I got to San Francisco, via train, yesterday evening. I checked in and then traded texts with colleagues until we met for dinner at the Palace hotel. I’m staying in the heart of Union Square which is a far cry from the 3 bedroom that I lived in twelve years ago in The Mission.
And I keep waiting for something to feel familiar.
So far it hasn’t happened. Tonight a colleague dropped me off at the BART at 16 and Mission. I know that is close to where I lived–18th and Valencia, perhaps. (Apparently the address I’ve been telling people is impossible as 18th and Guerrero don’t intersect.) I didn’t remember the station, nothing is familiar.
I find this a bit unsettling. After all, I spent a summer here. But the summer I spent here was in a much different neighborhood and I only had $2000 for the entire summer. That included rent, food and travel. $2000. I’ve had business trips less than a week that have cost more than I spent that entire summer. It is strange to come somewhere after so many years, a city so full of memories, and to not be able to find the memories.
I’ll try tomorrow or Thursday to find those memories.
In the meantime, I’ll enjoy the life I live now. After work, we went to the humble Seesmic HQ and got a demo from Cathy Brooks of some of the cool stuff coming down the pike. Sitting in the Seesmic office was a nice young man that I met on the boat at SOBcon. Then I went to a Mashable party, part of their summer tour. Remember how I went to MashBash in Tel Aviv? Yep. Another one of those. Tonight I ran into friends from Israel (yes, Israel) and Canada. My colleague managed to find the other Dutch person in the room, who we chatted with for quite some time.
Oh. And SXSWi? I’ll be going in March. I won the raffle. How on earth I heard my name above the din, I’ll never know, but I won the “you must be present to win” registration for SXSWi! Hooray!
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