one year, and onward!

As of yesterday, I have been living in San Francisco for one year!

This is the first time I've been on my own in my own place. Save all the money I was paying by myself, I don't consider my quarter-term stint at UC San Diego to be truly living on my own. I wasn't cleaning my home, making my own food, or directly paying specific bills. But now I'm doing my own dishes, sweeping my own hardwood floors, paying my own bills, and, well, you get the point.

I feel proud of myself for having successfully lived my first year here. I've made so many lovely friends and look forward to meeting more. I'm always discovering something new in this rad city, like the Howard Langton Community Garden Montgomery and I came across after finding a charcoaled turd in the SOMA. In a large city you get the good, the bad, and the ugly all wrapped up in one place. In San Francisco, though, it's so easy to see all that goodness. I'm smirking right now, just thinking about how fortunate I am to be living here, amidst all the creativity, love, and spirit of SF.

One day I hope to be living in New York, exploring all that it has to offer. I can see a late 20's Allyson thriving there. But for now, I'm happy living in SF and have so much more to explore.

June honey-do list

Now that it's summer and I theoretically have more free time on my hands, I've decided to make a Six-Month Resolution list. Here goes...
only Pyrex & cute dresses at thrift stores
pay more thought to tattoo design
majority of dinners are salads
one item of sweets a week
3x exercise a week
design apron
sew dress
fondant
Kafka
jam

summer reading

Finished Lolita a couple weeks ago, now on to that Kafka reader. I'd like to return it as soon as possible. Also, fiction readers don't keep my interest like full novels.

oh that damn grass

That damn grass is always greener. I find myself dating people who are more sensitive (people to whom my heart is attracted), and this ends in disaster. Moody and depressed they find themselves and I can't stand it. Then, in the odd chance I find someone more logical and less driven by their emotions (people to whom my brain is attracted), I'm not happy because they're so out of tune with their emotions that they sure as hell can't read mine. Dating is a process where the relationship misfits are weeded out and the good ones are left, but when will these supposed good fits surface? I enjoy being alone, not having to answer to anyone, doing my own thing. Then loneliness sets in and I crave touch, comfort. That's what this is. This was. Who knows anymore. Didn't think you'd turn into one grade A goon. But I have a hunch you're just as confused as I.

Sausalito

It felt as if yesterday were the length of two days. I woke up at 10am and was out the door by 11am. For a Sunday, this is usually unheard of. During the week I have to wake up so early that I value my lazy weekend mornings. This Sunday was different.

My roommates Luke, Chris, and I biked to Sausalito and back! Considering how out of shape I am, it was a pretty rough ride but definitely not as brutal as I had expected. We locked up our bikes and headed into a toy store. There I found a deck of playing cards with 3D cats on them! Luke noticed a parade going on outside the shop, so we walked out to see what was going on. I'm not sure if it was a real Catholic holiday or if the local religious-social groups of Sausalito wanted an excuse to wear furry robes and carry crosses, but there was a full band and everything. This quickly got boring, so I went back into the store to purchase my cards. Later we grabbed sandwiches at a little delicatessen and ate on the rocks along the shore. It was a little breezy, so I donned my blinding neon green wind breaker which considerably helped. Sorry Chris, next time you should wear sunglasses. When we finally made it back home, we cracked open some beers and relaxed on the front stoop. So earned.

Later we made mint chocolate chip ice cream using Luke's ice cream maker. We'd been talking about doing this for a while and finally got around to it. I must say, I never thought something could be too minty until I tasted our ice cream. Wonderfully creamy with chocolate shavings, the texture was perfect. However, the next time we make it we'll definitely need to cut the amount of mint leaves in half. It tasted as though you'd just eaten a full mint leaf with each bite of ice cream. Rather disappointing. What was also disappointing was our attemp at making waffle cones, which turned out looking a lot like pancakes. Pretty damn tasty though. Must find waffle iron if making these again.

In between checking on our ice cream mixture, we watched Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. I hadn't seen these movies since I was a little kid, so it was exciting for me (and them) because I barely remembered anything about episodes IV, V and VI. I recall this episode being my favorite because of the cute little Ewoks, namely Wicket, who help to befriend the good guys and help destroy the Death Star. I cuddled up on Chris's couch with beer stein in hand and kitty on shoulders, and thoroughly enjoyed the third episode of the better half of the Star Wars saga.