San Francisco, California - November 27, 2001
Just recently moved to Treasure Island in San Francisco. Its near Alcatraz on the way to Oakland. The Bay Bridge connects San Francisco with Oakland and there is an exit off that bridge right onto the island. Its not as exotic as you might imagine though, somewhat sterile environment because it use to be a naval base. Also, there are no stores on the island, so if I have to get something, I have to drive back over the bridge and into the city about three miles away. The view of San Fran, Oakland, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the entire Bay Area is unbelievable though! Especially at nighttime when the city skyline illuminates the sky. On top of all that, the rent is quite affordable - its $600/month each person. All of the housing here are four bedroom apartments, which means that I have three roommates as well - each paying about $600/month. I looked at alot of roommate situations out on the island, and they all seem to be the same as they are all owned by the same housing department. All of my roommates are cool, and one of them is a SF computer tech guy who has been out of work for a few months already. Ah, welcome to the new San Francisco.
Found a parttime job. Its only working 20-30 hours a week.. because the economy is bad, and they can't afford to keep someone on fulltime. I happily took it although I'll continue the job search.
Gas is $1.59 at the lowest price.. when I was in Michigan it was around $1.09.. don't know why its so much more out here? I've been driving all over the place constantly filling up the tank at $20+ a pop.. its killing me. Having a car again is my biggest expense, but the USA is set up in such a way that its almost required if you want to do anything at all (NYC seems to be the only liveable city in the country where a car isn't a necessity).
On the plus side of having a car, I've definetely been taking road trips! The first big road trip was up the northern California coast all the way up to the Redwood Forests. It rained almost the entire time, but it felt good just to be moving like that. Redwoods were as huge as I remember seeing them almost 5-6 years ago.. the misty rain made them better. There was alot of bright red, green, and brown hues. The red being from fallen pine needles everywhere, which were cool to look at. I brought someone with me who had a video camera so we captured some pretty cool stuff.
Another weekend trip was to Lake Tahoe which is quite boring unless you are there to go skiing. I was under the assumption it was cool getaway. Actually kind of small town with a hundred hotels, a few casinos, and a dozen get-married now establishments. I know it sounds cool now as I describe it, but really its like spending the weekend in any small town - unless of course you are there for skiing or something really recreational.
On the plus side, after Lake Tahoe, we went to Yosemite National Park, even if we only had a few sunlight hours to see the main canyon area. Wow, very cool place. When daylight hours come back again, I'd very much like to spend a longer weekend in that place.
In California:
December 20, 2001
You can email me at:
Wintermoon2@yahoo.com