Tuesday

March 18, 2008

SanFrancisco didn’t provide me with any green beer either. Lame. My flight was long and boring but no one sat next to me and I wiggled and twisted and got a little bit of sleep. I got myself all the way into the city. At that point I really began to appreciate all the modes of transportation I had utilized that day: car, train, my feet, the CTA, airplanes, BART… and I was feeling good that I could do it all by myself, like I child realizing she has just ridden her bicycle the whole length of the driveway. The training wheels and dad’s steady hands suddenly gone, and she made it all by herself.

Tim’s apartment smells like new carpet. It is small and desiring a little character, but that is to be worked on this week. I was comfortable last nite sleeping on the floor next to a heating vent that kept me warm. My body was tired and a little sore as we climbed hills late last nite, doing our best to join in with the St. Patrick’s Day revelers. I looked around me at the bright green hats and shirts, the clovers and the beer, the drunken masses and the hasty choices; I wondered aloud who St. Patrick was and why we celebrate him this way.

Today I was in charge of supervising the moving men. I told them where to put things and unpacked boxes of things I had never seen before. I put lamps together and things in cupboards and signed my name on lots of lots of papers.

I discovered an Asian grocery just next door and picked up some coffee, rice noodles, and tofu. The things were cheaper than even A-dong, which I frequent in Grand Rapids. I made myself lunch at home. When the moving men were finally gone I went off adventuring. I went to stores we don’t have at home, like H&M and Urban Outfitters. I went to the Yerba Buena gardens and lay in the sun in the green grass under a blossoming tree. I saw an art exhibit. I stopped in lots of art galleries and bought some new Levi’s. Apparently SanFrancisco is where ‘ole Levi got started, so I figured it only appropriate I get in on that. I picked up a local scene magazine and found that Bon Iver is playing a show here on Sunday nite. I must go. The next nite we’re going to see Tokyo Police Club at the same place.