the entry level approacheth, so what?

you’re probably going to get a few blog posts from me on this topic in the next few months. life after college. it looms. so? everyone is freaking out around me about what they are going to do, yet, i’ve concluded that i’ll figure out my life eventually, and i can find a job in the mean time, so what’s the big deal? seems the only thing people want to know these days is “what’s next?”

in my senior seminar we’re reading excerpts from michael ball’s the entry level. we read the prologue last week and i had major issues with it, and i’m already starting to get irritated with chapter three, so i think i’ll blog while reading. kill two birds with one stone.

i love this little bit on page 41.

But even then, I’m sorry to say, you’ll probably never fully recapture that light, carefree school feeling as you push further into the unsmiling reality of corporate life; there’s good reason, remember, that everyone is so buttery and nostalgic about college. … Over time, the simple pleasures of studenthood – which probably still maintain their pull in large measure – will seem, well, just too simple, and you’ll conveniently romanticize those years in your memory as have those before you (myself included).

how depressing can you get? he basically just said that once you graduate college, life sucks. and here i am actually looking forward to my life after college. i have been itching to get out, to get an apartment, play house, settle down with a husband and kids, the works. sounds pretty awesome to me. of course there will be bumps along the way, and those days when work is downright awful, but overall, i think the prospects are quite lovely.

i’m also not so happy that michael ball seems to assume a lot about me, and he’s getting most of it incorrect.

Instead, your original directional choice came when your under-grad academic advisor finally insisted that you select a subject to major in. Given the popularity of “undeclared” among coeds up to that crossroads – right behind its closest substitute, psychology, in which I’m a proud bachelor – and noting how this fickle bunch tends to change majors between one and three times even after picking a route, odds are that you had a rocky start on the path of big-time decision-making.

excuse me? i believe it actually went like this. i got accepted to ndnu. i declared a major. i started my first class. the only change i made to my major was the concentration – from musical theatre to classical – and then i added a minor. yes michael, some of us actually do know what we want to study when we start college.

i think i’m almost annoyed that he’s trying to analyze this whole post-college state in the first place; the fact that he thinks all graduates are going through the same things he did makes it even worse. how dare he presume he knows what i’m going through? why am i getting so worked up about a book?!

the rest of chapter three pretty much lays out how awful entry level work is. gee michael, thanks.

this book feels a little irrelevant to me anyway, as i’m not really looking to get into corporate america. in fact, i think i’d like to avoid it as much as possible. i don’t really picture myself drooling in a cubicle all day. i’m on chapter four now, and find myself drifting further and further to sleep. i may need to stop reading this before i go into coma. sorry michael.

tightwads of san francisco unite!

it’s common knowledge that san francisco is a seemingly impossible city to inhabit, and somehow, over 800,000 people do so every day. at the moment, the closest i come to living in san francisco is going to school on the peninsula, and that is a far cry from really living in “the City”. while the prospect of living in frisco is quite daunting, it has been a dream of mine for many years, and i’m not about to give that up without a fight! after all, who would want to give up the opportunity to live near an alleyway that reeks of urine, run into every werido that has ever been conceived, and spend his/her life savings for meager shelter and bread on the table? okay, i kid. those of us who live in or near the City know that san francisco is blessed with culture, a diverse population, people who are willing to fight for what they believe in, and, heaven forbid, a unique sense of community. there’s something to say for being a part of san francisco. wander through that urine-coated alleyway, and i guarantee that at the other end (or a few streets down from the other end) you’ll find something meaningful, whether it be a little slice of sunshine, a person who gives you a nourishing laugh, or some new discovery.

as i mentioned above, coming up with the means to be a part of the san francisco experience is a huge task. rent of course is the major concern, but after that comes food (believe me, i have food on the brain almost 24/7). matt (my boyfriend, who is moving here from kansas as i type!) and i have considered writing our own ramen cookbook (while i haven’t looked, i’m almost positive it’s been done- how could there not be a ramen cookbook?!). maybe i’m just spoiled by good home cooking, but eating ramen every day, let alone once, does not excite me, but the stuff (it’s not food. it does not deserve to be called food. it has not aspired to the level required to be called food) is dirt cheap, so any way to encoroporate it into a somewhat healthy (ramen, healthy? ha!) meal is welcomed. i’ve found in the last couple of weeks while cooking on my own that there are actually rather cheap methods of feeding oneself. pasta is a big factor. dishes with cheese are wonderful as well, and it’s pretty affordable to encorporate vegetables (only mentioning vegetables here because i’m a bit anti-fruit – other than squash, which are, contrary to popular belief, fruit, and apples, i just don’t like fruit. the end) into your diet as well. at the moment i have a limited number of dishes i can cook affordably, so i’m working on expanding my food repertoire.

however, at some point i’m going to want to get out of my on-campus apartment and catch some entertainment, and have someone cook food for me, and that’s where broke-ass stuart comes in. broke-ass who?! broke-ass stuart. yeah, i had no idea who he was either, until matt and i wandered into the virgin megastore on market st. while we were killing time before his appointment at academy of art university. turns out, broke-ass stuart wrote a charming and witty zine with tips on finding cheap food, alcohol, shopping, and sights in san francisco, and eventually published it as a book, a book that ended up in my hand at virgin. purchasing the book required around nine dollars from my wallet (a discount on the regular price of $12.95). i figured that if anything, i’d get a good read out of it.

my guide to cheap things sitting on my not-so-cheap computer

turns out, i got my nine dollars of entertainment out of this book. first of all, to my delight, there’s a quote from oscar wilde before you even get to the table of contents!

It’s an odd thing, but anyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco. It must be a delightful city and possess all the attractions of the next world.

after the table of contents, there’s a crude map of the City, followed by a muni/bart map (always helpful). then comes the introduction. i knew one paragraph into this intro that i would enjoy the rest of the book. and then of course he hits the nail on the head in the second paragraph.

What makes this city so fucking great is that everybody here has a little bit of freak and weirdo in them.

and then in the third:

If U.S. cities were people, San Francisco would be the weird art school kid who felt like nobody else understood him. Whether you live in the Mission or the Marina, there’s a reason why you chose San Francisco — you chose it because there was something about this city that spoke to you and made you feel like this was home. And you know what that means? You’re just as looney as the rest of us, whether you like it or not.

hmmmm, and you wonder why i’m attracted to san francisco? i’ve been a professed embracer of the weird since the 90s (yes, i’m that young). after living in sacramento for over a couple of decades, there’s something about the atmosphere of the bay area that has called me to join it. but back to broke-ass stuart.

he really is a delightful read. unfortunately, i don’t know when i’ll be able to implement any of his suggestions, as i rarely get to the City (one of the woes of college life – too busy studying to go anywhere!). the book is divided into neigborhoods, with sections for food, bars, shopping, and sights and entertainment. the bars section will go mostly untouched, as i’m not a heavy drinker, and don’t go bar-hopping. however, there may be that odd night when i want to score some free or cheap hot wings, in which case i may grab a beer. i may have to start carrying this book around, as well as a highlighter, so i can keep track of the places i like if i ever utilize the guide.

may i suggest that you do not read the book late at night. i covered chintatown, the sunset, golden gate park, the marina, and the castro last night, and by the time i went to bed i was starving. here’s a sampling of the things he enticed me with:

Make sure you get their wonton appetizer; it is the bomb.

You’s is often teeming with people (which is always a good sign), and their pot stickers are of a freakishly huge size.

An island of Mediterranean food surrounded by an ocean of Asian restaurants, Sunrise Deli has quite possibly the best falafel, shawarma and kebabs in the whole city.

How does a good hot pastrami sandwich sound right now?

They also have gourmet milkshakes. What the fuck is a gourmet milkshake? What’s next, a gourmet corndog?

We ordered the De La Hoya/Mayorga fight on pay-per-view and for some ungodly reason we also decided to order 100 Buffalo wings.

I don’t know what it is about their nachos that make them such a wonderful guilty pleasure. Maybe it’s the fact that the cheese and chili come from a machine that hums and dispenses as if it were giving out soft-serve frozen yogurt. Or maybe it’s because of the time that I saw the belly of the beast, where I found two plastic bags, one cheese and one chili, put through ringers that help squeeze out that sweet manna that makes you loathe yourself after eating it.

fooooooooooooooooood. not to mention the mecca of shopping.

maybe one of these days i’ll actually get to one of the restuarants he mentions in his book, and then i’ll do a little review. actually, i have been to one already, but not in san francisco.

Find a friend with a Costco card. Go to Costco. Eat as many samples as you want. Go home satisfied. Repeat.

for now you’ll just have to do with pictures and descriptions of my weird cooking concoctions. coming soon: two slight variations on grilled cheese.

ciao and cheerio.