Home Again

So, we are back in America. And it hasn't disappointed at all. After spending 18 days in Thailand (amazing) and a week in Chicago (aah, so relaxing), we're back in San Francisco for good. And it's so good to be here. We're spending our time working on the details: car, housing, jobs and seeing a lot of old friends.

The weather has been lovely here. A little colder than I expected at first, but yesterday and today are perfection. Warm, sunny, a little breezy. Just heading into another summer after a lovely one in New Zealand. We did it right this time, after learning from our mistake when we moved there. Two winters is no way to go. Take my word for it. Endless summer! That is the way!


Aimee and I are catching up, watching American Idol and the terrible The Bachelor. It's so good to be here and do stupid things, like shop at Whole Foods and Berkeley Bowl and in Chinatown. The first week here, we bought a half duck and used our newly acquired Thai cooking skills to make Red Curry with Roasted Duck and Som Tam (Spicy Green Papaya Salad) for Nikhila and Jeff, who are graciously caring for The Cheat and The Sneak while they recover from their travels.

We bought a car. It's a 2006 Scion xB. It's tiny and full of pep, and it gets great gas mileage. And we can park it on a postage stamp, it's so small and nimble. It's the nicest car either one of us had ever owned, and we're really enjoying zipping around the city. The only downside is that it has zero moon roofs (and you know how I loves me some moon roofs).

The job front is looking good. I already have a lead on a personal chef client, and an interview set up on Monday for a part-time administrative job with a company that works with nonprofits and philanthropic organizations to conduct needs assessment and evaluate their impact. It's feel-good work, good pay, and flexible hours from home, and the job description reads like it was written for me. So I'm excited, putting all my eggs in one basket, waiting to see if that basket blows up. Cross your fingers.

I start working for the San Francisco Food Bank on Thursday, and I'm most excited about this position. I'm going to start out as a teller, and work my way up to Vice President of New Accounts. Get it? Food bank teller? That part is a joke, although I secretly wish that could be my title. Maybe I'll get a nametag made for myself, to wear as I stack cans and assemble bags, to further enjoy my joke.

We're looking at a couple apartments today, trying to find the perfect place to settle down for at least a year. It's so hard though! There seem to be a lot of options, but each one is just shy of perfect. Staying in such a lovely temporary place isn't helping either. If we were sleeping in the car, it might be easier to settle on a rental. But Cary's place is a delightful mansion, with a motley crew of lovely people. O life, why must you be so difficult?!

We've got a lot of plans in the coming weeks, aside from job and house hunting. Tonight is Yuri's Night, celebrating Yuri Gagarin's first flight into space. There's a big party, with exhibits, lectures, art installations and music late into the night. Then it's up at 9 tomorrow for a trip to Napa with Aimee and her sister. We're going to visit Copia, The American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts. How could that not be cool?! I've never been, but I have high hopes.

Next weekend, we see Point Break Live!, which is a stage adaptation of the 1991 Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze "classic" in which Reeves plays an undercover FBI agent (FBI Special Agent John 'Johnny' Utah) charged with busting a gang of pseudo-Buddhist bank-robbing surfers. Yes, that's right. And each night, a different audience member is selected (after an extensive audition process) to play the role of Johnny, reading all his lines from cue cards, just as Keanu did in the original film. I can't fucking wait.

I love you, San Francisco. You rule.