from sometime last week (slightly adapted)...
i'm in san francisco for the second time this month - sort of a duel purpose trip. since sunday and through thursday, i was doing a nanoscience education outreach workshop sponsored by the NSF and the science museum in san francisco, the exploratorium. and then on friday, khalid flew out and we've been apartment hunting.
the museum is definitely one of the coolest places i've been. it's just crazy here, with so many interactive exhibits. i spent all my breaks getting lost in models of tornados, infrared cameras, and magnetic sand. one afternoon, the organizers of the workshop were able to get us tickets to go into the "tactile dome." while it was interesting, it wasn't an experience i ever want to repeat. you basically enter this dome of pitch black and have to find your way through a maze of textures with no vision...up rope scaffolds, down slides, through tunnels...everything. i felt very out of control and claustrophobic. never again. poor guy in front of me. i was gripping onto his ankle for dear life the whole time. it's funny, i knew i was perfectly safe, but i was still scared.
speaking of scared, i saw a really scary sign on the bus yesterday. "news flash: we have a history of earthquakes. are you prepared?" then it listed how you needed three days worth of stuff and told you to visit some website for more info. i've thought about this sign a lot. yes, in terms of "what would i do if there was an earthquake right now?" at various points throughout my trip. but moreso, i thought about it in terms of its message and what it was trying to acomplish. our government (especially recently) has been using scare tactics for so many things. and ultimately, i think it is a very sleazy, tricky way to get the american people to approve of the government's actions. but this was a little different, i suppose. the sign was definitely over the top scary in its design and tone, but also definitely alerting citizens of a very real potential threat. i'm pretty sure it's the local government's way of being able to say that unlike the gulf coast cities last year during hurricane season, they have been ready and alerting their citizens to potential threats from natural disasters. that way no one can blame them. but still, it just seemed kind of overbearingly scary. i still don't know what i think about it.
anyhoo, the workshop was amazing, i met cool people, and had a great time. this state is just so beautiful - i'm pretty pumped to live here in a few months. maybe i'll finally be able to figure out what all the cool plants and trees are.