Day 4 in San Francisco

Travel can be not only exhilirating but also incredibly disorienting. Which is why I think it's so good for us - it gets us out of our comfort zones and automatic behaviors and pushes us to find out who we are in new situations and environments. Not that I'm anywhere terribly exotic, but even being away from work itself forces me to see how I want to spend time when there are no constraints being imposed on me. In other words: let those work muscles rest a bit, and let the play muscles flex. It's a re-balancing.

It's amazing how happy I am to sit and do nothing. Yesterday we explored North Beach (almost an hour in City Lights Books - heaven) and Chinatown, and I loved it, but today instead of the bike ride over the Golden Gate Bridge we had planned, all I want to do is find a cafe and sit and read and people-watch. To luxuriate in just being and soaking in a new place.

I bought a photograph of Allen Ginsberg at City Lights and I love the story that goes with it. Apparently the photographer was at Ginberg's apartment and the poet offered him coffee, and served it in a metal bowl. "Strange," thought the photographer, but of course he accepted it and began drinking. Ginsberg kept asking if he was done. Finally, when he was finished, Ginsberg rinsed the bowl and poured himself some cereal. The photographer realized it was the only bowl the poet had.

He ate Grape Nuts with sugar on them.