Day 5 - No pain, No gain..., originally uploaded by clarity25.

I woke up this morning at 8 A.M. and sharp pain shot up my legs when I stood up. I fell back down into the sheets wincing and rubbing my calves. I'm all cramped up.

All this walking around San Francisco is building new muscles in my thighs and calves. I walked around all the time while living Germany, but for a year now I was getting around by car and sitting behind a desk at work.

Our friend told us that his first week in San Francisco was exactly the same and it took him two weeks to adjust, then he was fine.

Yesterday we did a lot of walking, going to the bank, doing laundry in the local laudromat, shopping, discovering more of the area we now call home...

I saw a six foot tall cross dresser at the laudromat. He/she was doing laundry in high-heels with a bright red wig and a lot of face make up.

Suddenly our eyes met.. I froze. I was embarrassed for being caught in the act of staring.

He gave me a warm award-winning smile and winked. I had to smile back.

That's what I love about San Francisco. The diversity. So many different people encountered on a daily basis. Artists, bohemians, crossdressers, gay men kissing openly on the street, families with kids, gothics, punks...just every spectrum of the rainbow.

I also love the openly liberal sentiment, expressed by the cashiers, the store owners and pedestrians.

I really love this city.

As for the car problems. We can't afford to fix "Marty", but for now we're keeping him in the garage and using him for essential driving. He can still get around, we just have to use the hand brake.

We put in a for sale ad this afternoon, we'll see who calls. How much do you think we should sell him for? 1996 Corolla with 200,000 miles, dents and brake problems? $300?

I'm not as upset about this situation today. We're in the center of downtown S.F. and there's a lot of public transportation, BART, Cablecars and buses... You're right, we'll get by. :)

Day 5 of 365 days