Sometimes I dream of automobiles...

It was a completely exhausting weekend, capped off with a really nice celebration at the Fort Mason meadow for my birthday.

But the birthday story will have to come later. First I want to tell you about Saturday. Saturday was one of those days that I would have given anything to have a car. A day that public transportation was the very bane of my existence. A day that took me 6 hours to complete two tasks where in the normal world - the world of automobiles - it would have taken me 2. Or something like that.

I started the day off at the Farmer's Market - arriving around 11:30. I figured I could wrap it up by 12:15 or so and get back home before leaving to get to my haircut at 1:30. Two hours is plenty of time, right? WRONG! On a sunny Saturday in San Francisco, at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market, it most definitely is not enough time. I did finish up my shopping around 12:15 but realized that every tourist and their mother and their grandmother was out and about and trying to catch the F-line. By the time the F-train gets to the Ferry building, it's usually packed even on regular days. When I saw the crowd of 50 people just waiting for the F-train to come, I knew I was screwed. There was no possible way for me to go home before going to the hair appointment. So, I decided to just go straight to the haircut, lugging the two loaded bags of produce all the way. I headed the other direction on the F, down Market Street. Just a little side-note, if you ever come to San Francisco to visit, at noon on a Saturday, every other tourist is trying to catch the F-train from downtown to Fisherman's Wharf. Avoid this route at ALL COSTS.

At this point, I was really kind of worried about getting to the hair salon too early - I figured I just had to ride the F to 47 and I would be there by 1:00. No, no - there was no need to worry. By the time I got on the F, it was already 12:30 and didn't get to my next stop until 1:00. 30 minutes just to go down Market St. Then, by the time the 47 came, I was starting to get worried that I wouldn't get to the salon by 1:30. I finally walked in to the busy Academy of Esthetics at 1:25 - right on time - with my two full bags of produce. When I asked the front desk lady if I could leave the bags behind the front desk, she looked at me like I was crazy and hemmed and hawed for awhile, saying, "Well, it's really not very secure back here..." Yes, because I'm extremely worried that someone might take off with my priceless leeks and strawberries. Good call. So I finally just told her that I'd just take them to the haircutting chair with me. Unfortunately, I had a really strong smelling red onion in my bag that was really stinking the place up. Everyone who walked by me sneezed.

The haircut went really well - the girl I got was nice and overall was more competent than the last person I was with. The haircut only took 2 hours this time. Although, now that I think about it, I had a lot less hair this time... The girls are so timid - they're so afraid of cutting off too much. I finally had to just tell the girl that I'd rather have her cut off too much than not enough. Atleast if you cut it too short, it will grow out. If you don't cut it short enough, I have to pay more money and come again right away. So after I said that, she was much more aggressive and I came away with just what I wanted. Yay! So by the time I finished, it was 3:30. We were going to a party at 6:00 in Oakland, and I still needed to get to Trader Joe's to pick up some groceries to make a dip.

The 47 picked me up at 4:00 and I didn't walk into my door until 4:50. I had to admit that the dip just wasn't going to get made, and I would just have to buy something pre-made. I had just enough time to fix the "styling" that the haircut lady did and rush out the door to go to Trader Joe's and try to get out to Neil's studio by 5:45 to catch our ride over to Oakland.

So for a full day of efforts, I got two things accomplished - Farmer's Market and haircut. It's just so frustrating sometimes when you know you could get somewhere in 10 minutes, and it takes 50. Bah! Plus, I actually did a complete circle around the core of San Francisco. I went East towards Fisherman's Wharf, South towards the Ferry building, West down Market St., and the North again up Van Ness back to my house. A perfect square.

Oh well, I guess I should be happy that public transportation exists to get me to two places in one day. Or something like that.

Time for bed - Neil and I are heading off to work together tomorrow morning. He starts his first day helping out in the membership department. I'll have to pack us each little matching lunches and we can ride the bus together. :) It will be interesting - we've never worked in such close proximity before... Can we stand each other for an entire day? :)