Go to the mattresses

So today I'm walking home from having a fantastic breakfast (eggs, rice and refried beans, tortillas, and 'diner coffee') and thinking about how I should finally get around to finding a mattress. For the past 2 months I've been sleeping on a foam pad on the floor of my room, which is surprisingly comfortable but doesn't feel like 'real' sleeping. As I'm debating craigslist vs mattress store vs Ikea I come across a house where someone is moving out (thank you, Calendar, it is the 31st) and, behold, there are 2 box springs and a mattress FOR FREE on the steps. I came back in a few minutes with my very helpful roommate Neil and we carried my new mattress down one block and up two flights of stairs to my room. I'm sitting on it now and it's quite comfortable.

I've been reading Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami and so the first thing I thought as I walked away with my new mattress was Did I make this happen by just thinking about it? In Murakami's world that would be the case. Crazy things just keep happening to his characters but the way he writes them they seem normal until you're like, wait, what?!?! I guess it's kind of like Gabriel Garcia Marquez with magical realism. If my mattress turns out to be full of gold or I start having dreams about all the people who have slept on this mattress then I'll know that I'm living a life of magical realism. Until then I'm happy to know that I saved about $50-$200 (on the low end) today. Magical! Realism!

Top 5

Oh my, I do love a good Top 5. The earliest I can remember doing Top 5 lists is when I worked at this recliner factory with a friend from high school and it was SO boring. We alternated between working in the actual factory putting together books of fabric swatches and working in the office stuffing envelopes and putting stick-on address labels on them. SO boring. On office days my friend Chris started a tradition of doing Top 5 lists: top 5 bands you liked, top 5 movies, top 5 things to eat for lunch, top 5 whatever.

Nothing really new has happened in the last, I don't know, day or so...which means it's Top 5 time!

Top 5 Songs I Like to Listen to at Work:

1. Beast of Burden, The Rolling Stones

2. Monster, Lady Gaga (he ate my heart, he aaaaaate my heart)

3. Stuck in the Middle with You, Stealers Wheel

4. The Seed, The Roots

5. I'm That Chick, Mariah Carey

Do YOU have a Top 5? Of anything? Please share.

Bike, Don't Hike

See that cutie? That's my boyfriend. He's sooooo great- he takes me everywhere, moves just as fast or slow as I'm comfortable with...ok I can't keep this up without making a joke about riding so I'll just stop.

I did go for a fantastic bike ride the other day. I started in the Mission and rode up the 'wiggle' (a series of streets you switchback on to go up a giant hill without going on the actual giant hill) to Golden Gate Park. I rode all the way from the Haight end of the park to the beach! See?

That's the windmill right by the beach end of Golden Gate Park. I was curious about why there would be a windmill (officially called the Dutch Windmill) in the park so I did some interneting and this is what I found:

Originally the area of Golden Gate Park was arid, bare, and too windy for anything to grow. San Francisco decided to kill two birds with one stone, harnessing the wind with the windmill to pump water out of underground wells and water all of the trees and foliage planted in Golden Gate Park. It worked well and the park became the world's largest botanical garden at the time. Now the windmill is just a monument- it doesn't work or anything- but it still looks cool in an 'out of place' kind of way. If you want to read more you should go to http://www.dform.com/projects/windmill/index.html. Veeeeery interesting.

My long bike ride dumped me out at the beach where I ate a peanut butter sandwich and a banana and read until it got too cold and windy. The weather here is so diverse. When I started my ride in the Mission it was sunny and warm (because the Mission is perfect) and then as I rode up the hill it just got warmer. Halfway through the park it started to get cloudy, then windy, then cold...beachy, I guess. You need to dress in layers just to go across town. Weird.

I think biking around the city might be my new favorite thing, especially if I am able to upgrade my bike soon. It's so fun and liberating to just ride wherever, explore any street you can ride down, get lost and then find out that you're really close to somewhere you've been before. Kind of like life...

Home Again

Back in January my mom called me and asked if I wanted to go see James Taylor and Carole King in concert with her and my dad. "Yes, of course!" I replied, thinking that I could easily drive down from Seattle for the weekend, see James and Carole, rock out with my parents, have some Mothers' Day fun, and drive back.

Then I moved to San Francisco.

Still wanting to go to the concert I devised a new plan: I would drive up to Portland, leave my car at my parents' house indefinitely (because so far having a car here just sucks- see my post about parking), see James and Carole, rock out with my parents, have some Mothers' Day fun, and fly back.

I left early on Thursday morning and 13 hours, one audiobook (Blink, by Malcom Gladwell), a few stops for fast food (eew), and some headset-enabled phone conversations later I was in Portland.

The concert was amazing! Inspiring! Far out. All the hits and all played together, mostly with James on guitar and Carole on piano. They rocked so hard and everyone was so into it. There was this unique energy, like they were reliving something wonderful but this time with perspective. It made me wonder: do I enjoy this more than other concerts I've been to because of that perspective? Am I reliving the past even though I didn't live it the first time? What does that mean?

The rest of the weekend was great family time. We went out to dinner at this cute little Portland place, The Country Cat, and had some reeeeeally filling soul food. I watched a ton of OnDemand TV (mostly The Hills and The City, I know, I know...), had a great lunch with my dad, played cards with my mom, and chatted with my brother and sister. It was just what I needed after a long month adjusting to new circumstances and surroundings.

I flew home (sort of home? Is it home yet? Not quite but getting close) on Sunday feeling refreshed and ready to go back to work. Portland is great and so sleepy and quiet compared to San Francisco. I came back to sun and fog and a knitting project and friends and my little room. Ahh...