So, yesterday when I headed out to go exercising, I found a sticker on the window of my car saying it's parked illegally. How I've been parking it (when not in the garage), is to have it sitting partially on the street (about out to the width of a car) and partially on the driveway. This, however, is apparently a problem because it's illegal to park anywhere between the property line and the curb.

Distance from the garage door to the property line? Probably 8-10 feet. It's about the same from the property line to the curb. I can't park on the former, but I usually leave it free while parking on what's technically the sidewalk. The two tend to blend together, so there's complete access past the car, regardless.

Since it wasn't a ticket, we pondered whether an irate neighbor decided to call it in or something. Whatever the reason, I moved the car. However, this change (which is sudden; Jesse and Aya have been using the same parking method for three months) does make my car considerably more inconvenient to have. San Francisco is not a city that's good for owning a car. Especially if you don't have a secured parking spot. It wouldn't be so bad, but there's weekly street cleaning on all streets, so you need to (at best) move your car once a week. I tend to drive sporadically, sometimes multiple days in a row, sometimes I won't even leave the house for a week.

After chatting with a roommate about it, we realized that the two of us don't need two cars. Neither of us drives considerably; it's mostly in cases where we'd need to get out of the area.

I'm pondering the solutions to the car problem.

1. Nothing. Just deal with needing to move the car and accept that as consequence for the convenience of having a car.

2. Rent a parking spot. Iffy. At best, I'd be paying over $100 a month. Rather steep for the benefit of being able to drive places.

3. Find some place fairly close, but not immediately accessible, to park. Essentially, find some place to store the car except for the times when I need it to go elsewhere. This has the advantage of possibly being considerably cheaper, and giving me the option of getting the car if I need it. The downside is I have no idea where I could park it. I'm not sure I know anyone well enough to borrow their driveway or whatnot.

4. Sell the car. Gets me a few thousand in immediate funds (nice). Drops my insurance (nice). Loses me the convenience of a car for any purpose (bleh). Loses MY car, which I've grown rather fond of.

5. Take it back to Washington. This could take one of two methods. Either a) find someone who'd let me park the car at their place long term or b) find someone (my parents?) who would want to use it for the next nine months or so. It's nice because it leaves me the car to use for when I go back to visit, is certainly cheaper than a lot of other options, and would probably reduce my insurance. On the downside, I wouldn't have a car down here to use. Also, I need to figure out when I can get it back there. Currently, I'm flying back for Thanksgiving, but I could (potentially) cancel the first flight and drive up, then fly back down. Or I could try some convoluted trip to drive back in December before flying to Indiana for Christmas.


Also, considering taking a class in the spring. I'd like to get myself prepared for grad school, and actually apply for some. For most things that I'd be interested in taking, that probably means I'll need a paper of 20-30 pages to show that I know something. I'm thinking I could take a course to provide some focus in this regard. As a graduate study focus, I've been thinking of doing some research into the cultural impact of anime on both sides of the Pacific. Perhaps more specifically how the culture of the US and Japan shape the creation and reception of anime in the sci-fi genre.

So... perhaps a History of Japan class. I could take more Japanese while I'm at it. (looks) Hrm, no History of Japan at CCSF in the spring. There is an Asian Humanities course that has an independent research section, though. That could work.

(Downside to this plan. I'm technically a non-resident in California, for residency purposes. That'll remain true until next October. I don't want to wait until Fall.)