Friday, we went to Kaiser in Geary Boulevard for his surgery. All went well and we were glad it was over. It was nothing serious, just a minor stuff that was excised from his right arm.
There, at the lobby on the second floor, I waited for him to return. While he was gone, I was obessively writing down my thoughts to cast away the worries that was embracing me like a ghost. I used my Treo phone to write my entry.
HE AND I
Last Friday as well, we had two bottles of beer each at the cafe along Grant, right across the Washington Square. It was nice, the afternoon was lovely. We were outside sipping our beer, facing the road where the bus stop is. Bus number 45 stops there and we are happy to note that. At least now we know we need not walk that far along Stockton to get to downtown bus. Sitting there at the outdoor cafe, I felt like a vagabond watching the people walked by. 
We decided to hang around at this bistro for a while after we dropped off our van at the paid parking lot nearby. This is just a block away from this joint. We pay a monthly parking fee of $350.00 which is quite a sum for a parking space as a matter of fact.
REMINISCENT OF THINGS PAST
While chatting with moi husband, in the process of our conversation, it dawned on me that this was the exact place we spent our Valentine's dinner last year at this bistro (I can't recall its name). It was about that time of our life when we were falling in love immensely with San Francisco. We saw the park right across us then and thought of how nice it would be to live here all days of our lives. But can we afford? May be. We have some rentals in the suburbs, his work is good and pays well. I don't work but my career is making our life worth living for.
Back then we discovered the beauty of this place called Little Italy a.k.a. North Beach. . Each time we were here for a visit, we loved it. So the thought of living in this locality crossed our minds more than a million times may be; it made us dream, mesmerized, and be hopeful on the possibility of relocating here(despite our frustrations during our early days here in finding an apartment that suits our taste and life stye). Cost of rental in San Francisco is astronomical as you must know.
Our flat is wonderful in its simplest structure on the day we found it. As a homemaker, I immediately saw the possibilities and improvements I could do to make it even better as it is. At once, my mind was reeling with wondrous ideas on what to add unto it to make it more of a "home" than merely a house or a flat. Husband was twice as happy as I was with the idea so we agreed to sign the contract. When we arrived here, we were ready and had our checkbook with us. We expressed our interest and the Chinese landlord likewise was delighted with our desire to rent his place. He was satisfied with our credit score. The paper work was done fast and easy. No impediments whatsoever awaited us and we could only sigh with relief. Quite unexpectedly, we thought, too, was our luck that we found our turf at a time when we least expected it. To be in attendance for an open house in San Francisco is all a matter of chance. Call us lucky, I think we were.
WHERE TO GO FROM OUR END
Finding an apartment in North Beach is hard. There is the appointment time to consider and yes, there is the advertisement daily at craigslist.com that you can check out. It is tough though because this is not your typical suburban location where landlords wait for your coming at a time most convenient for you. San Francisco is so cosmopolitan and a favorite place for most people from cross-cultural groups. Thus, apartment owners and real estate brokers are snobbish and picky. And because of the ecclectic character the city with its intriguing financial district, tourist destination and multi-faceted stream of European culture in North Beach, it is a prime choice for most individuals. Any available flat for rent becomes quite in demand and has tons of applicants awaiting to be selected to rent the place. Forget about buying a flat here. It may cost you a good $1M to buy one tiny beat a'la NYC apartments. It's not practical. Moreover, in San Francisco, viewing time of apartments is done on a "first come first served basis." Imagine that. The competition is tough. The market is sizzling hot and there is no room for turtles or slow foot. They may not find one if they elect to be slow. I remember, one time we drove all the way from Ripon ( 2 1/2 hours drive to SFO) only to find out the open house was canceled impromptu. Ouch! It hurt. And this was on a weekday. We had to find a parking space (the cost for this is relatively high); we had to walk uphill and downhill and this made my heart to dum in syncopated beat. Another experience we had was this- after our long drive the next time we came here, upon reaching the apartment building, we were told the flat we wanted to see was already taken. The estate broker could have called us at least so we did not waste our time and space. But that is the trend here. Consider this a deal breaker.
WANTED: APARTMENT FOR RENT
Oddly enough, one Satuday morning in June 2006, we found our homeplace at last. We fell in love with it, the first time we set our eyes on it. It is nothing great or big not the Victorian type we both have dreamed about (nothing was available at that time). What we were hoping to rent in Nob Hill (this is not North Beach) was not available. We were destined to be in North Beach, lol. So we ended up here which turned out to be great. In North Beach, everything is here: strategic location close to everything~ marketplace (Chinatown), church (Saints Peter and Paul), park (Washington Square), tourist destination (Fisherman's Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, Pier 39, Financial District), movie theatres and access to public transport. Our place is small but cute, practical and functional. The alley where it stands is quiet and peaceful. It is in the vicinity where cafes and bistros thrive. My favorite spot is our veranda which is the bonus in finding this place. This is all so important to me since I love gardening. To see the green around me makes me come alive~ although I have strong allergies to pollen. Most plants, flowers and grass give me skin rashes and irritation. I also have allergic cough but I can deal with all these so long as the plants are kept at distance, I am fine. When I am near them, I start to sneeze, then I get itchy all over my face, eyes, nose and ears. Apart from this contaminant (laughs) ours is the perfect place to live! Looking back, all seemed remote with us being able to relocate here easily because of the circumstances that prevailed. But these days we just laugh it off. Daily, we wake up with a ray of sunshine in our hearts knowing we deserve to live here. Our place, our city neighborhood is so remarkable that it is visited by tourists from around the globe.
FRIDAY
After we hit the pizza parlor, we went home and changed clothing; moved on for another walking galore at our favorite jazz joint in the area: THE CONDOR CLUB.
Here, we had two sets of anti-pasto. His was a green salad sprinkled with chunks of blue cheese; mine was this southern sausage fried crisp and filled with overcooked brown rice, made with some spice that tasted like cat shit. CONDOR is a hit for the music lovers of jazz so forget about the food. I never liked the food here. The drinks are fine, by the way. I had my usual London dry gin and tonic. Husband on the other hand did not order any alcohol drinks. He just filled his tank with water which was good. He had several glasses of beer earlier.
CONDOR CLUB
As usual, we were the icebreaker as a couple who danced freely at the dance floor. We celebrate life so we have no sense of stage fright whatsoever.
SEX TOYS
We hit the red light district on Broadway and visited some sex shops; saw quite a bit of funny vibrators in different colors, sizes and textures. We were truly amused with the novely items for sale there from key chains to party props, lolicocks, and a million more stuff. We landed as well at the former bookstore we once visited last year and it has now been converted into the BEATNIK MUSEUM. From this point on, we decided to head home.
THE WALK
The weather was nice outside. You would not believe it's winter as it almost felt like spring. We love it, indeed, so we walked aimlessly at first then decided to follow the roads leading to our place. Once home, we raised going upstairs as we always do like kids do. Afraid to be tickled in my behind, I always run as fast as I could and he always gives me that chance to win this game. I love the man.
HOME
We went to sleep at a time unknown to both of us. We woke up this morning, smiling at about our date last night. We have not done that for a while since the advent of winter this year. In bed, we talked about our weight gain and the changing shapes of our anatomy. We are growing older as fast as those raindrops in the summer. We are all right with this but desired to walk again regularly for health reasons and for the sheer fun of doing it. We may not be spring chickens anymore but we sure know how to walk with gladness in our hearts.
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