San Francisco Blues

At some point in the not-to-distant near future, I want to move to San Francisco. I really don't know what it is about the place, but I took to it instantly. Somehow, it doesn't seem like a big city even though it is. Maybe it's because there are so many tight-knit neighborhoods that it creates a small town feel? Maybe it's the fact that SF is only 49 square miles big? Who knows, but there's some kind of magic going on there that I'd love to discover even more.

One of the biggest things that I'm worried about is finding a place to stay. The rent there is outrageous. Who ever heard of paying so much and not owning it? I picked up one of these fliers that I found in a residential area. It shows a sampling of what it takes to make it in SF. Man, can I really make it with prices like this?

The other huge factor that is weighing me down is finding a job in the city. Sure, I can always move and take temporary jobs or work part time here and there. But that definitely wouldn't be ideal. A full-time job that I enjoy is definitely where it's at.

It doesn't help that I'm a planner by nature or nurture, whatever the case may be. I like to have several options available should the best-case scenario fall through. I don't like to jump into things. This could be seen as a positive or a negative. It'd be a plus because I always look at all outcomes before making a decision. However, this anal behavior can also hinder progress at times. It slows you down when you constantly need to think things through.

Another thing that's crossed my mind lately is the idea of becoming a full-time traveler. And before you laugh, there really is such a thing. Just read this. I think it would be so amazing to do what Nora Dunn did - retire at 30 and travel the world.

But as soon as I start thinking about all the possibilities, my anal self says, "whoa nelly!" Who up and quits their job at 30 and wanders the world? What sane person does that? What about a successful career? What about climbing the corporate ladder? Hell, what about medical insurance? You don't get that being a full-time traveler I'll bet.

So things are stil up in the air. Especially in these current economic times, I think it'd be unwise to make any drastic moves. But if I wait too long, I feel like life may just pass me by. It's so frustrating.

Here's a vid of Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" set in the city. The vid has some great shots of Golden Gate Park and Ocean Beach. Somehow the song and the scenery are really calming to me.

Getting Jiggy with it

My naked neighbor dude gave me a shock today, a shock that almost brought tears to my eyes. (As if I could be more appalled than I already am with an naked neighbor across the street, huh?)

Upon getting home, I checked my mail and glanced up to see a streak of blue in the window. What the?!?! On closer inspection, I saw that it was only my formerly naked, exercising neighbor wearing some aqua undies. (I think that's the new color for summer, right?) From where I stood, they looked like blue tighty whities.

Another change is that he obviously turned it up a notch by jogging rather than walking that treadmill. I can only imagine where he thinks he's going on that thing, but I digress. For a moment, I stop to ponder why, after all these months, he has a sudden fascination with aqua undies. My conclusion is that the amount of bounceage is too much for him and he needs some extra support downstairs. To much getting jiggy with it, I guess.

This idea has made me crack up to no end. Not only does it prove that he was INDEED naked all these months, I find the idea that he needs the ball support hysterical. In my overly active imagination, he's tried jogging sans undies and found too much jiggle and not enough giggle. So, to his disgust, he's had to don some undies to reduce the wigglage. How can that not make you laugh your ass off?

How Weird Street Faire Not Weird at All

I was lucky enough to catch one of San Francisco's famous street fairs while on my recent vacation. The How Weird Street Faire was on Sunday, May 10, 2009 at Howard and Second streets.




In its tenth year, the How Weird Street Faire is an "experiment in creating peace, bringing together a wide range of eclectic styles and communities," according to its website. I think this objective was definitely achieved. There were tons of different people roaming around, a vast number of vendors and best of all, various stages rockin' out to diverse music.




Before my trip, I watched some vids of the 2008 event and thought it'd be pretty sweet to experience it live since we don't ever get these kinds of events locally. I wasn't sure what to expect out of a block party with "weird" right there in its name. I mean, it's SF after all. I imagined people in outrageous get ups (I was actually hoping to get to see this), but once we got there the vibe was actually pretty peaceful (as peaceful as electronica music can get you) and not weird at all. Of course, there were some people in costumes, a couple cross-dressers and girls in skimpy clothing, but to be honest, it's worse in Waikiki on Halloween.



I'm not sure if this laid back atmosphere is a normal thing for How Weird Street Faires or if all the cool peeps had already gone home to prep for the night events. Still, it was interesting to see. I wish we had come earlier in the day, but we had visited a ton of other neighborhoods that day and only got to squeeze in the last hour of the event. By the time we toured around as many stages as we could, the event was almost done.



The music stages were all dj-driven with some cool-looking dj booths. They played mostly electronica, something we don't really see too much of in Hawaii. In my vocabulary it was all sort of house, techno and trance-type music. According to the website, it was actually "live electronica, downtempo, dubstep, breaks, electro, psytrance, house, techno, drum & bass, world beat and too many sub-genres to name." As you can see, my electronica vocab is quite limited.



Besides listening to the music, I had a great time people watching. As I said, I don't think most of the participants were very weird at all. I even saw some families and young children there. While I know people were drinking (saw one guy passed out standing up against a building), I didn't see any violence or anyone get obnoxious because of the alcohol. Surprisingly, I didn't even see any bud smokers or smell anyone blazing up. (Not that I'm into it, but it's SF after all, and I was so sure it'd be going on at this concert.) People just seemed to be there to have a good time and dance.




Overall, this was a really cool thing to see firsthand. It was definitely an experience and I just wish we had more time to stay. It would've been awesome to go to one of the after parties, but at that point we were just too tired. It was the day before we flew home and after a week of on-the-go activities, we were beat.