Saturday, August 30, 2014

A Tale of Three Cities

If you want a recipe for sore knees and ankles, exhaustion, a headache and a little heartache, I have a great one. It’s called: Trying to Find an Apartment in the Bay Area on Short Notice. I actually don’t recommend this recipe to anyone. 

My boyfriend and I drove to San Francisco last Friday. We arrived and went to his new workplace so that he could sign his contract. Then we were immediately off to an apartment showing. 

We spent most of Saturday, Sunday, and Monday looking for a place. We traveled back and forth between San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley. We walked uphill and downhill scouting neighborhoods. We struggled to find parking. 

I had never been to an apartment showing where I wasn’t the only person looking at the place. All but one showing had multiple people. There were sometimes up to 30 other people. It was crazy. We thought we were prepared, having printed out credit reports/scores, copied driver’s licenses, gotten a letter of recommendation from Caltech housing, etc. But boy were we wrong. Trying to fill out rental applications was painstaking and time consuming. There was quite a lot of information that we just hadn’t thought of bringing. Thank goodness for smartphones. 

It’s incredible how many expensive apartments there are that I would never consider living in. I’ve never seen such funky places for rent. Apartments tucked up under the eaves where anyone taller than me would have to duck in certain parts of the room. Apartments with transparent-glass bedroom windows. Apartments with curtains instead of doors.  It’s amazing we found anything in the end. 

I absolutely fell in love with an incredible two bedroom apartment on the top of Twin Peaks. It had everything we wanted and more. It was spacious, had extra storage, a garage space, and amazing views. What it didn’t have was accessibility to the rest of the city.

The Twin Peaks apartment is in the row of apartments in the foreground 
 Fortunately, we found an apartment in Rockridge (Oakland) that seemed like a dream come true when we walked in. Decent sized one bedroom, carport space, a balcony, laundry on site, easy access to BART, and tons of restaurants and shopping within a couple minutes of walking. Some downsides include a badly patched hole in the bedroom door, a torn screen door, and some peeling cabinets. It’s not an amazing apartment by any means, but the location is terrific. We told the agent immediately that we’d take it. And fortunately we were the only people at the showing.

Our new apartment is on the right on the second floor
 We filled out the rental application and rushed over to the rental office only to discover that we’d need a cosigner. Since neither of us has been employed for at least a year at the jobs we’ll have when we move, they require a cosigner. They would not accept Tom’s offer letter from his new job stating his income. They would not accept a check for six month’s rent. All I could think was WTF?! I’m a grown woman, who until recently had a very good job. I have a bunch of money in savings. I haven’t had a cosigner since college. Bleck. 

First, we tried to have my brother (who was coincidentally in Oakland for the day) cosign for us and we dragged him to a notary to fill out the paperwork. Then it turned out that our cosigner had to own property. So we wound up staying for half of the day on Tuesday to meet up with my boyfriend’s mom in San Rafael so she could cosign for us. She totally saved us and we got the apartment in the end. 

Between Wednesday morning and this afternoon (Saturday), we’ve managed to contract movers, go wait at the DMV to change our address so we can get parking permits when we arrive in Oakland, say goodbye to most of our friends, and pack almost all of our apartment. 

We have one more day to finish up packing and then the movers arrive on Monday morning. After that we are off to Oakland! 

What I’m reading: I’ve hardly had a minute to read, but I’ve been focusing on finishing Private Life. I’m almost done with it. The Thorn Birds is still being neglected, but I’ll soon have time to finish it as well.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

A Whole New World

Today was the first day of school and of course I wasn't there. I expected to feel a little remorseful about my leave of absence, but all I felt was relief. I was also expecting to sleep last night without anxiety, but that did not happen. Instead, I lay awake for a long time stressing out. I was not stressing out about the first day of school like normal. Rather, I lay awake wondering which job my boyfriend was going to pick once he concluded negotiations. The final offer arrived via email this morning. We spent a few anxious hours debating the finer points of living in San Francisco versus Seattle. In the end we both chose San Francisco. Financially this wasn't the best choice, but I think overall we will both be much happier living there.

Now the real fun begins: trying to find an apartment in San Francisco that is both affordable and adequate before the end of the month! We are going to drive up tomorrow to start looking. My boyfriend has been obsessively scouring Craigslist for a while now, so that is helpful. But trying to find a place in the next 10 days seems daunting. Fingers crossed we find something quickly.
I'll be able to walk/ride BART/Muni to Bay to Breakers!!
 In the midst of this great upheaval, I've been working on editing and revising a story that I’d like to send to an agent soon. It’s pretty amazing how much easier it is to cut down on words after you've put a story away for a while. I know that everyone recommends this, but there are lots of things that people recommend that in practice seem less true. I was able to cut out about 150 words without even trying too hard. I've also asked a few people to read the story out loud. This is actually very interesting to listen to and I was quite pleased with the result. I think I wrote it in such a way that people are reading it the way I imagined. Now I’m working on some more revising and then I’m going to send it to a few writing friends for their feedback.

I've also been climbing more which has been great. I've still only gone to the gym, but I’m already starting to see progress. On my first day back bouldering I was only able to manage climbing a few V0s (the grade scale starts at V0 and goes up to V16). When I went to the gym a few days ago I was able to flash (climb on the first try) two V2s and a V3. I was pretty excited. My arm/shoulder was also quite sore afterwards, but I’m feeling better now. I’ll need to start hangboarding soon to build up my finger strength and of course I need to continue with my weight lifting.

What I’m reading: I finished The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear. This book was well written and a nice piece of historical fiction. But it just never sang to me. I've actually been enjoying part four of Private Life although it’s been making me sad because the main character seems to realize how unrewarding her life has been. I’m now about a third of the way through The Thorn Birds. It’s quite good and reminds me of the saga In the Land of the Long White Cloud by Sarah Lark. There are many parallels between her books and The Thorn Birds.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Fun in the Sun

The last five weeks have been a whirlwind of activity for me. It started out with a trip to the Bay Area to visit my brother and some dear old friends. I ate way too much food, went to Seabright beach in Santa Cruz, hiked at Wilder Ranch, shopped on Pacific Avenue, and attended a first birthday party.
Me and Heather at Wilder Ranch
 When I got home from my trip, my boyfriend’s mom had arrived for a visit. We spent a lot of time hanging out and eating delicious food. One afternoon we went on a tour of the Gamble House. It’s an amazing house built by the famous architect brothers, Greene and Greene, who built craftsman style homes right after the turn of the century. The quality of the workmanship was pretty stunning. I fell in love with the kitchen, which was gigantic. It’s hard to imagine living in a house like that. I would constantly feel like I was going to ruin something priceless.
 
Me, Goofy, and Annie (holding her first book,
The Quest of the Golden Python)
Then my BFF from high school came out from Texas for a quick visit. We went to Disneyland on the first day and then to the beach on the second day. Our trip to Disneyland was the shortest I’ve ever been on. I think we lasted six hours. It was really hot and the park was super crowded. But it was fun going to Disneyland together again. Our senior class trip was to Disneyland so it had been quite a while since we had gone together.

After my BFF left, I had a few days to rest and then I was off to the SCBWI conference. And then my boyfriend’s stepmom and little sister came to visit from Vermont. We ventured to the beach, went shopping, ate a lot of ice cream, and cooked a bunch of delicious dinners. It’s been a few years since we’d seen them so there was a lot of catching up to do.

I’ve noticed a common theme running through the summer—eating! It is one of my favorite things to do, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised.

Overall, I’ve had a great summer. But sadly, in the next few weeks I need to transition out of summer mode and back to the real world.


What I’m reading: I’m still working on The Care and Management of Lies (which I need to hurry up and finish since it’s a Kindle library loan) and Private Life. I like Private Life more now because I think I understand why the author has focused a lot of the story on Andrew, the husband (I’ve found these parts to be boring). I believe she’s attempting to make the reader understand what the wife, Margaret (the main character), has to deal with. Andrew’s life completely dominates Margaret’s and she seems to exist merely to support him in his endeavors. I’m looking forward to reading the last third of the book. And someday I’ll get back to reading The Thorn Birds

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Sleepless in Pasadena

You might be a writer if…
…you awake at 4 a.m. with the perfect sentence in your mind that you just have to roll over to type hastily into the notepad on your iPhone, hoping not to wake your sleeping boyfriend beside you.

This sort of episode happens with some regularity. Sometimes it’s a sentence. Sometimes it’s a title for a story I haven’t even started writing. And sometimes it’s an idea for a story or a character.
Bibs I made for my friend's baby one sleepless night...

I often fall back asleep after my early morning spurts of genius, but not today. After struggling for an hour to keep my eyes closed, I finally conceded the point that sleep was a losing battle. So after eating some cold tri-tip and swilling some hot decaf, here I am, at 5:45 a.m., giving in to writing once again. I guess I don’t always give in to writing when I can’t sleep. Sometimes I give in to reading. Or sewing.

While I was tossing and turning, I realized that I can now put my arm under my pillow without pain anymore. I haven’t been able to do this since I tore my labrum bouldering last June. My recovery from the biceps tenodesis surgery to fix the tear seems close to finished.

Not only can I put my arm under my pillow, I can climb again too. In the past two weeks I've gone to the gym three times. I started out with a top roping session. I was so nervous that I wouldn't be able to get myself up the wall. I definitely noticed my lack of strength, but my shoulder felt good and I was able to climb without thinking about it too much. Pre-surgery I was climbing really awkwardly because I didn't have full range of motion and certain moves hurt. I climbed a bunch of routes in the 5.6 to 5.9 range and didn't fall or sit once.

My second gym session was a mix of top roping and bouldering, which led to a third session that was strictly bouldering. I was reminded just how hard bouldering is. The low end of bouldering grades is so much more difficult than the low end of roped climbing grades.

I’m really looking forward to getting stronger and climbing hard again. It’s been a struggle for me to go without climbing for four months. My life finally seems kind of normal again. Aside from the fact that I’m not going to be setting up a classroom next week and that I don’t know where we’ll be moving at the end of the month…


What I’m reading: I’m still working on The Thorn Birds, of which I've been neglectful. I've been focused on reading Private Life because I’m reading it along with a friend. It’s been a bit of a slog to be honest. I liked part one, but part two took some determination to finish. I’m hoping the rest of the book will catch my interest more. I've also read some more of The Care and Management of Lies. I am so in love with the Maisie Dobbs books by the same author, but I have yet to feel the magic with this book.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Back in the Saddle

Hello, world! I’m back in the bloggerverse with a new blog. I’m super excited to start blogging again. It’s been something I keep intending to do, but somehow I couldn't get myself to sit down and do it. I was finally inspired to start again after meeting two new friends at the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) conference. Both of these friends have blogs. I immediately thought: why am I not doing this too? So, ta-da! Here I am.
My new friends Yamile and Bekah

The SCBWI conference was incredible. I've been writing children’s picture books for less than a year now and I've felt completely alone. I’m not part of a writing critique group and until recently, no one else had read anything I wrote. Talk about going from 0 to 60 fast. I was suddenly surrounded by people who knew exactly what I was doing and what I've been going through with writing. No need to explain anything. And everyone I met was so friendly and warm and generous.

I got some amazing ideas for revising and editing my work, I learned how to talk to publishing professionals, and I got some insight into building stories out of art, etc. The keynote speakers were phenomenal and told motivational stories about their writing careers and gave some great advice. I heard Judy Blume (yes, the Judy Blume!), Tomie dePaola, Judy Schachner, Linda Sue Park, and Peter Brown, just to name a few.
              
Me and the great Judy Schachner!

On a side note, it turns out I’m apparently kind of a fan girl. After Judy Schachner’s awesome keynote, I saw her walking around the hotel where the conference was held. She walked past me and I froze and gasped and covered my mouth and whispered loudly, “That was Judy Schachner!!” On the last day of the conference, I actually got to meet her and talk to her for a minute while she autographed a book for me.

On the second day of the conference, I received my first rejection letter in the mail. It came at the perfect time because I was surrounded by people who have probably all gotten at least one rejection letter. My new friends understood exactly how I was feeling and that was really comforting.

The conference made me feel like I’m part of a community. Children’s book writers are smart, warm, funny, quirky people. I fit right in and felt an immediate sense of belonging.

What I’m reading: As usual I’m reading too many books at the same time. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough, Private Life by Jane Smiley, and The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear.