last weekend i spent some time in monterey. dan and his friends were taking a scuba class, so i had two days to myself. no adgenda, no plans, just open hours and an expanse of becah. friday i walked to lover's point (though alone) and explored the houses of pacific grove on the way back. sat on the beach and read, the gorgeous view coaxing my eyes from the words on the pages.

the sounds, the sights, the taste of the salty air - i spent many days at the beach growing up, as a teenager, in college - and waves of memories overtook my mind. i was suddenly a little girl dribbling wet sand through her fingers to create other worldly castles. a sixteen year old with long blond hair, the sun brozing my shoulders as i rollerbladed down the boardwalk. sitting in the sand with a thick botany book, roomates, and a giant bottle of water, justifying my loafing by claiming to be studying.

it was something i don't think i have thought of before, how your encuonters with certain places over your life each hold their own memory, yet can knit themselves together into a seamless movie in my head. i miss the beach. i associate so many happy memories with the the feel of the ocean. when i moved to sacramento, everyone asked 'won't you miss the beach?'...nah, i have the mountains now. but i do miss it...it's not easy to explain, and it didn't occur to me until last weekend...i understood how profoundly our surrondings affect us.

enlighenment of the day: when hooked to an ekg machine, jello generates brain waves virtually identical to the brain waves of a healthy adult. green jello salad, anyone?

this is ganked from april (thanks, april! :) ) and it's amazing....well, i know they are just arbitrary numbers created by humans to measure time, but it's still neat.

20:02, 02/20, 2002

only in santa cruz, but i think this is cool...i know it wouldn've have happened in the schools i went to...

Santa Cruz school agrees to let girl enter medical marijuana project in science fair

and this is just ridiculous. yes, i know southern california needs water. after all they have tons of green golf courses to keep alive, expensive cars to keep clean, and dirty sidewalks to hose off...so now they are exploiting alaska's water with a project to ship water? crazy. just crazy. could someone remind southern californians that they live in the desert?

A bold endeavor -- or just all wet?

i love the jack johnson cd...

it seems to me that maybe
it pretty much always means no
so don't tell me you might just let it go
and often times we're lazy
it seems to stand in my way
cause no one no not no one
likes to be let down

mmm....yum....what an afternoon...new boots at REI (the ones i had bought were just too small. they squished my toes...they were supposed to 'stretch' and break in...nope. so i got some much more comfortable ones)....jack johnson and oh brother where art thou? on sale at virgin megastore (woo!)....AND....one sweet whirrled, the full vermonty, and triple caramel chunk at ben and jerry's (they had a special - 3 scoops in a waffle cone for $3.50 - still crazy expensive, but, one sweet whirrled!). *crazy wild happy ice cream dance*

love the boots, love the cds, love the ice cream. LOVE osw. and i think the full vermonty is challenging festivus (but it needs some cookie hunks....)

ah, i love days like this. just love them.

bela fleck is going to be on the todd mundt show tomorrow on npr...something good to be sure to listen to.

oh, happy day. happy happy day.

if a cow laughed, would milk come out her nose?

on npr the other day they were discussing salons and discussion groups (or conversation circles, or whatever you want to call people who gather to talk about pertinent subjects). it sounded intriguing to me, and something i find myself missing after college - groups of interesting intelligent people to talk with, and plenty of time to do it in. gathering over coffee, over beers, and discussing the state of the world. and whether you prefer anderson valley pale ale to sierra nevada. ;)

during the discussion, a caller called (that doesn't sound right, but you know) to admonish these people for these 'contrived' conversation circles. why, she asked, isn't it like europe where people just sit and talk. on their own. without a talking stick, a meeting time, or a moderator?

i thought about that. why?

the panelists agreed that they wish it would be this way, too. but, unfortunately, people don't seem to have time or energy to bother with such things anymore. they are on fast forward all day, no time to think, let alone talk about anything other than 'yeah, chicken for dinner. with broccoli. can you pick up some ben and jerry's on the way home?'

why did we allow it to get this way? why do people tune out when you bring up a 'touchy' subject, or one in which people don't always see eye to eye on? i love talking, listening, hearing how other people feel, and what caused them to form these opinions, the emotion behind them. sometimes my opinion changes, sometimes not, but i always leave knowing more.

i don't know if there is a way to explain the breakdown of communication - i think it is something that happened slowly over time. i hope it somehow makes its way back into society. if not, i hope i find someplace to live and work where there are exciting, dynamic, interesting people. it's not easy, i know, but it's a hope of mine.

oh, and you can listen to the discussion. (it's toward the end of the program)

i know there's little use in crying
it's more wide awake and dying then i'm used to
i thought we'd walk these streets together
now i'm hoping that i'll never have to meet you
step aside from all this anger
and somewhere in between i can feel you
ask me should we try again
i'm thinking no
y'know, it's not what i believe in
it's not what i believe in
-howie day, ghost