hello friends
Hello livejournal. You're like the friend from college I keep in touch with only sporadically, or the grandparents I always forget to call or email. We had some good times back in our heyday, but now I only log in once in a blue moon on a random day off, for my triannual dose of omigod-people-having-babies-and-married, tales-from-abroad-and-grad-school, wow-other-people-have-crappy-jobs-and-don't-know-what-they're-doing-with-their-lives-too, and
It's kind of like watching a Where Are They Now of my high school and college friends who happened to jump on the livejournal bandwagon, and are still jumping. Or riding. However that metaphor might work.
Part of me thinks I should probably just delete my account, since I hardly ever use it, and when I do I end up sitting in my pajamas for too long on my day off when it's nice outside and I need to go get my bike fixed and probably spend some quality time in the sun since I'm going to be working 12 hour days monday and tuesday. Do I really need to know all these random tidbits of gossip from (mostly) people I don't even talk to anymore?
But then part of me thinks, yes, I do need to hear it, because I need to hear gossip about everyone in the world that I have ever known or come into contact with. Because I need to know everything about everyone and am in fact, a little bit nosy.
So I'll just table this dilemma until another time and add my own gossip into the foray, in case anyone else has the need to add more information to my file. Or actually cares. I think there may still be a few of you on here who actually care.
I'm still living in San Francisco, and the weird thing about this city is after about a year and a half, you start to feel like a veteran of living here. Your friends start to move away, new people start popping up transplanted from the midwest and east coast, you run into people you know from home out on the street (this has happened to me a couple of times), people ask you for directions and you actually are able to help them. This has to be one of the most transient cities in the world. Nothing is permanent here. I've had 8 jobs, 4 apartments, 9 roommates, 5 women-that-I've-dated-who-are-not-my-girlfriend (because nobody wants a relationship here) (I'm currently on number 5), and the fucking revolving door never stops spinning. What's on the next stop? You're roommate's moving to Berkeley? The landlord's selling the building? There's better-paying jobs on craigslist? It's gotten to the point where I never assume anything's permanent. I don't buy heavy objects because I don't want to move them. I try not to get too attached to the person I'm sleeping with. I keep reading craigslist job and roommate postings, whether I'm planning now on moving/changing jobs or not. I have to force myself to continually cultivate new friendships, because other friends are leaving. At least after a few years of living here, I'll have friends who live all over the country. Which is important, because I'm sure as hell not going to keep paying San Francisco rent and waiting around for The Big Earthquake forever. Maybe for a couple more years.
And I'm not really complaining. Not totally. I think it's been a good thing for the part of me that desires stability and permanence to let go of that a little, because another (very huge, very loud) part of me thinks stability is boring. I'm a Taurus with a Leo rising and moon. You figure it out.
I quit my job at the dot-org back in December because working in an office felt like dying a slow bleeding death, and have been floundering around for a while with temping and starting to work as a caregiver for people with disabilities. Tomorrow I start working full-time as a facilitator at Toolworks, which is an agency that works with people with developmental disabilities. I'll be basically working as a caregiver like I have been, but I'll be case-responsible for one client, which includes going with her to doctor's appointments and coordinating her other staff and all that jazz. Basically I'm excited because I like my clients, it's a flexible schedule, I won't be stuck in one place all day, and I'll be making about 30 grand a year, plus benefits. I also work part-time as a sub at Modern Times Bookstore, which is pretty sweet, and I'm keeping it even though I have a full time job now and don't need it.
What else? In my free time I'm working with two groups: Critical Resistance and Break the Siege, working for prison abolition and a free Palestine, respectively. I'm thinking about going to Palestine sometimes in late summer/early fall, but will have to see if I can get the time off work/if I am brave enough to actually do it. My friend Kristy and I are talking about moving to New York in 2010 (which will happen before the end of the world in 2012). I'm casually dating a very cool girl named Diana. My parents and Liz O'Brien are coming to visit in May, and Jess North is going to be staying here for a couple of months starting in May before moving on up to Seattle. My friends here are pretty damn cool, even if they're starting to slowly trickle off into the world. I've started (maybe) working on a novel, and I'm going to start going to a writing workshop in April, if it doesn't fill up before I can come up with the money. I live in a very nice apartment with three housemates in the mission. There is a fruit and vegetable store downstairs, and lately it is almost always sunny.
Oh, and in exactly one month, I will be a quarter of a century old.
Ciao, livejournal friends. Leave me comments, so we can really actually keep in touch.
It's kind of like watching a Where Are They Now of my high school and college friends who happened to jump on the livejournal bandwagon, and are still jumping. Or riding. However that metaphor might work.
Part of me thinks I should probably just delete my account, since I hardly ever use it, and when I do I end up sitting in my pajamas for too long on my day off when it's nice outside and I need to go get my bike fixed and probably spend some quality time in the sun since I'm going to be working 12 hour days monday and tuesday. Do I really need to know all these random tidbits of gossip from (mostly) people I don't even talk to anymore?
But then part of me thinks, yes, I do need to hear it, because I need to hear gossip about everyone in the world that I have ever known or come into contact with. Because I need to know everything about everyone and am in fact, a little bit nosy.
So I'll just table this dilemma until another time and add my own gossip into the foray, in case anyone else has the need to add more information to my file. Or actually cares. I think there may still be a few of you on here who actually care.
I'm still living in San Francisco, and the weird thing about this city is after about a year and a half, you start to feel like a veteran of living here. Your friends start to move away, new people start popping up transplanted from the midwest and east coast, you run into people you know from home out on the street (this has happened to me a couple of times), people ask you for directions and you actually are able to help them. This has to be one of the most transient cities in the world. Nothing is permanent here. I've had 8 jobs, 4 apartments, 9 roommates, 5 women-that-I've-dated-who-are-not-my-girlfriend (because nobody wants a relationship here) (I'm currently on number 5), and the fucking revolving door never stops spinning. What's on the next stop? You're roommate's moving to Berkeley? The landlord's selling the building? There's better-paying jobs on craigslist? It's gotten to the point where I never assume anything's permanent. I don't buy heavy objects because I don't want to move them. I try not to get too attached to the person I'm sleeping with. I keep reading craigslist job and roommate postings, whether I'm planning now on moving/changing jobs or not. I have to force myself to continually cultivate new friendships, because other friends are leaving. At least after a few years of living here, I'll have friends who live all over the country. Which is important, because I'm sure as hell not going to keep paying San Francisco rent and waiting around for The Big Earthquake forever. Maybe for a couple more years.
And I'm not really complaining. Not totally. I think it's been a good thing for the part of me that desires stability and permanence to let go of that a little, because another (very huge, very loud) part of me thinks stability is boring. I'm a Taurus with a Leo rising and moon. You figure it out.
I quit my job at the dot-org back in December because working in an office felt like dying a slow bleeding death, and have been floundering around for a while with temping and starting to work as a caregiver for people with disabilities. Tomorrow I start working full-time as a facilitator at Toolworks, which is an agency that works with people with developmental disabilities. I'll be basically working as a caregiver like I have been, but I'll be case-responsible for one client, which includes going with her to doctor's appointments and coordinating her other staff and all that jazz. Basically I'm excited because I like my clients, it's a flexible schedule, I won't be stuck in one place all day, and I'll be making about 30 grand a year, plus benefits. I also work part-time as a sub at Modern Times Bookstore, which is pretty sweet, and I'm keeping it even though I have a full time job now and don't need it.
What else? In my free time I'm working with two groups: Critical Resistance and Break the Siege, working for prison abolition and a free Palestine, respectively. I'm thinking about going to Palestine sometimes in late summer/early fall, but will have to see if I can get the time off work/if I am brave enough to actually do it. My friend Kristy and I are talking about moving to New York in 2010 (which will happen before the end of the world in 2012). I'm casually dating a very cool girl named Diana. My parents and Liz O'Brien are coming to visit in May, and Jess North is going to be staying here for a couple of months starting in May before moving on up to Seattle. My friends here are pretty damn cool, even if they're starting to slowly trickle off into the world. I've started (maybe) working on a novel, and I'm going to start going to a writing workshop in April, if it doesn't fill up before I can come up with the money. I live in a very nice apartment with three housemates in the mission. There is a fruit and vegetable store downstairs, and lately it is almost always sunny.
Oh, and in exactly one month, I will be a quarter of a century old.
Ciao, livejournal friends. Leave me comments, so we can really actually keep in touch.