The New Spot

From the freezing cold reaches of the Outer Sunset to the crackin’ streets of the Castro, my life has shifted.  Eureka Street at 18th, a 2 bedroom flat with a big kitchen and a living room. I’ve noticed immediate and welcome change.


My Morning: longer, fuller, richer.  Instead of waking up alone and in the dark to shower, dress, pack, and ride, I take my time and stroll to the kitchen in my slippers and sit with roommie while my oatmeal cooks, I lay out my clothes for the day shower to music and then get dressed in the comfortable morning light of my bedroom.


My workday: off to a good start.  Instead of arriving to work 20 minutes early to stretch in the little office and change in the bathroom and prepare my breakfast in the kitchen, I stroll in dressed and fed just early enough to say good morning to my colleagues and sit down at my desk and get to work.


My return: instant comfort.  instead of moving through the apartment like a forensic investigator - determining what had transpired in my absence and how it would affect me, I find everything as I left it or slightly improved.  Whereas the whiteboard at my old apartment might read "who ate all my peanut butter?", I find a bouquet of fresh flowers on the table and a note from roommie with an appealing dinner plan.  I am left to my own devices - alone and free from outside influence, I do just what my heart desires.


My room: powerful independence.  To share a room is difficult, and despite the good nature and best intentions of one's roommate, the persistent pressures of sharing a small space preclude complete comfort.  My own room is empowering and exciting and I feel like a grown-ass man.  I have my furniture and my books and my bed arranged in my way to serve my needs, and it pleases me very much.


My mindset: big moves.  Grand imagination of the future seems closer to reality.  The infrastructure of the life I want to lead is firmly in place.  I find more restoration in each minute of time spent at home, and there are endlessly exciting avenues to apply this new energy.


The Sunset was a primer, a fine introduction to San Francisco that gave me confidence and friends and plenty of good times.  The Castro is an environment aligned with my desires, and while I'm more alone I realize this is exactly what I wanted.

Things I love Thursday

Thanks to Natanya for this concept - a little rundown of things I love this Thursday.  A full stomach after another dynamite meal in the new apartment.... our kitchen that is always clean and spacious... our pantry that you can half-way step into and look around in... the massive tub of honey on the shelf in the pantry that made us laugh imaging dressing up as a bear for halloween and carrying it around as a prop... the peonies bursting out of the vase on our wiggly little dining room table... the fact that I can see all the way down the hall and out the front door from this seat... my colleagues at vFlyer who crack me up every day and laugh at my jokes and bring the sarcasm right back at me every time... my brand-new pair of slippers... my Moms... the rest of my family too, of course... stumbling across an old friend in an incredibly exciting way... living in the midst of the World HQ of acceptance and freedom of expression - the Castro... moving two people's lives entirely in two full days... my new commute which is faster... my old commute that I really miss... my new roommate who is the ultimate roommie... my old roomies who are the best friends a man could ever ask for... my big ol' bed where I'm about to head... a new favorite Hemingway book... a Los Angeles vacation around the corner... the internet... you!  seriously!!  you!!

Ordering Chinese Food - an adventure in conversation

Ordering Chinese food today was an absolute trip.  I called the House of Nan King, spoke with a lovely young woman who took my order very diligently, repeated it back to me, and said she’d enter it into the computer and call me back with the total.  I received a call back shortly thereafter, but there was a different house of Nan King employee on the phone - an older woman whose English was a few grades below that of my first caller.  

“Yeah hi Scott?” (I’d given Scott’s name, as he was headed to pick up the chinese food)
“Well, sure.. go ahead”
She started with a disclaimer -
“Yeah girl you just spoke with new, she doesn’t really know how to do it”
“Oh that’s ok”
“So what you want, how many people eating?” (I realized I’d be building my entire order from scratch again)
“There are 7 of us”
“Ok and what you want, beef? chicken? poark?”
“Well I thought we’d get a little bit of everything”
“Ok yeah so you want potsticker appetizer?”
“Yes, two orders please”
“Ok and you like sesame chicken?” (I had ordered sesame chicken - obviously she had my previous order right in front of her) 
"Yes Please"
“There seven of you?  I do two big orders - enough for seven”
One of us is allergic to sesame, so I really only wanted the one -
“You know I think just the one order of sesame chicken is enough”
“Ok and you want one more chicken?”
“Yes the chicken with chinese greens, please”
“Yeah ok chicken mixed veggie” ( a different menu item)
“You know I like the look of those chinese greens”
“Ok yeah baby boc choi greens, I can do that, you want *something unintelligable*”
“That’s fine”
“Ok what else?”
“An order of the sizzling scallops please"
“OK you want *some uninteligible scallop dish*”
“Well I see here ‘sizzling scallops’ - can we have that?”
“Yeah that only come with three pieces of scallop whole dish”
“Well what’s your most popular scallop dish?”
“Most popular? Well that probably be *some unintelligible scallop dish*”
“Ok well I’m just concerned about sesame - I see here one scallop dish has sesame” (menu item: ‘Crispy scallops w/sesame vege’)
“OK you want sesame? yeah I can do that for you”
“No! No, no sesame”

From the other end of the room, somebody laughs and chimes in with “No and den!”

“Oh no sesame.  Ok no problem.  What else, you want a brocoli beef?”

I just started laughing.  Really hard but silently and looking up to the ceiling as she repeated “You wanna brocoli beef?”
“Yes please,” I tried to compose myself “Yes please that sounds great”
She sort of chuckled on the other end, recounted my order, I asked for rice:
“Ok rice for seven people”
Knowing there’s almost always extra rice, I said “You know we don’t actually eat alot of rice, so probably rice for 5 people would be enough”
“Oh ok, rice for five”
“And an order of chicken chow mein”
“Ok chicken chow mein.  Ok thank you!”
“And can I pay by credit card over the phone?”
She had already hung up.

I sort of came down from the call, got up to share some details and have a laugh with the rest of the team, sat down at my desk again and my phone rang.

“Hello?”
*Noise of a restaurant*
“Hello?”
*More restaurant noise*
“Hello preez?”
I hung up.

“Unbelievable.  Now they’re calling me from their pants”  A minute later, the phone rang again.

“Hello?”
“Hi this is house of Nan King”
“Hi there”
“Yeah what time you want to pick up?”
“Well we’re eating at 12:30, so we’d like to pick it up at 12:15”
“OK 12:15 very good”
“And can I pay over the phone with a credit card?”
“Noooooo, no not over the phone”
“Ok, no problem”

I got up and walked over to Scott, gave him the credit card and said they’d be expecting him at 12:15.  Scott put the card in his wallet and I sat back down at my desk.  Out of the corner of my eye, I see my phone getting another call.

“Hello”
“Hi this is house of Nan King” (It was the new girl)
“Oh hello”
“I’m calling so you can pay with credit card for your order”
“Oh.  Ummm ok just a moment please”
I walked over to Scott, tapped him on the shoulder because he was on the phone, whispered that now we can pay over the phone, and he handed over the card.

I gave her the info, the order was processed, and Scott left a half hour later to pick up our $93.46 order of chinese food.

It turned out to be delicious, especially the potstickers, and we enjoyed our first eat-in lunch at the new office.  We had about 2 full boxes of rice leftover.

From the Streets of Sacramento...

There's a great old Cake song called Arco Arena with a chorus that goes like this: "From the streets of Sacramento to the freeways of LA.  There's no single explanation there's no central destination..."  This post won't discuss the freeways of LA, but feel free to sing along as you read anyway.

There's something truly special and song-worthy about those wide, warm avenues.  A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to ride a bike through midtown sac, and I felt like I was swimming through honey.  Gliding through something perfectly warm and pleasant, doing my best to absorb the lovely air.  The streets are broad, flat, and quiet.  The trees are tall, numerous, and full, and the energy is slow and steady.

Flash to Market Street in downtown San Francisco on a Thursday evening.  It's loud, crowded, potholed, crammed with buses, motorists, cyclists, tourists, and urchins.  Cold win blows strong from the West, and the energy is frenetic, unsettled, anxious and irritable.  I wear my gear like armor - helmet, glasses, gloves, jacket, padded shorts, yellow shoes; I'm zipped up and strapped down tight; I move in straight lines, my body tense and eyes focused on the traffic signal in front of me or glancing quickly backwards at the buses behind me.

Let's go back to Sacramento.  I wear a tshirt with no helmet; I move in lazy loops through the sweet stillness;  i gaze side to side, I sing "Jolene" by Ray Lamontagne.  A stark contrast indeed.