self-archive part four

Docu-memento: Today I woke up much later than I had anticipated. Funny how things work (is it work?) out like that. I am subletting a room in an apartment in the Excelsior district, so it has the air that I live here. I wake up, shuffle to the bathrooom, shuffle to the kitchen and then run out of the door. BART has cushy seats, so unlike any other public transportation I have ridden. Its like sitting in an old comfortable couch, in front of many strangers. I, of course, imagined the bus system to be much more self-explanatory than it actually is. You see, in Chicago (my city if there ever was one) the buses drive down the major roads, and the el does the rest. Everything is very simple. Here there is a wide assortment of transportation options. I should be joyous, and yet I am unaccustomed to my new found freedom. I took the BART to Powell St. Station to get a pass, but then decided against it, because $45 just seemed like so much. I guess it works out to be saving four dollars, but who knows, right? I get back on and get back off at Montgomery St. This is the shopping dowtown district. What I would compare it to is the Michigan Ave of SF. This part of town is very unappealing. I look around briefly for the 30 bus that I am told will take me to the Exploratorium, but I don't see it. I think, I'll just walk it today, so that I can see the city. It was a beautiful day, much nicer than Olympia was when I left. Not hot, not cold and sunny to boot. I started walking towards what a bystander had told me was the direction of the water....I realize at some point, that I really should just invest in a map. I love maps, right? Anyways, I stop at Walgreen's, unfortunately, and give them some of my money in exchange for a map that includes the transit system, vitamin water, and those heart thrive organic oat thingies. By the way, this is all in hopes of chasing away the "I can never get enough sleep headache!" This map tells me, that i can take Columbus all the way up to the water. My inner poet is very pleased and I take the beat route planning on revisiting it thoroughly when I stay in North Beach during my last week here. There is even a Beat Museum. I shall see about that later. I cross the paths of many things and persons stopping briefly to buy more MICRON(TM) pens, my new addiction, and two records from the going-out-of-business tower records. I eventually get to the water - and I mean eventually and ask someone "where is the exploratorium?". Turns out it is still several miles away. So I follow the water walking along for a long time more until I eventually get to where I am going.