Fish Tales

I am sitting here this morning keeping a watchful eye on a matching pair of gray Hon brand steel four-drawer filing cabinets that were orphaned in the alley overnight. Anyone that knows me well, knows that I have a penchant for all things container. And they must also know that the fact that I do not have a hand truck at this moment is not dissimilar from a stoner with a pound of pot but no bong (Yeah, yeah I know the toilet paper roll and apple workarounds. I’m just trying to make a point … Shut up!). Anyway, so these filing cabinets are just sitting there taunting me with copious holding capacity free for the taking. Yet I have no metaphorical shovel with which to uncover the treasure chest. Fate is such a harsh mistress.

Oh man, I could totally use a treasure chest.

Ocean Beach residents have much to say and their public commentary tends to run on the indelible side. Debate frequently rages over whether what these folks have to say is sage or silly. I will leave it to the reader to decide.

No, I am not sleepless this evening and blogging about OB tampons. Rather, OB is San Diegan for Ocean Beach. Tomorrow morning a truck is coming to our large downtown loft apartment in the sky and relocating us to quaint little house in Ocean Beach with a view of the Specific Ocean. I am too excited to sleep.

We had visitors! Our first since moving to California. Our former neighbors, Garth and Kate, flew in last Thursday and stayed with us until Tuesday. We had a terrific time despite the fact that Garth arrived in San Diego seriously ill. He spent the first two days of the trip passed out on our couch but then proceeded to recover nicely for the rest of his time here. By Tuesday morning, he was eating. We figured that was an improvement. In fact, it was comical to watch Eric, Kate and I grow excited as Garth consumed an entire piece of toast or half of his breakfast burrito. We clapped and hooted as if he needed a cheering section at the breakfast table.

As a result of Garth’s illness, the first two days of their visit was low key. We spent most of our time in the Ocean Beach area which is to become our new neighborhood in a few weeks time. We did some hiking on the cliffs, lounging on the beach, shopping in the shops, and coffee drinking in the cafes.

By Sunday, Garth was up for a trip to Tijuana so we spent most of Easter Sunday being chased down the street by small children trying to sell us Chiclets and woven bracelets. The shopkeepers yelled to us from their storefronts. They called us honeymooners among other things and offered to sell us anything from bikinis to speed. We had a light meal accompanied by beer which cost us next to nothing in American dollars. We didn’t do much shopping although Garth walked out of Tijuana with a bottle of tequila and the four of us walked out with fresh Mexican pastries.

On Monday, the four of us went sea kayaking. A little rental shop in La Jolla offers guided kayaking tours of the coastline and marine reserve in that area. Since Garth is a hard-core whitewater kayaker, we thought he might enjoy the ocean variety so we signed up for a tour. It was awesome. From the moment I sat in my kayak I was hooked. In order to get out into the open ocean, one has to paddle through the surf near the shoreline. I had a blast maneuvering my kayak through waves which were crashing down on top of me as a feverously paddled through them. Once we got out into the ocean, we saw all kinds of things: hundreds of leopard sharks (harmless to humans), sea caves, sea lions, pelicans, the kelp forest (one of the largest in the world), and dolphins which surfaced so close to my kayak that it took my breath away. I took pictures of the adventure with a disposable waterproof camera I bought at the shop. However, those photos have yet to be developed.

In lieu of the kayaking photos, I give you Eric doing his impression of a cactus:

And the laptop gang:

The Casbah, a music venue here in San Diego, has a set of instructions posted on their pool tables detailing the procedure for inserting coins:

Push all the way in.
Pull out.
Then push in again.

I felt compelled to jot these instructions down as they seemed to have a certain underlying significance.

A few big events for us this weekend:

1. Our friends Thomas and Adrienne welcomed their second child into this world. Beatrix Morningstar Marriott was born on Friday evening. A healthy, eight-pound baby girl who is so cute even Eric could not resist her charm.

2. Last week, Eric and I (along with our friends Matt and Michelle) signed up to participate in a Community Supported Agriculture program. Every week for the next four weeks we will receive a box of seasonal fruits, vegetables and herbs from two local organic farms. This week we received our first box-o-veggies that included a huge diversity of leafy greens including but not limited to: arugula, kale, some purple type of lettuce, mustard greens, and dandelion greens. We also got a few blood oranges, a few regular oranges, avocados, lemons, tomatillos, tomatoes, scallions, and fresh coriander. Personally, I am ecstatic about the items. Woot!!!! Organic veggies!!!!

3. We bought some real furniture this weekend which is very sexy and will look fabulous in our nifty, urban loft.

4. I joined a book club here in San Diego. Last night I attended my first meeting. The members of this club are wonderful people. There is an incredible diversity among the members which makes for a lovely, intellectual discussion group. I am looking forward to the next meeting in February.

5. Finally, photo night is back on the menu! After we bought our Nikon, Eric and I started “Photo Night” as a means to motivate us to learn to use the camera. Each month we would assign a theme. Then we would have approximately four weeks to take various pictures of our own interpretations of that theme. After four weeks, we would make dinner, pour wine, and present our photographs to each other. This time around it is extra exciting because Matt and Michelle wish to participate.

With the recent purchase of laptops that came with embedded web cams, we have started skyping. Skype is cool, it’s basically the same as Instant Messaging except with audio and video. Regular phone calls cost money but skyping between two skype users is free just like sending messages via IM. Since we currently have only two contacts (besides ourselves) in our Skype contact list I thought I would write a post encouraging our friends and family to download Skype. Here’s the link, get downloading.

This cartoon drawing I did of myself one day at work (many moons ago) has always made me giggle. It was entitled, I Love Work.

I awoke moments ago with my head buried in my pillow, my body wracked by a sneezing fit. Oh, my poor poor pillow originally designed by NASA, you took the brunt of that assault like a trooper. Alas, now I must burn you. That is, unless there exists some silly H.O.A. rule against burning pillows in the building. I’ll check into it later.