San Francisco

as it turns out, i am surprisingly lucky- but if i may quote a dear friend's mantra: i don't believe in miracles, i rely on them...
first things first, i left my cell phone in my shuttle van from the airport. had it one minute and the next i don't. rather unfortunate when you're in a new city solo and the person who you should be meeting at the house isn't there. i did fairly well at not freaking out and devising a way to arrange the remainder of my trip sans phone. i mean really, there are worse things. luckily there's a wonderful cafe on the corner that let me use their phone and set in progress the return of my phone, as well as my discovery that my housemate was sitting nearly across from me at the same cafe. the apartment is in a fantastic location- kind of on the border of the russian hill/north beach neighborhoods. literally two blocks from the really crazy stretch of lombard street that san francisco is known for. yesterday afternoon i hoofed it to the top of it and took a minute to catch my breath and the stunning views. it's also a block away from the san francisco art institute, which is such a beautiful building. it's great just walking around the area- i had to put other plans on hold b/c of the phone...) soon after i return from my walk the man in the van with my phone arrives (and to pick up my house mate, leaving my solo here.) since there's always something odd about things in my life here's the one for yesterday. the apartment is one of those row houses, with four floors of apartments. i'm in the first one- which gives me access to the garden on the ground floor. the oddity is the man who lives in the ground apartment. he's an older asian man (not sure how old since his disheveled appearance could be adding a few years) but i saw him wander into the cafe when i first arrived and assumed he was homeless. to my surprise he's not. but he is very strange. he's very quiet outside the house, inside, and late in the evenings (possibly other times too?) he yells out in a short staccato explosion, i can't figure out what. this went on intermittently in the late hours of the night which i would be awoken to. he also would occasionally sing which sounded like humming. i may swap bedrooms tonight so i can sleep soundly....
oh, and the other miracle of yesterday: i've been offered a spot for grad school. which i took.