Ok so three things on top don't really equal a fruity hat
When I did my internship in San Francisco last summer, well the Bay Area actually, down in the peninsula at EA he recited that familiar lyric to me and told me not to leave my heart in San Francisco. I call him Dad Dad, and Dad Dad called it because he is a west fanatic. I guess I take after him and so, upon graduating from my masters degree I have moved back to the Bay Area to head back to EA to start a career (the word career sounds so early nineties for some reason to me) in the games industry. My job should be a challenge, never boring, and creative and so I am psyched to say the least.
The move here, however, was an experience. I had to pack my car so full I couldn’t see out the back or the sides and stuffed in the mess was my pet snake. Originally named Slithers by his first owners, I slapped on “Mr.” to the front so it would sound like the Simpson’s character. Mr. Slithers hasn’t gone on many road trips before. As soon as I carried his terrarium into the car he was totally confused. The sun in Tempe was super bright, so I covered his cage with old t-shirts that I serendipitously forgot to throw out at the Goodwill donation kiosk. Mr. Slithers didn’t get a sunburn but I did. Go figure. Mr. Slithers was packed in there so tightly though, that even the check point guys at the California state line (normally not there but I suppose working because of swine flu) didn’t seem to notice the snake when I agreed with their question-statement of “oh Idaho, that is far, congrats on moving to California, no plants or animals in there, ma’am..?”. I simply said “no”.
My trip took two days, and had an unfortunate late start on the first day. Arrival to LA wasn’t until around 11 pm and my buddy Chloe waited until then for me to arrive at her house. Thankfully she still took the time to chat and catch up and told me all about her life in LA after grad school. The next morning we caught breakfast with another friend of mine in LA at a cute diner.
The drive to San Francisco included two pit stops with “urination prohibited” gas stations. The first one just didn’t have one, the second one was missing its key. So FYI if you are driving up the 101 from LA, be forewarned, the gas stations are tiny and they would rather you pee in their soda fridge than in a toilet. As my friend Sharon would say, “frown.”
Although lacking in pissable gas stations, the 101 has some beautiful rest stops. I stopped at one and shot a picture of my “carmen miranda” car. I call it that because it just felt so packed to the brim and was so un-aerodynamic that I felt like I was driving one of her giant hats on wheels.
And so I finally made it to San Francisco, I drove my carmen-miranda-car up the traffic laden 19th ave through the Sunset to my new place at 25th and Balboa in the central Richmond. Hooray. Today I headed down to San Mateo for Maker Faire and saw my now ex-roommate who coincidentally made it to SF before I did since she works for O’Reilly media. You may know her, she is Bekathwia on Twitter and of course on the Make and Craft blogs and does a regular video pod cast as well. Additionally my friend Matt showed his Power Glove 20th Anniversary addition, also completely awesome. Below is a video of an LED tower that will go outside London School of Economics, on display at Maker Faire. It is sideways to see how the words go through, unfortunately they are upside-down. I left my buddies at Maker Faire who will return to the Valley of the Sun without me feeling a little sad, but my internet addiction will sure do everything but prevent us from keeping in touch and they very well know they have a couch here no matter what (and everyone else too).
Maker Faire from Sarah Hatton on Vimeo.
So with Maker Faire done visited by me, tomorrow starts a new day, a new job, a new life. Holy hell that sounds really cheesy but I assure you I did get the occasional chill (and sometimes sick chill) of freedom as I drove up through the People’s Republic of California (where hopefully my 98 Jeep passes emissions test) listening to the awesome playlist my professor Alice made me and the awesome gigs of music my friend Andrew gave me on the iPod my brother lent me for the trip. I owe them a lot. Thanks guys, you saved the day!
In summary, yes, I guess I left my hear in San Francisco, and I had to drive through pissless gas stations with my carmen-miranda-truck with snake “illegally” in the back, but I think it is going to be worth it. I know this because I am sitting in a coffee shop with two high school girls working with their tutor on writing and drawing projects for World History (I think). Their homework somehow involves the need for a Wacom tablet. They hiked it over to the coffee shop to work on their drawings and diagrams for their paper! What a great place to be in.
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