#177. magic ring

Apparantly, even Joe Duffy was on the radio back home talking about how there's no summer jobs in San Francisco and that poor J1ers had to go home to their mammies. That may soon include me if I don't get something in the next week or so. Money is running out and there's no sign of any jobs on the horizon.

And you can't say I'm not trying. Every morning and evening I check the usual websites, the papers and harass my various agencies. Nothing. Nada. Zip. I think I'm both under- and over-qualified. There's so many out-of-work dot-commers here that there's no hope of me getting a techy job, and I've no experience with bars, retail, etc. Not that there's anything going there either. Jenn's been hitting the streets everyday and, even with her experience in that area, she hasn't even got an interview. We've tried everything save a McJob. I blame the fux0red economy with San Francisco being hit worst than most, as it's a big tourist town and the people just aren't coming this year.

It's not all bad. I'm taking it easy - just what was needed to wind down after a long hot degree. Apart from the lack of any income, I don't mind arsing the days away with free innernet, crap telly, fantastic weather and the joy of cooking. We're eating damn good. I'm alternating with cooking easies like pasta, chili, ricey stuff and cooking mammy dinners like spuds and veg. My new best friend is the jalapeño, which goes into everything. Things just don't taste the same without them now. My turkey fajitas have to be tasted to be believed.

Every corner has a kwik-e-mark, which is good for the odd bits and pieces. A weekly trip to the supermarket is required for other stuff, but is damn expensive - think $3 for a sliced pan. However they do accept credit cards, so groceries are effectively free :). Generally it's cheaper to eat out. There's plenty of casual eateries. A particular fave of mine is an Indian place called "Chutney" around the corner which does a curry for under $5. If I was a rich man, they'd recieve a lot more of my custom. We also found somewhere that does real fish and chips, which are free to smell but far too expensive to eat. If there's one thing I miss in the belly department it's curry chips from seashell.

We're also drinking on a budget. We found some nice pubs which we frequent during happy hour, and a place called the "San Francisco Brewing Company" which do some very tasty home-brews. Outside happy hour, pints are about $4, so we usually get some bottles in from the local "liquor store".

It's also lovely and warm here. It's nice to go sit in the park with the Irish Times Crossword Book on a cloud-less 90 something degree day listening to hippy drums and smelling the funny smoke.

Not much else happening really. Ste departed (über congrats by the way). Colm arrived (and was signed in as "Golm"). We play poker and throw bottle-caps into smoke alarms.