Angela Tung | Oversharing on the internet since 2005.

travel — Comments Off
17
Feb 14

A President’s Day weekend in Orlando

While Disney World isn’t exactly a place I’d think about going to, when my friend Sonia told me she had room for two in her Orlando hotel room, I said why not.

Getting there

It’s pretty easy to get to Orlando from New York and New Jersey. Not so from San Francisco. There no direct flights, and with a stopover in Dallas, it took about six hours to get there. I got in very late, but Sonia was kind enough to wait for me at the airport so we could take the shuttle to the resort together.

If you ever go to Disney, their resorts are the way to go. They probably cost a pretty penny, but it was great not to have worry about going to and from the airport, and having the parks right nearby. Plus they have these bracelets that are all-in-one hotel keys, park ticket, and credit card.

It’s a small world … forever and ever and ever

Originally I was going to go on my own, but I was glad Sonia convinced me otherwise. Turned out she and her cousin ended up having to spend quite a bit of time at their conference.

While they were gone bright and early, Yiannis and I had breakfast in the hotel. (Something I kept doing was saying “fuck” despite all the kids. I had to make a conscious effort to stop. It wasn’t easy.) We were in the park by 11.

To be honest, at first I was creeped out. All that happiness. But I tried ignoring that and had a good time. We packed in a lot: the lame Stitch ride, the fun Buzz Lightyear ride —

Despite my look of concentration, I had no idea what I was doing.

— Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain, some racecar thing (a little lame), It’s a Small World (where we got stuck for a few minutes and were tortured by that song), Winnie the Pooh, and Swiss Family Robinson. We also caught the Electrical Parade:

While the food was pretty bad (expensive and junky) the weather was great. It was kind of chilly but sunny, which I thought was perfect for schlepping around, although by night time we were cold.

A less intense day at Epcot

Since we had done so much the day before, we took it easy the next day. We both went for runs, then headed out to Epcot.

This is going to show how old I am, but I remember seeing Epcot being built. My family and I had taken a road trip to Disney World, and from the car we saw the construction. We got to visit Epcot the next time we went to Orlando. I was about 15, and I thought it was all right. It probably still wasn’t that built out then.

This time around it pretty fun, although the food was disappointing. I had some terrible beef noodle soup in “China” while Yiannis had some mediocre Mexican. The churritos were pretty good, but you can’t really go wrong with fried dough in sugar.

We guessed that you have to pay $30 or more an entree for the good stuff, but that seems ridiculous since we can both get good ethnic food in our respective cities for much cheaper. The Norwegian boat ride was pretty fun though.

We left the park around five to take a break. (We had a “FastPass” reservation at 7.) Yiannis rode the waterslide. I didn’t feel like swimming so I just chilled in a lounge chair. Then we had dinner at the hotel. The quality of the food there is slightly better than the park’s, although overpriced of course.

Future World was way more fun that the “international” part of Epcot. Our FastPass reservation was for Fast Track. We had no idea what it was. We “designed” our cars, and then we thought we’d drive the actual car, and that there’d be some kind of simulator. But the designed car basically had nothing to do with the ride, which was essentially a roller coaster.

The roller coaster part was really fun, mostly because I wasn’t expecting it. We went very fast around a track outside, going sideways around the curves.

No matter what, Yiannis knows how to strike a pose.

Then we only had time for one more ride, Mission: SPACE. I had signed up for the “more intense” version, and Yiannis the less intense (he had a bad experience with a roller coaster recently). At the last minute, and after hearing the warning several times, I switched. I’m glad I did because even the less intense version was intense to me.

The return

My flight wasn’t until the late afternoon so I was able to have a leisurely morning. While everyone was still sleeping, I tiptoed out to the lobby, had a giant cup of coffee, and read my book. I wanted to sit outside, but it was a mere 45 degrees. So inside the sunny lobby it would have to be.

I had just enough time for another short run, a shower, and packing. Yiannis’s flight was earlier so we had a quick breakfast together before he jumped on his shuttle. Mine wasn’t for another couple of hours, which meant I had time to finish every bit of my sausage breakfast, ingest even more coffee, and read.

Somehow the resort was able to not just check me into my flight but to get me a seat near the front with extra legroom and no extra cost. Plus I lucked out with no seatmate.

That was the first leg of the flight. The second leg was another story. The flight felt jampacked. I was squeezed in with a couple and their baby, who, while squirmy, was well-behaved. The 3.5 hours felt interminable, but we landed on time at about 9:15. It took another two hours for me to get my luggage and back home. Being away always makes that extra nice.

friends / san francisco — Comments Off
05
Jan 14

Social for a change

To be honest, since moving to San Francisco, I haven’t made that many friends. It’s mostly my own fault. When I was in a relationship, I didn’t feel the need for more than a couple of bus. Plus I’m also a shy person. So when a classmate from my krav maga school invited me out for a drive to the beach, I was glad.

She had a friend in tow, this guy who runs ultramarathons. What’s an ultramarathon, you may be asking? It’s a marathon but way longer. We’re talking 50 miles. Running 50 miles in one sitting. Yeah. No thanks.

Before heading out to the water, we stopped for bubble tea and fried snacks at this place in the Richmond District. I don’t get out to that part of town much. Too bad since that’s where all the really good — and cheap — Asian restaurants are.

We got to the water just as the sun was setting.

Needless to say it was absolutely beautiful. But also freezing. That’s the thing about San Francisco. During the day it’ll be warm, but as soon as the sun sets: freezeville.

When we got too cold, we left for Xi’An Gourmet in Inner Richmond where we were meeting my classmate’s other friends. One of them was another crazy marathon runner, although instead of ultramarathons, she runs regular ones a few times a month. Like, she’ll fly to other cities just to run a marathon. Nutso.

Despite all the crazy running, she and the ultramarathoner were impressed my classmate and I do martial arts. We took that opportunity to show off our various injuries, scabbed knuckles for me (from punching incorrectly, admittedly) and general bruising for her.

It was fun being social for a change, especially over delicious noodles and dumplings.

year-end retrospects — Comments Off
01
Jan 14

2013 in Retrospect

While 2012 was my year of living dangerously, 2013 was more a year saying, “Fuck it,” but in a good way.

As some of you may know, the beginning of the year was tough for me, but in a way, that allowed me to let some things go and allow myself to do other things I might not have.

I lost myself in Boston. Back in March I attended AWP and had a blast. Being in that huge conference, working the book fair, seeing friends, and schmoozing with other writers was such a nice reprieve from the previous month. It didn’t even bother me that it snowed like crazy and was freezing.

I had an east coast birthday. Normally I wouldn’t have done anything special for myself for my birthday, but this year I spent it in New Jersey and New York. There was the scary moment (or day, I should say) in the hospital with my dad (who turned out to be perfectly fine), but if it had to happen, I was glad I happened to be there. Then the little surprise party that YP had waiting for me in New York more than made up for it.

I went to motherfucking Paris and London. When YP invited me along on his trip, I said hell yeah. It was just what I needed. Highlights: the Catacombes, Musee D’Orsay, and all of London, where I could see myself living someday.

I played the tourist. I was on my own over Fourth of July weekend so I had to make sure to stay active. I ended up visiting a couple of places that I had been wanting to see but just hadn’t had the chance, namely the Winchester Mystery House and Alcatraz and Angel Islands.

While the Winchester House was touristy and cheesy, I loved Angel Island and especially Alcatraz. I’d return to both although I wouldn’t do the tour for Angel Island again. I’d rather go hiking on my own or with a group.

I moved to a completely new part of town. I didn’t really want to move but I couldn’t afford my Nob Hill (more like Tendernob) apartment on my own. I looked at several places in San Francisco, but as you may know, rent is batshit crazy lately.

A few years ago, I saw a beautiful one-bedroom in Russian Hill for less than $2,000. Now that same place would probably be over $3,000. I contemplated living in a studio (they were mostly just under $2,000), but they all seemed so small and shitty, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

My parents had been pushing me to buy a condo. That idea was on hold but since condo prices were lower in Oakland, I thought rent might be too. I was right. I got the idea to live in Oakland for a year or so, and if I liked it, possibly buy a place there. In the end I only looked at one apartment: my friend’s condo.

While the location isn’t the most convenient, the place itself and the surrounding area are beautiful and very peaceful. I mean, I can see the Pacific freaking Ocean from my window. It even passed the Mom test when she visited in October.

I don’t know if I’ll stay longer than my lease (the commute feels really long sometimes), but at least I gave it a go.

I gave up krav maga. I’m not saying I’m never doing it again, but this year I let myself not worry about it. I decided that as long as I went to conditioning and punching bag classes, that was fine.

And you know I’m in better shape now than I was at this time last year. It’s not because I don’t do krav maga, but because I’ve been going to those other classes regularly, as well as taking full advantage of my condo gym.

I let myself write the fun book. This was the biggest fun thing I let myself do this year. I haven’t written about my new novel here but I did write a post about it for work, I’ve tweeted about it, and have described it to friends.

You might remember that in 2012, after much struggle, I finished a different novel on Christmas Day. I felt accomplished but I didn’t feel excited about the novel. I was just glad it was done.

I had an idea for a YA fantasy novel for a while. The plan was that I’d “indulge” myself after I got the other novel into good shape. But I couldn’t bring myself to look at it. I tried working on other things. An essay, a short story, an essay I tried turning into a short story. Everything was blah.

Finally, in March I decided, Fuck it. I’d let myself work on the fantasy novel, and I’d just have fun with it. I didn’t do an outline or character chart or anything. I just jotted down a whole bunch of ideas (some in chronological order, some not) and started writing.

I became obsessed. I wanted to work on the novel (which I’ve described as Pretty in Pink meets The X-Men) every day, even if just a little. I wanted to be with the characters, to visit with them like they were good friends. I thought about them all the time. I’d listen to certain songs during my commute and imagine scenes from the book, like a trailer for a movie. I imagined scenes from the sequels. I got tingles as I did.

With the other novel, each and every day was a struggle. I was never excited about it; I often hated it. It never gave me tingles.

By September, I had a first draft. By December I had a second draft. Now I’m letting myself take a break before tackling a third. After that it will probably be ready for people to read.

I will stay interested. As for 2014, I have no resolutions or goals. My only plan is to keep doing what I’ve been doing and to focus on staying interested in things rather than being happy.

I love this quote from George O’Keeffe:

I think it’s so foolish for people to want to be happy. Happy is so momentary–you’re happy for an instant and then you start thinking again. Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous.

May we all stay interested.

[Photo: CC BY 2.0 by Jochen Handschuh]

family / friends / holidays / travel — Comments Off
07
Dec 13

Catching up, the Thanksgiving edition

The rest of Thanksgiving weekend was super fun.

The dinner that my brother cooked was delicious: turkey, homemade cranberry sauce, stuffing with sausage, buttery mashed potatoes. I can’t even remember what I did that night. Probably worked on my novel a little and watched TV a lot.

Friday we all stuck around the house. None of us wanted to do Black Friday. I took a walk down to the shopping center and back — luckily no dog chased me this time — which was over 3.5 miles. The day before I worked out in the basement: running around the perimeter, squats, push-ups, burpees, jumping lunges, sit-ups, etc. I got pretty sweaty.

Oh yeah, I also spent a lot of time sorting through and packing up old books. I had SO MANY.

Saturday we had our family outing. We got lunch at this Chinese place that specializes in xiao long bao, or little juicy buns, and afterward we went to look at my parents’ new house.

Right now it’s just the foundation, but we could see what the other houses looked like, as well as the club house, which was huge. It has a small gym (though still bigger than my condo gym), a dining room, a little kitchen, a theater, and an indoor pool (there’s also an outdoor pool). Dad said he might actually go swimming.

I really like the idea of Mom and Dad living there. Right now Dad walks only on our tiny street. He used to do the three mile walk to the shopping center, but now he feels like it’s too dangerous for him. After they move, he’ll be able to walk all around the retirement complex, as well as on the trail behind the club house.

After that, we went shopping for a couple of hours. I got a little black jacket and some new jeans.

That night was my brother’s 20th high school reunion so he was off fairly early. I saw a couple of friends over the next couple of days, and then Monday morning my brother and I got coffee. We hadn’t had the chance to hang out one on one before then, and he was leaving that afternoon. It was nice catching up and chatting.

That afternoon, after he left, it hit me that I was leaving the next morning, and I still had work to do as well as packing and cleaning up. But I was stressed out only for a couple of hours before I got everything organized.

The next morning, although I was exhausted, getting to the airport went smoothly. Security however took a year. I thought I’d be tagged for TSA pre-check like on my way in, but I wasn’t. The line seemed like all old people. They were SO SLOW getting their stuff ready for the scanner.

By the time I got through, I had only half an hour before boarding, enough time to pee and buy a coffee and water. Luckily Mom gave me some food, including a roast pork bun, which I inhaled.

The flight was full but since it was Virgin, it didn’t feel as cramped. The lady next to me had B.O., but she was very nice. After we landed I kept running into her: at baggage claim, on the BART.

Oh yeah. When I first boarded, my seat mate, not the lady another guy, was in my seat arranging his shit. I let him I was waiting, and he said, “Just a minute,” and then stood there getting out his headphones. Meanwhile I’m blocking the aisle and there’s a whole line of people behind me.

I was like, seriously dude? You can’t move in and do that? I said, “There’s a whole line of people waiting,” and he very reluctantly let me in.

SERIOUSLY?

The lady behind me was like, “That’s very kind of you,” and these two older men across the aisle smiled at me like, “You go girl.”

family / friends / holidays — Comments Off
28
Nov 13

A Thanksgiving Post

I’ve been at my parents’ since Sunday morning. My flight was good — in fact, it got in early, but since it was a red eye it felt interminable and as usual I couldn’t sleep much.

Getting to the train took longer since something was wrong with the shuttle, but I made it just in time. Actually, as I was running down the stairs with my suitcase, the door closed.

“Please wait!” I yelled, and I’m guessing the conductor heard me because the doors reopened.

At home I ate something, showered, then slept for about three hours. I could have slept more but I wanted to get on east coast time. Plus I had some work to do.

That night and the next day I was just at home. My brother was in town but he had gone into the city to hang out with friends. I went into the city that night after dinner and went straight to the YP’s, where we just chilled, watching Hunger Games again in anticipation of Catching Fire the next night, although we ended up talking over most of it.

I thought I’d have no problem sleeping that night, but it actually took me a long time, and then I was up early. Got probably just a few hours.

We went together to the YP’s office and worked all day, which was fun. For lunch we went with a couple of his coworkers to get “Indian burritos.” They were so good. His coworkers’ orders were taking a long time so we waited outside since some lady’s perfume was giving YP a migraine and I was about to pass out from the heat. We were standing there talking when suddenly I looked up and there was my brother!

“That’s my brother!” I said.

I had posted on FB where I was, and he happened to be in the area. Too funny!

After work, YP and I grabbed dinner at this cute place. The food was good — we both got the curry tofu — although the portions were pretty small.

By then it was raining and windy, but I still preferred to walk rather than take the subway. It wasn’t too long to the theater, about 20 minutes. His sister got there first and snagged us seats.

I kept picturing the theater jam-packed, so I thought it was hilarious when we walked in and it was his sister and one other dude. I guess people were traveling or staying in because of the weather.

We all agreed the movie was SO GOOD. Even better than the first one.

The weather was worse was when we left. We cut through a Whole Foods, where YP picked up a few things and I got a snack — salmon sushi — since I was starving after our meager meal.

Since it was almost 11 on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, people had very full carts AND there were hardly any registers. The couple in front of me drove me crazy. The man insisted on bagging first before swiping his card. Swipe then bag, idiot.

Back at the YP’s, I ate my sushi, he had a PBJ, and we watched The Mindy Project and Brooklyn 99. I had the herbal relaxant my acupuncturist suggested to help with my teeth grinding. During Agents of SHIELD, I promptly lost consciousness and will need to watch it again.

I crashed hard that night. Slept solidly for a good six hours.

Got up early to do some work and then went to meet the ES and SB at 10. We had a late breakfast/early lunch at Pret, and had fun chatting and catching up. Then ES and I caught a bus to the train station and, just in time, caught the 12:07. It was pretty crowded but we each got a seat. At first we weren’t together, but then very quickly her seatmate got up, and then we were. We chit chatted the whole time, and it made the ride go really fast.

That night ES, AY, and I met up for happy hour at this very nice, kinda kooky place. It’s in the middle of a sculpture garden and on the way there, there a lot of giant sculptures along the sides of the road.

We had drinks and a TON of food since the little plates were so cheap, just $2 to $5 each. We talked and talked and talked. Eventually we talked about stuff from 20 years ago, which we always do, but now it makes me feel kinda old. We were three women in our early 40s reminiscing about the 1990s. Good lord. But it was tons of fun.

We stayed until about 10, and I slept hard again.

Did some work this morning, and also managed to get in some revisions for the novel. Yay! The last time I worked on it was November 24, four days ago, and I think I probably barely did anything then.

I was going to write a blog post for work but I don’t know if I will. If I feel like it later, maybe. I need to work on my novel more, and hardly anyone else is working at my company. I had a problem this morning and everyone basically ignored me. *Shrug.*

Right now my brother is cooking Thanksgiving dinner. The novel calls but I also just want to watch a movie.

family / oakland — Comments Off
26
Oct 13

A visit from Mom

Since I moved out to the west coast, I don’t get to see my parents that often. So I was glad when my mom came out for my uncle’s 80th birthday dinner in San Jose.

Although the dinner was the main event, complete with several courses —

— for me it was secondary to my mom’s visit.

We met up on the train, and I took her to my fabulous apartment in Oakland. It was her first time seeing it, and she loved it, as I expected.

Our first night we spent a relaxing night in, eating leftover noodles from my aunt and watching TV. The next day we headed out to Oakland Chinatown.

My mother used to go often when visiting my grandmother in Berkeley, and she still remembered where things were. We had dim sum at a place called Legendary Palace. It was very good:

I had managed to convince my mother to make me dumplings so we found a grocery store and got the ingredients. And, long story short, voila!

Mom thought the wrappers were weird, but to me the dumplings turned out delicious. I ate a million.

Before we knew it, it was time for Mom to fly back to the east coast. I brought her to the airport, and as we said goodbye, she looked sad. But I told her I had fun and she looked happier.

random — 1 comment
08
Sep 13

The Whisper Whisperer, Or What Puts Me to Sleep at Night

The Whisper

To entertain myself during my slightly longer commute, I shelled out three bucks and got the This American Life (TAL) app. I haven’t listened regularly to the show in years so I have a lot to catch up on. Recently I listened to the episode called Tribes.

The whole thing was great, but what I found especially fascinating was the segment called A Tribe Called Rest, which is about ASMR, or autonomous sensory meridian response. People who experience ASMR get a “distinct, pleasurable tingling sensation in the head, scalp, back, or peripheral regions of the body” in response to whispering. Bob Ross (you know, the “happy little tree” guy) is apparently a favorite among whisperer-lovers, as is Maria the towel folder.

The first time I heard of ASMR was when I read this article in xoJane. The author talks about how she watches Maria the towel folder to help her sleep. I don’t usually have trouble sleeping, but when I do, I freak out about it. When I read the article, I was feeling particularly anxious (about my relationship although I didn’t realize it at the time) and was looking for ways, such as meditation, to help me relax.

I watched part of the towel folding video, and found it wasn’t for me. I actually don’t really like the sound of whispering voices. I find them grating. But there are other low sounds that I do like, and until I read about ASMR, I didn’t know why.

For instance, I love the sound of paper being cut. Not just any paper. It has to be thick and firm. Construction paper preferably. And it has to be on TV or the radio. The sound of paper being cut live just isn’t the same.

I don’t get the physical tingling sensation (I only get that from actual physical interaction, like a head massage) but I do get an indescribable feeling of pleasure. It may come from childhood and watching Mr. Rogers cut construction for various projects. Who knows.

While whispered towel-folding instructions or jewelery descriptions don’t do it for me, there are other things that help me relax and which I seek out before bed.

Midsomer Murders. Yup, a murder mystery show helps calm me down. But it’s not like Law & Order or other crime dramas. It’s quirky and light, and I find the British accents very soothing. Doc Martin, a British show set in Cornwall, has a similar vibe: light, quirky, and with a mystery, this one medical, to be solved.

Mushi-Shi. This Japanese anime series falls in the category of animes that are more traditionally Japanese, in other words soft and subtle rather than crazy, loud, and laden with girls and women with impossibly enormous boobs. I’ve seen the series before and am rewatching it. I hardly remember anything — maybe because it made me sleepy the first time around too.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams. When I started watching this, I didn’t know about the soporific effect it would have on me. I had heard it was a great movie by a great director. Who knew that it would make me lose consciousness?

Don’t get me wrong: it’s a beautiful film about a fascinating subject, but between Werner Herzog’s soothing, lightly accented voice (Andrea Seigel, the woman who did the TAL segment, prefers lightly accented voices) and the several long panning shots of the cave drawings, I visited the Land of Nod several times.

I’m always on the lookout for more soothing things to watch. The Planet Earth documentary narrated by Alec Baldwin is pretty good, but I think I’ve seen them all. I remembered recently that I used to love watching documentaries while I lived in China although I barely understood it. Maybe my not understanding the narration was what made it so relaxing. All I heard was the soft tone of the narrator’s voice, murmuring musically as though just for me.

[Photo: CC BY 2.0 by Brian Smithson]

oakland — Comments Off
17
Aug 13

Panic alarm

Where I live in Oakland is considered a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. This explains the goats I’ve seen grazing on nearby hills as well as the sprinklers I have in every room of my apartment.

However, I didn’t know any of this until this week.

For the first several days that I lived here, it got pretty cold at night. So cold I had to turn on the space heater and wrap myself up in a blanket when I watched TV. Then early this week the weather got warmer, and Tuesday night the apartment felt particularly toasty when I came home late from conditioning class.

However, thinking nothing of this, I jumped into the shower.

Then the smoke alarm went off.

When I say “went off,” I mean “screeched incredibly loudly,” as smoke alarms do. Not only that, the other alarms in the apartment went off as well.

At first I thought maybe it was the steam from the shower and tried to wave it away. The alarm stopped after a few seconds, and I thought that was it.

But then it went off again, and again. And again.

My friend who owns the place had told me story of a tenant who made her come to the apartment because the smoke alarms were going off. At the time I thought, What an idiot. Now I was the idiot calling my friend and sending her panicked texts.

The alarms seemed to be going off randomly. I wasn’t cooking, and I didn’t think the steam from my shower could have that much of an affect. I took the battery out of one of them, but then it made that annoying chirping noise. Also I couldn’t get the cover back on properly.

The alarm in the living room was a bigger problem. I have 18-foot tall ceilings, which is lovely, except that there’s no way I can reach the alarm. I started to panic. Would these alarms be going off randomly all night? Why wasn’t my friend answering her phone? What could I do?

I ended up knocking on a neighbor’s door. While she couldn’t really help me, she did have one good suggestion: call the fire department for advice.

So I did. First making sure they knew it wasn’t an emergency, I explained the situation, and told them how desperate I was for help.

The woman said, “We don’t normally send people out for that kind of thing, but you sound nice, so I’ll ask.”

A couple of minutes later, she came back and said that someone could go out there since it wasn’t too busy.

I was relieved at first, but then thought, If the alarms are malfunctioning, they won’t be able to fix them anyway. So I, get this, made a reservation at a hotel in the city. It was pricey but I didn’t care. That was how desperate and panicked I was. Then I called the fire department and told them to cancel sending guys out here.

I got dressed and started to get my stuff together, but I was still upset. I didn’t want to go to a hotel. I wanted to stay home. As I was trying to focus on packing a few things, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to find three burly firemen.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy and embarrassed at the same time.

They asked me a bunch of questions. Was I cooking? Had I turned on the heat? The A/C? Had I taken a hot shower?

The shower! The steam, combined with the warmer than usual temperatures, was indeed the culprit. Because this is a high risk area, they explained, the smoke alarms are super-sensitive and hard-wired together. That means, when one goes off, they all go off, which is how they knew they weren’t malfunctioning.

One of the guys fixed the alarm cover that I couldn’t get back on, and they opened up the porch door and told me to turn on fans and open the windows. I kept apologizing and thanking them.

“Don’t worry,” one of them said. “We’ve seen this before.”

The alarms didn’t go off again that night, and now I’m extremely careful about opening windows and turning on fans whenever I shower or cook.

The firemen were so nice, if I baked, I would bake them something and bring it over. But then I might set of the smoke alarms again.

My friend did get back to me soon after the firemen left and confirmed what they said, and I was even able to cancel my hotel reservation with no penalty, all of which tells me panicking has no negative consequences and I should totally do it again.

[Photo: CC BY 2.0 by Jim Linwood]

moving / oakland — Comments Off
10
Aug 13

The first 10 days

It’s been a whole 10 days since I moved into my new place. Here’s what’s been going down.

Delancey Street Movers

While I was stressed about the move, everything went smoothly. I hired Delancey Street Movers, which had been recommended to me by a few co-workers. The organization is, as the website says, “the country’s leading residential self-help organization for former substance abusers, ex-convicts, homeless and others who have hit bottom.” My co-workers raved about them, saying they were fast and professional.

And they were. There were five guys – a couple sporting neck tattoos, a few missing teeth, but all polite and fun – and one crew leader, and they were awesome. They were extremely thorough, very careful about wrapping up my stuff and at my new place, patient as I hemmed and hawed and changed my mind about where to put furniture. When they were finished, the crew leader encouraged me to spread the word.

“I’ll tweet it,” I said, which for some reason they all found hilarious.

The only snag was the guy I had spoken with on the phone wasn’t clear about the price. He had said $35 per guy but left out “per hour.” He didn’t give me a total, which I should have insisted on. So it was more than I thought it was going to be, but still worth it. There was no way I could have done it myself, they did an excellent job, and it’s a good cause.

Non-disasters

There were a few things I expected to be disasters but weren’t.

Public transportation. Since I was taking public transportation to the new place, I thought it would take me a good hour to get there and that the movers would be waiting around (the crew leader promised me, however, that they’d take me off the clock if I was late). But it only took about 45 minutes. I hopped a cab to the Powell Sttreet BART, then another cab from Rockridge to the place. Once you get on the BART, it’s pretty fast.

The big truck. I was also worried that the movers’ truck wouldn’t fit through the gate at the condo complex, and that they wouldn’t be allowed to drive up the hill due to weight issues. I kept picturing them having to move the furniture from beyond the gate a far distance to my apartment. But they fit through the gate and got up the hill just fine. They parked in front of the garage and brought in stuff that way. I relaxed upstairs and just waited for them. Unloading the furniture was much faster than loading it up, and I was thrilled to see the place come together as they set everything up.

Comcast. Finally, if you remember, I was quite stressed about my cable/internet situation. I kept hearing that trying to move Comcast was a nightmare. That old service got canceled early, that service people never showed up, etc. etc. Still, that Monday I tried moving my service online, only to find that the prior tenants hadn’t yet canceled theirs. Comcast said they would contact them, and also I asked my friend (who owns the condo) to ask them to cancel it.

I assumed that they would never do it and started looking to other options, like MiFi. However, that was much more expensive than I thought. At the same time, I got thisclose to buying a device and signing up for a plan, until I decided to wait one night and see what happened.

I’m so glad I did because the next day, my move day, I took a chance and called Comcast. It turned out the prior tenants had canceled their account by then, and that since the apartment was already set up with Comcast, all I had to do was hook everything up and call an activation number.

And lo and behold, it worked. My internet was immediately available. I was confused at first about the cable. Turned out I couldn’t activate it until it was actually wired up, which I couldn’t do because I neglected to take a cable wire with me. Dehr.

Luckily I had taken the next day off so I was able to pick up what I needed, and after I hooked it up, it worked. Hallelujah!

A breather

I had taken an extra day off just in case, and I was so glad I did. I went into the city early and picked up a couple of hair care products I had left in the medicine cabinet and to drop my keys off with the management company. Then I had the whole day to have a leisurely breakfast and pick up a few things (like the cable wire).

And you know what else I did? I saw a movie. Star Trek into Darkness. It was SO GOOD, and the best reprieve to several stressful days.

The commute

Since commuting for a week, I’ve come to find that it’s really not bad – that is, if everything goes as it should. If there’s no Bay Bridge traffic and CalTrain is running normally, it’s actually quite nice. It’s a one minute walk to the bus, which is one of those nicer ones with soft seats. I listen to NPR and stare out at the water, and in about 30 minutes we’re in the city.

Then it’s a less than 20 minute walk on the Embarcadero. I’ve already fallen in love with that walk. It’s peaceful, the sidewalks are nice and wide, and it’s right next to the water. I usually manage to catch th 8:19 train, which is less than 30 minutes.

But if something goes wrong, everything goes wrong. On Monday a big rig caught on fire on the Bay Bridge, and that 30 minute bus ride became more than an hour. Thursday night the CalTrain hit a car (only minor injuries) and there were delays of over an hour. A co-worker and I split a cab to Millbrae, where the BART is, but I had long missed my bus and had to take a cab from the BART to my place.

So when things go well, it’s pleasant. When things go bad, they go really badly.

Oh well. I’ll survive.

The apartment

What helps is that the apartment itself is so nice. It’s way bigger than my old place and has tons of storage space. In fact even more than I need. Plus it’s in much better condition, so quiet I haven’t worn earplugs at all since I moved in, and you can’t beat the view.

moving / san francisco — Comments Off
27
Jul 13

Moving Stress

As some of you may know, I’m moving to Oakland. This Wednesday. Eek.

The truth is I’d rather stay in San Francisco, specifically my area. So many things are walking distance – Whole Foods, three small grocery stores, a million restaurants, Union Square, Japantown, the movie theater, my gym, my krav maga place. There are lots of buses, and while the 1.8 miles to the CalTrain is a bit of a schlep, I’ve grown to enjoy it.

But all of that means something else: high rent.

If you haven’t heard, rent in San Francisco has gone bonkers. The median price of a one-bedroom in my area is over $2,700. My rent is lower than that, but not by much and I have a feeling for not much longer. We just got a notice in the mail that the management company wants to do a lot of repairs on the building, which is good, but that means even higher rent. And because of tenants’ rights in SF, I know mine is the highest in the building.

Back in 2009, I looked at a beautiful one-bedroom in Russian Hill for $1,900. The same place is probably over $3,000 now, and $1,900 will get you a shitty studio. I know: I’ve looked. Having lived in one-bedrooms for years, I can’t bring myself to live in a studio or have a roommate. (NO WAY.) Hence, the move to Oakland.

Originally, the idea was for me to get to know the East Bay to see if I wanted to buy a place there. However, that’s been put on hold and I’m tremendously relieved. My parents would rather take their time fixing up their house before selling, and I, quite frankly, don’t feel like buying anything. So that makes the idea of moving Oakland even harder, what with a longer commute and living in a location that is, while beautiful, not so conveniently located if you don’t have a car.

Teaches me to make decisions right after a break-up.

I realize It could be that I’m just stressed about the move itself and once that’s done, the commute and other stuff won’t be that big of a deal. But part of me wonders if I shouldn’t have gotten a place near my job. The rent is cheaper and getting to work would be a breeze. On the other hand, the places don’t seem as nice as my new one in Oakland. Ditto the $3,000 and under SF one-bedrooms that I looked at on Craigslist out of curiosity. In fact, they seemed shitty and definitely not worth over $2,000.

So all of that makes me feel better about my new apartment. Other upsides include very affordable rent and a really pretty place that is bigger than my current one, in much better condition, and with lots more storage space. It’s also quieter – the apartments are carpeted and I’m on the top floor so now more Frankenstein neighbors walking around in their shoes on hardwood – and has a gorgeous view with a little deck that can fit a small table and chairs. I love imagining waking up in the morning and gazing out at rolling green hills and having my coffee and breakfast outside.

Okay, I just convinced myself. Now here’s hoping switching over Comcast will be half as easy.

[Photo: “Stress,” CC BY 2.0 by Bernard Goldbach]

Angela Tung Oversharing on the internet since 2005.