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Monday, 7-26-04. Mixed weather, at varying locations.
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After addictively playing Simcity 4 on my parents' light-speed computer into the wee hours of the morning last night (as I can bearly run it on my home machine), I was woken up at 8 am sharp to the 100-foot pile driver at the construction site across the street repetitively slamming 60-foot sections of concrete down to bedrock. I found a decent apartment in the Mission/Dolores area, though it's a bit on the small side for the rent they're asking. I liked the neighborhood though, and it's close to mass transit. I applied for it, so we'll see what happens.
Before heading north, I spent some time running around at the college, trying to shove my way through the endless matriculation beurocracy so I can begin signing up for classes. After busting out a lot of patience and a trace of political wrangling, I succeeded. A system isn't so bad once you start to discover the loopholes, and I felt sorry for the kids out of high school that stood in line and did everything they were told. I managed to skirt most of the really nasty traffic heading north, and noticed that I've started to feel like San Francisco is becoming more my home in recent days than Santa Rosa. I suppose it's mostly a result of my becoming extremely familiar with all the neighborhoods, driving around day after day looking at crappy apartments. At this point, I just want to get the move over with so I can find a job ASAP and kickstart my life.
German word of the day: Unsinn (m) - Nonsense
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Wednesday, 7-21-04. Perpetually sunny and warm.
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I decided not to sign the lease for the apartment on the hill. The neighborhood was just too sketchy, and I didn't see myself staying at the place for any length of time. I've since checked out a couple more places, but they turned out to be way worse. You'd be surprised what some people ask money for. I feel relieved now, but still not so positive.
When it came down to heading home, like many other things lately, it completely slipped my mind that I'd be heading back at the peak of rush hour. The majority of the drive was a stop-and-go torture fest, but after about 3 hours in absurd traffic I managed make it back in one piece. Later on I met Justin and his brother for a rousing game of Risk 2150... a good way to end the day.
German word of the day: Unruhig (f) - Uneasy
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Sunday, 7-18-04. Perpetually sunny and warm.
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Where was I all day yesterday? Sitting in a classroom listening to an elderly CHP officer reminisce and fend off idiotic questions from morons. That's right, 8 unshowered hours in one day starting at 8 am of windowless, mind-bending traffic school. At least now my recent speeding ticket won't officially go on my record, and I got to watch movies showing charred, human corpses! All hail rehabilitation-minded justice policies.
Mid-day in traffic school, I was positively overjoyed to find out that the apartment I applied for was given to someone else, even though I'd faxed her my application already and she'd offered it to me yesterday morning. Welcome to apartment hunting in a major city?
I checked out a new apartment today to help ease my frustration. It's not bad, up on a hill with a view, though the neighborhood is so-so. I'm going to apply for it tomorrow morning, as I haven't seen much better around the college area. After viewing it, I jetted down for dinner at Trader Vic's with the fam. Good food, stylish, and I highly recommend.
German word of the day: Gerechtigkeit (f) - Justice
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Friday, 7-16-04. Perpetually sunny and hot.
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I checked out an apartment this morning not far from the college. It's decent, though kind of hard to get into. It really needed to be cleaned, but I'm going to apply for it anyway, as it wasn't too shabby and was fairly spacious.
Following my recent power supply fun, it's been determined beyond question that my USB ports are fried. I plugged in a 2-port USB card that I had in storage, and it seems to be working nicely as a substitute. Dinner was consumed tonight at a great mom-and-pop burger joint down 4th street. I'd been meaning to go in the cafe for ages, and I hadn't had a burger in weeks. The experience was very homely, excellently old-fashioned, and quite memorable.
Care to learn about The Monty Hall Problem?
German word of the day: Mittelmäßig - Mediocre
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Wednesday, 7-14-04. Perpetually sunny and warm.
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This was the day from hell. I drove down to the city to try and make some progress toward getting enrolled at the city college, but instead I was sent all over campus to 4 wrong offices, only to finally find out I have to wait another week before clearing the next application-related hurdle. If that wasn't fun enough, I managed to side-swipe a '91 Cadillac DeVille at freeway speed while on my way to see an apartment that turned out to be a rat's nest. I was trying to exit the freeway and check out a neighborhood, when, after looking in my mirror and seeing no car, I changed lanes and smacked right into a lady that had pulled into my blind spot. If that wasn't bad enough, she refused to drive her car with her driver's side window broken out, so I had to call her English-challenged husband to come pick her up because she wouldn't drive 2 blocks with no window to the nearest phone. Her car (aside from the window) looked fine, though my truck now has 2 large dents and several nasty scrapes along the right side. Later on, I took MUNI with my folks over to a loud restaurant at the ferry building for dinner. It that helped my mood a bit... but really, no more days like this, please. Ever.
German word of the day: Scheif - Crooked, bent
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Thursday, 7-8-04. Perpetually sunny and warm.
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I drove down to check out the city college and visit the folks today. The neighborhood around the college seemed pretty interesting, though oddly quiet in places. When I arrived at the campus I was overwhelmed with some interesting vibes, as if I just knew that life would happen here, or was supposed to. The world feels like it's shifted a bit. It was a good trip.
It's not a land grab.. no, of course not. </blatant sarcasm>
German word of the day: Kokosnuß (f) - Coconut
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Friday, 7-2-04. Perpetually sunny and hot.
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Finally, the task of going through all my storage boxes is complete. After being extremely busy the rest of the week, I finally got around to the last 4 boxes a couple days ago, finding all sorts of interesting trinkets and toys from my childhood in the process (as well as some items that I'm not sure how they got packed in, as well). Some of these things included a large (broken) remote control car from middle school, my high school graduation cap and gown (which I debated throwing out, but didn't), the box of slightly mangled original GI Joe figures my grandparents kept from the 1960's, a ton of toys from my childhood, and a box I have dubbed The Time Capsule.
The Time Capsule was the last thing I went through, and it seemed to give up its treasures slowly, with floods of memories trailing. It was one of those boxes where the contents looked like they had been re-packed a couple times, with seemingly random things thrown in together with a trace of haste. They included a bunch of of my model train cars, engines, and scenery bits, the body of a small hand plane from the Eugene Planing Mill (a business which went under in the late 1980's), a handful of other small tools, and a bunch of train set cleaners that had gone past their shelf dates by a decade. A lot of this stuff sparked memories I'd completely put out of my mind. It was odd, like watching a life you know you lived, but as someone else. I also discovered that I'm apparently very allergic to mold, as, when going through this stuff over the last few days, I've kept finding myself horribly congested and with lingering sore throats. I thought maybe it was the local air, but then tonight I discovered the culprit: a single lincoln log at the bottom of The Time Capsule, covered in light green fuzz. After airing the spores out of my apartment, I feel fine.
Marlon Brando, RIP.
German word of the day: Mißbrauchen - To misuse
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