8 posts tagged “sf”
Every time I've moved into a new apartment it's been ready and decorated in, oh, a month. Tops. I've collected furniture and art from all sorts of neat places and am always anxious to get everything set up in a new place so it feels like home. But, not so much this time. I've gone minimalist... this place is empty and white compared with my other apartments, which were full of my red and colorful furniture. I've actually gone months without anything on the walls, in part because there just hasn't been the time to decorate, but also because for the first time in my life I've sort of enjoyed the lack of stuff.
Well, now that I've said that, there are a couple of new additions to the place. I finally had my SF streetcar posters framed (colors! yay!) and managed to mooch a cool bamboo chair off a friend who's leaving town. My goal is to make the place homey enough for a Halloween housewarming party. Yeah, right.
Show us what the weekend has in store for you.
Last weekend I got all the kitchen appliances: blender, food processor, toaster and convection oven. Ovens aren't standard in Chinese apartments, but I can't live without one so sacrificing the counter space is worth it. Now I'm mustering up the energy to hit Ikea for mixing bowls and the like. Let me tell you, you have to be a dedicated cook to brave Ikea. It's a favorite after
Afterwards (if I survive), I'll put together this fun little thing I picked up at the MOMA, which will grace the coffee table.
Gorgeous weather. Old friends. The Conservatory. Champagne. The De Young. Barbeque. Birthday. Dancing.
In that order.
It doesn't get better than that.
Martinis and Jersey doo-wop. Awesome.
I have seven days until my next work gig starts, and as a perpetual over-planner I've been struggling with what to do with this precious in-between time. Go away? Hang about the house and -- gasp -- relax? My main objective is not to overthink these 100+ hours. So, here's a list of things I *could* do, should the mood happen to strike:
- Hit the California Historical Society Museum. They have wacky hours, and anyways, everything is better mid-week.
- Park myself at Fog City News. I've been dying to check this place out, being into all things news and chocolate and old-fashioned, but they're only open 9-5p.m. Monday to Friday. Cripes.
- Spend the day at Muir Beach and get lunch at the Pelican Inn, one of my favorite spots in all of California.
- Do a SF Historical society walk. I have been meaning to do this for at least a year.
- Visit the Conservatory of Flowers, which is not only one of the most amazing buildings in SF, but is also chock full of crazy plants.
- Spend half a day dissolving in the soaking pools at the Kabuki hot springs. I might have to throw a massage in too.
- Hang out at Green Apple Books. Since the Inner Richmond isn't my 'hood anymore, I'll have to make a special trip.
- I might see a couple movies.
Plus, there's some family stuff like hanging out with Grandma (did that this morning...more on that later) and babysit the gremlins on Wednesday afternoon. Several hours with Madeline (age 7) and her twin brothers (9 months) provides a baby fix that will tide me over for months.
I fully intend to ignore the ton of crap that still needs to be unpacked from the move. And I'm not going to feel bad about it one little bit.
I've been criss-crossing this city by bus, streetcar, and occasionally cable car since I was 10 years old. San Francisco's public transportation system, as it is in most major cities, is a microcosm of the city. Even though MUNI isn't the most comprehensive system out there (Hong Kong's MTR is by far the cleanest, fastest and most efficient public transit system I've ever used), it's generally a great way to get around. After years and years of hopping on the bus to get where I need to go, there is rarely a time that I glance out the window and don't know where I am. It's also rare that a friend or colleague asks how to get someplace by bus that I can't suggest several routes. In fact, I enjoy finding out what is the fastest way to get from point A to point B... I even have the MUNI map saved on my desktop to double check my guesses.
Many important life skills are learned on the bus. In grade school, I learned not to fall asleep on the ride home, or you'll end up God. Knows. Where. More importantly, make sure you have a quarter for when you do end up in said godforsaken place so you can call your parents. (This is long before cell phones, and back when pay phones were 25 cents. Ah, the good old days!) Let them know that you're utterly lost and could they please come pick you up. Then in high school, there were the real survival skills. Rule #1: under no circumstances should you catch the eye of that mean-looking black/hispanic/islander girl sitting across from you, or she's going to kick your lily-white ass when you get off. Rule #2: wearing boys clothes and piercing your tongue help you look a little less lily-white. Just a little though.
The people watching is fabulous, particularly because each line has its own personality. The Haight lines (6, 7, and 71) make you inured to wanna-be hippies and strung out crazy people. On the other end of the spectrum are lines like the 1 California, which is practically a catwalk, with financial-district suit types checking each other out as they strut to the back of the bus.
There's no doubt that public transportation sucks sometimes. When it's raining, it doesn't matter how fast the bus comes or the driver drives, you're just not going to get home fast enough. But all in all, I <3 MUNI.
My old friend Alec (and boss from CBS days) moved back to the U.S. from Beijing just last month. Talking with him reminded me of when Jason and I first got back, and how different life is here. After all, this was the neighborhood we lived in:
In some ways, it's a pretty big change from where we live now. It obviously a lot more modern here in most places, but then again, we did choose to live in what is considered San Francisco's new Chinatown so we'd feel at home...
Garth, a colleague at Six Apart, was asking about photos from my China days. Most of my traveling was in 1997, long before I had a digital camera, but I might make it a summer project to digitize them. It was a tremendous trip -- Meimei and I started in Shanghai, went to Tibet and to Everest Base Camp, back out through Yunnan and Sichuan, and then over to Guilin to meet Mom. I think I have several hundred photos from the trip, very few of which have seen the light of day in years.
