zen and the art of sidewalk sale

we woke excited to get rid of things, j misted pearly pretty by morning light me giggling cold toes sidewalk sale day weeeeee

got showered and dressed and headed out for coffee while trying to figure out last minute details like signs and cord to hang clothes and table to spread stuff on and ella, j and i dragged our random crap down and out onto the sidewalk.

we spent the first little bit sipping coffee and setting up, doing a little bit of bartering, i having discovered that the only good poncho is a dead poncho traded that for some lovely material i coveted and j gave me a cotton kimono which i sported right away..

we hung and organized and folks started strolling through, we had advertised on craigslist some of the bigger stuff including my beloved armoire which i would like to take a moment now to publicly profess my undying love to

ahem. the first peice of real furniture that actually belonged to me, i measured and bought wood planks and lugged them home on the bus to build shelves inside, your ancient sweet smelling dark old wood intricate molding sweet painted detail of figs or something your lovely details cancelled out the horror of moving your enormous carcass up three flights of stairs and down.not to mention the fat distortion mirror that graces your door. squatty and stout as i appear i loved you nonetheless. there are those that curse the day you were born. not i. i love you as i always have. it was my idea to let you go. i was inspired. we discussed things we could let go of and i thought pretty much anything, but never you. but then i thought wow am i that attached to piece of furniture? that i have to hold onto it even if it means that its in storage or with j? when you arent even really his thing and i have no room for you in my new place and i thought maybe for the right price i could give you up. perhaps someone else would be as excited about you as i had been. and maybe that would be ok even that would be the best for all of us, not to mention the notion that i would never have to move you again...

so anyway, we marked things low low low and watched excitedly as others oohed and ahhed stuff wed once loved, we enjoyed the trying on of clothes the idea of where things would go, js enormous wicker chair we sold to an adorable young woman headed to burning man who wanted to sit it on the playa as if it were a throne, plus his red sequined dress from pride years ago, and a few other odds and ends...

we sold things cheap as hell, to make it move you know.. a dolla. two. we were trying to scrounge up a few bucks sure, but there was a lightness that increased the more things went away. all this stuff wed decided we could live without leaving like my snork immortalized in my not so famous "self portrait with snork" which was bungeed to the front of an rv as a burning man mascot. i giggled wildly as talk of equipping her with goggles progressed and waved the vehicle happily away.

and i got a lot of new crap too. not that i needed any...we all did. we traded and bought from each other and as the day grew long we dug through leftovers before sending everything off to salvation army..

at one point a couple bought a book shelf i always thought was ugly for 15!!! big money y'know? then asked for it back when it wouldnt fit in thier car and unloaded it where, with the stuff and shelves stacked beside it was blown over by the wind breaking off the (ugly) ornamental front part. by the end of the day i was offering to pay a dolla if someone would take it away.

ella sold her armoire but as i rounded up my random items mine had not sold and so i expected that the fates had decided i would keep it, as a tribute to my antique loving grandmother or the scrambling kid i had been who thought shed somehow won the lottery when she discovered its beautiful self on sale for 100. so i skipped off with cheets for a drink and when i returned j had sold it for 180. which isnt bad.

i really do love that thing but i already decided i could live without it, so i guess i can.

welcome to the dollhouse

so i have officially resolved the conflicts between work and school and been accepted as the newest roomie in the dollhouse...

in celebration i have dyed my hair purple!

have also been assisting j in his search for a new home and we think we have the spot, with a friend of kermits on the top of the hill, officially ashbury heights..the tippy top in a lovely zenhouse with a wondrous view and an enormous bathroom and big big windows overlooking the city..

kermit still remains unsettled and j is subletting in another spot until october

in order to stay busy i have been working in ricks studio, cleaning and painting, and will be starting school in another week...

other than that all remains calm in the city by the bay...

freakin patelco bitches..

so yall know i been broke or whatev doing odd jobs usually for cash and my acct at the bank has stayed at -18 since i been back..

well i needed some cash so rick paid me with check for the work ive been doing in the studio the past coupla weeks right?

so i take my silly broke butt to the bank, or rather to the patelco service center that services the bank and try to deposit some cash right?

well this lady rude as hell right off the bat i got no idea why shes like whats yer acct number and i tell her and shes like nope thats not an account and im like uh..here my card and maybe i got confused ive been oughtta town for a while now...shes like oh your redwood cu you have to tell me that, im like oh sorry im redwood credit union...

so shes like ok what can i do for you im all can i deposit this check? shes like i need to see id im like ok, i give her my expired ca id and shes like this is expired im like i know i wanted to wait till i move to my new place to get my correct address on my new ca id
(not to mention waiting for my hair to look ok to take a new pic, thats right also waiting for my hair to grow laugh if you like...)

so im like well i have a school id and a international student id and a library card and my chilean carnet and shes like no you need a cally id and im like wait, i cant deposit money into my own account???

(and i shoulda walked out then and there believe you me)

and shes like well you can use the atm if you remember your pin and im like right im an idiot ok sorry to cause trouble ill do that instead and then shes like well i can make an exception and im like ok thanks that would be great

(for you to allow me to deposit money into my own friggin acct) (especially seein as i am so obviously who i say i am...)

anyway so she does and im like can i get 20 in cash and shes like no cause you gots no id and im like right oh yeah ill just use the atm...then im like can you tell me when this will clear and shes like no you have to ask yer bank and im like ok thanks

(i did once meet a less helpful whore, her name was maria jose and she was the least helpful whore id ever met then or since but she chain smoked and talked a mile a minute chileno spanish and tried to convince me to pay exorbitant prices literally twice to three times the norm as rent when i first got to chile and she was "helping" all of us find homes...)

so i leave and i go hit the atm, i blank for a minute on my pin even though i did use this acct the whole time i was in chile, its been over a month right? so then it comes to me like magic, four little digits that will get my been broke so long i think broke is fixed, seriously, getting by on babysitting credit cards and loaned 20s from j and vic (thanks guys) and the machine tells me that in fact my transaction wont go through cause my card is expired. im like oh fuckin hell.

as of august my fuckin card is expired how did i not catchai that one...

so then i am totally annoyed completely broke and now that ive been paid for work that ive actually been doing, some of it not so tough like organizing things in the studio but some of it serious fucking work like cleaning the bathroom and kitchen and the whole floor...i have to make phone calls and fight the power to access that money...well thats just fucked if you ask me and im pissed off right and im looking around cause v is circling the block and i call her but she doesnt pick up and suddenly its too fucking much and i yell out loud on the corner of market and whatever
DOES ANYTHING ELSE WANNA GO WRONG???
LIKE RIGHT NOW???

and then this looovely young man with shoulder length blond hair stops and hands me a starburst from a pack in his pocket and its a pink one and i smile and say thanks thats my favorite flavor and v comes around the block and i jump in and we continue on about our day...;)

o the horah

trying to keep my new jewish studies minor and my job, have been offered my old job back but already having scheduling issues as a class i need for my minor will be offered in a conflicting timeslot...

negotiations with my bosses boss (who laid down the line after a lot of different scheduling conflicts about only hiring people who could work the normal hours) and the prof for this class await thier respective returns from out of town and the people who are willing to go to bat for me, my boss and my advisor...

what to do what to do...

hoping to come up with some kind of middle ground...in the meantime j and i have returned to couples counseling which we love, with cynthia whom we adore and not just because she has leopard print glasses..speaking of which i left mine by the river, my glasses that is which is a real pain in the ass...

also getting the runaround on job and housing lots of hmm lets see i need to talk to so and so...

i just wanna live!!! let me live!!!

in the meantime i am babysitting the now 7yr old, who upon first sight of me after a year began a flurry of comments and questions including but not limited to:

do you know where babies come from?
i know where babies come from
wanna see my guinea pig?
you got shorter and fatter!
are you pregnant?
do you want a baby?
do you take pills to not get pregnant?
do you believe in god?

and then i was informed by my dad yesterday that my sister was fine but had been arrested and in a car accident and was now grounded for riding with non-license having thirteen yr old boys in a car that didnt belong to them...turns out it was the father of the kid driving who owned the car in question...

had a long talk with kate advising her on all the interesting people one should never get into a car with, but in the end was satisfied that she knew this was not a smart manuever, and admired her intelligence and calm when she said after the accident the friend offered to pay for a taxi so she and the others wouldnt get in trouble but they decided to stick together and deal with the consequences...

shes one hell of a kid.

they all are. and im not, pregnant that is...but will be going back on the pill as the take it slow plan with j is an utter failure

cynthia said, so your not bonking? or???

yeah...

ok so its official...

i hate me some daly city.

i tried to give it a chance, v was like hey its the new mission, this is where folks moved to when the mish got gentrified..and its cool if you have a car so my first week here while v was driving me around a lot i had no real idea how sucky this place is if you dont have a car..

so its like a million miles from civilization or a 20-30minute bart ride from downtown which seems small but it really means an extra half hour added on to any trip to anywhere which usually doubles a trip from a half to a full hour, its also about a 15-20 hike from vs place to bart and involves a lot of rather ugly inhospitable large streets that have to be crossed several times, by which i mean that there are many large four way intersections that one must cross one way in order to cross another in order to cross yet again to obtain the side one wishes to be on because they dont put sidewalks and crosswalks on each side but rather on certain sides and not others causing me to have to cross each street at least twice...

and its always cold and foggy and windy theres a shit ton of wind and for some dumb reason im often wearing a skirt as i hike across 17lane intersections holding my skirt down and the like 4 old samoan dudes who populate the hood are always staring at me as they drive slowly by...

everyone is old here, or very young...there are tons of car dealerships and tons of cars and repair shops presumably bc it makes it easier to live in this enormous outstretch of neverending fugly hood which is what you would get if the truly outer mish married the truly outer sunset, and had a baby even uglier than the two combined...

uglier and farther away and harder to reach via public transit and lacking in basic amenities like frickin corner stores...but abounding in filipino fast food and used car lots..with cement ugly ugly houses and streets stretching off into forever mocking you with thier very ugliness and greyness..this place would depress the hell out of me if i ever kicked it here..

i had to walk for half an hour the other day and cross four enormous and im talking sf does not sport streets of this enormity enormous intersections in order to find a damn cigarette...

so its official. sorrry city of daly but i truly frickin hate you...

i gotta tell ya

i dont know if the blog is gonna make it. the thing i needed it for most, to communicate the shit that was going down all around me to my peeps...well that isnt so necessary..

and this finding of house and job plus celebration of jbday not all that exciting although we did take a lovely trip to the river where we ate far too much and i roasted tofu pups on a stick and marty and i snuck up with a lighted cake after j returned from midnight swim

on the next day drank mimosas that made me a little queasy due to possibly the unrefrigerated overnight nature of the juice? j didnt feel so good either so he and cheets and i headed for the store for sparkly mineral water, if chile has taught me anything its taught me sparkly mineral water is good...

we were distracted however by the profusion of goodies offered in the forestville general store ranging from esspresso to ice cream cones and decided to partake in those goodies as well..i dipped my vanilla cone in esspresso exclaiming in my fake southern accent over how i love my country and its ice cream and its coffee...

not to mention its mimosas and cinnamon rolls. so we got back in the car and smoked a bowl and headed for the river where we swam and played and sunburned that damn spot on our back that we cant reach ourselves and returned starved to the car searching for food and found only hot greasy cheese, stale crackers, sticky half melted granola bars and puffy hot expanding fruit..

i promptly ate a little of everything and felt queasy again so we stopped for food and each found our anti nausea, strangely for j the only prospect that sounded good was olive deli from the truly stocked safeway sebastapol. he got an oily mix of olives and artichoke hearts plus fried jo jo potatos, cheets a cold frappa from the starfucks and i a little bit of fresh sushi also made to order in the sebhol sefue

then we returned to the city where jen carsickedly climbed to her apt while j and i retired for a "nap"

now we have yet another bday celebratory, or several more to be exact. there is the soon to be 7 yr old that i sometimes babysit, then theres siobhann which was yesterday and this weekend is v which will be a big party at her moms house in marin with peach sangria and a whole roasted salmon...

happy bday a todos