Hard Times

I have spent a fair amount of time over the last few months bemoaning the economy and its impact on my life over the last few months. But maybe I was missing the point.

On the way to work last week, I caught an interview Terry Gross did with Linguist, Geoff Nunberg.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104869163

He made a really interesting point about how in folk music from the Great Depression they talked about "hard times" not bubbles bursting and the bad economy. Our (my) fascination with figuring out how to blame and what went wrong has been a distraction from how it currently feels to live and work in this country. These are hard times!

The uncertainty is hard. The cuts are hard. The layoffs are hard. And that, as simple as it sounds, gives you a much better idea of what to DO next, after all that happens. Of course, it is important to figure out what went wrong to ensure that it doesn't happen again, but for us, as individuals, and for me it is way more important to feel how this all feels and then figure out how to proceed. Fretting about credit default swaps, collateralized debt obligations and rating agencies just keeps me up at night, it doesn't make any of this any easier.

It'd be neat to have someone to blame, but once we've expressed our righteous outrage, then what?

These times are hard, which means we examine our situation, streamline our lives and hunker down and get to work. It may seem like semantics, but I've found this shift really empowering and focusing. What a different our words make?!?

New Apartment

After 2 months of searching for a more modest housing situation (necessitated by the big work hours/salary reduction), I found a new place. The upside is that it is uncannily similar to my last studio, just miniature. The layout is basically the same as the other studio. It has lots of built-in storage and little charming details. It even has the same windows. In some ways it is an upgrade from the previous studio, despite being smaller. Improvements include:
-Bathroom sink has one tap instead of individual taps for hot and cold. This makes comfortable face washing much easier.
-It still has hardwood floors, but not every apartment in the building has hardwood floors. This sucks for those who don't have nice floors, but it means I don't have to hear the creaks and squeaks that result from upstairs tenants going about their daily routines.
-Larger windows = more light
-No roommates needed
-Walking distance from Albatross Pub

There are a few things that I'm adjusting to about the studio as well.
-My very large windows look out to the backs of 3 large apartment complexes, making curtains a big must.
-Being politely (usually) panhandled every time I enter or leave my house
-Loud public arguments in the parking lots of the 3 apartment buildings
-Putting rent checks into a heavy, locked safe

None of this is a huge adjustment. I grew up in the mission, after all. In many ways this new place, wrinkles and all, is more age appropriate. I am not yet a proper yuppie, so the Gourmet Ghetto is not yet for me. This new studio is in a grittier area but that is about right.

Interior photos coming soon.

Red Flag Keywords When Hunting For Housing In Berkeley

All I do these days is check out Craigslist. I'm similtaneously looking for part time work and housing. The housing search, especially, is often creepy and hilarious. Here are some of today's highlights.

"The Vegi. House"

Healthy Community Cooperative Home

coop

Single room for rent in Phi Delta Theta fraternity house

Economy Update

First off, I have no news on how the general economy is doing, but I do have news about how the economic climate impacts me personally. Monday, the staff at my company was asked to shift to 3/5 pay and hours. That's right, way more free time and way less pay.

Awesome.

The staff avoided layoffs (for now), which had me super giddy in the immediate aftermath. But then I started realizing what a cut that size actually means.

I've been oscillating between feeling incredibly bummed out by this and energized by all the next steps that flow logically for this change. But one step in front of the other.

On a lighter note, I freaking love that on 3-9-09 The New Late Night with Jimmy Fallon spent like a full 10 minute segment geeking out over the new (yet to be released) Palm Pre phone.

I think Fallon would be smart to play up the tech geek angle. It suits him and will endear him in the hearts of geek peeps of America. Loyal folks.

Beijing: Hutongs and Fire Cupping

I was in Beijing for 5 days, at the end of the 12 day trip. It was great to have time to slow down a bit and take in the city.

The food was amazing the entire time. But I think a few of the best meals of the trip were in Beijing. The picture below is of one of our favorite street foods. It is a crepe with a scrambled egg scallions, cilantro and this very light crispy fried thing in the middle, all folded up together.


The last night Celia and I were there, after Aaron and Alex had gone home, we had hot pot. The bright red half is spicy tomato broth. The other side inferno hot, of course (thus the 'hot' in hot pot), with chillies and oil. Both are bubbling at a rolling boil right on your table. You pick a bunch of different ingredients and put them into the mixtures. AMAZING!

We also got a chance to do some real shopping when we were there. We went to an area that Celia called the Hipster Hutong. Hutongs are these series of exceedingly narrow alleys built by the Mongols. They are rapidly being torn down and their inhabitants moved to high-rise apartments in the suburbs. The Hipster Hutong is full of neat, artsy, little shops and bars filled with expats and locals smoking cigarettes. Because it has so many profitable businesses in it this Huton isn't in any danger of the wrecking ball.

This picture was a delightful example of Chairman Mao kitsch at a bar full of Chinese young people.

The day that we visited the Hipster Hutong Alex's neck and back had were so sore he could hardly move. Celia tried to help, but he needed something a bit more.


It just so happened that there was a massage and acupuncture place right in the Hipster Hutong. Full service!

While we waited in their cozy lobby for Alex to be cured, Aaron, Celia and I browsed the menu of their services. We'd previously had a discussion about fire cupping.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_cupping

We were super curious what the whole thing was supposed to do and be all about. We didn't have wikipedia at our disposal and it was cheap so we decided to try it.



This was taken the same night we got it done, 2-14, and the bruises only went away last week. Yikes. It did make me feel relaxed and energized immediately after, but I would not get it done again.

Sappy travel story conclusion: bruises fade but the memories of my trip will last a lifetime.

In the weeks since China

On February 18th I returned from an absolutely unbelievable, stupendous, eye-opening vacation to China. I have lots of stories about the trip, but so much has happened since that stories will have to wait.

I cut my hair.




I'm psyched about my hair. But even that can't distract me from general business pessimism.

For months now, I've heard a million times a day in a million different ways that the economy is going to slumping/depressing/collapsing/stalling/freezing/tightening. I've had nothing to call this mess, yet a mess never the less.

I knew things at my work had been slow, but we had a plan. I'd been a busy little bee in the plan. Then, last week, they told us that things were worse than we had thought. They let us know that some thing drastic needs to change and fast or the company will go under. Layoffs are the most likely option. Yikes bikes.

I expect that next week will bring more answers. For now I'm doing all I can. Taking things step by step.

Okay. I got that out of my system. Soon, stories from China.

Tintin

I was absolutely obsessed with Tintin as a kid. My dad started reading them to me when I was 5 or 6. I remember bring copies of Tintin to more than one 1st grade show and tell and insisting they weren't comic books. They were books with pictures!

Tintin and his friends went places that were both real and a fantasy to me (The Blue Lotus was in China and Japan, The Broken Ear was in South America, The Cigars of the Pharaoh was in Egypt, Prisoners of the Sun was in Peru, etc.).


The fact that Tintin was a roving boy reporter of indefinite age traveling the globe with his talking dog, snowy and his friend, the crusty, Captain Haddock, never seemed the least bit odd to me. His adventures were thrilling to me. My dad would read them to me at night before I went to bed. Then I would look at them over and over, memorizing the pictures long before I could read any of the words. I brought them with me everywhere and my copies showed their wear (remember finding a corn flake in on once from a hurried breakfast, reading at the table or in the car).

Like lots of things we love innocently as little kids, reading Tintin now is a lot more complicated. I had no idea that it had originally been published in French in 1929 or that it was translated into over 50 languages. All I knew was that my dad had read them as a kid. He liked that there were fast cars, realistic motorcycles and adventures at sea. I liked the colorful pictures, exotic locations and cute doggy side-kick. But reading them now I can't help but feel conflicted about the colonialist racism that pervades Tintin's travels (Tintin in the Congo is a particularly creepy example. I didn't actually have it when I was little, since its offensive depiction of the Congolese is so blatant that it wasn't widely available. But I tracked it down in High School and had no idea what to think).

But like a lot of things it can be understood as something out of its own time, while not excusing its flaws.

All this is why I'm cautiously optimistic about the up-coming Tintin movie. Jamie Bell from Billy Elliot will play Tintin; Daniel Craig will be playing the villain. The first and, theoretical, second films will be directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Peter Jackson. The first movie will be based on The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn.


It tells the story of how Tintin meets Captain Hadock for the first time. Hadock is a down on his luck, alcoholic, former ship captain. They end up discovering that an ancestor of the Captain left maps hidden in replicas of his ship, which lead to his hidden treasure. They don't end up setting off to get the treasure until the next book, making the sequal a resonable idea. The movie is due out in 2010 and is filming now. I am a geek for this stuff so I have high expectations. Everything about the movie seems very promising, but we will have to see how it turns out.