Week 2 of summer '08 has ended much like the last one... with a whole lot of fun and lots of memories I want to remember. So, perhaps this entry is not written in a very writerly way, but it's more for myself to remember things than to entertain anyone.
I've been working as an overworked, deadline burdened research assistant. I need the money, but I don't know when I'll get back on track with my dissertation data collection. The last couple weeks have reminded me of what it's like not to be in school. I bust my tail 9-5 during the week, and the weekends go too fast.
The summer officially started with Kevin Garnett screaming, "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!" And that is now my official mantra for the summer.
Summer, week 1:
-Celtics won its 17th NBA championship. I got felt up by some drunk white guy after he sprayed champagne all over my shirt. Then he tried to kiss me!?!? BLEH!... however, I can now say that my 3 favorite pro sports teams won championships in my adult lifetime.
-Beach bonfire to burn away the past. I burned the last remaining reminders that I had of EB3. My poignant words to commemorate the moment went something like, "Burn mf, burn!"
-Beer...I had my first Guinness during the Celtics NBA finals run. It was good! I had some other beer at the beach bonfire. That was good too! Wow! Sad to think that I've missed out on a decade of good beer because I was traumatized by the piss-tasting beer of my early college years.
-Chill Saturday afternoon in Santa Monica with my girls, shopping for great bargains, drinking smoothies, eating pizza, and trying to figure out boys (endless and possibly hopeless endeavor).
-Dancing in Eagle Rock to reggae music... gettin the party started. Just really enjoying grooving to the beat and feeling the jams. Seeing one of the guys from the Philistines and telling him, "We're big fans of yours!" like the big nerds we are.
-Reading, yoga, and tofu with LawyerGirl (LG) to cap off a lovely summer weekend.
Week 2: More work, some yoga, and more fun!
-Went to Library Bar to say goodbye to Viv. Then after Viv left, a few of us weren't done with the evening, so we went to The Standard's rooftop club/bar/lounge. Wow! So LA! Pretentious. Ultra mod. No one was on the dance floor. So the three of us gals went out on the dance floor and tore it up just enjoying the jams and the amazing view of the sky line. I decided I was not only dancing with my girls, but also with the city... as I am finally beginning to let myself fall a little bit in love with it.
-I met up with DF on Thursday night :) Nothing like summer evenings on the beach, chillin' to some live music. Things like this make me fall a little bit more in love with this place.
... and then began one of the busiest but still chill weekends I've had in a long while...
-Was supposed to go to Blazin' Hope II, but wasn't feeling so hot, but donated money by way of my ticket purchase anyway. Too bad I missed it... sounded like an intensely grounding event full of love.
-Saturday started out with volunteering in K'town to clean up 4 city blocks. Lesson learned: people are NASTY! Stop throwing your shit everywhere! Cigarette butts are the WORST!
-Cleaning K'town was followed by a NAPAWF LA chapter board meeting in Little Tokyo... lovely lunch with some wonderful sisters.
-Then it was off to Santa Monica for a block party... breezy, chill, bbq fun by the beach.
-And then... off to Orange County for the Young Leading Women's art show "Hopeful Hands."
-Then back to Santa Monica to rejoin the block party. More bbq. I think I grilled some turkey burgers for some homeless guys. I don't know if they were homeless but they had no teeth. As the sun set, DesiChic, SurferGirl, and a few other people started to rock the ROCK BAND! We were rockin so hard till about midnight that the cops came by to tell us to bring it down a few notches :)
Today... I went to church where there was a guest pastor - Frank Campolo. Everything the man said was so on point! He called out Christians who hate queer folks and Arabs and Muslims as un-Christian. He called out people for living completely materialistic lives with no connection to social justice. Not sure how many people in the place were feeling the sermon, but wow! For me, it's the kind of Christianity I can really dig!
-I grabbed lunch with a couple friends afterwards in Culver City, then went home for a nap.
-When I woke up, I did some reading.
-To end the day, I went to Skylights bookstore for a book reading by Nam Le of his new collection of short stories, The Boat.
Finally, I drove home through Los Angeles, in the purple, orange, red, pink glow of the end of another summer weekend.
