Pics from Mountain View

[compilerbitch]

Here is the first batch of photos from Mountain View, all shot with my diddy new Panasonic Lumix LZ5.



Castro Street


The B&W conversion here is a bit weird -- I used channel mixer in Photoshop CS with blue set heavily negative to darken the sky. It doesn't look good in the thumbnail, but the bigger version is OK.

Mountain View Alleyway


More B&W messing about.

My new apartment


This architectural shot is actually inside my new apartment. It's right on Castro Street, there's a Starbucks actually in the building effectively, and my favourite bookshops are about a 4 minute walk.

Castro again


This was shot looking down the road, standing outside the Scientology shop/church/warren/nest/hive/whatever/thingy.

Chicken Katsu


Hawaiian fast food, anyone? It is basically, well, schnitzel. With dip that tastes extremely close to mango chutney.

Fountain


This is more or less below my apartment (slighty along a bit).

I see mountains!


This is a (fairly narrow) view from my bedroom window.

Crappy pano of the big windows in the living room


My apartment has a hugely high ceiling in the living room. This is a craply rapidly thrown together pano (the Lumix isn't nearly wide enough).

Lounge windows


Another arty architectural shot.

Outside the apartment


Another bad pano, but it gives you the idea. The top left balcony that you can see is mine.

Self-portrait




... because doseybat would shoot me if I didn't.

Comments

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

Living right on Castro is expensive, maybe about 50% more than I'd pay for a similar apartment further out, but it was a deliberate decision. I tend to be quite significantly affected by where I live -- I got quite depressed in college, for example, because it felt oppressive all the time I was there. I need to feel secure, and also not isolated, so living here is an ideal solution. The building is pretty secure physically, but there's also the aspect of knowing that if I want food or something at a random time of day that it won't be a problem. Also, there is the issue that I'll have visitors who don't drive, so being far out might well have been survivable for me, but would be a major pain for them. Here, they are right on Castro, so everything is just there, and the Caltrain station is about a 10 minute walk and will get you anywhere that it or the BART goes. At a pinch, I could go in to work on the NASA shuttle bus that picks people up at the Caltrain station if my car was being serviced (or some such). It's actually a very practical solution, but mostly I've been prepared to pay the money because, particularly living on my own, I wanted to maximise my chances of being happy rather than ending up isolated and going splat.

[x-mass.livejournal.com]

I think you made an excelent choice and one I hope I would have made in your place. It looks like your going to have an amazing time. If you decide to play some more rpg's I suspect people might want to do it at your flat as its so easy to get to.
as I said i'm feeling jealous :)
hugs
kate