So I have been in my new home for a few days now and to avoid the stress of moving and adjusting to a new place I have taken to long periods of time just staring out of the windows in my room. The windows of my room are my favorite thing about my new home. One over looks the entire bay, the Berkeley Marina down below, the Golden Gate Bridge in the foggy distance level with my ever searching eyes. The other looks onto the Berkeley campus over the red thatched roofs of the castle like houses between my bedroom and campus. The campanile sits just beyond grasp but fully in view. I can hear the campanile ring out ever hour, so that I never loose myself in time.
From my windows and long periods of observation from these new vantage points I see a lot of weird and interesting things that captivate my attention for hours on end. Here is a small list of the observations I have made in the last few days.
- Squirrels sit on the red thatched roofs and squeak across great distances at each other. I have no idea what it is they are trying to communicate so desperately.
- A woman in a house near mine comes out of her house onto the front porch to clip her nails at least once a day. Her nails must grow pretty dang fast. It makes me wonder if she really even goes out to clip her nails or does she do it to avoid being inside the house? I will continue to watch.
- There is a massive flock of crows that gather on the tree tops near the campanile, ever hour the chiming of the bells disturbs them and they all take flight like a great hurricane of movement. I can hear their cries from my bedroom.
- There are really fat raccoons that live in my apartment complex. They grow fat on the waste of college students like me.
- A girl next door, around sunset, will climb out her window onto her roof and sit there as the sun goes down. Depending on the day she will smoke a cigarette.
- At night only a few lights come on in the houses near mine. I tried to communicate with them via flashlight, no response yet. I will keep trying.
- The sun creeps through my window, crawling across the floor with agonizingly slow advancement until the sun sets and casts my walls with orange and red.