When I originally wrote the first draft of this post, (yes, I often write ahead of time. no, that obviously doesn't fix all spelling errors.) I said some generic introduction about how finals are over and they went well. I wrote that on Sunday. Before finals. SO obviously, it was just a guess about how my finals were going to go. And I honestly thought they were going to go a little like, for lack of a better word, "eh."
I was wrong.
(Hence the new introduction.)
This semester sucked. I am not going to sugar coat it. I was incredibly homesick and in an emotional funk that I couldn't shake. I was yelled at, humiliated, dismissed, and taken advantage of. I broke down in a hotel bathroom stall because I couldn't make it home without crying. I left class often beaten down. There were a lot of nights spent wide awake wondering if this was all a mistake. There were times that I nearly convinced myself that I would never make it as a photographer.
But one thing that didn't change was my absolute obsession with this art. I want this badly. And on those nights when I was about to give up, I couldn't think of what I would do instead. This semester sucked, but god dammit did i pull through. I didn't just pull through, I fucking (sorry Grandma) kicked ass.
I don't often like to pat myself on the back, but as I am writing this right now, having completed my four finals and last day of class, I can smile and tell you that I received an A, along with some pretty incredible accolades from my professors, in every class. Not only are they proud of me, but I am proud of myself.
I just wanted you to know (because the rest of San Francisco knows as I practically danced down the streets the last few days.) (:
Now don't get all emotional on me, we all know I am not good with dealing with other's emotions. But if you ever want to get coffee, I will probably bring my work and show you like a proud finger painter showing his Mommy his first art piece and hoping you put it on your fridge. So there's that.
Anyways.
The end of my fifth term at AAU also marks the end of my time on Rivera Street. You heard it right folks, I am moving out of the apartment I worked incredibly hard to get into. Yes, that does mean I will go through that experience again in August. Yes, that does mean that there will be a post telling you I am homeless and the world is ending... Again.
Because of my Summer travels through Europe (thank you Gabrielle for graduating and giving us a reason to get tan on white sands, eat gelato, and pretend we are not American,) my lack of an abundance of money to pay the high rent in SF for a place I will not be residing in, and because I cannot stay in the same place for a long time (I am a weirdo that craves change,) I need to pack up the ol’ apartment and put it in a storage unit by May 27.
But before I hand in my keys, I thought it was only right to give a little tribute to my first studio in the big city by writing a:
List of Things I Learned While Living at 2300 Rivera Street in Parkside of the Sunset District:
1. Just because you do not speak the native language of the Landlord does not mean you will not get the apartment.
2. Five minutes from the beach means 27 minutes from downtown on Muni and 2 hours and 28 minutes if you are walking.
3. Always turn the corner into the laundry room with caution. It is quite possible someone is doing dishes completely naked.
4. Or there is a model making breakfast in lingerie on a tuesday morning for your scary hairy large house mate.
5. Safeway is only five blocks away to get there, but coming home it is twenty to thirty blocks depending on how much you loaded into that extra large blue IKEA bag.
6. No matter what you do, that light outside of your window (that is only supposed to go on when someone walks by) will stay on forever.
7. Your mail will only be delivered after midnight and will possibly be folded in half.
8. When you do not have a lid to your pot and you want to make rice that needs to “simmer,” a plate is a perfect replacement.
9. People in the sunset district like to sit in their cars for hours, alone.
10. Your neighbor may be growing pot and smokes it every Wednesday night, heavily. Sometimes Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and occasionally Sunday.
11. The fact that you can tell exactly where your landlord (who lives above you) puts his phone (because it vibrates the floor loudly… at least I hope it’s his phone...), the exact time someone takes a bath, and when family dinner is, probably means they could hear you sing loudly when you thought you were a contestant on The Voice.
12. When they are fixing the stove in the kitchen, it is probably safest to not be home instead of sleeping in the other room. Why? Well because when they break the gas pipe and a fire erupts, no one will tell you and the only way you will find out is by the yelling in Spanish and Japanese as they all wait outside the apartment and argue who will "fix the fire."
13. For the first minute of the shower being on, more steam than water will come out. You cannot see anything, but it’s sure fun.
14. No matter what you do with your hair, Karl the Fog will adjust it drastically the minute you get outside.
15. The weather is completely different in the Sunset than it is Downtown.
16. People will not visit you when you live more than five minutes out of Downtown.
16 1/4. even if you bribe them with food.
16 1/2. or alcohol.
17. Even though there are an abundance of houses, you will not see your neighbors.
18. Uggs are still popular and are worn by the high school students down the street.
19. In the Fall, that screaming and bright lights you witness is not a zombie apocalypse, but rather a football home game at that "Uggs" high school mentioned above.
20. Always expect Muni to be late or broken.
21. Muni will always smell better after leaving the Castro stop.
22. If Muni shuts down, people will panic like it is the last boat on the Titanic. You will end up walking home. Hope you are not wearing flats and it’s not raining.
23. Ordering any sort of Asian food will arrive instantly and is probably homemade by your neighbor.
24. Your internet will only go out when your landlord is in Hong Kong for two weeks and it’s finals week.
25. Mount Davidson Park is not that far from you (you can see the cross on the top of it clearly,) but some how you have the hardest time getting to and from it easily.
26. Having your bed on the floor is the best thing ever.
27. If we are ever on a game show where someone needs to unlock something from a pile of keys in a short amount of time, you originally should have not been that person, BUT because you have six keys to get in and out of, you may become the Key Master and set impressive record timing.
28. If the lock on the gate breaks, the best time for the landlord to fix it is at 12:30 a.m. with a drill.
29. And then he will text you about it at 1:30 a.m.
30. Living alone means right after your shoes come off, so do your pants.
31. Making dinner for one is actually kind of difficult.
32. When running down the beach, if you approach a fence, do not climb it because the it might be the tiger’s cage at the Zoo.
33. If you run the other way, you may meet some hippies in the park, which could be a good thing or very frightening.
34. If you have nothing to do on Saturday nights, Java Beach Cafe has live music by local beach bums and they are actually pretty good. But that old guy with the bad memory (and even worse breath) will hit on you and reintroduce himself even though you seem him there all the time.
35. If you want a social life, the Sunset is not for you, but that house on the corner of Rivera is pretty good for the price paid, is practically right on the sand, will diminish all of your fears of public transportation, but give you new ones, teach you to leave hours in advance, give you permanent beach hair, and it’s a good learning experience.
Little green house on the corner, you will always be in my heart. Thanks for the memories.
xoxo
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