Sunday

[theatokos]

What a great day today is. Really. This whole weekend has been great. Making some decisions about my mental health has turned me around. I like it. Today B, Adam and I went to the park nearby to get out. It's in the 80s here - first hot day since fall. We witnessed BMX Critical Mass - 200 males on BMX bikes descending on the park. It was great! And then the Oakland Police showed up. This made me nervous. But everything was fine. No one died.

As I lay on my blanket I decided to make some lists about things I'll miss (and not miss) about leaving the Bay Area.


Things I'll miss: in no particular order, although caps to indicate emphasis!
*Redwood trees
*Easy weather year round
*Food: oh the food choices here are incredible, great Korean just down the street, MEXICAN (we cannot live without refried beans), sushi
*Friends
*Convenient public transportation
*A place easy and affordable enough to get to for friends and family to visit
*Californian wine and wine country
*The San Francisco OPERA
*FEAST BAY and the artistic community we've created (Sadie!, Down the street!)
*Being at the heart of things: Feri, food politics and American cuisine, technology
*Being professional, having a flexible job, being part of the Bay Area Jewish community
*Diversity
*Anything I could want is available
*Comic book stores
*PANTHEACON
*Living in a place relatively unaffected by the economic downturn
*YOGA everywhere
*Live music and movies (although, since Bennett's arrival we never go out for these anymore)
*Opportunities to sing with major groups - not that I took advantage of this while I was here anyway - my one regret

Things I will not miss:
*Pollution
*the crush of Cal students
*entitled Berkeleyites
*Berkeley drivers
*the homeless/mentally ill (I know, Jesus said they will always be with us, but who knew that 95% of them wanted to live here?)
*Noise
*Concrete
*There is always something to spend my money on
*The pressure to make/spend money
*The cost of living here
*The lack of friends "just down the street"

Comments

[so-sporktastic.livejournal.com]

Do you live near San Francisco?

(*is geographically teh dum*)

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Yes! I live in north Oakland, work in Berkeley near the UC Berkeley campus (3 miles from my house) and Oakland is directly across the bay from SF (aka "the City").

Where do you live?

[so-sporktastic.livejournal.com]

My MK alis_gravenil lives in Benicia (?) and keeps trying to talk me into flying out to see her with my kiddo.

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Benicia! Yup, that's north Bay Area. Basically, I get on the freeway and drive north east for about 30-60 minutes (depending on traffic) and there it is! I've never been. Never had a reason to go.

[so-sporktastic.livejournal.com]

She says it's boring with small-town drama. (Her dad's a cop so living there is like Cheers... WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME.)

[so-sporktastic.livejournal.com]

Oh- and if you look at a map of MA, and you look at it as a flexed arm, I live in the armpit. RIGHT in the armpit. :)

About 30 minutes E of Providence and 40-50 minutes S/SE of Boston proper.

[msmidge.livejournal.com]

I used to live there too! :)

[so-sporktastic.livejournal.com]

Currently living in downtown NB. :)

[msmidge.livejournal.com]

I was in Kingston...maybe that isn't the armpit exactly, but it sometimes felt that way.

[so-sporktastic.livejournal.com]

Where my dear IRL friend amyura is from. :) It's about an hour away.

[msmidge.livejournal.com]

I think everything is an hour away from that place. From NB, too.

[bravenewcentury.livejournal.com]

Heh, well decent public transport and nobody dying when the police turn up might be a bit harder to come by when you move over here.... *bitter mumblings*

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

I hear that there really aren't police where we're going. Or at least, no one's seen them for a long time. But I will lament the lack of public transport big time.

[msmidge.livejournal.com]

So it'll be like Gustavus!

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Oh lord! No, Lampeter is an honest to god town. Gustavus.... a great place... for a cabin.

[readthisandweep.livejournal.com]

*Or at least, no one's seen them for a long time.

Not so, Foreign Person! I saw one only the other day! We have a small (as in, nothing like as tall as they make 'em in South Wales - now they are tall) police person by name of Ryan. He is kind, well-meaning, slightly fraught, not very bright & often, not very in.

We have a girl police person too. She is tall, (from the southern realms perhaps?) blonde & friendly. Well, on the day I met her she was all of those. Since I have yet to see her since (no, wait, was that her, a tall, blonde police girl in that passing police car?) I am yet to ascertain if she is indeed, as friendly as she appeared & not in fact, an unfriendly one, attempting to lull me into a false sense of security.

And we have Helpful Sergeant Temple. I spoke to him once...

Since we have little crime, we tend to work it out for ourselves... ;)

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Three police officers. I love it! No really. Oakland is one of the most crime/violence-ridden cities in the US. Already this year we've had a cop stupidly shoot a teen and riots to protest that, and 4 polices officers were shot by one guy. Most of the violence is black on black violence. But our neighborhood has loads of petty crime - cars are always being broken into. Our apartment was robbed in November. Adam fled an attempted mugging/assault on our street a few years ago.

I will NOT mind moving someplace 'sleepy.'

[readthisandweep.livejournal.com]

That's scary. We do have small-time crime of course - cars get broken into & I guess there's a certain ammount of shoplifting & drug/drink stuff going on. But generally, we're pretty crime-free.

(er... am I tempting fate? The supermarket will get stormed by irate pensioners now. Fed up with rising prices they'll take the store manager hostage & ransom him at gun-point. You just watch!)