DAY 40: Sonora's is rotten

I wake up at 7am which is way too early to wake up on a Saturday. I have a class this morning so I ride out to Santa Monica and Highland. It’s a nice ride no traffic and a crisp breeze, a good way to clear my head of all the cobwebs. I’m given an hour and a half for lunch, which I use to search for materials for my costume (that’s right, I finally figured out what I’m gonna be). Hollywood costume and toys didn’t have anything. I found most of the material at the army navy store. After class I go to Ozzy Dots and another Army Surplus store followed by a dinner of tofu, veggies, beans, and a Spaten at Good. I realized I have barely eaten all day resulting in me being light headed.
At Good, I feel sorry for a waiter and a hostess due to a customer they received. He’s a high maintenance middle-aged man with his 9 yr old daughter and girlfriend. They immediately take a seat and when the hostess asks if he can move to a different one he refuses. She explains why and he replies, “Well, that’s your problem”. They bring him his menus and after about 3 minutes he begins demanding a waiter of whom he asks for a kids menu, which they do not have. He asks what kind of food they have for children. The waiter says, “I’m not sure, hamburger, fried chicken?” The girl sticks her tongue out at each response (this is a place that advertises a mystery beer night). While I sit there, a minute doesn’t go by where he isn’t hollering for his waiter. Once the food arrives the little girl begins running around like it’s a Chuck E Cheese. 15 minutes later her Dad makes her sit down to eat. Her BBQ chicken is cold (No shit! Your sitting outside and she doesn’t touch it for 15 minutes of course its cold). He sends it back and I ride home counting my blessings.
My plans for the night are to visit the Camille Rose Garcia exhibit with Diggie and Joe. Galleries are the new mosh pits. It's impossible to navigate the crowd and even harder to look at the paintings. Much of the art has polar bears in them. I love the polar bears. It's very storybook. The crowd becomes overpowering so I go next door to "Sonora's". DO NOT EVER GO TO SONORA'S! I'd rather eat and drink at a Chevron. Which I tried to do on our walk back, but thankfully while I was inside Diggie set up reservations at "Jones". They have amazing spaghetti and meatballs and after a couple of glasses of wine and I'm passing out. The beard needs its rest.

DAY 39: Soon to be outta here!

Click. Click. Click. And done. I just bought my ticket to France suckas! Au revoir! I leave for Nice December 21st and do not return until January 5th. Fuck yeah! I think buying this ticket just gave me diarrhea cause I’m about to shit myself. The beard is going international.

DAY 38: Old Dream

I had a dream from when I lived in Boston that I cannot escape:

I’m woken by the sound of a large aluminum can followed by running water. It’s winter the windows are fogged and below my dirty mattress is a cold wooden floor. I smell coffee. The aroma pops me out of bed and into the cold. In the kitchen Brandon is making Folger's (In real life I don’t think Brandon drinks coffee). Behind him next to the fridge are three enormous grey tabby cats. “Whose cats are these?” I ask. “Dunno” he shrugs and walks out of the room. I squat down, balancing on the balls of my feet, and pet cat Number One and Number Two. Number Three, who I am unable to pet, begins rubbing his face against me so I stop petting Number One and pet Number Three. Number One then begins to rub his face against me so I stop petting Number Two so I can pet Number One. Number Two immediately begins rubbing against me so hard that his front paws bounce up and down off the ground. I continue switching from cat to cat for a couple of minutes, while who ever is the outside cat bounces higher and higher on his front paws. Finally this cat is standing. Causing me to lose my balance and stop petting the other two. While trying to stand, these two rub against me working themselves into standing position I jump up and fear takes over. I slowly withdraw from the three large cats who walk towards me. Backing into the living room, I am stopped by some unknown obstacle as the three tabby’s awkwardly march towards me like furry little zombies paws out in front repeating a mantra of, “Meeeow! Meeeeeeeeeow! Meow!”

Not sure why, but this dream terrified me.

DAY: 37 Haiku

Noble Viking gift

Extinguish it you cannot
Willed into being

DAY 36: A Lil Privacy

Dad left this morning while I was at work. Same old, same old. I think I drank enough for a couple of weeks on the cruise, but since Adam is visiting from Boston I drink some more. I also have some hot wings. Gotta love hot wings and beer. It’s like cookies and milk or salt & vinegar chips and squirt. I hang out for a couple of hours and then head back to the homestead to enjoy some privacy. Me and the beard need some serious alone time.

DAY 35: Home

I can smell coffee as I hear Dad clear his throat. Too early, my eyes stay shut and I sleep for another hour. It’s now 7am and the coffee smell is gone. I want coffee! I wake up grumpy. I must have slept on the beard wrong. The ship is docked in Long Beach and it is time for us to leave. Not sure which is worse getting off or getting on. Next we take the freeway to downtown. It’s 8am rush hour and my mood is not getting any better. I get to work by 9am. Thank goodness for car pool lanes. Work! Work! Work! At least I get a cup of coffee. Go home go to bed, still a little grumpy.

DAY 34: Ensenada

Today is Ensenada! After breakfast, we exit the ship and catch a tour bus downtown. We wander the streets until my Dad is able to spot the same church spires that he saw from the ship. After hailing a cab and spending $3 we’re standing in front of it. Dad wants to stay for mass (it’s Sunday after all). I pull up a pew and spend the next hour using junior high skills to decipher a barrage of Spanish. “Jesus digo”. Got it. We walk back to where we were (couldn’t take a cab since we didn’t remember the cross streets) and have a beer at some tourist spot. It’s like a Mexican themed TGIF. A little more wandering and I try to pin Pops down on something to do. He wants to ride a public bus around. I’m not really down for this, instead we take a carriage down to the beach or attempt to. The final road is closed off so we have to turn back and now I’m able to see the shanties, seafood stands, and cantinas from across the street. After some bickering, we do more wandering on foot and find a little cantina with 3 other people in it away from the tourism. It’s Tequila time and our spirits rise. Dad is pooped so he goes back to the ship while I check out the stores and have a few more drinks. On the ship we meet our same dinner table that we have had since day one. I end the night in a hot tub, listening to a girl tell me the condensed history of knitting.