02 June 2004
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[written earlier. i got little work done in berkeley but tanked up on thai ice tea and sushi and other goodies and a dose of california happiness.]
i�m sitting in brewed awakenings, one of my college hangout cafes in bezerkeley. it is so good to be back here. everyone sits here and studies, everyone has a laptop (that is new from when i was here years ago), and the same people still work here. they have bran cranberry muffins sweetened with fruit juice. the streets are still steep, the sun still a bit too bright, and everyone has kick-ass calves because of the hills.... i am all nostalgic and could spend hours walking around right now, sitting in my favorite places.
no time to type, because i came here to work on my paper. after 10 days in california i don�t want to leave, i want to move here and be happy and warm and tan and drink bubble ice teas or jamba juice smoothies and feel the eternal summer. but my quest today is to work, which has been making me absolutely anxious.
no time, thus, to tell you about mendocino and the whisps of fog, no time to tell you about the hike through the botanical gardens and the california cypresses to the steep cliffs of the coast. no time to talk about marin country and the bbq with my grandma, the hike in the bird sanctuary... DAMN will it be hard to go back to germany after this trip.
okay, to work. i promise.
[an hour later now and i read a bit from, yes, believe it or not, academic books. they didn�t help me write my talk either. very frustrating. anyways, i just wanted to mention that this place, berkeley, does have a certain power of its own. sounds crazy, but more than any other place that i know, it has the ability to change people, to affect their mood, their behaviour. which is just neat. call me crazy, but i�m sticking with that belief.]
dandlioneyes at 4:48 am