly was a nice San Francisco night, I hope to continue to explore areas like this and just absorb the wonders of the city. I want to go hiking this weekend up in Marin or maybe go check out the redwood forest.

And just for fun.... check out this website.

you know what else...

SF loves Jamba Juice. That place gets crazy wild, esp near lunch time. So healthy and yummy, I can see why. I love the new all fruit smoothies they have.... no added sugar and it has 5 servings of fruit in it! :)

Lots of updates

1. Monday night I cooked fish for the first time in my life. Salmon in a cocunut curry sauce.... and it was quite successful! I was proud of myself, I've been meaning to try cooking fish for many years but had this preconceived notion that it would challenging. Quite easy actually! I'll have to cook some for G when he visits in September! ;)

2. Yesterday morning I had to drive to the N-Judah (muni or metro or train, for all you non-NoCal people) to get to work instead of taking the bus since I was getting my hair cut in SoMa (aka South of Market... Market is a main street in downtown SF) after work. Well...... my lovely friends Lenny and Vlad decided it would be fun on Sunday to completely cover my car with saran wrap. I had heard about this venture, so I went out armed with a camera and some scissors. Due to the dampness, salt, and sand on my car from parking it by the ocean, the saran wrap was pretty stuck on and took me 10 mins to get it all off! I plan on taping it to Lenny's front door in a big mess in the near future.

Because of the saran wrap incident, I missed the train I wanted. Thanks assholes.

3. A complete quagmire this morning occured with transportation. Everyday I take the 8:08am 31AX bus to work. Everyday it arrives, pretty much always on time. Not today. A group of us waited and waited for about 20 mins and finally realized it wasn't coming. We hopped on the next 31 bus (the X buses are express buses that have limited pickups and then shoot downtown where most people work...Financial District, Embarcadero...and the regular bus takes at least double the time), and then about 10 mins down the road someone says there is a filler bus for the 31AX. We hop on... but this guy drives the 18 route and has no idea where he is going! So we have to navigate him and tell him where the stops are. I wanted to take a nap on the bus to make up for missed sleep last night, oh well. I still managed to make it to work by 9:15.... half hour after I typically get in.

4. I received an email from Gordon that I looked at this am. It included pics from multiple parties and events that occured over the past weekend that I clearly missed bc I live 2,700 miles away. I looked at the photographs and saw what a great time all my friends were having and I started feeling sadness bubble up inside of me. I miss everyone in DC so much that when I am reminded of what I am missing it absolutely breaks my heart. Yes, I want to see pictures, I want to see my friends having fun and doing well... but at the same time its really sad that I am no longer an integral part of their daily lives. Its sad to know that life goes on without me there and I miss so many funny and fulfilling moments that only true friendship can provide you. I think I just might cry at my desk, I'm such a loser. Seeing those pictures and being reminded of all I left behind to move to SF has absolutely ruined my day.... I can't focus on work, I can't run meetings properly, I look sorta dazzed and absent-minded today. I'm not absent-minded though, I'm just having a major homesickness relapse (for DC, which I still consider my home). I didn't just leave behind a city with cherry blossoms and monuments and politics. I left behind a city full of people who have become my family, I left parts of me with them that I can't tap into alone, I left a bundle of my good humor and laughter behind with my Evildoer, I left a bundle of childhood, teenage, and almost-adulthood moments behind with my Patticake, I left a bundle of tenderness and deep, thoughtful intellectual, interesting, satisfying conversations/moments of realization behind with my G-Funk. Why can't I have all my friends around me all the time??? Why don't they want to live where I live???? MOVE DAMMIT!

stop me!

someone stop me from the excessive thai iced tea drinking!!!

San Francisco loves Walgreens.

I'm so used to CVS being from the East Coast that I was so confused about where they were when I moved out here. They don't have them! They have Walgreens. And they are everywhere! Its funny bc on the east there are only a few, they certainly are not on the scale that CVS is. But out here, Walgreens appears to be monopolizing!

Just a silly West Coast observation.

A day like no other day.

I had an interesting day yesterday. We had our "offsite" for our entire Corporate Finance team which was pretty fun and gave me (the newest member of the team) a chance to talk to people I don't interact with often. I talked to our VP at lunch and she told me Ellen (my manager, I sing her praises) says many good things about me! I love that kind of feedback. Our meeting ended at 3 and we all shoved off to Americano for drinks and appetizers and merriment. Too much fun indeed. I had 3 Tokyo Iced Teas (for those of you who have never heard of this, I hadn't either til last weekend when a friend introduced me to them. It is a Long Island Iced Tea with Midori instead of Coke), and was quite the social butterfly. I left well after the last express bus leaves to Ocean Beach, so I had to take the muni back and then either walk the mile to my apt or call my friend/neighbor to come get me.

On the way home I was sitting on the muni (like the metro for you DC folk, except it runs underground downtown only, above ground everywhere else) and I was spacing out on the gangway moving back and forth as the train moved along. I started to feel a hint of sadness, and even though I couldn't see myself I could feel the emptiness in my eyes. Then I looked up and saw beautiful Victorian homes and lush green parks pass by and my sadness quickly dissolved as I reminded myself "I live in beautiful San Francisco!"

Then this guy across from me kept looking back and staring at me. All I could sing in my head was "fat man in a little coat" even though this was a short man in way-too-big-for-him coat. I found humor in that and then wondered what it would be like to be a seat on the muni. If I was a seat for a day.... who would sit in me? Where are they going? What are they feeling? Could I tap into their psyche and experience life as them for a brief moment? (Mind you, I'm listening to some Thievery Corporation on my iPod... a bit of trippy loungey music which allows my mind to wander.)

I snap out of it as I realize that we are no longer moving and I can vaguely hear a man talking over the intercom. I remove my headphones and he's saying that the train in front of us isn't moving and we should de-board. Something about a medical emergency. So everyone gets off and starts walking towards the first train, which appears is about to leave. Luckily I managed to jump on that one and then I asked a guy sitting there what happened. Apparently two punk kids were fighting on the train and they stopped it so the cops could come get them, but they already took off running. Weird.

I live in San Francisco. I. LIVE. HERE. Still makes no sense in my brain.

so. here i am.

i've been toying with the idea of getting a blog for years to stay in touch with friends, just haven't gotten motivated to ACTUALLY do it.

So. Here I am.

I am doing this for 2 reasons.
1. I live FAR away from all my friends now that I am living in San Francisco.
2. I believe it will be theraputic. Something to put energy into where I can talk (not like I don't do enough of that on a daily basis! Ha!), no really, where I can talk about things that are important to me on "paper." I have always kept a journal off and on, and now I feel like keeping one online to keep in touch with those most dear to me.

if you know me and are reading this. i love you. ;)

B