It's been a while since Vinh Watch. The exciting news is that it's coming back, but this is gonna be more serious and way less self-deprecating . Since I graduated in May I moved to Portland, lived in my sister's basement until about a day ago. While living there I spent a lot of my time playing ultimate, being depressed about my life changes, and spending a lot of time nursing my bruised self worth. I missed my friends, my old house, my routine, and my college life style. I'm not really sure what happened but something pulled me out of the gutter. I found a job I was really excited about in San Francisco, started working part time to earn a little bit of money, and tried my hardest to make the move to the Bay Area. For a while it didn't seem possible and I fell back into the gutter a little bit. But I suppose with the pressure of responsibility and growing pains I decided I had to do something and there wasn't time or space to be unhappy. So as of yesterday, December 3rd I moved to Oakland, CA. I packed a duffel and a back pack, said my good-byes, and hopped on a plane.
I landed in Oakland with a little over 2 months rent, no job, and close to zero connections. As I navigated the BART and eventually found my way to the yellow line headed East, I relaxed and checked myself. Here I was, 22, out on my own without a clue what I was doing and all before noon. The train pulled into MacArthur and I exited the station with little understanding of what direction to head or what the area was like. I had my smartphone, but the downpour of rain discouraged excessive checking of directions. I had flown in my suit to avoid the hassle of fitting it into a bag. My brown wingtips splashed in the rain and I worried about the leather. I knew the house I'd be moving into was about 8 blocks away so I trudged my bags along as quickly as I could. I reached the corner of Martin Luther King and 34th. I turned right knowing the house was just part way down the block. I finally found the magical numbers after what seemed longer than the ten minute walk Google Maps had promised me. The house was smaller than I was expecting, the pictures online had made it seem extravagant, but I quickly remembered how much I was paying a month and it all made sense. The light purple exterior seemed to blend well with the overcast grey skies as I climbed up the driveway with my bags. Once I reached the stoop and rang the bell, I took a deep breath.
Natasha greeted me at the door and I felt a lot of relief. I wasn't lost! I came into the house worried about bringing in a small lake with me. The umbrella had unfortunately done a better job of getting my bags wet while it was allegedly keeping me dry. I took my shoes off and Natasha instantly began making me feel welcome. "How was the flight?" she asked along with other pleasantries. Her scottish accent adding a particular tenderness. She couldn't believe that I had walked from the station in the rain instead of taking a lyft, which honestly hadn't crossed my mind. She gave me a detailed tour and I instantly felt comfortable and excited. She showed me the finer nuances of the washer dryer tucked away in a small room behind the kitchen as well as what she was currently working on, styrofoam cakes and painting chairs. Her two dogs, which names and breeds escape me at the moment, warmed up to me instantly jumping and wagging their tails with excitement I hope is reserved for a few special people. Needless to say the house was excellent, especially compared to what I'm used to.
The first day was spent learning a lot about the house, going to a Walgreen's nearby to pick up, and forget, a few necessities. My bedroom was completely empty, no furniture, no bed which I had known about before but didn't really do anything to remedy the situation. Oops. Luckily Natasha pulled out a plethora of blankets and a pillow and Brian, her husband, was kind enough to pull an extra queen out of the shed around back for me. I spent a lot of the afternoon looking for furniture, with little clue of where the items were located, and looking at jobs. I found an Ikea desk, dresser, and desk chair combo for $50. So I don't have a job, money, or a car, but at least I found some furniture. So I have that going for me, which is nice. I had meant to write a letter, prepare for an interview with Trumaker, and apply for quite a few jobs and find furniture, but I really applied to one or two jobs and found furniture. Not a big deal I suppose.
Day 2
I woke up early today to get ready for my interview, remembered I needed to figure out how I was going to haul the desk, dresser, and chair to my house, and make breakfast. I realized immediately upon brushing my teeth last night and hopping in the shower this morning that I had forgotten quite a few things from Walgreen's, namely tooth paste and shower soap. Luckily Natasha saved the day again with some hotel shampoo and travel size tooth paste. So far I think they've given me way more accommodations than any other place I've ever lived, even the dorms at St. Olaf.I went downtown early to meet up with my sister An, and she quickly showed me the famous start-up work pace. We met for coffee, change to lunch, and then I quickly ended up foraging for food on my own all within 3 minutes because she had to run to a meeting. No big deal, my relationship with An has always kind of been like that. Still nice to see her regardless. She was kind to point me in the direction of a great sandwich shop/cafe, but I ended up going to grab a bite of pizza instead. Shhhh don't tell An. After my quick lunch I hopped back on BART and continued to Powell station and exited into Union Square, a shopping mecca of sorts in downtown San Francisco. It brought memories of Hong Kong and Tokyo to mind as store signs hung off the sides of buildings and it looked like finding a way to the shops was a prerequisite to joining the shopping club. As I headed towards Trumaker, about a 15 minute walk from the station I noticed the Bonobos guideshop, the store that drew me to the area to begin with. I made a note to come back before I returned home and walked on. I wore my only suit, a grey one-button, with a small checked red dress shirt and a navy silver polka dot tie. Needless to say I was in full young professional mode, backpack included.
After my interview with Trumaker I walked 20 minutes to Chambers, a restaurant-lounge-bar recommended to me by Natasha to meet with the owner/managers. Turns out they don't open till 5 and it was about a quarter after 3. I had about two hours to kill so I walked another 20 minutes back to Union Square to check out the Bonobos guideshop. After an awkward encounter with trying to figure out how to get into the door to access the second floor, I came out of the elevator and was greeted by the intimate atmosphere and met some of the employees. Mike, a UC Davis grad, told me he had started about two weeks ago and loved it. He showed me around, talked to me about my experience, and was generally excited about me being there. The employees encouraged me to come back to meet Cheeree, the manager. I felt good leaving there today about my chances of working there. I still had about an hour to kill before Chambers was open so I decided I'd pick up some groceries from Trader Joe's, another 20 minutes away. I picked up some pasta, bell peppers, mushrooms, greens, bread, and cookie butter. I packed the light groceries into my backpack and headed to Chambers. The atmosphere at Chambers was really relaxed, the lighting was dark, and low-key. After a brief meeting with Stacy the general manager I took a Lyft to the BART station and returned home. Overall, I'd say today was a pretty good day. I still haven't gotten to writing that letter but there's still time tonight.
You guys can expect to hear more from me again. I'm not sure how often or how much, but I'm back.
Best wishes,
Vinh
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