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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

San Francisco

I'm on a business trip in San Francisco at the moment.  I grew up in the city, and haven't been back for a while.  My parents moved away since I went away to college so I don't really get to come back to SF very often anymore. 


When I got in yesterday, it was actually hot and sunny here!  That almost never happens in this usually foggy city!  I think the heat wave from LA made its way here, because it was like almost 100 degrees.  And what happened to the traffic here?!  My taxi ride from the airport to downtown was so quick.  I do love that most of the cabs here are hybrids though.  Why do the cabs in LA insist on being tankers?  I actually had a huge van cab picking me up from my place in LA.  It turned out to be the most unpleasant ride too, because the driver refused to turn on the AC (I think it was like 110 degrees out), and kept lecturing me about why I should be a Republican and how great Sarah Palin is.  Wtf?  I'm not really into politics, and I don't really identify myself with any political parties.  But I also don't appreciate crazy right wing comments from a dumb taxi driver while being locked up in his sauna of a van.  AND must disagree about Sarah Palin - I've heard her talk, and she is a nut job!  I decided to keep my mouth shut though for fear that he would take me somewhere and kill me. 

Anyway, it's good to be back in SF and seeing old friends besides getting work stuff over with.  But seriously, aside from nicer taxi drivers, this city has so many weirdos!  Last night I was hanging out at the W Hotel bar with a friend from high school, and random guys kept sitting down at our table and saying crazy things!  We got some dude standing over our table and literally stared for 5 minutes straight without saying a word.  Creepy!  We got a guy who came over and said something about us having pretty hair, and literally petted us.  We got this really bitter guy who sat down and asked us if we were just going to sit there all night and see how many other guys would come over to talk to us.  When we stared at him speechlessly, he walked away really angry.  And even when we were leaving, these guys told us we couldn't leave because we had to go party with them.  Ahhhh now I remember how it was like in this city!  LOL!  I mean don't get me wrong, LA has plenty of weirdos that hit on girls all the time as well.  But just not quite the same way.

Oh today when a friend dropped me off at my hotel after dinner, I ran into a ugly tranny with a bad botox job in a Halloween costume (sailer?), who told a group of business men standing nearby that I was the whore they were waiting for, and that I cost about $20 an hour.  Ugh, I totally forgot that this is considered "normal" in this city as well.  You know how sometimes certain things remind you of a place you've been to?  Well ugly trannies just remind me of San Francisco (and pretty trannies that look indistinguishable from women remind me of Thailand).  And San Francisco reminds me of home.  What can I say, I grew up in an interesting place!

I wish I could stay longer and have more leisure time to spend in the city and visit old hang out places, but I have to leave tomorrow straight after my business engagements.  I think it would be interesting to move back here one day.  My perspective of the city is pretty much from being a kid and teenager.  I don't know any "hot spots" of the city, since I wasn't ever old enough to go anywhere.  So it would be a completely new experience to live here as an adult.  Though if I did move back, I'm sure I would get tired of the interesting personalities here very fast and won't find them entertaining anymore!

On a side note, I took my Lululemon Bon Voyage duffel as a carry on of course.  It's freaking awesome!  I took my lap top in it too, along with all the knick knacks.  I'm SO glad I bought this bag! 

5 comments:

  1. I've never been to San Fran (except on a plane, at the airport, before flying down to San Diego - and we didn't even get to get off the plane!) but I've heard about the bums and trannies! Fun...

    One place where my husband could get up getting a job when he's done with grad school is east of San Fran in Livermore. Any thoughts on that area? Not sure it's at the top of my list, but who knows - I've never been there before.

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  2. Hmmm I've never spent too much time in east bay. But I think there are some nice suburban areas where a lot of dot com people live (lived?). What are your other choices?

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  3. Not sure what the other options are yet - I guess it will depend on where jobs/postdocs are available when he finishes up. He sort of picked a specific area of science and if he wants to stay in research, there are only a limited number of labs where he can do that - like Livermore, maybe San Diego, Davis, some really cold (northern) mid-western states, TN, maybe some stuff in the Northeast, and New Mexico but I think we both ruled that one out. I don't want to be in a desert. There's a small chance we could stay where we are here in NJ. The next year or so should be interesting... not looking forward to looking for jobs again! oh well.

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  4. I'd go with San Diego. =) Nice city, nice climate, beach, cheap housing, lululemon stores, etc. hehe. Isn't it exciting to move to a new place?? Your hubby sounds like a smarty pants! Finding work in this economy does suck though. What type of work do you do?

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  5. San Diego is nice! We were there for about a week to visit a friend 3 years ago. He was always raving about the weather and of course when we were there in May it was cloudy the whole time. (May Gray?)

    I'm a school psychologist. I know CA's state budget isn't in fantastic shape... NJ also has budget issues. I think there are fewer people qualified for my position making it a little easier to find a job than say, a teacher. But interviews are blahhh. :)

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