Mmmmmm...Fog
In a city that is shown sunny on the postcards, those living in the area can tell you that you're better off preparing for a mild, sometimes humid, rarely hot climate; the home of a daily blanket of fog. It's kind of comforting to me for some reason. I suppose it reminds me of the tuly fog and that from the bay.
It's an interesting adjustment right now.
I don't feel so bad about laying into my sometimes high-horsed roommate, mainly because the other one tells me that's exactly how it usually works with everyone! That made me feel better; my empathetic aspects tend to make it rather unbearable to want to aim to blast someone several days in a row. Two people in the apartment who supposedly can't take a joke? Well, since I'm one of them it's not so big. I at least know I don't take them well, but I will often give rhetorical responses to what were clearly rhetorical questions or statements.
I'm kind of the acting bookkeeper for the apartment, sadly not because I'm studying financial accounting but because I'm good at math. Well, arithmetic at least, I can do; everything else is just keeping the course and writing out every bloody step.
Oh! I need to put my admission ticket into my backpack for the Junior English Proficiency Essay Test (JEPET) for Saturday's test session. For those not attending San Francisco State, there is a requirement to graduate that stemmed from several studies showing collegiate undergraduates and BA/BS holders were not writing at an appropriate level. All junior level students are required to sit the exam, if you do not pass you must take English 414: Elements of Writing (extensive upper-division, non-major, non-General Education course focusing on expository writing).
In a way, it's been nice going back to services regularly. However flawed institutions may be, the meditative acts of the rites and rituals are quite wonderful in my eyes; they are easing some of the transition I think.
Socially, Astra is on campus and can sometimes be met up with for lunch or tea. Rachel is in the neighborhood, as is Ruth and her roomie Billy. Owen shares a few classes with me, and if I can secure funding on my own end maybe a coworker on a paid research project later on down the road. I don't really know that many people yet. As such, it's a little odd and the loneliness can be enough to lose sleep over it. I am, however, doing my best to adjust. Passing little slips of paper with me e-mail around in a few classes helped a little.
It was good to have Cassandra visit from the East Bay. It's been a few years since we worked at Waldenbooks but I was glad for the company. We had a pretty good time poking around in some of the shops in Chinatown. I purchased a few kitschy mothams on my own; the sandalwood fan is perhaps the only really useful thing I bought. She wanted to grab a set of those medicine balls you roll around in your hands for her mum. After a fair bit of walking, we ended up in the North Beach district and had dinner at a sidewalk trattoria. Above all else, this is kind of a hint that I should get out and explore more. Having a $45 pass that lets me run about the entire county/city's transit system for a month is a pretty good deal. I should at least use it on the cable cars, right? Maybe on the way to Golden Gate Park one weekend, who knows?
I missed my family something fierce. Coming home to grab some more of my things made that come home even more for me. My dad e-mailed me in response to my weekly report and told me that he took it hard, that he almost quit California Maritime Academy because of it during his first term, but he was glad to have stuck it out. It makes me feel all the more alone sometimes to know I won't be waking them up if I put the kettle on in the middle of the night if I can't sleep, that I won't see them at breakfast.
Grandma is thinking that she may move down to my uncle, aunt & cousins' house down the coast an hour or so. She has her little in-law unit there and the company is something that's nice for her. I feel bad that I was always so busy over the last few years to tell the truth, that I could have spent more time with Grandpa Fred and her. I am, however, glad for what time I did have. It's taken me a while to bring myself to go to mass, but it was a relief in a number of ways. While I've prayed on my own, adding Grandpa's name to those who are being prayed for was a comfort. I think that I may be finally starting to really make peace with myself, him, and providence.
It's an interesting adjustment right now.
I don't feel so bad about laying into my sometimes high-horsed roommate, mainly because the other one tells me that's exactly how it usually works with everyone! That made me feel better; my empathetic aspects tend to make it rather unbearable to want to aim to blast someone several days in a row. Two people in the apartment who supposedly can't take a joke? Well, since I'm one of them it's not so big. I at least know I don't take them well, but I will often give rhetorical responses to what were clearly rhetorical questions or statements.
I'm kind of the acting bookkeeper for the apartment, sadly not because I'm studying financial accounting but because I'm good at math. Well, arithmetic at least, I can do; everything else is just keeping the course and writing out every bloody step.
Oh! I need to put my admission ticket into my backpack for the Junior English Proficiency Essay Test (JEPET) for Saturday's test session. For those not attending San Francisco State, there is a requirement to graduate that stemmed from several studies showing collegiate undergraduates and BA/BS holders were not writing at an appropriate level. All junior level students are required to sit the exam, if you do not pass you must take English 414: Elements of Writing (extensive upper-division, non-major, non-General Education course focusing on expository writing).
In a way, it's been nice going back to services regularly. However flawed institutions may be, the meditative acts of the rites and rituals are quite wonderful in my eyes; they are easing some of the transition I think.
Socially, Astra is on campus and can sometimes be met up with for lunch or tea. Rachel is in the neighborhood, as is Ruth and her roomie Billy. Owen shares a few classes with me, and if I can secure funding on my own end maybe a coworker on a paid research project later on down the road. I don't really know that many people yet. As such, it's a little odd and the loneliness can be enough to lose sleep over it. I am, however, doing my best to adjust. Passing little slips of paper with me e-mail around in a few classes helped a little.
It was good to have Cassandra visit from the East Bay. It's been a few years since we worked at Waldenbooks but I was glad for the company. We had a pretty good time poking around in some of the shops in Chinatown. I purchased a few kitschy mothams on my own; the sandalwood fan is perhaps the only really useful thing I bought. She wanted to grab a set of those medicine balls you roll around in your hands for her mum. After a fair bit of walking, we ended up in the North Beach district and had dinner at a sidewalk trattoria. Above all else, this is kind of a hint that I should get out and explore more. Having a $45 pass that lets me run about the entire county/city's transit system for a month is a pretty good deal. I should at least use it on the cable cars, right? Maybe on the way to Golden Gate Park one weekend, who knows?
I missed my family something fierce. Coming home to grab some more of my things made that come home even more for me. My dad e-mailed me in response to my weekly report and told me that he took it hard, that he almost quit California Maritime Academy because of it during his first term, but he was glad to have stuck it out. It makes me feel all the more alone sometimes to know I won't be waking them up if I put the kettle on in the middle of the night if I can't sleep, that I won't see them at breakfast.
Grandma is thinking that she may move down to my uncle, aunt & cousins' house down the coast an hour or so. She has her little in-law unit there and the company is something that's nice for her. I feel bad that I was always so busy over the last few years to tell the truth, that I could have spent more time with Grandpa Fred and her. I am, however, glad for what time I did have. It's taken me a while to bring myself to go to mass, but it was a relief in a number of ways. While I've prayed on my own, adding Grandpa's name to those who are being prayed for was a comfort. I think that I may be finally starting to really make peace with myself, him, and providence.