Hello, old friend

I have been re-experimenting with an old idea of late. I believe it is going well.

I am looking forward x10 to one week from Tuesday, when I will begin one week of vacation. I have an urge to spend a week somewhere that is the complete opposite of the City, which may indeed be where I am going, but I wish it were the woods. So, what I mean to say is that I wish I could spend a week in the woods instead of a week in two cities that are, in different ways, both the complete opposite of the City.

I met with an old friend last Monday, who is in transition- moving to New York. She said she felt a gravitational pull towards the city, "I am a New Yorker," she said, "I'm just so happy there." I feel the same about San Francisco. After having spent a year here, I feel almost qualified to say, "I am a San Franciscan." I still love all the quirky things about this city that draw in tourists (aside: come and stay in the hotels. There is a 10% hotel tax, part of which goes to fund the arts. This money is doled out through a Grants for the Arts funding program, which Dandelion Dancetheater didn't get this year, but all the same come stay in our hotels. And see some dance while you're here.), but more importantly I love LIVING here. I love biking through Golden Gate Park as part of my daily commute. I love getting home and walking down the street to my local worker-owned vegetarian co-op to get food for dinner. (I love realizing that the fact that this store exists is proof that I live in San Francisco.) I love how I can get just about anything from corner stores on Irving and that I really don't have to go to a Target, let alone Wall-mart. I love that I have an apartment with rent control.

I love how accepting this city is of art, and in consequence how much is here. And how, as I begin to take in more of it, I also realize that there is room for growth.

A wise man once said some paraphrase of, "Find a place you love to be, and you will find avenues for your dreams to take shape."

To sum up:
I love this city.
Things have happened this past year.
I can see the beginnings of more happenings to come.
I want to stick around.