I am 48 years old, carrying a bag fill of 7-11 groceries and crossing the street when the rickshaw driver calls out to me. I understand what he is asking even if I do not know a word he is saying for he is speaking in Russian. I don’t know how to tell him in Russian or Chinese that my home is just across the street so I won’t be needing a ride.

By the time I am halfway into my jaywalking journey my mind drifts back to South San Francisco, 35 or 40 years ago. I am walking down South Grand carrying newspapers when a man walks up to me speaking Spanish. I have no idea what he is saying.

South Grand was a bit different then. A few dive bars. An adult bookstore. Now it is dotted with middle class restaurants and a Peets coffee. There are still dive elements but they don’t seem to bother the middle life classers. They don’t bother me except for when I have a mild panic attack about where I left my car.

If I time travel into the future I can imagine where I live now in Beijing -- near the Russian district -- will change. There will be now rickshaw drivers, maybe just Segways vnext. There will be no immigrants walking around killing time. The place will be settled and less dynamic. It is already a lot less dynamic than it was just a few years ago; or maybe it is just me.

If I time travel into a different present, I am a rickshaw driver trying to chase a fair. I’m in the American section of town speaking English to Russians who do not know Chinese. Occasionally I get a customer and bargain for a fair. A person who bargains for fairs is a person who does not knows the fair and I can take advantage of them.

If I time travel into a different past, I am getting out of a dive bar and speaking Spanish to a boy delivering newspapers. I am asking him why he is out so late. I am realizing he doesn’t understand me at all.