San Francisco Chronicals
People have been asking me if I plan on moving to San Francisco any time soon. I thought long and hard about this- running check lists through my head as I wandered around. I definitely love that it's close to the great outdoors. New Yorkers get excited about taking a mini vacation to Coney Island or Central Park for some fresh air. Whereas the air in San Francisco is always fresh and the lack of foot traffic prevents you from having that viceral reaction of wanting to leave the city every once in a while. Not to mention a short and cheap ferry ride can get you to Sausolito- a quiet resort town on the water, devoid of activites that don't involve walking or eating... slowly.
BUT for me, when it comes down to it, New York is the best place for my industry. The hills in San Francisco exaust me and stiffle my sense of adventure since I'm thinking of my next destination in terms of level of difficulty. I came during a lucky, but very uncharacteristic patch of five day sun whereas their weather is usually more like what New York is experiencing right now.
My trip did make a lasting impression on me. I'm almost positive that despite loving my neighborhood, I will not be able to stand living in a shoebox much longer. I'm going to start looking to move to a quieter area by June 1st. I had an amazing time with my WCS and a few others we dined with along that way that I've managed to keep in touch with. Laughed harder than I have in months. Had some fantastic food everynight for Italian to Tapas. Yum. And was inspired by San Francisco colorful design at the MOMA and from the stores of Castro. Had moments where the beauty of the city literally took my breath away. And concluded the whole trip with a slightly miserable red-eye flight where I landed in cold, rainy New York and couldn't help but to laugh. Life is good.
Apartments and Cha cha cha Changes
I'm definitely enjoying my stay in San Francisco. It's been so relaxing to walk around alone and explore, then meet up with my friend for dinner and drinks. Plus it's nice to wake up to sunlight! Even with the shades drawn closed, we get more light pleasantly waking us up in the morning, than in my apartment. I guess it's for the best since people start their work days here at 8am. Yikes! I've been contemplating moving here just because if I'm going to live somewhere else for a time, now is it. I'm single. Have no babies. Have tons of friends in New York and my family is there but I can always keep in touch with them.
I think my sub-conscious freaked out about all my thoughts about change. I had a bad dream this morning that involved people changing our office around completely while I was away. They moved my desk to uncover a family of kittens. Looked up kittens and it said something about an independent, playful spirit. Hmm. Anyway, I was sort of freaked out about it all. Then I went to tell this couple about the situation, blah blah blah, and woke up to see my friend (who was in my dream) texted me. Weird.
That's all for now mainly cause I need to get my butt out the door and continue exploring. My friend's apartment is beautiful. She has tons of space and only pays slightly more than I do even though she has a studio. Perhaps if I don't move to San Francisco, I'll at least finally move to Brooklyn where I'll have more space. Cha cha cha changes.
First Day in San Francisco
I totally could have woken up at 7:30 and taken advantage of my body being on East Coast time, but true to lazy form, I set my alarm for 9:20. And here I am. Debating what to do with myself. I've been here a few times and feel no pressure to do touristy things although I haven't done much of that the previous times here. So far my ass hurts from the hills. What was supposed to be a nice stroll home after pancakes and hot chocolate turned into a - I think I'm going to hurl my pancakes and hot chocolate. At least there's no worry of me getting out of shape here. Um okay. Boring myself.
What you really want to hear.. I saw a man that had a dog on a leash. On the dog sat a cat. On the cat sat a rat. And looking at this dog with a cat with a rat, was one slightly jaded New Yorker who thought she's seen it all. She hasn't.
P.S. You can follow me on Twitter. MissMolls of course. Feel free to email me with ideas on what I should do while in San Fran!
Happy Trails!
I'm sitting in the airport. Perfect timing. No running or stressing involved and I opted to take the $15 bus from Grand Central instead of a cab. Okay. So this is old news but if I'm going to complain about one extreme injustice regarding air travel it's the ridiculous cost of bottled water. Hello!!? So security makes us throw away our water bottles. A water bottle that I happened to have bought for 86 cents at the deli across my street. And because I get freaked out about water on the plane and generally always have to carry a water bottle, I bought one near the gate. It was $3!! Come on people!! If you're going to prevent us from bringing it, at least regulate the excessive food prices!
And in other news, I wore way too much magenta. It sort of happened without me realizing it. I knew that carrying around a purple suitcase meant I ran a certain risk. And the magenta backpack can always be a little embarrassing. But I forgot about my purple scarf, purple pants that I picked for comfort and bright pink purse. Oy vey.
P.S. I'm taking Virgin America. I feel like I've mentioned that before. I already get the sense that it's like a single airplane. Hmm. What a concept. I have a good feeling about this. At the risk of being made fun of, I'm going to say that yes, I've already noticed about 4 rather attractive guys who will be on my flight and I haven't even made the effort to look around. Hmm. Hopefully one of them will have a fondness for purple.
More Strange Coincidences
As much as I love New York, I think it's time to move. The city is getting too small for me or perhaps I should move out of my hood. I just ran into the male model that I met on Friday night while coming back from the gym, sweaty and wearing shorts and sneakers. Glamorous. AND my friend's husband who I ran into on Saturday morning. If I run into anyone I know while in San Francisco, especially from my college, then perhaps I will seek out someone who can explain the phenomenon.
P.S. I'm excited about my trip! Excited to see my West Coast sister and also just to travel. Honestly, I love being in airports alone. Going with other people always involves making sure you don't lose them and balancing holding a conversation while being mindful of those around you. Last time I traveled alone was to Utah in October 05. It's about time. Phew! Time to pack!
Twilight Hangover
I finished the 4th and final book of the Twilight series about 3 hours ago and sort of feel hung over from the book. I'm already missing the world of friendly vampires. This is a very annoying feeling that I knew would happen. It could be why I stray away from fiction that's not based on something that can really happen. Like the feeling I'm sure we all had when we read the final Harry Potter book. Happy that we can re-enter the world of the living, so to say, but sad that we don't live in this world of mystery. And then over the last few days, I've gotten off track with reality. For the millionth time, my interest in the supernatural is renewed. Desire to study history instead of photography. Or become a treasure hunter. Yay, this is a whole other side of me that gets unleashed. The part that buys books on ESP, secrets of the Vatican, etc. and enjoys books like the DaVinci Code, Rule of Four, Historian, etc. Searching for antiques, mysterious family heirlooms in my basement that I'm hoping exist and a strong desire to marry someone who has a unique family history. And the sudden, intense desire to research my family history. All thoughts definitely NOT rooted in reality. Although I must say, I do have a strong feeling that there's always been something in my parent's house that I have yet to discover. Like evidence that my grandfather had an affair among the hundreds of slides, movies and his travel journal that I haven't read yet. Or other strange objects hidden in that attic that we missed like the 100 year old lantern I found in fourth grade. Or some evidence that I am, in fact, related to Napoleon. All likely mysteries yet to be solved..
From a scientific perspective, just because we haven't discovered something- it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. There is more evidence of ghosts and UFOs that Jesus..
Weird Coincidences
Friday night I saw the Nightrats at the National Underground. Don't ask me to describe their sound cause I can't. Okay, they're mellow, have a ukulele... anyway, there was a guy right smack in front of my view with a Hawaiian t-shirt and longish hair. Blah blah blah, we to the Submercer afterward with their Norwegian model/ photographer friend. Occupation significant because he happened to have met the Norwegian model turned photographer girl from fashion week THAT night. We found our way through the unmarked doors, through the cold wine cave passage way, and into the bar. I caved and had a glass of red wine despite being three days away from my no booze rule. I say three days because it was after midnight (I believe). Besides, when I made the bet with myself, I included red wine. (Don't ask). We took a quick tour of the bar, and as with any of my nights on the town, I ran into someone I went to college with. Yeah, I can't make this shit up. He was an art major, like me. And still working in the art world. Yay! Also met his friend Katie who went to Skidmore for a semester but transferred out. We had a very long conversation about how small New York is. Like disturbingly small, with many examples that freaked us out.
Sin number two. Had pizza. It was good. We walked home and I stopped off at Solas. The minute I entered the bar, some young college guys tugged at the hair coming out of my hair clip. Wow. Hit on in less than 5 seconds. This is so much less entertaining when sober. I quickly realized that the bar is way too young for me. Okay, so I knew that beforehand. And the music didn't have the same type of pull as it usually does. I skipped saying hi to my bartender and headed straight home. As I fought the 1:30 am throngs of people, I realized again that I was way too old to be living on that street!
Fast forward 2 hours of Twilight reading and a restful night. Saturday afternoon I headed straight for Abraco. Despite knowing that I tend to run into people, I thought.. what the hey. Just this once I'm going to rock the geek specs, unflattering and old Forever 21 jeans and purple, 5 year old corduroy blazer. I stood in line and saw the shaggy haired, Hawaiian shirt guy. Huh!!?? What are the chances??! Post amazingly good but weird sandwich later, I decide to throw out my garbage on 1st avenue despite it being out of the way. And who do I see but none other than my friend and her husband, who I saw last night. I take comfort in that my other friend finally recognized how strange it is that I do run into everyone I know. Like I'm drawn to them. They "weren't supposed to be there," living in Queens and all. And I didn't need to throw shit out on first avenue.
Steadying My Heartbeat
I'm at my parent's house in NJ. I took the day off to do a photo shoot with my sister for my final photography assignment. It was everything I hoped for and more. Sort of. My flash with an extension cord experiment didn't work. I'll have to figure out what part of my hundreds of dollars of equipment didn't work and what I'll need to return.
I came home yesterday to find Cheetos in the cabinet. Really??! I yelled at my parents that it was like dangling some heroin in front of a recovering addict. After grabbing a handful, I insisted that my father hide it from me, well. Tonight I decided that I might as well have one last handful since I was going back into the city tomorrow. I quietly went to search for it in the pantry near the basement. And all of a sudden heard a massive growl, causing me to literally scream out loud and come way to close to peeing in my pants. Thanks dad! Holy crap. No Cheetos for me. Shiver.. I'll go back to reading the third installment of Twilight, thank you very much!
Some More Inspiration
I found this link on my friend's flickr page. Sounds cheesy but my heart slightly skipped a beat. Jacob Pritchard's portraits have an impact. Bam! Here's the link. Any idea what he shoots with? The colors are so beautifully vibrant. And here's a project he's working on - Pictures in Bed.
P.S. I think my left arm has finally recovered. This morning I carried a backpack with camera, flash and other lighting equipment, in addition to a long, bag filled with lighting stands. And my purse and coffee, of course. I need to move to Brooklyn and get a car. Oy vey.
One of Each
One of the downsides of having an amazing visual memory is that awkward moment when you recognize someone and they don't recognize you. Should you say hello anyway just in case? Well, I did. And it was awkward. And the fiance of my number one reader I might add.
True to form, I also saw a minor celeb during my lunch break. Brooke Shield's husband on "Lipstick Jungle." Is that show still on?
Happy Monday!
I've been too busy reading the second installment of Twilight to really catch up on my blog. Also felt like I had a serious carb hang over all weekend. That was a kick in the pants to really curb my carbs. No fun having a hang over of any sort when I haven't been drinking! So out of laziness, I'm posting another picture from last weekend's workshop. Eesh, I still haven't worked on all the pictures!
Seriously?
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqZmCOdn30U&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1&w=425&h=344]
Overheard in New York
I overheard this while on my lunch break, walking near Irving. Dad presumably was picking his kids up from school.
DAD: Do you want some booty? Booty booty booty?
KIDS: Yay.
I'm assuming he meant Pirate Booty since we were near a health food store. But uh, still.
And
Boo. It's totally making me want a boyfriend. Despite everyone thinking I have lesbian tendencies (I know, weird right?), I can relate to Bella's strong attraction towards Edward's perfectly chiseled physique. Wow. Did I just write that? Yeah. So like I said, I can relate. That burning desire to have someone who is "forbidden" holding you with their strong arms. Wait. Um. Just kidding. I totally said I was going to focus on just photography and not my dating life. Or lack of.
Quick Updates
Carl was in good mood Monday for spin. I'm guessing it was because I was there! :) I nearly didn't get a bike. It was by pure luck that someone gave up their spot cause they didn't have spin sneakers. Crunch closed another gym which is going to make my two gym locals even more crowded. Grrr.
Tuesday was pretty crazy because of St. Patty's day. 30 seconds after leaving my office last night, a drunkish guy pointed at me and declared "I like you!" Flattering, yes. Then when I was closer to my photo class near the Port Authority, I saw three guys walking arm in arm. The middle guy was being held up by his friends and had a bloody mouth. In the chaos, I overheard his friend say "You'll be okay man." YIKES. My dad will be happy to know that I took a cab home.