Flashback Curry

I was just making some curry a moment ago. Mmmmm...lots of vegetables and some pork - looks good! And while I was stirring it all up I remembered that during my first year here I used to make the same curry mix but only with potatoes. I couldn't afford meat or any other vegetables to throw in. I would also add too much water to make the mix go longer and added salt to season. Ahahaha, my first year in San Francisco and at the Academy of Art. I lost so much weight I looked good. My roomate Juan from Columbia was in the same position. What little we had went to our schooling; classes, supplies, yada, yada, yada. We got help from our families but just enough for the important stuff. I wasn't working then and neither was Juan. We were cramped together in a small studio where we constantly worked all night in our drafting tables which were at the foot of our beds facing the bay window and the street. We constantly talked about girls and food, none of the former and a meager supply of the latter. There was a nice girl that I met my first day in school, we became fast friends and I asked her out eventually, unfortunately she didn't feel the same way. Hey wait a minute, that's still happening! Crap! Ahahaha... Our sound system was Juan's personal cd player with two tiny speakers connected. We had like 10 cd's between the two of us and one of them was Kenny G. Okay I'll come clean, it was mines:( Things looked up towards the end of that semester though when my friend Kevin sent me his old handheld b/w tv with a 3.5" screen. That was the best. We cleared out my drafting table, hooked up the cd speakers to it, turned off the lights, prepared some Ramen and watched TV. It was magical, Star Trek the New Generation was on. I remember that I also got mugged a block from the dorm but it was totally my fault. We were out past 3AM and we lived on the edge of the Tenderloin. My friend Curtis in the other dorm had a craving for Lori's Diner (they were open 24h those days) and he was willing to treat. On the way back we split at the distance that was halfway between our two dorms and I got mugged on the way back to mine's. It took a couple of months to get over that one, until I did Curtiss would escort me in the evenings. Curtis was a skinny 18 year old and weighed like 115 pounds. I could beat up Curtis. However he did have that crazy look and watchout if he's carrying his t-square. Fall of 1993, bittersweet times. I hated San Francisco but loved my new school.

Now here I am, going on 12+ years in San Francisco, the longest I've ever lived in one place and I have no plans on moving any time soon. I love it here. I made it through that damn school but still spend many nights by a window working away.
Maybe I'll fire up iTunes and put on some Kenny G. Ahahaha heck no, I'll put on the Breeder's Cannonball from their Last Splash album. The first music I bought in SF and was recorded in the Tenderloin.

All this from a pot of curry.