Been feeling a little quiet recently. Decisions being made and all, it's been sinking in and I'm starting to think about the best ways to go about accomplishing my new goals.

It's not a small thing. I need to plan. I need to not be impulsive about it. I am a fan of instant gratification, but that's a good way to fuck up a potentially great thing. I need to take my time and do things right. This really changes almost everything for me on a pretty fundamental level, and while that's exciting, it's also pretty scary.

Up north again. I saw some things. Let's put together a few perfect days, shall we?

Saturday began with Space Nakji and The Cutest Girl In All of Denmark and some excellent breakfast. (San Jose Mercury News Headline: "Debate Rages Over Spanking")

I then drove them up to San Francisco, and then drove back to Santa Cruz to meet up with Rekabek. Her sister Gertrude and her boy Gaylord shared their cabin and view with me



we went for a hike to the ocean

I spent the weekend up in Santa Cruz and San Francisco. I took about a thousand photos, and I'll post a photo essay tonight. In the meantime, here's a list of things I learned this weekend:

• The proper pronunciation of "taqueria"


• There are some really nice highway patrol officers in Santa Barbara


• Drinking beer in a warm car by the ocean with great conversation and great music? Awesome.


• Big Sur is just as gorgeous as everyone says it is. And then some.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eubQfKYFOPc]

Man. I still miss Jim Henson.

Longer updates soon.

If you don't read Dinosaur Comics, you should. Especially this one.

I hope you are having an excellent weekend so far. Try to avoid being attacked and/or devoured.

I want a puma.

What?

A puma.

I am afraid to ask why.

Go ahead, it's ok.

It doesn't have anything to do with the neighbor boy, does it?

...it might.

You're hedging.

No I'm not. It's more of a shrubbing. Denser and lower.

You can't really blame him. He's only 8.

Attila the Hun was only 7 when he invaded his first country.

That's a lie.

It's totally not! He did it after he got his Baby's First Pincer Movement set.

Really.

False Priest Arrested for Selling Pope Tickets

I wonder what the penance for THAT one would be...

I'm working on a little post about an adventure I had in Belgium. Here's a taste: "My guide was a Swiss/Armenian fur trapper who'd lost a leg in Mozambique while attempting to capture the fabled Jumping Llama of Lebombo. He'd forgotten that the jumping llama can shoot fire from special fire sacs between its ribs. Not a mistake he'd be making again soon. He walked with a limp but it only added to his swagger."

I need to start putting the cap on my toothpaste. Apparently a spider crawled in there and was very surprised to suddenly find himself on my toothbrush this morning.

I changed six lightbulbs today. It was either that or get night vision. I decided that surgery was too drastic.

I got a haircut and then smoked a pipe. Here is a photo that captures both events! Wow!

I just bought a record player. Not just any record player. This one plays CDs. And it has a radio. AND it plays tapes. That's right. I can now listen to my Journey and Huey Lewis tapes. And maybe all of those mix tapes from high school, if I can dig 'em up. Wall of Voodoo and the Violent Femmes, anyone?

Ok kids, I'll keep this brief, because it's 3:30am, I haven't slept yet, and I'm not likely to. Here's the skinny. I went up to Santa Cruz this weekend, and a curious thing happened. The further I got from Southern California, the better I felt. My shoulders started to unclench, my heart rate slowed down, I started to smile for no particular reason. Then I hit the trees and general gorgeousness of the Santa Cruz area and the smile became a grin, and I started feeling really happy and weirdly content. I've never really felt that way before.