Apartment search summary
I realized with horror today that I have looked at 18 apartments over the last five weeks. EIGHTEEN! You'd think I'm shopping to buy a house or something. But no, I'm just looking for a room to rent. And a roommate or three.
So here are some of the things I have said to people (mostly in my head) when declining to move in:
1. "Wow, it's huge. I would love to live in the attic if only the ceiling wasn't slanted ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE FLOOR, leaving only about a foot-wide strip where the ceiling is actually ABOVE MY HEAD."
2. "You're nice and cute and all, but I just can't see myself living in USF (University of San Francisco). What kind of name for a neighborhood is that? If people ask me So where do you live?, am I really supposed to answer I live in USF? I can't DO THAT."
3. "I understand that you've never had sex in your life, but you've got to stop STARING AT MY BREASTS."
4. "If my room was separated from your room by a wall and a door, MAYBE THEN I'd move in with you, frat boy."
5. "You've got a really cute space here. It's the quintessential San Francisco apartment - Victorian, high ceilings, on Noe Street with the pretty trees... but when I sit on the bed in my bedroom, my nose touches the TV IN THE LIVING-ROOM!"
6. "Look, if you want me as your roommate, you have got to clear all of your dead uncle's model trains out of MY CLOSET and all of your dead uncle's paintings out of MY BATHROOM."
7. "Me? Oh, no, I didn't mind at all that I had to climb over a homeless man in order to open the front door, or that there is a roosting and shitting pigeon right above the patio door. Not in the least. I'll call you."
8. "While the comradery of getting over breakups together appeals to me, I would prefer to do so IN SEPARATE BEDROOMS."
9. "First of all: The room is too small. Secondly: When I tell you the-company-I-work-for, I do not need you to tell me that a friend of yours has recently been contacted for work by the-company-I-work-for, and that if she also got an offer from this-other-company, there is NO WAY that she would come work for the-company-I-work-for."
10. "You are very nice and your apartment is very nice, too. But dude. You have a flag of the United States THE SIZE OF THE UNITED STATES above your couch."
Of course, I have been rejected, too. I'm pretty sure the Haight people rejected me. I never heard from them again after sending them an email in which I gushed about how much I loved their place and how Jason was totally going to give them all hoops. Right now, I have my eye on two places I looked at this week that are definite winners, but given the irony of the search so far, I am sure I will be rejected by them as well. The patriotic dude and the bird shit people will probably call me, but the people from this cool place and from this huge place probably won't. Will this ever end?
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.: posted by Vera 
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Brittney has been experimenting with voyeurism. For the past few weeks, she has had online a 24-7 live stream of a webcam in her room and of her desktop. People have been able to watch her in her natural habitat, sleeping, lounging around her apartment and playing on the computer. Note that since she was broadcasting her desktop, viewers were able to follow her every move on the web. Did I? Well, I usually check up on Brittney's blog in the morning before work, and every time I did that she was in bed and her desktop was inanimate. Other voyeurs saw more activity.
What got me the most in Brittney's entry about the experience was that people were able to watch her as she screened phone calls - potentially calls from the voyeur himself as both her online and offline friends knew about the webcam - and that friends were able to look over Brittney's shoulder as she composed emails to them. How... cringe-inducing. Read more about it here.
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.: posted by Vera
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For the past few days, while walking from my car to work, I have seen a lot of rave flyers strewn about on the sidewalk, and I mean a lot. Some of them are for familiar raves, too, such as Fly Away 2003 (I went to Fly Away last year), Bigger (I heard people raving about Bigger in '99), and Electric Daisy Carnival (I almost went to Electric Daisy Carnival in '99). I think these flyers are trying to tell me something. What, I'm not sure.
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.: posted by Vera
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Last night I went to a work-related party, and all I can really say about that without embarrassing anyone, including myself, is that it involved shots of Tequila, drunken thank-you speeches and, um, group hugs. Ah, geek parties.
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.: posted by Vera
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Somebody just found my site by googling "san francisco hooping." Come join our club, lost one! This movement is unstoppable.
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.: posted by Vera
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I got pink roses! From who? I'm not telling.
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.: posted by Vera
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Amy, Jay, Ariel, Andreas and I went to Club Six last night. We brought our hoops. Here are some excerpts:
 
 
Although we don't have any pictures of them, several other clubbers gave our hoops test drives as well. I noticed a behavioral pattern: When you first ask a person if they would like to give the hoop a try, they hesitate. When you continue to encourage them to try it, they will give in to their curiosity - which was undoubtedly already there - and pick up the hoop. They start hooping and you can see in their face that they are surprised and delighted by how long they can keep the hoop going without dropping it. Some even grin and/or squeal. When they finally do drop the hoop, they pick it up immediately for at least one more round. This last part has happened every time I have ever lent my hoop to someone. Once they realize how easy it is to keep the hoop revolving for a minute or more, there is no turning back. YOU can do it too!
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.: posted by Vera
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Last night I met a woman who said that she used to go to monthly Anon Salon gatherings in San Francisco in the early 90's. Anon Salon today organizes parties and art shows, but in the early 90's it also organized web geek meetings which said woman used to attend "before it got all commercial." She said that Craig from Craigslist could be seen there often. And then she said the best line I have heard all week:
"I knew Craig before he had a list."
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.: posted by Vera
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Sometimes it's hard to tell if somebody is really, really nice or if they think you're really, really hot.
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.: posted by Vera
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I have been looking for a new place to live for almost a month now, and I still haven't found one. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough since my move-out date is flexible. Maybe I shouldn't mention in my introductory email that I like electronic music because it might scare some people off. But then again, if somebody hates electronic music, I'm not sure I would want to live with them. Maybe I'm being too picky. I am only looking in a few select areas of the city. These are the neighborhoods I would like to live in, in order of preference:
1. Potrero Hill: sunny, beautiful buildings and warehouses, parking is a dream, close to work, close-up views of downtown (much more in your face than my current view)
2. SoMa: It's extremely close to work but I probably won't be able to find what I'm looking for here since parts of it are very seedy.
3. Bernal Heights: quaint, neighborhoody, views, but parts of it are too far removed for my taste
4. Cole Valley: Right in the center of the peninsula, close to Golden Gate Park
5. Noe Valley: Many people agree that this is the best neighborhood in San Francisco but parking can be difficult, which is why I'm restricting my search to the Southern and Western corners of it.
6. Twin Peaks: This is where I live now and I love it, but it might be nice to use this move to get to know a different part of the city.
7. Mission: There are lots of relatively inexpensive places opening up here every day, but it takes a while to weed through them and find one that has laundry and where parking isn't impossible.
8. Castro: I would love to live here, but it seems that many roommate seekers here don't want me because I'm not gay or male. Seriously. I have not heard back from one person. And parking can be nightmarish too.
Do you see a pattern here? I guess it's safe to say that when it comes to parking, I'm just not willing to compromise. I don't expect a garage or anything but when I come home with five or six bags of groceries or with my hoop and my boombox on Sundays, I don't want to have to walk five blocks from where my car is parked to where I live. For this reason, there are several nice parts of San Francisco where I don't even bother to look.
And here are my requirements for the abode:
Large room
Large closet
Girl roommates although I would live with guys as long as there is at least one girl besides me
Roommates are my age-ish
Washer and dryer in the building
Easy street parking (duh)
High-speed internet access
There must be a living-room (you'd be surprised how many San Francisco pads there are in which the living-room has been turned into a bedroom for extra cash)
No pets
Features that would be nice but aren't required:
Dishwasher
Carpet in the bedroom
My own bathroom
Extra storage somewhere in the building
Am I too picky? You tell me.
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.: posted by Vera
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I'm in a little bit of a funk today. But thank goodness for Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries.
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.: posted by Vera
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Today we hooped in Precita Park. We learned new tricks. Wendy wore a cool hat. All three of us hooped with two hoops at once, and one time I dropped two hoops at once. Once again, our necks did a lot of work. We were hooping gods! We also discovered that Trance is great for hooping. While I prefer faster and headier music when I dance, Trance is what makes the hoop go round!
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.: posted by Vera
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Yesterday was a strange and lucky day. It made me think that perhaps Mercury had stopped being in retrograde but it had not. Here is the strange course of events.
First there was the windchime incident. How cool was that?
Then, right after lunch, somebody walked into my cube and offered me a free ticket to The Matrix Reloaded at 2:30pm. Not only did I get a free ticket, by my boss also let me go to the movies in the middle of the work day! Two coworkers joined me. How cool is that?
On the way to the movies, a cop stopped us at an intersection for several green phases. Finally, a long train of police cars and limos zoomed by. The Korean boy in the car with me got all excited because he knew that the Korean President was in town. So I am confident that the caravan of cars that processed by us was none other than the South Korean President and his entourage of "27 business leaders." How neat is that?
Then, Joey and Rachel kissed. How cute was that?
Finally, there was the lunar eclipse, which I was able to watch from my living-room window. Cars were piling up on the street in front of my house while I just sat in my favorite chair. How interesting is that?
What a day. May 15, 2003.
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.: posted by Vera
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I experienced the most beautiful thing this morning. I arrived at work early and decided to walk over to Trader Joe's to get a snack. Of course Trader Joe's wasn't open yet, and neither were any of the other stores in the 555 Ninth Street Retail Center. I stood there in a deserted, partially covered parking garage, a little bummed that I had to return to the office empty-handed. It was very windy, and the wind blew into the driveway and out the other. Suddenly I heard this musical sound. It sounded just like a windchime. That's odd, I thought, I didn't know they were any residences at 555 Ninth Street Retail Center. I turned around to where the music was coming from, and from the ceiling in one corner of the deserted, partially covered parking garage was hanging a windchime. I don't think I ever would have noticed it, if it hadn't been so barren AND windy in the garage. I have been to that Trader Joe's by car before, and the garage is normally full of cars and engines and slamming trunks and yelling security guys and screaming children and busy shoppers. Nobody would ever hear the windchime. But whoever put the windchime up there in a corner of the 555 Ninth Street Retail Center parking garage is a genius, and I want to thank them whoever they are. They knew that one day, someone just like me would be standing there in an abandoned, windy parking garage and be in for a magical surprise.
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.: posted by Vera
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There is a Segway in my office. It's just sitting there, leaned against a wall. I could ride it if I wanted to. Just about everybody else has. But I don't think I'm going to. If Segway made a pogostick, I'd try it in a second.
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.: posted by Vera
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I am pretty sure that recruiters have been calling and emailing me to recruit me for the very job I am advertising here. Now THAT's funny.
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.: posted by Vera
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Inspired by Brittney's mother's day post, here are a few selected facts about my mother, who I call Mama (pronounced 'mumma'), and who is the kindest person I know.
Her name is Ursula but everybody calls her Ulla. Somebody once told her that he had a dog named Ulla and that really offended her. She didn't think dogs should be named Ulla.
She has one sister who is 17 years younger than her.
She also has three brothers who are all about her age.
She lost her father at age 21.
She has only lived in two houses all of her life. The two houses are about 6 miles apart from each other.
One time my dad was thinking about accepting a job in Düsseldorf, and the thought of having to move scared her to death. He didn't take the job.
She is five months and one day older than my dad.
She got married on her 25th birthday.
Her first child was a daughter who she named Vera-Maria because the name had such a nice ring to it. She also would have liked Eva-Maria, but there was already an Eva-Maria in the neighborhood.
She is really good at math. That's why she works as a tax specialist.
Her boss was recently diagnosed with cancer and only given about six months to live.
She didn't work at all for fourteen years in order to spend time with her three children.
She is very short. Each of her children had surpassed her in height by about age 15.
She has black hair and brown eyes.
She has very nice white teeth.
There is a picture of her from before I was born in which she is taking a break from hiking in the mountains and she is holding a sandwich. This picture made me cry when I was ten years old, and I still don't know exactly why.
She loves flowers and gardening. For a while, she really wanted to have a rocky garden, so she spent several weekends in a row picking rocks out of farmers' fields and placing them inbetween her flowers.
My birthday is always right before mother's day, and for her very first mother's day in the hospital, I was wearing a little Happy Mother's Day heart around my neck when the nurse brought me out.
Her idea of a good time is to just sit there and read a book in the middle of the afternoon.
She is shy when it comes to leaving messages on people's answering machines and usually just hangs up.
She eats a lot but never gains weight.
She never buys expensive clothes for herself.
She wears the kind of glasses that turn into shades when the sun comes out.
In every email she writes me, she lists one by one all of the people who told her to tell me hi that week. She also never forgets to mention to say hi to the boy or whoever else is important in my life at the time.
She eats everything except for Parmesan cheese.
She is my Mama and I love her.
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.: posted by Vera
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Both Philo and Amy put up pictures from yesterday's convening of BAH (Bay Area Hoopers). I have been too lazy and busy to. And so I continue to be Miss One-Liner this week.
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.: posted by Vera
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So, my bug has this little vase next to the steering wheel, right? I figured that I would eventually put a plastic flower in there. But since it's spring time right now and flowers are sprouting everywhere, I have been keeping fresh flowers in there. For the past few days I have been changing it almost daily because they do wilt rather quickly. Here is what it looked like today.
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.: posted by Vera
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Pictures from my birthday party. Warning: The birthday girl is in every picture. That's because it was her birthday.
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.: posted by Vera
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Last night I ate at a restaurant which in Spanish means "little sphincter." Life is beautiful.
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.: posted by Vera
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And sometimes the greatest joy in life is being linked by another website. My Flash persona yesterday was linked (and mentioned!) by another Flash blog. With icon!  Way to personalize your bloggers list, Moises!
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.: posted by Vera
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And sometimes the greatest joy in my life is getting a surprise late birthday present in the mail. Thanks for the Hello Kitty flashlight, Ariel!
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.: posted by Vera
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Sometimes the greatest joy in my life is being excited about a new article of clothing that I get to wear to work the next day.
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.: posted by Vera
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This almost made me cry. Good-bye, Eastwest.nu! Jeesh, you guys are dramatic.
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.: posted by Vera
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Birthday love
It's nice when on your birthday you realize that you have some of the sweetest friends ever. Four years ago, my friend Kitty knew how much I loved ladybugs and butterflies and how much I loved wearing barrettes. So for my birthday, she gave me about TEN pairs of wiggly, sparkly ladybug and butterfly barrettes. I still wear them all the time.
Last year for my birthday, Starrie gave me a purple sparkly lava lamp. She knew that I would have preferred pink, but the store was out of pink ones. So this year, she sent me a pink sparkly lava lamp that's even bigger and better than the purple one from last year. Thanks, Starrie!
And last night, my friend Monica staged a little birthday party for me at her house. This is what the invitation said:
Hey Everyone!
Our little Verabug is turning a year older. Please come to my place on Tuesday, May 6, 2003 at 7:00pm (or come when you can after 7pm) for some tasty cake and iced cream to wish the beautiful birthday girl a happy day!
DETAILS:
Who: Verabug, Schmera, Pap-smeara, VERA! And you! Vera's wonderful fans! (If I forgot someone, please forward this on to them)
What: The little bug has grown new wings!
When: Tuesday, May 6, 2003
Where: Monica's place xxx2 24th Street
That's too cute. The party was a blast. We had pasta and cheesecake with candles and Rocky Road ice cream and Vodka punch, and all of my favorite people showed up. We took lots of pictures, and the pictures are coming soon. Yey for good friends who remember your birthday!
Editor's Note: I'd also like to point out how sweet it was that Philo called me one more time on the night of my birthday even though he had already wished me a happy birthday like three times and we had already had strawberry Jamba Juice in celebration of my birthday after hooping on Sunday.
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.: posted by Vera
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27
Today is my birthday. I'm 27. Yes, this is a blatant solicitation for birthday wishes. I can't help it. My mom spoiled the guts out of me on every birthday when I was a kid. I like it when a big deal is made over my birthday. Especially since it's on the coolest day of the year.
Editor's Note: I found evidence that the spoilage even continued through adulthood. Here is a picture from 1996. Look at that "20" made out of candles. Look at that cake that says - uhm, said - "Vera" on it. Look at the flowers and the purple birthday jacket and the central spot at the table. And that was just for breakfast!
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.: posted by Vera
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We had another hoop-together today. This time we met in Golden Gate Park near the California Academy of Sciences. I forgot my camera but many pictures were taken by us and by random walkers-by who loved us. It was me, Philo, Tantek, Amber, Wendy, and Wendy's friend Byrne. We hooped for four hours. Yes, four. I learned how to do my first tricks. My neck is going to be sore and bruised, and I might have to wear a turtleneck to work tomorrow. There was a couple getting married nearby. We took pictures of them, and they took pictures of us. Wendy and I thought "Who wants to get married in the park when you can hoop in the park?" We even had a boombox this time. We hooped to breakbeat and tribal house. The music made us hoop more courageously and smoothly. I am writing in these short, disjointed sentences because I am very, very tired.
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.: posted by Vera
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Last night I looked at the PERFECT place. I know I'm going to jinx it by talking about it, but I have to because I'm too excited not to. It's on Oak and Shrader, which means that it's across the street from the Panhandle and within walking distance from Golden Gate Park, more specifically the part of it that has the dahlias. It's also within walking distance from Haight Street bustle. Why, every time I go shopping or pizza eating on Haight, I park on Oak! The roommates are two guys and a girl. That alone sounds like a movie. But they are also very nice and cool, and one of them used to be a chef (yum!).
Here is more perfection:
- It's a Victorian! With columns!
- The room has a huge closet.
- There is a huge walk-in storage closet that everyone shares.
- There is a girl and a boy bathroom.
- If I want to, I can buy the bed that's in the room for $50. I think I want to.
- Laundry room. In the unit!
- Dishwasher.
- A view of Twin Peaks from the tiny deck.
- A view of a pretty, green garden from the living-room and kitchen.
- Panoramic views from the rooftop (this I have yet to see for myself because we didn't go up there).
- The whole place is gigantic.
- One of the roommates loves to say hooray.
I was the first person they interviewed for the roommate position. Being the first could be a good thing if I left a good taste in their mouths.
If I get hired, I will give full credit to the hoop. I mentioned hooping in my first email inquiring about the place, and I swear that's why they were interested in me and decided to give me a chance. When I was over last night, we talked about hooping again, and they seemed to be very tickled by it. So if they do pick me, I swear it's all thanks to the hoop. The hoop works like magic.
Oh! I hope they pick me, I hope they pick me, I hope they pick meeeee!
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.: posted by Vera
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Am I hungry? Or maybe that's just my heart pounding.
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.: posted by Vera
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