I wonder if I will miss hearing sirens all the time...

I got home from my ride today to find 4 cop cars outside my building in Oakland. The officers all seemed pretty calm, it seemed they had already taken care of whatever had happened so I went ahead and rode to the front door like normal.

There was a crack pipe** on the stoop. And some crackhead in one of the cop cars. And one of the officers came up to me and made small talk about my bike and training and stuff for a few minutes, I guess to make wide-eyed little me feel a bit more comfortable or something.

UGH.

I am NOT going to miss stuff like this. Especially since Greg is already in Tahoe so I am here alone and seeing phantom crackpipes and ghosts all over the apartment. Next thing I know I will be hearing an imaginary "oh shit" horror movie soundtrack.



**Funny thing is, I had no idea the little test-tube looking thing with steel wool in it was a crack pipe until the police officer identified it as such. And yes I have lived in Oakland for 2 years.

Can't Think of Anything More Humiliating Than...

... High School P.E. at the Pool.

The local high school PE class comes to the pool several afternoons a week. I see them because they are right after lap swim.

This is a co-ed P.E. class.

All hormones, all downcast eyes, all nervous cowering body language, more cell phones and more sharpie-decorated items than you can shake a stick at, and no one wants to strip down to a suit, let alone swim.

Another reason to move?

I love riding up Tunnel road. HOWEVER, there are an alarmingly large number of cracks in the pavement just waiting for a quarter-inch of rain...

Partied til 10 PM

I have lived in the same building in Oakland now for almost two years. The location could hardly be more convenient, the price is better than right, and the apartment has a lot of charm, but the area is not the safest and has encouraged habits and attitudes in myself that I don't necessarily like.

Such as: refusing to park anywhere more than 25 feet from the front door esp. at night (a habit which has resulted in a parking ticket), taking different circuitous routes home from training rides so as to foil would-be stalkers, keeping all windows shut and locked regardless of nearly double-digit-Fahrenheit temperatures outside so that no one can clamber up the walls and into the apartment (btw like with most apartments in the area, there is no a/c), hiding laptop and evidence of it and any other nice electronic equipment in various sneaky and clever places just in case if someone were to get inside...

So I have maintained a solid on-line relationship with craigslist since pretty much day one, looking for the ideal apartment that must exist somewhere. Momentum of such has really heated up lately, because the landlord said no kitties allowed and because the apartment is definitely on the smallish side for two people, bearable and endearing but smallish nonetheless, plus my I-want-a-safe-community-feel impulses have persisted.

Meanwhile, three of my neighbors (the building has 12 units, and there are a couple apartments across the street with the same owner and they use our laundry room so they were invited too) decided to have a meet-your-neighbor party this weekend downstairs in the communal garage/patio. Greg and I went. So did almost everyone else.

Here's what we learned and decided:

-Claudia has lived in the building for like 8 years and it turns out she is from Maryland just like me (we found this out at the airport last Christmas when I was in line behind her and we recognized each other from the mailbox or laundry area)(we were on the same flight). She was a swimmer in school and we are going to go to the pool together sometime.

-Joe is our next-door neighbor and he is the oldest of almost everyone and he was born in the house across the street. He rides a bmx bike that is really cool but weighs forty pounds and is missing some spokes from too much carousing. I see him all over the place in the East Bay, we wave, but until Saturday we didn't know each other's names.

-Oronde is cool. He did a triathlon one time and he bike commutes frequently. And his friend brought this delicious salad with purple carrots, blueberries, homemade croutons, and some sort of sesame vinaigrette. There was also arugula in there which really put it over the top.

-Jade and I moved in on the same weekend two years ago and we are both still there.

-Elizabeth is quite the gardener and she even beautified the little parched square of nature on the sidewalk outside the front door. There is one plant amongst all hers that is dead, it turns out the dead one is Claudia's.

-I have met Ben from #1 five times over the past two years - each time, he says "do you live here? I'm Ben!" and the past three times I have said "I have met you (however many it is at that point) times! We keep having the same conversation!" Fifth time was on Saturday at the party, this time though I was amused rather than offended, because I have gotten used to it. I wonder if we will have a round #6 on this one.

-Apparently there are 4 liquor stores within 2 blocks of our building. I did not even know there were any nearby.

-It was totally fun.

-Now we are not moving any more.

Conversation with a Street Urchin

According to a neighborhood child, who was very dirty and mismatched so I didn't really take her too seriously, anyway, according to her, "sometimes" I look like a boy. Further, according to her, this gender duality (not her words) is because of my nose.

My nose?! Not my non-boobs or my arms or other more valid responses? I have a girl's face. Trust me.

Too bad I couldn't really bring myself to ask a 7-ish year old what she was smoking...

Latest Reasons why my Living Situation is Lame

1. I just went downstairs to wash my bike for the races this weekend, and someone took away the hose! Gah! My already cursory bike-washing regimen has now been reduced to total half-assedness...

2. I opened my mailbox to find an envelope addressed from the landlady. Shit, I thought, before even opening it, is my rent that overdue?! Or OMG am I being kicked out so her daughter can move in or something? What am I going to DO?!

But this is not what the letter was about.

Instead, it was a memo (sent to each tenant of the 10-unit building) saying that we should "please be advised that there may have been 'Evidence' of Drug Activity in the Building."

Duh. Obviously. I mean, it's Oakland for crying out loud. People smoke pot in their apartments, I said to myself.

But there was a bit more:

"I will not tolerate anyone 'using' or 'selling' drugs. Immediate 'Eviction' and possible reporting to the authorities will prevail."

O.K., intermittent capitalizations and usage of random quotations without specifically defining the contents of said quotations aside... Selling?!?! There is drug dealing going on in my building?!

I know, I know, I should heed my own "come on it's Oakland for crying out loud" words, but still. I am not exactly psyched at the thought of your stereotypical drug-dealing miscreants and whatnots shuffling through the hallway past my bike-filled apartment.

I am reminded of the time in my junior year of high school when there was this big "drug bust" at my little all girls' boarding school. Apparently some girls had been smoking pot and a couple were kicked out. I was completely flabbergasted and disillusioned and scared at the news. Oh my god I am at a school where people do DRUGS?!?!

Which further reminds me of this one time when I had this teabag - oh wait. I probably shouldn't tell this story ;)

Is it me?

Today when I was riding my bike home from BART, in the middle of the afternoon, a car pulled up next to me. Actually it was a truck, with a borderline sketchy dude in it. The truck was teal, which is itself a warning sign of borderline-ness. I mean seriously, teal?! Anyway said dude starts talking...

Lascivious Sketchy Dude in Teal Truck: How YOU doin'?

Me (pulling ipod from ear, I should not have been listening since I didn't have on a helmet, bad girl...): Oh sorry to block your way, I'll get out of the road.

LSDITT: No girl, I'm tryin' to TALK to you.

Me (slowing my pedalstroke, which does no good since he correspondingly lets off the gas): Oh.

LSDITT: You goin' for a ride this morning?

Ue: Um it's 2:30 in the afternoon?

LSDITT: Whatever. Morning, afternoon, same thing.

Me (yeah this conversation is going on WAY too long, in a direction that is WAY too wrong): Um there is a car behind us so I should get out of the middle of the road?

LSDITT: Can I call you sometime? You're niiice lookin'.

Me: Um I don't think my, um, boyfriend would like that?

At this point LSDITT drives off. Thank god. And I hide behind a car for a minute or two, to make sure he is long gone before going to my apartment building that's in an OK neighborhood but it's still the type of area where I am like "Whoa, there's a normal-looking couple walking down the street! And they don't even have a pit bull with them for protection!"

...How is it that I can simultaneously feel like such a bitchy white prudish chick jumping to conclusions about someone, and such a completely vulnerable and far too polite, even naive, girl?

Is there a line between protecting oneself and being rude?

Is that a question I should even be asking?

Hmm...

... can Courtenay convert this mess:
into a bed?

And, can she do so in time to sleep in it tonight?

Stay tuned for updates. This could be funny.

-----------------------------------------

Update: I am awesome. I did it!

Actually it wasn't that hard, Cost Plus beds are WAY easier to put together than Ikea ones.

Home

I am home again. The plane ride back from Hawaii was amusing - in front of me was "one of THOSE women". The type who is very self centered and thus loud, self-righteous, and annoying in small spaces such as airplanes. I guess she tried to go to the bathroom in First Class, although at the beginning of the flight us coach folks were informed that we had our own bathrooms and don't even try to go to first class, anyway OOTW went up there, got sent back by the flight attendant, and then OOTW stormed back, came up with some story about how the staff shoved her, got her husband to yell at the coach flight attendants, basically got the whole staff involved, and bitched as vehemently as possible for the rest of the flight. I don't see the justice in complaining on Aloha Airlines - we got 3 beverage services, a snack, a cheeseburger meal, AND milk and cookies! Save the bitching for United or some other stingy-on-the-pretzels glorified cattle carrier... Anyway, when we got off the plane in Oakland there were uniformed policemen waiting for OOTW and her husband.

I was observing OOTW while listening to the gentleman sitting next to me talk about his family, his days in the Navy, something about GWB spending Thanksgiving in Hawaii, and the pink iPod he got his Jewish granddaughter for Christmas. He was a very sweet old man. I was surprised that he did not bring any entertainment for the 5 hour flight, then I realized he didn't want to entertain himself, he just wanted to talk to someone. Initially I felt virtuous for lending an ear, but I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the somewhat one-sided conversation. It's nice to have unplanned, detailed interactions with people.

Anyway, yes I am Home. A couple weeks ago I posted a photo of Home in a disastrous state. Here is Home in its current state:
For those of you who did not see my place back when it was Devon's and my place: where the sofa is, there used to be 10 bikes and 3 extra wheelsets. Where the black chair is, there used to be a big TV, big speakers, an xbox, and stereo equipment. Where the little table is, there used to be a dresser. The doors in the foreground that are open used to be closed, with a futon on the living room side and a computer desk on the bedroom side (closer side). Now I have space.

Life is good.

A Puppy and a Sofa!

Sally and Martina, this one's for you. On Sunday I saw this very cute puppy outside Ben & Nicks in Rockridge. The puppy and my dinner companions were great, however the service was horrible so I don't recommend going there on a Sunday night when the little girl with the short black ponytail is the only waitress.
Anyway, the puppy:
Then Kate and Molly came out to visit the puppy with me. It was very sweet:

As for the second item in my subject line... I am getting my new sofa tonight! I can't wait. The place has been a disaster area. Here is a "before" photo, I hope to be able to post some cool "after" photos here pretty soon...

Election Day

I feel like I am in school and cramming for an exam. I have had the election booklet for weeks, the one with all the ballot items and explanations of the pro's and con's. Didn't look at it till today. There seem to be a lot of traffic and gas issues, and of course the adolescent abortion issue, and all kinds of "we have too much debt already!" "but we need to borrow money to, like, fix schools and build roads wide enough for everyone's hummers!"... GAH! But I have to vote. Expecially since I promised another bike shuttle rider that I would hand in her absentee ballot this afternoon.

Police Standoff at My House

On Wednesday morning right outside our apartment there were suddenly a bunch of cops and one was yelling at, gun in hand, at some dude driving an overstuffed pickup truck: "get out of the car! put your hands in the air! now!" By the time Devon found the camera the gun was holstered and the dude was handcuffed but still, here is a picture anyway. I love Oakland, there is never a dull moment...