Changes

I walked to SOMA yesterday to see my old office building at 4th and Brannan. Six years ago this area was the epicenter of the dot com boom, with rich kids and their stock options eating gourmet burritos in South Park, while folks from the homeless shelter down the street sat in the corner and wondered what happened to their neighborhood. It's hard not to be nostalgic about those days though, because as obnoxious as it was on a lot of levels - and believe me it was obnoxious, it was also an exciting time, even if the market crashed and the wealth never materialized for some of us. It felt like we were a part of something big then, even as that something became a caricature of itself. (Perhaps it always was?) Either way it was tragic to witness empty streets when it used to be packed with vibrant twenty somethings going to change the face of the internet, and it was sad to see so many beautiful warehouses turned into high rise condominiums near SBC Park, with tanning salons and a Starbucks on the bottom floor. Zeke's was still on the corner of 3rd and Brannan though. I remember the day of the big layoff, how we read about it on-line before it was announced to us, and my friends - many of whom I would never see again - cleaned out their desks and then made their way to to the bar by 11:00 am to watch opening day, and really, reflect on what the next step might be. It was bizarre. Many of these people had families and their job was everything to them, even if they secretly resented what the company had become, so the news was hard to take. Myself, well, I was ecstatic. I mean I was going to resign anyway, only now I had three weeks severance and the ability to collect unemployment while I finished grad school, which was crucial in finishing my thesis.

Now everything looks different. The energy in the area is gone, and the once diverse neighborhood is a mecca for yuppie cockslaves on a whole new level, trust fund babies and marketing tits, and for that, it's hard not to shake my head and wonder where it all went wrong.

Later I sat in Union Square and caught a few rays. There was a gorgeous blonde who I followed with my eyes until she turned into Macy's. I wanted to go inside and get a closer look while she shopped, but that seemed creepy, and her boyfriend was with her, so I decided against it. I did spend an hour inside Rasputin's - luckily I made it out without spending a dollar, although there was a used copy of Dr. Strangelove that I almost picked up. Finally I grabbed an Odwalla at the Metreon Starbucks. While I was at the counter this weird guy came up behind me and stole a plastic cup, which led to the following exchange between two employees, one an Asian guy in his mid-twenties - a new jack Fast and Furious type, the other a black woman in her early forties.

"Okayyyyyyyyyy, that right there is gonna stop. That's the last time he gonna just smirk at me and take a free cup. Oh no he didn't. Uh-ah."
"You gonna stop him next time Cheryl?"
"What I just say? Huh? That's right, that there is gonna stop. Okay? Maybe on somebody else's shift but not on mine. I aint the one. Oh no he didn't. Plus he an old pervert. So that smirking shit is gonna get me mad real quick. For real. I aint the one."

She looked me in the eye as she processed the transaction.

"Do I look like I'm the one?"
"No."
"That's right. Even little Anthony Michael Hall recognizes."

With that she turned and walked into the back.