Tuesday, April 22, 2003
Cereal for breakfast. Some exercise before a shower. Arrived at the bus stop at 8:20 AM because the 8:30 bus has been leaving at 8:25 lately. The 8:30 bus does not show up. I wait and wait. Three elderly Asian women give up waiting and start walking toward Taraval, probably to catch the L train. I wait and wait and wait and finally the 8:50 bus shows up. An elderly Asian man with a cane boards the bus, making an effort to bridge the 3-foot gap between the curb and the bus. The bus driver does not bother to make the bus kneel. This bus, like all the others, is filthy. If I took a white glove and wiped the surfaces of the inside of the bus, I could make it coal black in about 3 minutes. During the whole ride, I can't help thinking about how much people in San Francisco suffer from injustices like these. By the time I get to work, it's 9:25 am, and I'm in a foul mood because of the bus ride and because of the sad state of our finances and my quality of life. Our recent bills have made us realize that we can't afford even to remain healthy in this city. We recently got new glasses for me that I needed but we really couldn't afford. Patrick has postponed the dental procedures he needs. I am reminded of two truths: We will never own a home in this city. We will never prosper here. I feel like giving 2 weeks notice on my job and just packing up and leaving, but I know that's foolish. Still, I can't think what else can be done. Rents aren't dropping enough, and my salary certainly isn't likely to go up anytime soon. I feel trapped, and I want to scream at everything that's been unfair to me: UCSF's inability to provide salaries that meet the costs of living, MUNI's inability to effectively run a bus system, landlords and their overinflated rent prices, the person who throws eggs at my car (why me?!). Could I possibly have been happier in Seattle? Sometimes I wonder this. I truly do. Put in changes to the pharmaceutical care pathway schedule and requirements for Cindy. Subway sandwich for lunch. Made lots of changes to the admissions section for James because PharmCAS is going live soon so we need to update his section of the site. Lots of hairy changes. Ugh!