Halloween and More Apartments

Halloween.  Crazy time.  I unfortunately was SUPER awesome and brought my camera but neglected to include a very essential part--the battery.  Therefore I have no pictures. ): 

My coworker Van came over and brought some bubblegum flavored vodka.. Unexpected, but very tasty when mixed with sprite and lemonade (lemonade was my idea).  He was hitting the bottle pretty hard, lol... I could definitely see he was feeling the effects of the bubbly deliciousness when we left my apt to meet up with his roommate for a partay.

We headed to her friend's apartment, which was all decked out for Halloween.  She had a table full of chips and dips and both kitchen sinks filled with ice and bottles and bottles of liquor, wine, whatever.  You name it, she had it.

After a few minutes there, everyone went to a different party.  There were 10 of us so we needed 2 cabs, but (unsurprisingly) all the cabs were filled and it was SUPER hard to find 2 empty ones.  We were about to just take the bus when a huge white Escalade pulled up blasting rap music.  "You need a ride?" the driver called out.  He was an enterprising young African American who decided to take advantage of the lack of cabs and (illegally) rent out his huge car as a taxi.  We piled in and it was pretty awesome.. TV screens everywhere playing music videos, loud music.. We were having a partay on the way to the partay.

He got us there in 1 piece and we poured out and headed into the next party.  This house was way upscale, very nice inside.  In the basement there were DJs spinning some sweet tunes and another huge alcohol table much like the sinks in the 1st house.  Upstairs people were mingling and having fun.

I also ran into one of the guys who lives at a house in which I tried to rent a bedroom.  What are the odds?  But anyway he was cool.  He told me the "inside information," as he put it.. The kids in the house voted and decided they wanted another guy in the room to keep the gender balance.  It was OK, their loss (: I got his number and will hopefully have a new friend out here.  I mean there are 10 people living in that house (it's a 4 story mansion, lots of space) so at least one of them is bound to like me.  I haven't had too much success finding a room via craigslist but the people are generally great--no crazies so far.

That brings me to the next topic, a frequent but not favorite one.. Apartment hunting.  I went to see another room Friday night.  The room was perfect--big, great area, cheap, clean, nice roommates... But like always, the perfect room and I did not see eye to eye and the girls who live there chose to go with another candidate.  Oh well.  Today I went to check out an apartment that I would lease with Sophia, a girl I met on craigslist.  She's pretty all around cool--very busy with school and work, friendly, 24, likes yoga.  We decided to pool our resources and do the apartment search together because you get more for your money with $2000 a month rather than $1000.  And we are considering adding a 3rd to our little roommate family because you get even more for $3000.  We posted another ad on craigslist and found a decent sounding candidate.  I will keep you posted on that.  We meet him on Monday afternoon when we are going to see another apartment.

But anyway yeah the apt today.. Great location--Hayes Valley is super safe and very cute, with lots of pretty houses.  Tons of shops and cafes and restaurants are super close.  It's close to Market St, a major street, and the highway--good for me, the commuter.  It's on the 3rd floor (no noise from upstairs neighbors) and has great sunlight pouring in through the windows.  2 bedrooms but one is pretty small, a small kitchen, living room.. Check out the pics.  It's not huge but for the area it seems like it's worth it.

kitchen

small bedroom

large bedroom

outside

Tonight I am going to the Haight, a sketchy area that for some reason is up and coming.  Think lots of dirty emo kids roaming around at night begging for change, but tons of bars that attract all kinds of people.  Should be interesting.

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.

Finding Home Sweet Home

So, obviously… I have not been blogging.  I have good reason--BUSY BUSY BUSY!  For a while I was working from 5:30 till 2:30 and then immediately heading into the city to apartment hunt.  JEEZ talk about exhausting… Scheduling appointments and then figuring out the best route between them via the public transportation system and then actually navigating the public transportation system, and then going to the appointments and trying to show that you would be more than just a compatible roommate but an AWESOME roommate was not an easy task.  And then once that was all done, I had to figure out how to get back to the hotel.  The easiest (and fastest) way was to take the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit system--think a subway-type transportation).  And at almost $9 per one-way trip, it was also the most expensive way to travel the 8 or so miles from the city to the South Bay area, where my hotel and company are located.  Blahh.  I saw quite a few apartments ranging from insanely tiny to fairly large, some studios and some shared.  I also met quite a few interesting people.  Take Apartment #2, for example.

Located in the Mission (the center of SF’s Latino population…imagine streets populated with Latinos and taquerias on every corner), the location was a bit less than desirable for me.  But the apartment was gorgeous.  Everything was cool until the potential roommates asked me why I would choose their ad as a potential living arrangement because it was so different.  “Different?” I asked.  “I’m transgendered,” what I had thought was a he replied.  “I was born a female but I still like to occasionally dress as one.  Miniskirts and fishnets and leather combat boots and things like that.”

I could not make this stuff up.

I saw a room in the trendy North Beach area (aka Little Italy).  The area: perfect, with tons of little bars and cafes and delicious smells wafting out of Italian restaurants EVERYWHERE.  The room: so small that there was hardly room for me to walk around the bed.

All that for just $900 a month!!  What an amazing value!! No thanks.

So where am I living now?  I found a room in the heart of the gay capital of the gay capital, the Castro district.  All sorts of restaurants from American to Ethiopian, just a few minutes’ walk away from a ton of bars and cafes and a TON of public transportation, yet set back just enough to be quiet.  Plus…the street is a little 1 way street so it’s too much of a hassle for people to try to park their cars here.  That means PARKING ANYTIME!  After circling the block for half an hour in North Beach looking for a spot, I have a newfound appreciation for easy parking.  My roommate is Julie, a woman in her early 40s who is a musician and high school teacher.  She’s also a total MILF--we are talking Cindy Crawford stuff here.  Super nice and she’s always busy so I never see her.  It’s a pretty good arrangement so far.  The only downside… The neighbors upstairs.

Last night they threw a dinner party.  7 PM.  The walls in this building (it is extremely old…My room has a former fireplace in it) are extremely thin so I was treated to French-style music (with accordions and whatnot) for hours.  At 11 I got into bed and managed to fall asleep eventually.  Fast forward to 2 am.  Jolted awake by thundering music played on a piano.  I mean PLAYED… Whoever was playing it was amazing.  So although being treated to a private concert was not the worst way to be kept awake (preferable to the demon children next door), I would have rather been sleeping.  Luckily this is a month-to-month commitment so if it happens more than like once a month (hopefully less than that) I will be forced to say Sayonara to the other benefits of the apartment.  If I am going to miss out on sleep I want it to be because I chose to miss out on sleep, not because Mozart upstairs wanted to have a dinner party that lasts until the wee hours of the morning.

So that is it for this current post!  Next time I will enthrall you with tales from the office.  General idea: it’s awesome working at Global English.

PS More apt rejects

This was the entire apt.  $900 for a room the size of a closet complete with crappy fridge, bathroom shared with everyone in the building, and a view of the trash cans outside.  Parking was non existent. (Mission at Valencia) No thanks.

$1000 for an in-law apt.  Small windows, questionable choice in carpet color, but with a pretty decent kitchen.  Also in the most boring useless looking neighborhood ever (Excelsior).  I would have to travel like 20 min to get anywhere worth going.  No.

Decent price range: $800.  Decent sized room, closet.  1 block away from Golden Gate Park.  Negatives: Sharing the house with a middle aged married couple who was not really married (still confused about that one).  "Wife" is a new age healer and spiritual guide and "husband" does security at the airport from 2 pm until 1 am.  Weiiiird.  Also in a crappy wayyy out of the way section of town with notoriously bad weather (Outer Richmond).

So now I'm a Californian...?

Arrived in SF this afternoon around 5.  Just about killed myself dragging 4 bags to the hotel shuttle but I managed all right.  Moving cross country is no joke--and to think of all the stuff I took to Goodwill before I left!  You really do accumulate a lot.  I probably shouldn't have brought all the stuff I did.

Anyway I am "settled in" in my temporary home, the Hilton Homewood Suites.  It's a little tiny studio hotel room, complete with kitchen.  Not too shabby.  I'll try to post pictures later.

My car should be on its way to Cali as of tomorrow.  That will be a relief once I know for sure it's on the way.

My first day of work is also tomorrow.  I'm not nervous, just ready to start learning and making some money money money!  (:  Speaking of work... Gotta be there at 5:30 am.  Right now it's 9:30 and I am exhausted!!  Time to go to bed.  Good night!