An update for a new era
I usually introduce these posts with a statement on how I only update this website every time a big change occurs. The big change is coincidentally every time I move to a new location. So where was I before? Santa Cruz. Where have I(we) just moved to? San Francisco. More specifically, a couple blocks over from Haight.
I am sitting at a small table in the bedroom of my new apartment using a wireless signal that Kristen and I are actually paying for.
Our cat, Gladys, who we adopted from a family in Oakland a little over a year ago, just walked into the room. She glanced over at me and then jumped onto the bed, where she seems to have taken a great liking to. Gladys is a really cool and chill cat who enjoys playing, is indoor only, has almost successfully been toilet trained (to use a human toilet), and is also very cute and friendly. Kristen has never had a pet before, yet somehow connects extremely well with Gladys, or as Kristen calls her, "Glady".
I just got home about a half hour ago from class. I am now attending the University of San Francisco in an attempt to get a Special Education teaching credential and a Masters degree. I've been in school for a week now, about the same amount of time I've been living in San Francisco, and so far so good. I have a feeling I will really enjoy living in the city, contrary to earlier opinions, and I also think I will enjoy my time at USF, but I will also be pretty busy. My reason for originally applying to USF is because I was getting frustrated at my job in Santa Cruz, where I was a 1:1 aide for a student in a Middle school Special Education classroom. I really enjoyed working with the student, he is probably one of the greatest people I have ever met, but I just couldn't stand the teacher(s) I worked with, and believed I had a natural talent/ability for teaching and have the desire to bring a radical spin to the field. So here I am.
My time in Santa Cruz was filled with a wide range of emotions. I got there after living with friends for the past 2 years before, and had a strange time adjusting to not being constantly surrounded by them. I was, however, living with Kristen, and in doing so we began living how we wanted and also were able to truly test our compatibility with one another. The test was successful (I love her just as much, if not more, and we are still living together) and it was truly liberating to be able to live by our own rules. It was sad to not be surrounded by friends all the time, but it was also really great being able to reconnect with my old self. When not at work, I worked on art all the time, cooked new and interesting things, read many books, did some deep thinking/brain remapping, and felt like I could breathe without constantly double booking myself. I did meet some friends out there, which for the first few months of being in Santa cruz was really great, but after a while I realized that I prefer time with myself much better, and slowly started hanging out with them less and less. I don't think I regret doing so. I did meet one person, Izaak, who was understanding of my preferences in "hanging out" and we would do so, but it was never excessive. We made a split zine of some of our photography, made it for free in full color thanks to a tip from a UCSC faculty, and it came out really awesome. I also put together a zine collecting the works of several different artists, naming the publication "392" in a reference to a Dadaist publication. I plan to make issue #2 one of these days...
Kristen and I lived in that first apartment for not even a year, then we found out our upstairs neighbors were moving out, and we decided to take over their place. It was only a little more expensive, but gave us an entire extra room, taller ceilings, more windows and natural light, and an outdoor staircase where I was able to do some container gardening on and actually had much more luck with than the dark space we had outside the downstairs apartment. I also started up a worm bin when we moved into the new place (which I still have to this day, and it is thriving I should add) and this new interest in vermicomposting led me to researching permaculture. Our time in that apartment was good, except for the constant partying and blaring of "Banda" music from our neighbors car which was parked right under our large window. We also had a good dose of hearing our other, miserable neighbor (who I referenced in the previous post) go through many different ordeals including a drug overdose, physical abuse (which I was able to put an end to..), and constant gabbing on her phone which has given me more information than I really would've liked to have known.
Other things of interest for Santa Cruz:
-walking in the Pogonip
-barely surfing, yet living in a surf community
-Kombucha
-cool downstairs neighbors
-the various friends and visitors we had stay over
-no thanks to the gangs/violence
-beach within walking distance
-going to the arcade with Kristen
-free pot
-kayaking with Kristen in sub par weather
-taking Gladys to the park on a leash
I now realize how much time I've spent writing this, so I will quickly finish up.
My time here in San Francisco has just begun. I'm still learning how to navigate, how to cope with a busy environment, how to make new friends, how to have a better posture so I don't have a hunchback when I'm old, how to be more confident in front of my classmates and in general, and where I can get shit for cheap. I will be going to school full time this summer, classes every day of the work week from 1-5, plenty of homework in between. I will be expected to find a teaching job for the fall, where I will have full responsibilities and will also be having classes every Wednesday night. Kristen is finishing up her program at UCSC for becoming an English teacher, and will be moving out here sometime mid-July. Just me and the cat until then...
I am sitting at a small table in the bedroom of my new apartment using a wireless signal that Kristen and I are actually paying for.
Our cat, Gladys, who we adopted from a family in Oakland a little over a year ago, just walked into the room. She glanced over at me and then jumped onto the bed, where she seems to have taken a great liking to. Gladys is a really cool and chill cat who enjoys playing, is indoor only, has almost successfully been toilet trained (to use a human toilet), and is also very cute and friendly. Kristen has never had a pet before, yet somehow connects extremely well with Gladys, or as Kristen calls her, "Glady".
I just got home about a half hour ago from class. I am now attending the University of San Francisco in an attempt to get a Special Education teaching credential and a Masters degree. I've been in school for a week now, about the same amount of time I've been living in San Francisco, and so far so good. I have a feeling I will really enjoy living in the city, contrary to earlier opinions, and I also think I will enjoy my time at USF, but I will also be pretty busy. My reason for originally applying to USF is because I was getting frustrated at my job in Santa Cruz, where I was a 1:1 aide for a student in a Middle school Special Education classroom. I really enjoyed working with the student, he is probably one of the greatest people I have ever met, but I just couldn't stand the teacher(s) I worked with, and believed I had a natural talent/ability for teaching and have the desire to bring a radical spin to the field. So here I am.
My time in Santa Cruz was filled with a wide range of emotions. I got there after living with friends for the past 2 years before, and had a strange time adjusting to not being constantly surrounded by them. I was, however, living with Kristen, and in doing so we began living how we wanted and also were able to truly test our compatibility with one another. The test was successful (I love her just as much, if not more, and we are still living together) and it was truly liberating to be able to live by our own rules. It was sad to not be surrounded by friends all the time, but it was also really great being able to reconnect with my old self. When not at work, I worked on art all the time, cooked new and interesting things, read many books, did some deep thinking/brain remapping, and felt like I could breathe without constantly double booking myself. I did meet some friends out there, which for the first few months of being in Santa cruz was really great, but after a while I realized that I prefer time with myself much better, and slowly started hanging out with them less and less. I don't think I regret doing so. I did meet one person, Izaak, who was understanding of my preferences in "hanging out" and we would do so, but it was never excessive. We made a split zine of some of our photography, made it for free in full color thanks to a tip from a UCSC faculty, and it came out really awesome. I also put together a zine collecting the works of several different artists, naming the publication "392" in a reference to a Dadaist publication. I plan to make issue #2 one of these days...
Kristen and I lived in that first apartment for not even a year, then we found out our upstairs neighbors were moving out, and we decided to take over their place. It was only a little more expensive, but gave us an entire extra room, taller ceilings, more windows and natural light, and an outdoor staircase where I was able to do some container gardening on and actually had much more luck with than the dark space we had outside the downstairs apartment. I also started up a worm bin when we moved into the new place (which I still have to this day, and it is thriving I should add) and this new interest in vermicomposting led me to researching permaculture. Our time in that apartment was good, except for the constant partying and blaring of "Banda" music from our neighbors car which was parked right under our large window. We also had a good dose of hearing our other, miserable neighbor (who I referenced in the previous post) go through many different ordeals including a drug overdose, physical abuse (which I was able to put an end to..), and constant gabbing on her phone which has given me more information than I really would've liked to have known.
Other things of interest for Santa Cruz:
-walking in the Pogonip
-barely surfing, yet living in a surf community
-Kombucha
-cool downstairs neighbors
-the various friends and visitors we had stay over
-no thanks to the gangs/violence
-beach within walking distance
-going to the arcade with Kristen
-free pot
-kayaking with Kristen in sub par weather
-taking Gladys to the park on a leash
I now realize how much time I've spent writing this, so I will quickly finish up.
My time here in San Francisco has just begun. I'm still learning how to navigate, how to cope with a busy environment, how to make new friends, how to have a better posture so I don't have a hunchback when I'm old, how to be more confident in front of my classmates and in general, and where I can get shit for cheap. I will be going to school full time this summer, classes every day of the work week from 1-5, plenty of homework in between. I will be expected to find a teaching job for the fall, where I will have full responsibilities and will also be having classes every Wednesday night. Kristen is finishing up her program at UCSC for becoming an English teacher, and will be moving out here sometime mid-July. Just me and the cat until then...