Currently,

I'm in New York now watching Wimbledon.. I'm here visiting my brother who is going back home at the end of the month. Missing SF but NY is beautiful. I've wanted to go to Boston but it hasnt worked out. Yet.

Before coming here, I moved out of my apartment. It was a physically exhausting and mentally draining couple of days. Always thank god for friends but especially more so when you are moving. Really. I said goodbye to my wonderful housemate who is also leaving for Brazil at the end of the month for two years. Also said goodbyes to three other friends who are wandering off chasing their destinies/livelihoods/education. Hopefully things go well for everybody.

July 1st, I move into a new apartment for a month's sublet. One of the roommates has a cat..

Twitterish : Blogs I read

I've added the blogs I regularly read on the sidebar. Thanks, WallpaperWalk!

Night Life

3 am - Mission Street is like I've never seen it. Well, I'm lying. I have seen it this way many times. I said that only for dramatic effect.

The Italian SeaFood place across the street is packed - It is the only place open. The ATMs still have a line. A lone Latino cyclist is biking on the sidewalk.. returning from work, no doubt. The Muni-14 passes by and the sparks from the overhead electric cables are bright and loud. I can hear a couple arguing on the street, but I cant see them. The woman sounds especially drunk. I walk by stores, restaurants and other businesses with their shutters down and lights out, like in India.

Douglas, my connection is waiting for me. He says I am late. I told him that I lost track of time watching a TV show. It was true - only on Hulu, though. I shrug my shoulders - he was going to be conducting his business till 7am anyways, you know. He shows me my stash. I am satisfied.

As I carry it out nervously past a security guard dressed as a cop, I bump my knee hard into the divider between the In and Out doors. I yelp and groan but he laughs. He says that hasnt happened to him yet even though he is old, his eyesight is not so good and he is there everyday.

Well he never was carrying six moving boxes out of the Safeway store, was he?

Peering ahead

The weekend is over. I miss it already. Sunday, I'd gone to WaterWorld in Concord with friends which was super fun. Saturday was a lot of activity - volleyball, Union Street Festival, dinner with an old friend at a bus stop (we were supposed to go to an aerial dance show but the tickets sold out), music performances in a backyard, and then a lot of dancing with Poppy folk.

But I feel tired even thinking about the week ahead. I have a lot of cleaning, packing and moving to do. It takes me back to my last few months in Grad school. As now, even then I was entering a period of high uncertainty and with no clear plan or resources in hand or mind. And hopefully things'll resolve themselves out similarly. Reminds me that I should call R, who was awesome and with whom I stayed a few of those months back then. As with memories, the things I associate that time with are Boca Burgers, The Twilight Zone, Life of Pi, New Age Music and volleyball.

I wonder what I'll remember these days by.

PS: From my brother's blog - "This page is my database of interesting things I find while browsing. Occasionally I write things on my own. I think this could become a valuable resource in the long run in my quest to become omniscient which will make me omnipotent and then... I will open a chicken farm.. chicken will lay eggs...which will become chicken again and lay more eggs.. I will open a factory to make bread also, so that I can make billions by selling bread-omellette.."

Ode to Furniture

So. I have to move out of my apartment by the 15th of this month. I feel a little stressed out about it, I think. Or maybe its the dozen other things that I have to deal with at the moment?

In any case, I''ve put my furniture up for sale. When I was moving to the City from the South Bay , I'd looked for a room big enough to hold my couch because I liked it so much. Luckily I found one which could hold my coffee table as well. The table is beautiful and has wooden flaps on the top which open out to form a nice big sit-down floor table which is perfect for cozy dinner parties or board game nights.

Yesterday, I sold it to a couple who'd just moved from Georgia a week back. They were totally excited about it and moved it into their car within five minutes of seeing it. It made me wonder if I had asked for too little. One of my friends then mentioned later that he could've used it and I felt the hurt. Giving it to a friend meant I could've got it back. How can I be so attached to some piece of furniture. Is it the memories associated with it? Or is it because I just lost a chunk of money and it'd been a bad investment? Or is it giving up hoping to move into an apartment for myself? Or is it just me being materialistic? I am not a good mover at all.

Tomorrow, somebody is coming to look at the couch. And I think it'll get sold. It feels like the end of something. I have no idea of what, though.

Revolution Cafe

"So I'll start a Revolution from my bed.." - Oasis

That sums up Revolution Cafe. I finally went there last week with two other friends. It is very laid back and it is so tiny that it forces people to share tables and sit outside, which I like. And I also ran into another friend there. The coffee was also good. I guess it is the same coffee/beer/wine selection from Socha and that cant be a bad thing.

I've still not given up on spending a night at one of the Youth hostels in Northern California.
The Redwood National Park has no vacancy this weekend. And I want to go there so so much. I wonder if it is nostalgia from a great trip or if it is truly as spectacular as I remember it to be. Should I try going to Point Reyes or Point Montara like I'd planned for last weekend?

In other things, I am very tempted to give up trying and enjoy June as much as I can. Would that be escapist? And also would that put me on a collision course with Regret in the future?

Balmy Alley

It is Memorial Day and a severely underwhelming weekend is coming to an end. I am bummed about it because none of my plans came to fruition and I have nobody else to blame but me. Oh well, hopefully I have better days to make up for days gone by.
But one good thing that I will remember from it, apart from the really awesome Terminator-Salvation, is my visit to Balmy Alley. The Mission apart from being famous for taquerias, dive bars, cool cafes and hipsters is also very well known for - murals. And Balmy Alley is one place to find a good collection of really top-notch murals in a very small area. It is like walking through an open-air permanent art gallery.

I've posted a link to other pictures that I took with my handy but definitely inadequate iPhone camera.


Balmy Alley - Mission District, San Francisco

If you are in the area and want a mural tour, hit me up.