It took a moment before my mind registered what this stranger was doing - when it clicked, I just smiled.

There was nothing graceful about how I managed this shot. Actually, for the people who saw me taking it, I probably looked decidedly suspicious and eccentric as I frantically dug around my bag, produced my camera, slowly inched closer to my subject and surreptitiously tried to capture the intensity of his focus and dedication on the analog calculator. Come to think of it, I doubt anyone actually noticed me…this, because most of the other passengers I observed were busy taking selfies, or had their eyes glazed over with half-yard stares as they tapped away on their iDevices. But that’s what made this particular stranger’s interaction beautiful…the beeps his device emitted were wooden and nostalgic and the device itself didn’t cast his face with an electronic-white hue. In such a techy part of town, there’s a reassuring beauty in that.

I moved to San Francisco this past weekend for a new job. I should clarify…I moved back to San Francisco part time (the plan is to travel back to Southern California on weekends) for a new job. I grew up here and moved away for university, then stayed away for the last decade or so by choice - bouncing around the US and ultimately calling Newport Beach my home. To be back here…I feel displaced, uncomfortable, unfamiliar and awkward. Seeing this man wielding this tool made me feel instantaneously less ___________ and more alright.