I'm going on a road trip ...

And i'll be bringing:

Fantastic Fruits from the Farmer's Market
Goodies to eat along the way
Hoodies for the cold nights
Ice Cream

Parting is such a sweet...action of the red sea

Termination appt with psychiatrist: check
received surplus scripts for meds: check
cracked awkward joke: check
shook hands: check

handed over last check: check

wew.

All sorts of fun

My plans for today got messed up which is sad - Valerie and I were supposed to go to the Skirball to see the Noah's Ark exhibit. But we need reservations, even though my aunt and uncle donate money. Oh well. So we got back and ordered tickets for next week - which means next sunday we'll get to play with animals - yay!

Yesterday I went down to San Diego for the day to see my college advisor. She was in town for a Dickinson alum event at the SD Museum of Natural History. She was guiding the tour on the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. I figured driving 2 hours to see her here was easier than 3 1/2 hours back east. There ended up being a ridiculous amt of traffic and it took 4 hours to get there - which meant that i missed lunch...all of the LA people were late. I got to see 2 people who I graduated with - Matt and Lina. Matt is teaching north of LA - lina is in grad school and preggers. Matt brought his dad who I had met before. Lina was there with friends. It was fun to see them for awhile. Matt is the same only dork he's always been :) I got to spend the evening with Andrea - dickinson was kind enough to take us out to a nice seafood dinner in downtown San Diego. It was fun to talk to her about Dickinson as a professional - in terms of their strategic plan, budget, and educational objectives. I think she enjoyed hearing what i've been studying.

Last week for the Wednesday adventure Lev and I went to the LA Public Library. We had expected to take a short tour and then be on our way. It ended up being an AMAZING tour which we got stretched into a little over an hour. THe docent was one of the best I've ever had - an old lady from NY. She told us very important things:
The steps leading into the library start at nothing, just ideas. Then there are symbols and eventually words and different types of fonts - the evolution of it, you may say. Brave New World was written in that library. Huck Finn was the first book written on a typewriter.
It's a truly gorgeous building - they have a huge international language section, kids areas, and lots of computers. They clearly put a lot of thought into what money they had and how to use it.

We had expected to do other things but ended up running out of time. So we went to the farmers market that is just outside of the library...we had purused it before we went into the library and got some samples to hold us over. And then figured it was time for lunch so we got kabobs. Yum! And I got kettle corn which i just friggin love.

this week we're going to go back to the downtown area to see the places we didnt get to ... hopefully ill get a chance to write about that. This next week and a half is CRAZY filled with tons of work and packing and saying goodbye (ha, like I really do that)

More alphabet

Boots for hiking in the mountains
Crickets for Shimmy
Driving Directions
Everything I own that's in LA!

Realistic Packing List, Realistic Game

I'm going on a road trip and I'm gonna pack

AAA maps and travel guides

Harry

I have a few offensive questions about Harry - in honor of the release of the 7th book:

Does Rowling donate ANY of her money?
Do people realize it's ridiculous that they buy multiple copies of a $20 book because they "cant wait" to read it?
Do people realize they could donate that money to people who cant buy a meal?
I mean, it's great that people want to read - really, im all for that. But, why?

And then they cant even wait to get home? they have to read it on the floor of the store? those floors are NASTY let me tell you...

How much money are the book stores spending to be open in the middle of the night? Are they donating anything? Damn we're selfish fuckers.

You've been patiently waiting

Here's my update.

i went to see the WACK! exhibit with lev at MOCA. We went last friday because it's closed on Wednesdays. That mean that wednesday we got to play racquetball - which was amazing. I wish i could say the same for WACK! It was ok. A little too feminist and radical for our taste. At least we said we got to it. Some of it was cool - I liked judy chicago. she does fun stuff.

On saturday we went to the lotus festival in Echo Park - a celebration of peoples of asia and the south pacific. we ate great food like churros and grilled corn. and saw fun americans and other peoples. no but seriously. there were great asian foods - lev got a noodle dish that had the best noodles ever - they were light and fluffy and had a maple syrup taste. we got to see taiko drummers who were SO good. and then there were fireworks over the lake.

played racquetball again this wednesday - 2 more wednesdays to go - and for both we have set up some great plans - Grand Street and then the Planetarium.

This weekend will be filled with doing work, more work, and even more work. And then some little parties - one for library people, one at the house of the director of the program - i.e. i get to see maisy the dog again! i love her! she didnt like smash brain though. i like smasher.

Ice ice baby

Today I had a drink. I wanted it to be not hot. I wanted it to be cold.
But there was no ice.

When do I ever want ice for a drink?

Outline

Things to write about:
Racquetball
WACK! at MOCA
Lotus Festival

Things to ask:
Suggestions for things to do en route from San Fran to Chicago - i.e. roadtripping.

Things to do:
Finish this semester already so i can start traveling with the cool kids.

Dear Nicole

Dear Nicole,
Julie and I are having lots of fun during her visit.

I picked her up from the airport on Friday. It only took 5 loops around the airport! We drove to In N Out Burger - a California must. We split a burger and frieds and a Mr Pibb. I got her stickers. I let her sit in the sun - but told her that it would be the last time I would permit it (I love the spots).

We came back to my apartment and talked (intense, i know). Went to the supermarket. It was lots of fun. The theme for dinner Friday night was Asian food - so we got two types of Asian beer (we were in charge of drinks) and some soda. We got ourselves ready for dinner and then walked to my classmate's apartment. The dinner was 8 students - all of us are joint masters students - Julie, and the host's brother. we had a really good time. The talk wasnt too Jewish...

We came back and passed out. something about Julie being in another time zone.

We got up Saturday morning and drove down to the Wild Animal Park in San Diego. There was some traffic but it took us less than 2 1/2 hours. We had SO much fun. It was very hot out so I drank a lot- Julie didnt. We saw lions and tigers and giraffe and deer and flamingoes and birds and ... I played in the kids jungle gym - we took a pic of Julie pretending to drive us in a truck! It was a lot of walking but it was worth it. Then we took the Safari ride which took us through the living areas of some of the animals. Julie was excited when we saw Ivan the Giraffe up close. I was fairly impressed by the size of his penis! We learned about the animals and their natural ways. When a deer flicks its tail, it means that it knows you are there. A male ostrich mates with many females and then they all lay their eggs together - and then the male takes care of all of their babies when they are born!

The drive home was long and boring and we were very tired when we got back. I did some homework, she did some word puzzles and we were out by 1030 pm.

This morning we got up and went to the Beverly Hills Farmers market. we got peaches (white and donut) plums strawberries apricots kiwis string beans corn and kettle corn. And lots of freebies. Next we headed over to the La Brea Tar Pits. They are in the mid-wilshire area - right near where I worked all year. A central part of LA. It seems that excavation has revealed an abundance of fossils that were worth showing us. Beneath the ground lays big areas of tar. La Brea means the tar in Spanish. We saw lots of animal fossils and played around. We also bought chocolate eggs with "fossil" candy inside. Pretty damn good.

Next we stopped by my friend Jenny's house to pick her up and we went up to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Mann's Chinese Theater. The former is where the stars are - the latter has the cement with people's hands. It was fun to see - - lots of tourists.

we came back - i did work and julie made us dinner - Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup and Corn on the Cob. YUM! Now I'm supposedly doing work and she is doing more puzzles.

I dont want you to think I've been doing that much work - I'm not that silly.

Julie is having lots of fun. I am keeping her properly entertained. This will all change tomorrow when I have class from 830-5. She is coming to school with me. She'll play on the computer and come to one class. Otherwise she's on her own for a lot of the day -but then we are going to the Dodgers/Braves game. Same plan for Tuesday. But I have breaks between the classes when I can entertain her. Also, she has fun things she can do - like go to the Museum or over to USC to play in their book store. so im not really worried about her. She's good at entertaining herself.

Anyway - I saw you were looking at my blog so I wanted to update you.

I'm really sad that your parent's store closed. I was really taken aback. But that's life I guess.

Well, I'll talk to you soon - or not. I'll come up and visit when I get back from LA. I miss all of you!

Happy 4th.