Sometimes I hate living on 9th and D. I hate it when a semi drives by and the entire house shakes. I hate it when train whistles wake me up at 2 am. I hated it this past Sabbath when I walked out to my car, only to find a policeman's business card stuck to my windshield with the note, "Call me if you'd like to make a report." Vandalism, apparently, comes with the territory--five vehicles on my street, including mine, were divested of their driver's side-view mirrors.

But other times I love it.

A couple of the nice things about living downtown are the biking and the shopping. I can hop on my lovely and be at the Black Market, or the Capitol, or the Haymarket Mill, in under 10 minutes; Sunken Gardens is just a bit further. Lately the trees have been so vibrantly rust-colored, and the skies have been blue and cloudswept. The Near South neighborhoods are just a few blocks away, where the old houses speak character and beauty (and high rent).

On Sunday I went to FoodNet--Cross 11th, where the peeling cream-colored mansion is surrounded by scaffolding and rained upon by an ancient white oak; stop for a brief second to glance down Goodhue at the Capitol framed symmetrically by trees; and speed down 17th to Capitol View Church. I was a little embarrassed to be receiving free food when I saw Marti Cash, Union's cashier, there, but after receiving my numbered casino chip and making friends with the women sitting next to me, each of us hoping our number would be next, I felt more comfortable. And after getting two boxes of organic romaine lettuce and two artichokes, as well as some delicious pumpernickel, I felt great. Outside I gave some of my excess greens away to a woman who hadn't gotten any, and she told me about the best FoodNets around town--which ones give out milk and cheese, which ones don't have long lines.

As I biked back, my full grocery bags bouncing on either side of me, I was very happy to be living in downtown Lincoln, and to be riding home to 9th and D among the leaves and sunshine. Which is not to say that, if I stay another year, I wouldn't keep an eye out for a rental in the College View area--preferably one with a yard.