The sojourn in this city is completely booked up with events, excursions, parties, fun. Friends pass us from one to another with such efficiency that I haven’t even had time to buy sparkling water! Stolen moments with Stevie, long adventures with Erin Scarum, a trip to the coast next: it is good to be back.
I put my kid on a plane to Colorado and continued the antics, traipsing from cafe to restaurant, record store to club. Along the way I asked each friend encountered where I should live, what I should do.
Alex Yusimov (who I still think of as Thunder Pumpkin) votes against Berlin because while it is a great city “it is hard to find daytime friends.”
Ana Helena shares this view (as she jets away to that exact destination). Others like the idea – Vanessa Renwick had even heard advance rumors and wondered if I could put her up during an imminent trip.
Sara K and a host of strangers encountered in odd corners thought Berlin would be a fun place for me to live. Arika and other acquaintances understood the allure of London.
Chris and Gabriel separately managed to extract a hint of why Germany is on the list…. and understood what I was talking about.
My Portland friends are perceptive, but more importantly, they tend to wander. I fully believe that Alex, and strangers in random kitchens, have a better perspective on these matters than almost anyone I know in Europe. Mostly because they, like me, can sometimes be found hanging out random punk house kitchens.
Sara K tried to help with a couple of rounds of astrodice, uniquely unhelpful as each roll agreed with my instinct to just keep moving. One night we went out to watch Freddie DJ at a club on the waterfront and Sara asked the same question of a deck of cards.
The reading was precise: My kid would be happiest in Berlin, and that city would keep me alive the longest. London offers time to work, and sustainable friendships. Portland is affordable, healthy, the most fun. San Francisco represents the highest standard of living with the least compromise.
No city has everything I need – probably because I expect too much.
I just have to choose. And that is the hard part.
