Lump slipped on a kiss and she tumbled into love

Wow. Lots of bad news today... sometimes i have to be reminded that i am actually lucky to live in this country; you know- in a country with freedom of speech? Yeah. That's always nice.

In other news: went on a [slightly drug-addled] long walk with Nat yesterday. i met him up on campus, where he was waiting for me in the grad student lounge, avoiding a colloquium that he probably should have been attending. But girlfriends are more important, right? Hah- that's pretty rich. Truth is, we are only more important sometimes ;)

Grabbed some Cracker Jacks (PRIZE INSIDE!) and a banana, among other things, and raced off to beat the sunset. This task was not accomplished, as i had sadly arrived on campus late thanks to San Diego's fabulous(ly shitty) transportation system. We hurried down the hill to the Scripps Institute, where we thought we felt an earthquake but it turned out to be a jogger on the pedestrian suspension bridge connected to the building, which is itself a sprawling '70s-style (er, late '60s, apparently) open-area complex with tons of wood and balconies everywhere. Pretty nice, and the sky after sunset was certainly lovely enough. Sort of a persimmon stripe near the horizon, with Venus and the waxing crescent moon continuing their nightly duet further up in the sky.

i took a bunch of night-time photos with a roll of (400 speed) color Kodak film that expired in 1997 (it was in the camera bag my dad gave me this past x-mas); definitely tried not to get attached to any of those shots, because who the hell knows what expired film is going to do? i guess we'll find out.

Opened the Cracker Jacks, and the prize was slightly more interesting than the crap pencil-topper we got last time (a goofy-looking spelunker; please tell me, how does that make sense on a pencil?): one side had a disgusting drawing of a clam who looked like he had been drinking for ten days, and the flip side had a Ren and Stimpy-esque drawing of a cow who was looking suspiciously to his right, and believe me when i say that a sketchier pair of eyes has never been, well, sketched. We folded the paper along the creases as instructed and then- voila! the animals were 'talking'. Wow, thanks. It was so gross-looking; we ended up leaving it on the bus for someone else to be slightly disturbed by, after i gave the clam purple lipstick and long eyelashes in a failed attempt to make it palatable.

Eventually we made our way down to the shoreline, but before we leaped off the concrete wall to the sand below, a small swarm of strange creatures began heading toward us, gliding swiftly and effortlessly across the sand. We stared: what in the hell were they? Rats? Birds? Another couple on the beach was having the same internal discussion. They stared on from the water side. Eventually we realized that it was a group of small shore birds, probably about forty or fifty, and because it was so dark we couldn't see their legs. It was a bit like watching air hockey, but if the pucks were birds and all moving in formation, or like watching the motion of a school of fish, but on land.... it was fuckin' weird the way they seemed to glide and float that way. i took a couple of flash photos, but what we really needed was a video camera to convey the motion of these guys. It was so strange. They also had this adorable way of intermittently hopping up into the air.

Down the beach a ways (it was so dark i couldn't even see my feet hitting the sand), a gaggle of high school kids were hanging out by one of the fire pits. Friday night antics. Two girls broke off and ran towards the water, where their conversation went something like this:

#1: Oh my god, is that a-
#2: YES!
#1: Oh my god, it is!!!
#2: I TOLD YOU!!
Both together: AHAHAHAHAHA!! ::running and squealing back to friends::

Then they came back with camera phones and began to take pictures of the thing in question, laughing and cackling the whole time, while running and prancing halfway away like fucking idiots. Turns out it was a dead seal on the beach, which apparently is the most hilarious thing in the world for these assholes. Nat and i were basically filled with rage. Eventually we came upon a swanky hotel/restaurant (barf, who wants to watch boxing and basketball while they wine and/or dine?), where we asked to use their phone and call animal control. ::sigh:: kids these days! But seriously: i'd like to think that if we stuck around, at least one of those kids would have some decency and actually feel bad for the poor thing? Maybe even tell their friends to show a little respect? Orrrrrrrrr maybe not.

Um, where was i? Oh yeah. Ended up at a Starbucks, where i'm pretty sure the guy put our caps on backward deliberately, and Nat's drink leaked all over his hand. Hm. Then we walked through La Jolla, where i stole a sweet pea sprig from someone's yard, and held it up to my nose for like half an hour straight. We went into a couple of art galleries, which was mostly enjoyable. Took to some classical paintings of copper pots and lemons, told the gallery owners wed be back when we were rich and famous. i bailed on eating dinner at a fairly fancy Italian restaurant because, well, i'm a fucking anxiety case. There were too many well-dressed couples and even someone singing opera, which was really beautiful, but sort of overwhelming. Then some young guy walks by and sees us looking at the menu, and goes, "It's really good. Seriously, i get take-out from here every night." i thought that was pretty cute, but i was still too freaked. Ugh, why do i always get so scared when i'm in a chi-chi area? Is it because i have multiple safety pins holding my backpack strap on? Or that my shoes are well-worn? That my nails are bitten to the quick? The huge amount of eye makeup that i hide behind? Not sure, but whatever it is, i'm fucking sick of it. Not that i really want to hang out in these uppity spots, but you know. It would be nice not to panic at the sight of high heels and well-groomed hairdos.

Anyway.

Had a hankering for nachos on the bus ride home. Whipped up the whole deal: refried beans, fake ground beef, avocado, tomato, sour cream, black olives, jalapeños, tomatillo salsa, and of course, cheese. Lots and lots of sharp cheddar. Also, reminded myself not to get that kind of blue corn chips again, because never in my life have i seen so much salt! Jesus, Mary and Joseph.. Is there a way to remove salt from those? Enjoyed our nachos with a bottle each of Jarritos (tamarindo for nat and mandarina for me) while we watched Lust, Caution on Netflix. Thought it was Wong Kar-Wai, turned out to be Ang Lee. It's still good though! Totally enjoying it, plus it has Joan Chen, whom nat recognized from Twin Peaks. Yeah.

To reduce the risk of actually boring anyone to death, i'm going now. See y'all on the flip side.