Knitting a Mystery

What

Do

We

Have

Here?!

It's the wall hanging I've been knitting off and on for 2 months! Finished and complete! I'm really excited. I feel like it needs something else to the right of the mountain but I'm not sure what. Ideas?

Before I Fall

So I've been interning at this publishing company that publishes teen books (it's going great, btw, thanks for asking). As a result I've been learning about and reading more YA Lit (young adult literature). It's like, the fastest growing genre in publishing, or something like that. Crazy, crazy popular. One of the books that ALL the teen bloggers are blogging about is Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. Two of my coworkers read it and loved it (to the point of watching the book trailer on YouTube) so I read it too. In a day.

Omg omg omg YA Lit is where it's at! Since teens have such short attention spans and generally don't like reading (why would you read when there's TV?) YA books have to be extremely compelling and total page turners. Lauren Oliver has got it down! I was at Barnes and Noble (because I was at the mall. Because I kind of love the mall.) and sat down to read the prologue and decide if I should get the book. I. Was. Hooked. Instantly! I bought it right away (in hardback, no less) and almost missed my stop on BART because I was so enthralled.

Before I Fall is the story of Sam, a high school senior who dies in a car accident at the beginning of the book. Through some weird circumstance she gets to relive the last day of her life seven times, and makes different choices each time. It's kind of like Groundhog Day, but in high school.

Lauren Oliver does such a good job portraying the high school experience. She puts in the little details that I forgot about but were so important in high school, like how North Face fleeces were really cool and certain cliques use certain bathrooms. She also does a good job of describing but not glorifying or condemning teen activities like drinking, smoking weed, and hooking up. She doesn't have a hidden agenda- she's just telling a good story.

I could not put this book down. I put off going to the bathroom just to read a few more pages. I got a really bad sunburn because I wasn't at a good enough stopping point to move to the shade. I cried in a coffee shop during the last chapter. I seriously read it in a day and it's 470 pages (kind of large font but not thaaaat large). YA Lit is not just for teens. I'm so so so hooked.

Here's the book trailer. I think book trailers are a really weird idea but I'm at the late end of the YouTube generation so I guess I don't count. But this one makes Kent, the love interest, look like a gomer and I have such a book crush on him. Oh wow, I sound like a teenager.

Adventures in Bussing

So I did it: I had my bus adventure! Thursday was a beautiful day- sunny and warm (which means not hauling around a heavy sweater) and I got on the 22 bus in the Mission. I chose this bus because it goes across San Francisco, which is a way I don't normally go. Up and down (bay to beach) and diagonally (Mission to GG Park) I do a lot but not across, which I guess is South to North. Maybe.

The 22 shows you lots of different sides of San Francisco and I should have been taking pictures the whole time but I wasn't. I had this great book with me (which I'll blog about later) and couldn't stop reading it so the ride wasn't visually chronicled. But here's the general itinerary:

• Dolores Park (been there, seen that)
• The Castro (also familiar)
• Hayes Valley to Nopa (omg if anyone who actually knows San Francisco is reading this my lack of SF geographical knowledge is going to be really embarrassing)
• Past the hospital (colorful characters, like past any hospital)
• Japantown! (I've heard about Japantown but had no idea where it was. To be honest, I assumed it was near Chinatown. But I was wrong.)
• Swankier and swankier as we approach Pacific Heights. Maybe Lower Pacific Heights? (this area reminded me of NW 23rd st in Portland. Lots of little fancy shops and restaurants. And a Johnny Rockets.)
• Pacific Heights (big, big houses and lots of roadwork)
• Across Lombard (gross. Lombard is really gross, like, all fast food chains and gas stations)
• Down to the water!

The bus dumped me out here:

So nice, right? Lots of boats and apartment buildings and people riding bikes along the path. I think this is where Ali and Jake went on The Bachelor when she was showing him her stomping grounds. Don't judge me for watching The Bachelor! A friend told me last season that they went to San Francisco and so I watched it to find that episode and got hooked. You might have been hooked too, because the ratings were the highest they've been in years all thanks to Vienna vs. Ali. And, pop culture update, I just learned that Vienna and Jake have officially split (which shouldn't surprise anyone) but that Ali would never take Jake back. Yeah right. I'm betting he'll come on one of the last episodes of The Bachelorette and make a pretty convincing case for himself.

Anyway...I had a long and leisurely walk up from the water to North Beach, which still think is really cute even if other people think it's cheesy or fratty (sorry North Beach). Along the way I saw these guys:

Yep, there are Segway tours of San Francisco. I actually ran into these guys twice and yes, it was hilarious both times.

In North Beach I had a delicious tuna sandwich (at a table outside! Because it was sunny!) and then read at Washington Square Park for about three hours. Seriously, this book is so good. I can't wait to blog about it.

Washington Square Park is an interesting mix of people. There's always someone playing frisbee, always a group of stoners playing guitars, always cute little Asian ladies walking around exercising together, and always some old guys sitting on a bench and shooting the shit. Also, this park was where the cover photo of Richard Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America was taken. Literary landmark alert!

By the time I was done in North Beach it was, like, five o'clock and I was ready to go home. Tired of walking! So I went back through the financial district and caught a bus home.

What a great adventure! There were no mishaps, which surprised me (and maybe you). I saw things I hadn't seen before, had some good snacks, read a lot, enjoyed the sun, and deepened my love for San Francisco. Good, good day!

The Blog Days of Summer

Good blog: A blog related to a very specific theme, such as 'Cute Hairstyles' or 'Historic Letterhead'. You always know what you're going to write about, speak to a clearly defined audience, maybe even provide a valuable service.

Bad blog: http://annfrancisco2010.blogspot.com. A blog about moving to a new city and...then what? Run by a blogger with plenty of time but not plenty of discipline. Seriously. Tonight I spent almost an hour looking for a way to watch Season 2 Episode 1 of Grey's Anatomy. Which I've already seen twice.

Bad, bad AnnFrancisco. Lazy, distractable blogger. But really, I'm at kind of a loss here. Now that I've been living in SF for almost 3 months WHAT DO I WRITE ABOUT? It's not all new and exciting anymore- it's just life. Here's some potential options:

1. Keep writing about my life, which feels like a self-involved option. But I was the one who started a blog completely and solely about myself in the first place so...

2. Abandon the blog and start a new one about something specific. I've been reading a lot of book review blogs lately so maybe one of those? You get free books! I also found this one, which is so cool and creative.

3. Abandon the blog and not start another one. Just not blog anymore.

Are there other options?

While I mull this over I'll give an update on what I've been doing for the past few weeks. I got an (unpaid, duh) INTERNSHIP at a PUBLISHING COMPANY! I'm so excited. I'm learning a lot about publishing and about working at a computer all day (bring snacks but keep them across the room so you don't eat tortilla chips ALL day) and many other interesting things. This company publishes books for teens so a lot of my projects are really fun and teen-y. For example, I've spent two entire days just looking at teen blogs on the internet. Yes, I am 100% sure that this is what sparked my insecurity about my blog. These, like, 14 year old girls have such cool blogs! They're so good at the internet! They have giveaways! They can write well! Who are these girls??

So I've been working away at Pubs and at Coffee and that keeps me busy busy busy. I'm starting to miss all the free time I had when I first moved here. My next afternoon (or maybe even full day!) off I'm going on an adventure. I want to ride the bus to somewhere I haven't been yet and explore. Great idea? I think so. Inviting disaster? Most likely.

I'm going to have to think about this blogging issue for a few days. If you have any ideas (all 4 or 5 of you readers) please let me know. Meanwhile, here's some cool blogs I found at Pubs (mostly by amazing teens or even tweens):

http://www.theseventeenmagazineproject.com/- this girl is adorable and doing a really smart, witty project.

http://bookrat-misty.blogspot.com/- omg JaneAustenJaneAustenJaneAusten

http://breakingthespine.blogspot.com/- book reviews. I'm telling you: you start on one review blog and it's a slippery slope until you're reading so many book reviews that you forget to do laundry (oops).

http://blushingambition.blogspot.com/- food and fashion in San Francisco. I really like her blog design. I do get kiiiiiiiind of annoyed with how obsessed she is with her boyfriend.

http://worldofwonder.net/- always always always a hit and something I highly recommend.