At Madrone Art Bar on Divisadero. Dropped by here to grab a couple drinks, and day turned to night, the bar turned into a dance club… and so… and so we became the freaky people who dance with their dog at the bar. Yup.
At Madrone Art Bar on Divisadero. Dropped by here to grab a couple drinks, and day turned to night, the bar turned into a dance club… and so… and so we became the freaky people who dance with their dog at the bar. Yup.
It’s happened again. Time to search for another housemate. I always get really excited and anxious when this happens because I LOVE CHANGE. I love the drama and the feeling of possibility. I would change my wardrobe, job, family, house, everything over and over again if only there weren’t so many damn hurt feelings and uh… if it didn’t cost so much. Changing roommates is a way of shaking things up that doesn’t totally upend my life.
I’ve been on both sides of filling a vacant room in San Francisco, and either way it’s a competitive jungle.When I was searching for places during my first year or two in SF I had to send out scores of emails, ran all over town every day to interview, and oftentimes my interview turned out to be an open house where I was trying to stand out amongst 15+ people. It ain’t pretty, and while having a room to fill is less stressful, it’s still a lot of work. In our first 24 hours of posting our available room we’ve received 50+ responses. That’s a lot of people to sift through.
I think that over the last four years (5 apartments, 15+ roommates) I’ve gained a sense of what will or won’t work as far as putting up ads and answering ads. Here’s a few tips for the apartment SEEKERS.
When answering an ad for housing...
DO:
DON’T
I could think of a ton more, but these are the things that irked me most in this round of house interviews. Add your own pointers in the comments if you have any extra tips.
Critical Mass is a gigantic group bicycle ride that happens once a month, in 300+ cities worldwide. I’d seen the Mass in New Haven, but it’s nothing compared to San Francisco. It figures-this is where it was founded in 1992- going on 20 years.
Last month my coworker invited me to ride along, and I had a great time. At first I was nervous about it, as a friend of a friend was injured riding in CM years ago. Also, as a bystander, just watching the Mass go by is nerve wracking! And Critical Mass riders have a bit of a reputation for being “Massholes.” All of these fears vanished once the ride began (er except for the Masshole part… keep reading…)
I decided that I had so much fun last time that I should go back again this month, this time with Ryan. By mid day of the ride my friend Tristan decided to join, and by 5pm, Astor was coming!
Everybody met up by the Ferry building and lounged around to techno music while the the Nestle Quik Rabbit did a little dance. Tourists were excited.
Time passed, more people showed up. Oh, I should mention that there were a number of naked riders (“Critical Ass”). I’ve tried not to include any photos of them, so photos are limited… hehehe
Soon it was time to go. Astor got set up in her milk crate and net…
And we were off! We went all over the place- downtown, SOMA, the Mission (the above picture is near my house), Chinatown, Civic Center… It was a hot mess. There were bikes that blew bubbles, bikes that played music, and bikes with dogs in them. Police on motorcycles escorted us. We biked through tunnels screaming and laughing. Some people drank. I kept getting dangerously close to naked riders. It was surreal. Through it all, Astor just chilled out. Amazing.
Around 30 minutes into the ride the Critical Mass people decided to be assholes and block traffic at Mission and Van Ness. Yikes.
Then we took off again.
Around Civic Center the Mass took another break. Astor was getting ansty, so we decided to stop off and do dinner instead.
Fun times, and I’m so proud of Astor for being an instant bicycle dog!
I finally uploaded a ton of photos onto my computer. Here are a few highlights from the last few weeks:
Weekend #1: Kentucky Derby Party
Ryan’s friend Doug threw a wonderful party for the famous horse race. Who can turn down the chance to gamble, drink mint juleps, eat kentucky fried chicken, and wear a big hat?
This being Noe Valley, Doug had a backyard-and it was so green and beautiful (for about an hour).
Astor was so happy.
Then my hat blew off! But Ryan got it…
And now a game of horseshoes…
I played a round. It was actually really tricky.
A trip to Berkeley to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Berkeley Science Review...
There was free beer, but that isn’t normally enough to get me to go anywhere. It was just nice to get out of the city and support our friends, who are all “famous scientists.”
Look at this here science!
After all that science excitement you might say I got a little “Pepe LePew.”
Weekend #2: Of Montreal at the Fillmore, Man Man at Bimbo’s, Bay to Breakers
Really a blowout weekend… Unfortunately my Of Montreal/Man Man pics were miserable. Trust me that they were wonderful shows. Go and see them sometime!
Here’s a few pics from the ING “Bay to Breakers” race. It’ s a race that starts downtown in SF, cuts across the city, and then finishes at the ocean. There are actual runners in the race, but the event is more famous for being an excuse to wear a costume and drink heavily while walking/watching the race. It’s very “San Francisco.”
The scene from Alamo Square. 8:30 am (There is intense dance music playing in the background)
There were so many naked people running it wasn’t even funny. Also a lot of Marios. And Osamas.
Gnomes.
Ground level debauchery.
While I ate breakfast and watched the crowds go by, I was torn between regret that I wasn’t running the race in costume, and a desire to get the hell out of there. It was a HOT MESS. Who knows, maybe next year? It’s only 7 miles-ish.
Well the San Francisco Opera is officially with it- They’ve launched a blog for a behind-the-scenes look at the making and performance of Wagner’s The Ring. It’s updated fairly frequently, which is awesome. Daily opera updates!!! Even more wonderful is that the updates come from cast and crew. Each blog post comes with the author’s official headshot, which is a nice touch. Classy. So far the posts seem to range from character inspiration to opera stage fright. I really cannot wait until they start the Ring cycle. The performers are going to be going through so much during that time! Looking forward to reading some juicy bits… 🙂
And how did I find out about this blog? No, I’m not stalking the opera website. I follow SF Opera on Twitter. You should follow them to, if you are on Twitter. Sometimes they tweet out discount codes!