Services in Decline

While I don't take to politics well, and feel that conversations about money and ideology should be left alone in polite company.  I did have a startling revelation today.  The post office is going through a rapid decline.  A service that I would consider to be one of the most important has seen better days.

I dropped a package off at my friendly neighborhood USPS this morning and was the only person there minus the lovely woman working.  I mean, literally, the only person.  No cars in the parking lot, nobody buying stamps.  I felt like I was personally saving the post office from being one day closer to shutting down.

The dim lights, the defunct stamp machine in the corner, the ratty display of sad birthday and holiday wrappings.  It was all just a reminder of how much we as a country have switched to the world of the internet.  It's so easy to pop off an email, but really who doesn't love getting physical mail?  I got a postcard from Kim (who is off traveling in far away lands) and it made my day, no, my week a little brighter.

Amid the collections of catalogues and Bed Bath & Beyond 10% off coupons I receive, it is rare to actually get a piece of mail.  And that is worrisome because the postal service needs us.  So go do your part, send a real letter, mail a birthday gift (mine was for a 4 year old and was 2 months late), or go buy some damn stamps.  It is just so depressing to see a system collapse.

Ship Just Got Real. . . or a note on Passports

Back in 11th grade I visited Chelsea in Panama for a week.  During that Easter week I managed to watch Constantine 4 times, Anchorman 13 times, visit a fair 5 times, lose my passport 1 time, make out with a cute boy 1 time, visit the capital city 1 time and spend 11 days sweating my little adorable underage ass off while trying to get back into the US.

My luck with passports seems not to have changed much despite my best attempts.  When Kris and I went to France I quadruple checked the night before to make sure it was in my purse and then never let the damn thing leave my luggage while we were abroad.  But everything returned to normal last weekend. . .

Katie, my friend from college, invited me on a family cruise! We excitedly prepped our way through the packing stage and when Thursday rolled around I was stoked to get on the road at 7am.  I dropped off Kris at work and had a coffee before heading down to Camarillo.  Of course it wasn't until 2 hours in that I realized my passport was indeed missing from my purse.  So I turned about and returned to Berkeley.  

The rest of the weekend was amazingly spectacular. We danced, we sang, we mostly sang Carly Rae Jepsen, we ate delicious sea treats, we visited Mexico, we ate Churros and Fish Tacos, we even managed to accidently fall asleep at 9:30pm one night (no judging), and we Hot Tubbed the shit out of that cruise ship.  But the entire time I was worried about my passport.

Everyday, I woke up and checked to make sure that my ticket back into the US was still stowed away safely in my purses inside pocket, and everyday I was prepared for it to be lost to the depths of the sea like that blue diamond heart necklace in Titanic.  Her family made fun of me, but I refused to lose my passport another time in a foreign land.

And with that, I returned to America, not any worse for wear minus a killer headache.  Chelsea tended to my needs (this should be read as "Chelsea forced beer down my throat and then we watched a Channing Tatum marathon in the dark") and the weekend was a total success.

It's Friday night. Let's rage.

Jaymi is in town house sitting for her dad and we have been hanging out. Last night was pretty much the best ever. Let's recap.

The evening began where many good stories do, on BART. Once we had arrived at the Berkeley station, we couldn't figure out how to get out an were yelled at by a security guard who we then apologized to and befriended. We joked a while and then headed out, waving farewell to our new friend.

Once outside we only had to walk a few blocks, but this didn't stop us from hanging out with Christopher (with a ch) and his cute dog Kansas for twenty minutes or so next to a clock tower.

To clarify, Christopher is just a nice guy who travels a lot and was sitting on the curb looking like he needed a friend. So he gave us a beer and we discussed world politics and religion. I kid, we talked about dogs and traveling, and life outside of the normal rent system.

With our bellies filled with beer, we headed onwards to Shattuck Down Low, for dancing.

There we got to know the DJ, a lovely chap with a penchant for blue moons. We became his beer runners and got free drinks all night. I managed to lose my phone for all of thirty minutes and then luckily someone turned it in to a bartender who gave me back my technology as well as another beer for the DJ!

Dancing, boozing, more dancing, Jaymi doesn't remember most of the night but I have it all stockpiled for thinking about while bored at work.

The club closed down at 2am and we made our way out front. We were about to walk home (standard for us after our evenings at SDL) but the DJ's friend wasn't having it and paid for us to take a cab home.

Even the cabby was awesome and told us jokes the whole way home. Then we passed out and that was Friday. I totally put college me to shame and probably burned a few calories dancing.

My Apartment 1970's TV Show

Enter the protagonists, Kris and Jessica, young, happy, in love, and freshly moved into their awesome apartment.

over time (and many montages of cooking, bbq's, holidays, etc) we meet. . . the neighbors.

The Mitchell n' Mann promo shot.  Pretty awesome, I know.

In this episode of "The Mitchell n' Mann" (get it? like the Michelin Man?? No? Whatever, you suck) the audience gets to learn all about some of the neighbors.

BEGIN!

Theme music plays
Scene 1
it's 2am, and there is a loud crash
Kris and Jessica awake from their slumbers
K: what was that?
J: no, not again, OH GOD WHYYYYY?
noises from below ensue, yelling, profanities, muffled crying,
     "I will never win a fight with you, dating lawyers is the worst!"
     (light awkward audience laughter)
J: It's. . . the neighbors.
K: what are you talking about?
J: the downstairs neighbors.  Haven't you noticed? They get in multi-hour-long fights that last until about 3 am and then they have raucous angry make up sex until 5.  While I admit I am intrigued by some of the noises, I mostly want to pound on the floor and blare (insert 70's artist similar to Justin Beiber here) songs through the floors.
K: Maybe they won't do that this time
noisy sex commences below, muffled scream, slap, laughter, moaning. . .  2 hours pass

Scene 2
repeat exactly the same thing once every two or three weeks for a year

Scene 3
J: I can't take this anymore! *jumps on floor for twenty minutes, screaming along to (70's artist), scares kitten*
K: Do you feel better now?
J: yes, much, quite, thank you.

Scene 4
8 am on a Saturday
Jackhammer noises and sawing below
K: what the hell are they doing?
J: killing us slowly with their inability to share a functioning relationship?
Kris goes to check it out, and returns with news.
K: THEY MOVED OUT!!!!!!

End episode.

Yeah! My crappy downstairs neighbors moved out! Hopefully the new ones will be awesome and want to play Kinect with me and not have angry hate sex at 4 in the morning!

A Quick Bullet Point on Bay Area Weather

Growing up in LA I was blessed with the magic of 76 degrees year round.  So weather here has a tendency to confuse me a little bit.  Especially when two days ago I got a sunburn in my backyard during this madness.

. . . and today I am cuddled up with a blanky inside my apartment for this.

80 degrees on saturday, raining on monday.  That is the Bay Area way.

New Job for Jessica

Starting June 4th I have a new job with JCrew! I will be working in the city as a Bridal Concierge.  As of yet I am not totally sure what that entails but I do know that I will be setting up appointments and basically acting as a receptionist for the San Francisco center wedding department.

I don't know my pay or my hours or anything else but it should be good!

Wooooooo PROGRESS!

Happy Blogday!

It has been exactly one year since I moved up here and started this blog.  It seems like last week I was living on Alyssa's couch drinking Brown Owl lattes everyday and seeing as many things as we could on her days off.

A lot has happened since then, two new apartments, numerous new friends, break-ups, get-togethers, barbecues, locating the best hot chocolate in Oakland, more public transportation than ever before, job changes and hunting. . . It has been interesting to say the least.  For every negative there has been 10 positives and I never would have made it through without my wonderful friends, supportive parents, and fantastic boyfriend.

So thank you Bay Area for a great year, let's do it again right now.