The more they change, the more they stay the same

The Sucka Free City has changed a lot, and, as many of you will recall, I like to blame the ex-Bostonians. Most recently, I am blaming them for the sheer laziness, the self-focused egomaniacal energy of the Mission, which today resulted in:

(1) Tens of red and lime green bounding dodge balls 'boing'ing across the Dolores Park soccer field and into the street with none of the inadvertent human boundary markers raising even one foot up to stop them or kick them back to the gamers and

(2) A ridiculous amount of unnecessary trash.... and more specifically for allowing a billowy plastic bag to slow-roll all the way across Dolores Park while scads of barely clad sun and shade worshipers duly ignored it til it headed within 50 feet of me and I sighed myself up to grab it (and a receipt, and an index card with the highlighted word VERDIGRIS, and half a newspaper section... which, being the Chronicle, certainly counts as trash.)

But some things remain the same. So thank you to those of you who allow me to count on:

1. Crowds of people, at all hours, hunched over laptops on sidewalks or grinding their cars up over the curb to park-n-type practically into Eureka Valley (Castro)'s library walls despite NO PARKING signs.... all to enjoy for hours the library's blanket of free wireless signal. Now that is community.

2. True San Franciscans, who even on a lovely September it's-finally-summer day continue to drive to the beach with the newspaper, friends, or thermoses of hot chocolate to park for hours in front of the ocean, blink at it once in a while (if that) and never never get out of the car.

3. Whoever wrote in permanent marker "I've Got a Big Dick" small and in the lower corner of seemingly random Bay windows down 17th Street. Charming.

4. That 20 year old with a megaphone inviting anyone in the vicinity of his voice to join a D-park-wide pick-up game of Dodge Ball on the field. And then watching 60 or so people join in, some wearing hotpants, some wearing flip flops, some wearing football gear, some wearing ipods (and running and appearing surprised when they get zonked by a ball.... which leads me to believe they were hapless jogger-bys). And tiny dogs running frantically and amok to avoid being squashed. And watching a guy play Dodge Ball while smoking. And watching him stay in. Very California. Nice.

5. My lovely co-scrambler, who interrupted her conversation to scoop up the other half of the milling newspaper section.

6. My parents, who, true to form, continue to reject the usual parent-child order of things by taking my furniture from ME, this time lobbying for livingroom furniture, thereby making the total number of brown corduroy couches in their place.... TWO. Solid work, kin.