But then, last week, a high school friend's husband died, at 45. And Oliver Sachs wrote this beautiful essay to announce his diagnosis with terminal cancer (9 years after "beating" an ocular tumor; utterly frightening).
I'd been thinking about it, but really, today, I'm changing my tune. There is no reason to obsess about job-seeking as it will not hasten its progress or its outcome. It is valid to want to experience life via work and the interactions and effects you can have with and on people there and through the experiences work opens up to you; I don't feel guilty about that. What I do regret is having difficulty filling the available, job-free (and finite) time I do have on earth with other things that qualify as "engaging with life." Yet there are so many ways to engage with it. I hate my own head, I really hate it.
The kids have been my client, and there are every-weekends and days out of school. On those days, it's my agenda, and we have been hustling. Though the routes for getting there are often ugly, long, and strewn with strip malls and gas stations, the destinations are almost always surprisingly lovely, slowly building us some bones for this place. It's not "home," nowhere near that yet (perhaps never will be), but we are learning what we like.
The kids are now enrolled in most excellent classes in Music (Mozart School, Palo Alto) and tap/ballet (Veksler Academy, Mountain View), so we are up and out of the house Saturday mornings, free for the weekend from noon. One of our first finds: CuriOdyssey, in San Mateo.
This is a great name, sounds like a chapter in a Robinson Crusoe tale. It is actually a small science museum and "zoo" on a point jutting out into the Bay with view to the City and covered with eucalyptus trees. There are walking and bicycling trails plus a playground and a marina. I liked it so much, I bought a membership.
CuriOdyssey is a bit like a small Exploratorium on the inside. Hands-on science exhibits are, in fact, very popular here in all kinds of kid-friendly destinations it seems; no need to pay $40 pp to have very similar experiences at various places here in SV. There is a theater where we caught a "birds of prey" show featuring an owl and a turkey vulture, as well as a bee colony and a variety of fun things the kids wanted to try over and over and over like foam objects flying in and out of vacuum tubes (pictured). Outside, there are around a dozen habitats for animals, from sea otters and bobcats to tortoises and golden eagles. Small, clean, contained, but spacious and airy, and right in the middle of the point so that the walking trails are right outside and the water view is about 50 yards away from the parking lot.
Why buy a membership here when many of the local "kid" attractions have the same reciprocal membership benefits? Well, it includes free parking/admission perks at Coyote Point, so if you want to just go to the area to hike, bike, jog or sit on the little sand beach, parking is free for CuriOdyssey members. One thing to note: there are snacks in the gift shop but no cafe. Best bet: bring a picnic.
Coming: Children's Discovery Museum, Carmel, Vasona Park, CalTrain to San Francisco, Hoover Tower at Stanford and "The Little Zoo" of Palo Alto.
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