Single White Female

The transition from weary traveler with a caffeine addiction to single in the city with an even more alarming caffeine addiction has been pretty seamless. Week 1 of my crusade through the bay area has been down right fabulous from job prospecting to urban hikes to crazy night life to date nights to free concerts...I couldn't ask for more. With all these fun happenings I have had some moments of processing... processing my new status as a single adult. As the government census lady said to me yesterday, "you are a single, white female. correct?" "Yes, last time I checked". On a few occasions this week I have found myself contemplating the idea behind companionship, and I have come to a conclusion (that is for myself, the rest of you can fend for yourselves). I thrive off companionship, I like being able to have someone to share experiences with and tell the mundane details of my life to. I like having someone to call, come home to and tell the latest dirty joke to. But with that said, I think companions can come in different forms (ideally a hunky, intellectual male with a great sense of humor but I digress). My steadfast companion is of course my loving dog who has been through it all with me, lived in over 5 states with me and shares almost all my meals with me. My second companion is my ipod which I take pride in and enjoy fostering an intimate relationship with. The third is what I will refer to as a temporary companion, i.e. foreign roommate, man I met on the bus, downstairs neighbor, crazy bag lady. All of these have become a great companion at some time or another in my first week in this incredibly windy, incredibly vibrant city.
On Friday as I walked through the Mission on my way back from picking up a package (new cheap camera that I ordered), I saw an old theater called The Victorian with their marquis letters reading "The Dodos tomorrow @ 4". How coincidental that the band I listened to the most on my way out here was performing a few blocks from my front stoop! I immediately took note and did some recon work when I got into my apartment. How much? Were the tickets sold out? Who would want to go with me? Ends up, the tickets were free if you picked them up at this coffee shop called Four Barrels (amazing place, old record player humming hipster tunes and french presses galore). I mosied my way to cool Valencia St. to pick up said tickets on Saturday morning and grabbed an ice coffee for my troubles. The guy asked how many I wanted and without even thinking, I responded "three please". Errr OK, I barely know three people in the city but why the hell not, it sounded good coming out of my mouth. As I walked back home I made a few calls to the three people I did know and all were busy doing other more important things. Damn. On a long shot I asked my only roommate who was home, the Swiss one, if she wanted to check out a cool band. In her broken, beautiful English she said "Yes, that would be nice." We went to the show, the venue was giving out free coffee (I swear this must have been at least my 5th or 6th for the day) and donuts. The Dodos were apparently putting on the show to practice their new material before their official tour and they are from San Francisco (I didn't know that). It was great, their setup is unique and their sound is even better. 3 instruments; acoustic guitar, drum kit minus the base drum (drummer attaches a tambourine to his right foot) and a zibraphone. The drummer is front in center and definitely the focal point of the music. They joked with the crowd (consisting of extremely well dressed, vintage clad cool kids), took requests which was awesome and thanked the crowd for coming out in the middle of a beautiful day. My roommate and I then spent the next few hours sipping Chimay on an outside bar patio on Valencia St., smoking European rolled cigs and talking about how we both had landed in this very spot. When I asked if she had a boyfriend she said no, but said she was open to a "love affair". I love the way Europeans speak about love. Us Americans sounds so crass and low class when we talk about stuff like that ("oh my god Becky, I totally hooked up with this guy last night"). The conversation was great and we had a windy walk home.

As far as my other temporary companions, the man I met on the bus took me out to a great dinner at a swanky spot in the mission called Bar Tartine where we shared a bottle of great wine, and I ventured into a food territory I never thought I would go. Bone marrow spread on a warm baguette for the appetizer and hog jowl for the main. I only really ordered it so that I constantly had an excuse to say jowl throughout the meal.
I shared what was meant to be a solo cinco de mayo with my downstairs neighbor, we drank tecate and took a few tequila shots and talked about how much we loved the city. We hung outside in our back patio while our dogs pretended to ignore each other while occasionally sharing a scowl across the lawn. He seems like a good person to know in the city and I have shamelessly asked him to find me a room in this building so I don't have to move.
I shared a hilarious and eventful walk with the crazy bag lady on my block. She proceeded to tell me her whole life story as I walked Ella around the neighborhood. I couldn't shake this woman for the life of me so I eventually just gave in and hung out with her for over an hour. She actually made me laugh a few times and recommended a good food joint up the street. I walked away glad she chose me to bother.

Did I just say hunky in this post? haha I guess i'm bringing back the 90's, save by the bell era lingo.

Life will always bring you back down

With my fabulously coincidental and remarkable first 2 days here, I was bound to have a somewhat not so exciting, less cool day. Today was that day.
I was pretty jazzed this morning with all the good luck that had been coming my way, "gosh, it's only Wednesday of my first week and I have two interviews lined up", quickly turned into "oh well, you can't win em all..." As I checked my e-mail this a.m. to make sure I didn't have any other news coming my way, I came across an e-mail from the employer of my second interview..."sorry but the position you are coming into interview for has already been filled. We apologize." Greeeaattt. And that was the interview I actually wanted to go to. The other one was some property management/HOA type of company and they had warned me that there might be an evaluation, ummm k. After I walked 2 miles in the GHETTO (my first un-scenic walk since I have arrived), I showed up to be immediately told that I had 45 minutes to complete a test, 2 pages of MATH problems (AHHHH don't these people know who they are dealing with?! I'm a journalism major, hello?) and one page of essay questions and internet research, what jerks. Although I seriously thought of pretending to use the restroom and bolting out of there, I instead put my tail between my legs and proceeded to do MATH. Actually, I think I surprised myself but then I again I don't know if I actually got any right, I just thought I may have (possibly, probably not).

Needless to say, today was not the day I was expecting but it's all good in the hood because these are the days that make me appreciate the extraordinary ones. I spent the rest of the afternoon grocery shopping (wine please!) and applying to numerous jobs. We shall see what Thursday brings.

Oh almost forgot. Tuesday night was a blast, went to meet up with my bus route friend and ended up having a lot of fun. We ended up at a famous dive bar called Zeitgeist where there was an outdoor beer garden full of bikers, hipsters, scenesters and the rest who were trying to be of the above mentioned crowds. The guy, very sweet and fun, ended up being from Boston and working at one of Charity's local hang outs in JP called The Milky Way, weird right? Also, the night before he apparently had a SF coincidental happening where he ran into an old friend of his from Australia who was only in town for a few nights and they happen to run into one another on the street, neither one knew the other was here. Crazy stuff, and that guy ended up coming out with us and was extremely nice and the six degrees of seperation don't stop. The Australian used to date a girl who went to Clemson of all places, and he knew a ton about Clemson and loved it there! Very strange stuff I tell ya, very strange.

Cinco De Mayo - Christina is too hungover from the night before to come hang out with me at my apartment, looks like it's me and Ella and bottle of wine tonight. Mad love blogworld.

Day I stopped counting

So I am officially here now so I guess it's wise to stop the whole counting thing, it might get a bit confusing (I suck at math). I love my place, I love my neighborhood (colorful, hip and a bit ghetto...right up my alley), and I am still in love with my dog. She has already settled in perfectly to our giant temporary room, known now in the house as little scruff (that translated well for both Japanese and Swiss apparently). The apartment is an old Victorian style place, insane molding in every corner, including young boys molded into my window sills (ummm K). My bay windows overlook Mission St. and Valencia, a very happening part of town, including Goood Frickin Chicken across the street which I of course hit up my first night here (name says it all) and a nail salon below ($7 manicure what what).
My first full day in SF was Sunday and boy was it a doozy. I spent the morning returning my fabulous whip of a rental car, almost shed a tear before I quickly remembered I had a strong hatred for it for 2 full days of the trip (Desert + Impala = bitchy, cranky Carissa) and said so long to journey and holla to life in the Bay area. I took Ella for what was meant to be a cute stroll up Bernal Hill until I realized that Bernal Hill was really a small mountain in the city and wearing flip flops and hot coffee in hand were not the approach to take to said mountain. Athletic shoes and water are definite necessities for this urban hike. I then continued my urban wanderings to far away North Beach where Christina was having a soiree of sorts (apparently Sunday Fundays are always in full effect here), where I walked another 2 + miles and finally showed up sweaty and dehydrated, adorable i'm sure. 30 odd people piled on to one roof top overlooking the most gorgeous view of the bay and golden gate bridge, can't get much better than that (oh wait, and she let me put on MY ipod so I got to be all uppity about music selections - thanks Rob for all the new jams).
After leaving swank rooftop gathering, I hit up a great Italian restaurant called E' tutte quoi (wrong spelling) where Maddelene worked (we met sailing) and I enjoyed one of the most ridiculous solo dining experiences to date. The Italian owner and his mafia quickly called me over to there table where they proceeded to force feed me pasta, red wine and olive oil, all while making me keep my fabulous hat on because "I looked so beautiful in it, like the 60's"(thick italian accent and over exaggerated hand gestures apply). So of course I ate, and of course I sat in a restaurant wearing a giant hat. Why not? After convincing them I had had enough and squirming my way out, I eventually made it on the bus home.

You probably thought that was the rest of the story but it goes on. I was confused as to which bus route was best so I asked the only other person waiting, he happened to look similar in age and harmless enough. We ended up going in the same direction and chatting the whole way there. He had just moved here 4 months ago from none other than Boston. Had a few laughs, exchanged numbers and off we went. What a first night. Rooftop bbq, authentic Italian mobsters, genuine interaction on public transportation, huh? I love you so far SF.

Pics

I uploaded a few pics of my new place. Flickr won't allow me anymore so I need to upgrade tomorrow. I will add a new post as well, thanks for reading : )

Day 5 Continued

Way too much life went down on Day 5...must expound. After my sunset magical mystery tour of Big Sur, I finally pulled myself away from hours of stop and go sightseeing at atleast 10 turnoff sites and I pushed through to beautiful Pacific Grove (right next to Monterey). My earlier post mentioned the idea of old and new friends, this is where the new ones come into the story. After a quick chat to a somewhat new friend already in San Francisco about how I was worried my arrival in SF would be rushed and possibly too late, resulted in an immediate connection to an old friend of theirs, "My buddy lives in Monterey, I will give him a call, it's Capers good friend too". Ummm OK, sure why not...what's one more night out on the road?

I arrived to meet quite possibly the two nicest people I have ever met. Genuinely nice. Not even obnoxiously so. They made me feel welcome, they asked interesting questions and they provided a great ending to the greatest day. Mexican food was yet again consumed, although I will have to admit this was much better than Houston Mexican (sorry Squirt). After debating on whether or not we wanted to go out to a beach party (too damn cold for that), we ultimately decided to get a bottle of wine and chill with their guinea pigs at their home (Yup, you heard me right, GUINEA PIGS). Isn't that the most hilarious throw back to child hood pets? I never hear of anyone owning guinea pigs anymore! Well, it's a shame because apparently they are awesome. Fluffy and Fatty (best names ever and of course fitting) offered more jokes and entertainment than Tivo on a Thursday night. We stayed up late and talked and eventually my eyes won the battle...must sleep now. Air mattress, way comfy and fun to watch inflate : )

Day 5

The best day I have ever had? Maybe. Alone on the road with my dog soulmate, music that moves me, and ocean cliffs that take your breath away. I couldn't have asked for a better setting to my dramatic and ridiculous departure from the East Coast, day 5 in the home stretch. The sun was always shining and the roads were perfectly populated, the Pacific Coast Highway is forever burned into my soul. With stops all the way up from Malibu, Paradise Cove, Renaldo State Park and Beach, and finally BIG SUR. Hands down, no competition, without a doubt, the most beautiful stretch of the Earth I have ever laid eyes on. I got stuck in a pretty sizeable traffic jam due to a man who had jack-knifed his car into the cliff (thank god he lived). As I waited outside with the rest of the voyeurs trying to sneak a peak at the carnage, I realized that I was secretly hoping it would take hours so that I had an excuse to be there. Be there...I can't even explain there. Its a must see of epic proportions (and I hate when people say epic anything).

Now, I know that thousands of tourists drive this road everyday but mine still felt unique, it felt romantic. I understand the cliche that is this "road trip" across the country to pursue a new life in San Francisco...but with that said, I never claimed to be the first but I will claim that I probably got the most out of it. I didn't drive straight through like a badass, I didn't stay in hotels every night and watch HBO, I didn't sleep in a VW Van and smoke hash. No, I drove a route that helped me reconnect. Reconnect to friends, both old and new, and reconnect to myself. It is amazing what being alone and vulnerable can make you see. Where have I been for the past 2 years? I certainly wasn't living life as me, just what I thought I should be.

Day 4

PCS Reunion
Day 4 brought the most challenges thus far on the trip. I thought that being rested and having my own bed would make for a better driving day but I was mistaken. After only 4 hours in the car, I wanted to be done. I had high hopes for Arizona offering a different landscape, or at least more to see than sprawling desert. I was wrong. I had a rough few hours where I contemplated driving my impala into an abandoned gas station and living out the rest of my days tending to cacti.
Weirdly, Christina Trifero called me the exact moment I was crossing the border into the promise land aka California. Extremely coincidental or fate...you be the judge my loyal followers : )
I arrived physically unscathed to Lonnie's brady bunch-esque pad in Fullerton, but felt a bit mentally weary. I just drove 2 full days in the desert and now I am going to go catch up with my very first boyfriend whom I haven't laid eyes on since the 8th grade! All worries were gone the moment I walked in. "Dude, Rudy f***** Donges!" hahaha We took a very hilarious trip down memory lane, I apparently had blocked off most of my middle school years, obviously due to my hatred for those awkward days. For the first time in years, I was remembering things from PCS and Worcester that I couldn't believe. Lots of fun was had, the biggest beer ever was consumed and the best vintage couch ever was slept upon (might even give my La Quinta stay a run for its money). There are already plans in motion for Lonnie to make a northern trek to visit Trifero and I, it must happen : )

Pics to follow once I can get my laptop online.

Now off for my last full day of driving, luckily it will be along the Pacific Coast Highway and I plan to take my sweet time. I'm off!