San Francisco - The First Week
I hit the city running. As soon as Aunt and I rolled up to the house and we’d barely finished unpacking the car when I bid Aunt a good day and stepped on out to the climbing gym to meet up with friends. After three days of driving and hotels with me, I’m sure Aunt was all for having some self-time.
After some last minute advice and directions from my aunt, I trekked out to the corner of Pacific and Leavenworth to catch the #12 bus towards Van Ness. My first SF bus adventure!
I boarded a crowded #49 and found standing-room only. I peered around in awe as the bus rumbled its way down the wide street, the stores and restaurants tumbling past the windows in a blur of color, signs and shapes.
The neighborhood became increasingly more diverse, grittier and dirtier when the bus passed Market Street and headed into the Mission District. I hopped off at 19th and walked a few blocks over to the climbing gym and stood there for a moment, taking in the familiar smell of chalk, sweat and plastic.
I had not climbed since that day I broke my foot. My mind had been on the recovery, learning how to walk again, and now that I was starting to walk almost normally, the urge to climb started to push up in my head.
It’s a powerful urge. I’ve picked up, tried many hobbies and forms of recreation over the years, but I never really stuck with any of them. Except for climbing. I tried climbing for the first time over fifteen years ago and I’ve never stopped climbing since then.
That day, I didn’t climb. I just hung out with Gabe and met some new friends there. I decided that the next time I returned to the gym, I’d start climbing again. That would turn out to be only two days later.
And man, I tell you… its GOOD to climb again. The rough texture of plastic under the finger. The precise play of balance, power and fitness. The strain of muscles and tendons and bone. I look forward to many more days of climbing ahead of me.
A friend came in town later the week. We got together for dinner at a small hole-in-the wall sushi place over in the Richmond neighborhood. With barely seating for nine people, we all had to show up a good half-hour before they opened to stand in line. There were four people ahead of us already when we walked up to the spot.
But we were soon seated at the sushi bar and we began to relax, drinking back the sake and munching down on the delicious, yet delicately cooked vegetables that the owner’s wife cooked up for us. We laughed and joked while the owner carved huge chunks of freshly caught fish and served them to us. They were easily the largest, tenderest and tasty pieces of nigri we’d ever eaten.
Then we headed out to the bars in Mission District. Beers and double shots of Grey Goose were aplenty. I lost track of all the new people I met, but it seemed to me that every new person I met was a geninue, down-to-earth citizen of this earth. There was none of the airs and attitudes of the East Coast to be found here in the City.
Its all about “be who you are”. Be the real, geninue article and people here will respect you for it. Whatever you like. Whomever you like. However you like it. Nobody here to impress except yourself.
Not quite a suprise that San Francisco remains one of the most progressive-minded cities in the nation and that is becoming clearly apparent as the days go by here.
The next morning, we headed out on a little road trip out to Santa Cruz. I brought along my camera. I even took pictures, but when I was reviewing them, I hated them all, so I wont even bother you with the pictures.
We did pig out on some excellent mexican take out, then fish tacos at some little joint up the PCH, and explored the beaches. Just a good mindless day of doing nothing more than wander around.
Oh, I sunburned my face too.
Sometime last year, when I was talking with a good friend of mine, he suggested I read Jack Kerouac’s On The Road and so when I embarked on my road trip this year, I started reading the book too. I at first found the whole idea of going back and forth between New York and San Francisco several times to be outlandish. Don’t you just want to head to your destination? A purpose and goal in mind?
But then I found myself doing the same thing. I drove back to Minneapolis. Sure enough, I could have probably flew out to MSP from SFO, but I wanted to drive. It’s actually fun to drive. Then I drove back to SF with Aunt. And now I’m thinking about another road trip later this year, even if gas tops $5 a gallon.
The road trips are just one part of the experience. The transition between one place to another. People don’t just disappear at point A and show up at point B. There’s a whole context, a whole background that unrolls between A and B. Or you might be heading to B, and find yourself at C.
I went looking for a bike. I had my heart set on a lovely red-white C’dale Capo. I put the money down on it and all that. Today I got a email from the shop guy saying that they were possibly sold out for this year. They’re looking around, they hope to find one at a different dealer, and I might still get it. I’ll be a little sad if I dont get the Capo, but life just goes around and around. Ain’t no getting off this ride until you’re good and ready to.
Its funny, I had this idea of what life would be like in SF before I got here. And its actually turned out to be nothing like what I had in mind. All those carefully envisioned scenarios and what might happen and who I might meet up with, who I might hang out with, actually have turned out to be completely different.
No complaint here though. It’s been a fantastic first week.
A friend told me over IM the other day, ‘you’re really living out the whole “Tales of the City” thing‘. Here’s yet another book analogy for my life. But instead of living with my long lost mother, I’m living with Aunt, who I only met mabye twice in the first 33 years of my life. And now in the last week I’ve interacted with her and her friends more than any other aunt I have, (Mary: you’ll probably read this, and I mean this in a different context than what we share - which by itself is irreplaceable 
).
I have much more to share. But I also have a lot of other things to finish tonight, so I’ll save it for another post. Good night everyone!
San Francisco!
Well, I’m finally… in San Francisco.
For years, I’d wanted to move out to San Francisco. But stuff just kept coming up. New opportunities in DC kept presenting themselves, and I stayed… and stayed.. and stayed.
The one day last year in the spring, I said to myself - I’ll never leave DC if I don’t make a firm plan to get out of here. I privately decided that I would move in the Fall of 2007.
I first let slip of my plans in this blog post. Things were a-go for the fall, and the wheels were turning.
As my days in DC drew to an end, and I was furiously packing up and wrapping up all those loose ends, I made a decision that would delay, yet AGAIN my arrival in San Francisco.
I decided to go to Bishop first. It was just supposed to be two, three months, then I’d continue on my way to San Francisco and make my place here.
But I nearly stayed in Bishop. I fell in love with the little town. The amazing climbing. The beautiful weather and mountains. I started thinking about mabye just putting down roots in Bishop for a year, mabye more.
The fates thought otherwise. They acted that late St. Patrick’s day afternoon - and I fell off a rock. The resulting weeks, confined to my chair at my small cottage in Bishop brought clarity to my original dream of moving out to this city. It was not meant for me to stay in Bishop. It was time to move on.
But I had to go home first, so back to Minneapolis I went. My brother got married. Then I was back on the road with my aunt, racing towards San Francisco.
And I’m finally here! I arrived Monday. I’ve been spending the last few days getting settled in and joining up with old friends, and making new friends.
I hope to share with all of you more of what’s to come!
Disco is so 2006
Brian from Climbingnarc.com had been digging around his old pictures when he found this picture of me taking a stab at Disco Diva (V8) back in 2006. Since I’m usually the one with the camera, there’s usually not a lot of pictures of me climbing.
This was about as far up as I got that day. I couldn’t get past that little crimpy pull. I finally sent this problem in February.
Packing it up… again
My life the last year has been one big series of packing and unpacking. I packed up and left DC. I unpacked at my brother’s place in MN. I packed up the car and left MN. I packed/unpacked lots of little times at various stops along the way on my 10 day road trip. I rolled into Bishop that morning and the next day, found myself unpacking in my new rental cottage.
Four months later, I’m packing up the cottage and leaving Bishop. Unpacking again at my brother’s place. Now six weeks later, I’m packing up again for my move to SF.
I love traveling. I love seeing new sights. I wouldn’t trade this amazing experience for anything, but I hate packing/unpacking.
Sigh. Back to packing.
Winding down the Minnesota Party
Slight change in plans. Instead of me taking my epic road trip through the northwestern states and swinging south via the PCH, that I mentioned earlier in this blog, I’ll be most likely taking a straight shot to SF with my aunt, Trish in her Hertz rental.
I’m gonna settle down a bit in SF. Get an idea of the surroundings, what I’ll be doing and what’s in store for me. Then after a couple months or whatever, I’ll fly back to MN, pick up my truck and resume that road trip I mentioned.
A lot of it has to do with whether I decide to return to Bishop in the fall or not. I still think about Bishop often. I miss hanging out in my little cottage, watching the clouds drift over the mountains, being out at the Buttermilks and the sharp bite of the granite on my fingertips.
So who knows what the future will bring me?
Michael
I was contacted by this guy in music school who wanted some “cover shots” to use when he moved out to Nashville to launch his country music career. I thought it’d be a interesting change from the usual shots I do, so I agreed to meet up with him. Here are the ones I liked best out of the shoot…
Sean & Sarah’s Wedding
My brother got married on Sunday, and it was a fantastic time to be together with family and friends. I’ve went to many weddings and photographed many weddings, but I never felt quite an sense of connection like I did on this wedding, because well, duh.. its my brother getting married.
I didn’t take as many photos as I normally would have and I haven’t finished going through all of the pictures, but here are a few…
Weekly Omnibus Post
The road to recovery continues. My crutches which have been constant, necessary companions for the last ten weeks have begun to be left behind more often, for longer periods of time, as I slowly walk-lurch around under my own power.
At the coffee shop this morning, I set up at a table, walked over to the cashier to get my coffee and muffin, and about halfway there, I realized I’d left my crutch back at the table. For a brief second, I thought about turning back to get it, then I thought it was ridiculous to go back. I’d gotten this far. I could forge ahead.
I got my muffin and coffee. I basked in the moment, marveling at the feeling of being able to hold things in both hands and still be able to move around.
For ten weeks, I’d labored under the reality that any kind of action requiring the transport of items from one location to another (which happens a LOT in daily life, if you think about it), for me, it always had to be something I could hold in one hand, leaving the other hand free to help with moving around.
And now here I was. Holding a muffin in one hand, coffee mug in the other, and making my way back to my table. If this were a movie about my life, I’d probably have burst into tears of joy. But since this wasn’t a movie, and I was in a very public coffee shop, I settled for a little smile.
My brother’s getting married tomorrow. I’m rather excited about it. He’s got a fabulous woman that’s going to be his wife. I’m really happy for both of them. All my life I’ve always wanted nothing but the best for my brother, and I’m thrilled that this is happening for him and his wife. I’ll have pictures to share of course.
Last week I went to this art showing by a old friend of mine. We used to work together at Penn Cycle when we were really young. We’d fallen out of touch the last couple years, and just by luck, I happened to stumble across some of his artwork when they were showing at a local coffee shop. I also bought a print.
The last time I was home in Minneapolis was during the dead of winter. I wasn’t too happy here. It was just too cold and snowy. Now that I’m here during the summer, i’m really enjoying the city a lot more. I always thought that Minneapolis was the perfect city for me, only if the winters weren’t so harsh.
I’ve been thinking a lot about SF lately. it seems so long ago that I made the decision to move to SF, over a year ago. And my life has taken so many twists and turns. Things come up, events occur, and detours have happened. But I think its safe to say that within a few weeks, I’ll finally be in SF.
Well, I have pictures to edit. So I should get busy. Talk to you all later!
Friday Funday
Know how you can just end up, not just double-booked, but triple booked in a night? I was hopping from location to location all night long, but ended up at the Townhouse for Dragged Out, a monthly drag venue.
But of course, we need a drink to start the night off properly.
(a whole lot more pictures if you click through.. WARNING.. some might not be entirely safe for work)
The Hits Don’t Stop Coming, Honey
Well, while I was hanging out with a friend last night, I got clipped (by accident, I should say) in the eyebrow. I didn’t think too much about it, but this morning I woke up to a real surprise in the bathroom mirror!
All I’d need to do is put on some eye shadow on the other eye and I’d be all ready for Moulin Rouge!
