Bay 2 Breakers & the Eclipse

So obviously it's been a while since I last wrote.. Most of you know the main things that have happened in my life since my last posts so instead of this being a summary post of everything that's happened in the last year I'm going to jump in and give an update on what happened last weekend in the city.

Any excuse for craziness and day drinking is insanely popular in the city. Proof: Bay to Breakers, a 12k (just over 7mi) race that goes from one end of the city to the other.  It was started in the early 1900s as a way to get people in a good mood after their city was pretty much leveled during the 1906 earthquake.  Wiki article Since then it's been an integral part of the city's charm and has evolved from a race to a crazy party in the streets with some serious racers and thousands of people in costumes (or nothing at all) dancing and partying their way through the city.

I went this year with Bdawg and some friends.  Great fun.. We started about halfway through the course and walked until Ocean Beach in time to enjoy some freaking cold wind and a ton of sand blowing around, and then watched the solar eclipse.  Enjoy the pictures!

Rooftop party:

 

Black Swans

 

Me last year with a nudie.  Our outfits match!

 

Limbo in the streets

Married? Don't know if it was for real or not but they exchanged rings..

Facebook & Twitter:

Hanging out on the beach:

SF love story:

Street fighter!!

Herd of cows:

Nudie!! Note how no one around him is acting like this is anything out of the ordinary:

Centaur/cow man.  I say cow because you could "milk" him to get vodka. No joke--you can't make this stuff up if you tried.

 

Bdawg & I waiting for the Eclipse. You can see it's already started--the moon is moving from the right side to the left side of the sun and the sun is an oval instead of round.

Iron Man!

B2B is popular with people of all ages.

So you can see just how massive this thing is...

You can see the solar eclipse in the light passing through my friend's sombrero!

Warning: Not life size.

Another picture to show you just how massive this event is:

He loves me so much.

????  My best guess: Crazy tiger shaman...with sunglasses?

Picture my friend took of the eclipse through one of those sunglasses especially for the eclipse.  At its fullest point, it was 84% covered by the moon or something like that.

Party bus! It didn't drive anywhere but people were partying on it and the driver was DJing.

Example of a group costume:

Angry robot yelling at Siri:

So there you have it. Quite a few pictures of B2B craziness that still don't do it justice. There is nothing like seeing a group of people dressed as giant Legos passed out on the grass, using their Lego costumes (painted cardboard boxes) to shield themselves from the sun.

Next time I'll introduce everyone to the How Weird festival that took place 2 weeks ago :)  Now it's time to get ready for dinner--Fondue time with Bdawg and friends in the city!

Apartment Hunting Round 2

So actually it is more like round 1000... But it is blog post 2.

I went back out into the scary world of Craigslist, taking my chances and trusting in the underlying good nature of human beings.  Found a couple good prospects.  Here is the basic situation:

A) I can pay $200 more and sign a 1year lease for a fairly sweet apartment in the neighborhood I'm currently living in.  Washer and dryer in building, decent parking, quiet neighborhood but 2 blocks away from a ton of bars in the super-safe Castro district, also super close to public transportation and within walking distance from my beloved Safeway grocery store.  2 bedroom, 1 bath, kitchenette with disposal and dishwasher, a decent amount of cupboard space.  Lots of windows (love that part), carpet throughout (actually I don't like that part), TONS of closet space.  Also it has a gas fireplace. See the pics below:

Not too bad for the price.  I would have to provide all the furniture, obviously.  A downside to moving in to a fresh apartment.. But also with the upside of decorating it exactly the way I want to.  It would feel like home, not just like I was staying in a hotel for an extended period of time.

I would be rooming with a really sweet-seeming girl named Sophia. Just met her today but I got a really good feeling about her.. Then again I could be a bad judge of character.  You never know.  But we got along really really well...So cross your fingers.

The other option is this:

B) Sublet a room for about 4 months in Cole Valley, a quaint, more upscale suburb with lots of little cafes and organic grocers.  The room is gorgeous but small, in a quiet house.  The owner is in her upper 40s, very neat (a plus for me). She mostly keeps to herself, working from home, but was really nice.  We bonded over Jack Russells.  Her current dog is a Fox Terrier (very close to Jack Russells) and I mentioned that I used to own one...I looked up and her eyes were tearing up.  Apparently her very dear Jack had just passed away a couple months ago.  I felt bad for bringing it up but it was good to have something to bond over.  Anyway the main reason for wanting this room is... cheap!  Only $750 a month (I know that sounds ridiculous to whoever is reading this back in SC.."$750 for ONE BEDROOM without a closet??") Yes people.. I am currently paying $850 for my closetless room right now.  Not including utilities.  So a flat $750 in such a nice neighborhood is a definite upgrade.  It has the downside of that hotel-room feeling, where I wouldn't really feel at home.

An unlikely 3rd option:
C) Room with 4 early 20something girls who are in college.  Only $830 in a nice neighborhood close to where I am now.  Downside: small room..and sharing a house with 4 girls who are in college.  Meaning probable parties (fun when you don't have class till 11, not so good when you wake at 4 am to go to work), messes (clothes were strewn all over the floor from the 2 bedrooms nearest the entrance.. not a great way to welcome guests)....  Yeahh.

SO that is what's going on right now.  Here are some more random pics from living in the city:

Gorgeous house in my neighborhood

Killer hill in my neighborhood

"Close the bathrooms at night, there will be no vandalism." "I wrote this in the daytime, dumbass." Bathrooms in the grocery store. As an aside.. Really, who goes around with permanent markers in their pockets unless they intend on writing things on bathroom walls?? They have to wake up and leave their house that day with the intent to write on something.

Rare view of the city in sunshine.  View from Buena Vista Park, also in my neighborhood.

So that's it for now... Any thoughts on the room situation?

Pictures

Downtown

Some Latinos "worshipping" in the Mission neighborhood.. They jumped around and yelled "Whoo!" all the time and a guy had some bongos and beat on them.  I don't know how much of it was authentic... I mean check out this guy. He's wearing socks.

The rest of the gang

Murals. The Mission, a primarily Latino neighborhood, has tons of them.

One of the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) stations. These guys took me to and from the city when I was waiting on my car to arrive.  Expensive as hell ($8 one way) but way faster than the bus.

Pretty sweet car.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Another really pretty mural in the Mission

The sun was just right. Had to take a picture.

Looks like a sunset.  This is actually the sunrise after I've been at work for about 2 hours.

An example of the ominous fog that is famous around the San Francisco Bay area.

Ancient Greek temple? No! It's the Exploratorium, a museum right near the bay. Gorgeous.

I live in the Castro, the neighborhood known for its homosexual orientation.  They let you know it, too.  Rainbow flags fly on every corner and on buildings, too.

The Castro theater, just a few minutes' walk away from my apt.