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I have been getting back to my “roots”.  It is freaking awesome.  I am so grateful to be getting back into the middle of the boat.

I knew, I have known and not wanted to admit it either, for a while now that I have been isolating up here in my little Nob Hill perch.  I have missed the Mission.  Whether or not the Mission has missed me, that’s debateable.  The Mission has been moving and shaking since I moved to San Francisco.

I remember talking with some one about their favorite taqueria when I moved here and he said, please don’t tell any one that it’s in the Mission.  It’s starting to get over run.  It’s our little secret.  I don’t think I did tell any one about El Farolito at that time and suffice to say, I’m sure that it was not the only draw of the Mission.  But the area has blown up.

There are tourists now.  When I first came to the city, as a tourist I got off the BART at Mission and 16th determined to locate myself and meander over to Noe Valley where a friend was living at the time.  I made it all of one block before I hopped into a cab.  I was freaked the fuck out.

Now, 16th and Mission is still freaky, there’s still plenty of drugs, guns, gangs, sex, and violence.

There are also boutique clothing stores, card shops, sushi restaurants, and skate shops.  Bike shops, donut shops, pastry shops, candy shops.  You name it, there’s a shop.  Muddy Waters used to be the place to go to get coffee.  Or shoot up, ya know.

Now it seems like there’s an upscale coffee-house on every corner.  There’s a boutique cheese shop and a yarn store.

I don’t dislike the Mission for becoming gentrified.  But it does cause me a chuckle when I walk past a new condo development at 18th and Valencia corridor with stroller parking in the lobby.  My friend Eric lived across the street and down an alley on San Carlos that was notorious for heroin and there were frequently hookers taking shits in his door way.

I like that there is so much hustle and bustle.  It was undeniably overwhelming to me last week as I transitioned from the barrens of China Basin/Mission Bay, but I am getting used to it and it is really nice to be in the mix of people.

I am also getting the hang of my job more and more.  There is still so much to learn, I will be building the frame-work for a while yet, but I can tell the foundation is getting poured, and although not yet set, it will be firm and I will have a strong base to build on.

My boss said I must be tired tonight when I was packing up to go.  And he’s right I have been tired when I get done, flat-out exhausted most days.  Most days, sheesh, I sound like I’ve been there more than five days, I’ve just been there five days, and one of those was a half day, so I am yet to be an old pro at this.  I am tired.  Using my brain so much makes for a sleepy girl.  Luckily I have gotten to sleep in a little bit.

I was going to beat myself up for not getting right on a writing schedule (in addition to what I already do with the blog and my morning pages) but I said, nah, give yourself a little time to adjust before trying to add something else in.  I’m just starting to get my morning routine down.  Which I find funny as it will change and change dramatically in a few weeks.  I will be moved out of here and transitioning to a new schedule at work.  I will be going to work at 9a.m. versus 11 a.m.

I will also be living elsewhere.

And I was offered a place for the week I”m displaced in the beginning of December!  Thanks Tanya and Coco!  I will be able to stay with them for that week and so can the cats, very grateful for that, super grateful for that, beyond the moon.  Of course, December will be a little chaotic as I move not once but twice and then again in January.  But I am being taken care of and I know that when stuff like this happens it is because the perfect space is being created just for me and my situation.

I will need a place for January and the place will be there.  I will be able to move into it with all damage deposits ready to rock and roll and it will be within my price range.  I just know it.  Everything is happening exactly the way it is supposed to.

Plus, a nice perk here at the current home front–heat!  I came home tonight to a warm house.  A lovely, warm domicile.  I am thrilled beyond words.  I am warm.  Toasty, cozy, and content.  I left the radiator open in the case it magically would turn on, and it did not for two days, and then I forgot to turn it off, I think I was hoping that it would come on, and voila, it did!

Scrumptious.  No more goose bumps while I sit writing my blog.  No more scarves.  Oh, I’m still rocking the slippers, slippers should be rocked.  I don’t care about looking cool in my home.  Well, I like to look cute, what is that anyhow?  Not like I’m expecting some one to pop over for a cup of sugar and admire my cute slippers.

They are cute, though if you’re ever in the neighborhood.

You have exactly 22 days left to admire them in their current location.

But I don’t keep sugar in the house, so come up with a better excuse than that to drop by.

Tags: coffee, drugs, Noe Valley, postaday, sex, The Mission, tourist