My Protanoptic Life

Ten days left until I’m on my way to the airport.

Yesterday my replacement at work started his job. He fell right into step, so that’s good as I don’t want to leave my co-workers in a tough spot with IT support issues.

On my lunch break I had my last dental appointment before my trip. Nothing special there, but medical things are important to handle before leaving because not only will I be in some questionable spots as far as medical support is concerned, I will also not have medical coverage since I am leaving my job and all of its benefits behind. Goodbye free dental care. Goodbye $5 immunization shots. Goodbye 401k.

After work I headed up to SF to hang out with Shannon, but she was gone by the time I got there. She was in from out of town and left early for some reason. Such is the nature of the traveler; we have to enjoy their company when they are present.

I ended up going to dinner with Donna, Lily and Allison at a great Italian place near Allison’s place up in North Beach, Sodini’s. I have to say, their lasagna was on par with that of The Stinking Rose. It was good to catch up with Allison since she’s leaving SF this Friday to move back to SoCal. When we were done the weather had turned from chilly to really really cold wind and fog, which is weird since it was 90º on Sunday. Donna and I headed back to 4211 where Brianna was nursing a boil burn on her leg and making some kind of Mexican dinner with Terresina. Somehow I drifted off to sleep on the couch, waking up several times during the night as people came and went, and woke to a foggy, wet Ocean Beach.

2 miles south in Daly City the fog was so thick you couldn’t see more than 100 feet ahead.

3 miles south in Colma the sun was out and it was warm.

50 miles south in Cupertino I arrived at the office under an overcast sky. 8 more days of work.

*sigh* I forgot some paperwork at the office that I need in order to get my Visas for Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. It’s funny how my mind works, I get so much good thinking done when I should be in deep sleep. And by “funny” I mean “kinda lame.” Anyhow, I nearly startled awake on the couch at 4211 #1 this morning with the realization that I’d forgotten this folder that I’m keeping all of my Asia documents in, and with that as my number one priority for the day I got in my car and started driving straight to the coffee shop. Then I drove straight to the office, 50 miles away, with DJ Tiesto – In Search of Sunrise in the speakers. Life is always better with a soundtrack.

When I got to the office there was a woman standing with her baby in the center of the road into the parking lot of my office building. This reminded me of something that has struck me lately… I’ve noticed that the people who live in the new condos they build next door have what I would consider to be a very miserable existence concerning their neighborhood. I see people walking their dogs and taking their babies out for strolls through our parking lot, which amazes me because there’s a beautiful field in the exact opposite direction. (And I mean beautiful in respect to what you tend to find in the middle of a populated metroplex. Untended with small animal wildlife doing their small wild animal things.) The area has been under construction for the last 4 years. The mall next door has been going out of business for longer than I’ve lived in the Bay Area. Even just the other day a woman I met on the street who just arrived from Taiwan and was lost told me she went into the mall and thought it was closed because almost nobody was inside. Even though there is some beauty to be found around here it seems so odd or incomplete or mismatched, seeing somebody raise their family around that same poorly engineered, crummy parking lot in an eternal construction zone on the corner of a freeway exit at one of the most accident prone intersections in the South Bay. I just don’t understand that.

We all have our likes and dislikes, and who knows? Maybe they like just having a place to call their own. As for me, I’m out. Just 2 weeks until I’m sitting in Saigon discovering other ways of life that I don’t understand.