Sparkwood & 21

Urban Combat Training

I am back in the city that fits.

But this time I come to it with fourteen months of urban combat training under my belt.

Before San Francisco used to feel majestic and overwhelming. Now it feels majestic and ready to bend to my will.

The Divide. It's Getting Blurry.

I think it was the second day I'd been in the Bay Area that the difference really hit home. Kevin and I went to Safeway on Solano Avenue in Albany to buy groceries for our food-free new place (after sustaining ourselves on truly novel Popeye's fried shrimp the first night). It was the first trip for either or us to anything known as a Safeway.

It was like Kroger, but it wasn't. Because the prices were all wrong.

$4.50 for a box of Morningstar fake sausage. Milk for upwards of five bucks. You had to have a Club Card to get the reduced prices, but as it was the first trip, there was no card in my wallet. And I was afraid the cash in there might soon not be there as well.

I felt defeated. Even simple things like marinara sauce in a glass jar was 30% more than what I expected to pay. Reality was settling over me like a heavy, dank blanket.

I no longer flinch at $4.50 for a box of fake meats. I've got my Club Card, and know where to find cheap produce at a farmer's market or Mexican grocery, coupled with bargain buys from Trader Joe's.

I guess I am saying that feels like a really long time ago. And like yesterday.

On Weight and Place: Some Advice Needed

I want to write here about how much weight I've lost since moving, but I am scared. Talking about weight is tricky and it is a very sensitive topic. I'd like to focus on the different environmental reasons for this drop in weight, and how it is by virtue of having moved that the pounds came off. There are many reasons for the weight loss, but all of them have to do with being in an area that is conducive to being fit and healthy.

I'd like to talk about how people in the Midwest or the South, who are often more overweight than those in other regions, aren't lazy or dumb or conditioned by families to be fat. It's almost impossible not to be overweight, or at least unhealthy, in some places.

Anyway, I'm scared to. I don't want to come across as bragging, being insensitive or any of that. But my clothes keep not fitting, and it's something I think about a lot.

I'd love to explore that here, but I wonder how it will be received.

How do you think it will go over?

Reverse Culture Shock

I'm gonna be going back home for a week's visit in either July or August, and after reading this note from a Bay Area friend, I kinda can't wait for the reverse culture shock:

You're still new here, but after a while you forget what life outside of CA is like. You go back home and visit fam & friends and wonder WHY everyone there is wearing chinos & polo shirts and why isn't it appropriate to talk about dildos and butt plugs in a coffee shop? Hey, how come talking about the girl who has two mommies is a conversation-ender? And hey, how come I can't buy booze on Sunday? It creeps up on you.

Like I said, can't wait. I imagine going back will be almost as weird as coming out here in the first place.