Is There Anything Cooler Than the Flag?

Not that I was ever interested in moving here, but, I certainly know that I will be comfortable not doing so after this trip; that is to say, California is still worth a cursory visit; or, if you have a bit more time, a summer at an aunt's house (free of charge, with a car, no dogs, and a queen sized waterbed) like my sister's friend, with whom we are currently staying, has been doing; I simply wish to point out that Los Angeles is not all its cracked up to be; with its hour-long car rides to end up four miles away at a skate shop that does not sell the right kind of skate boards; or, the not-entirely unfounded feeling that the company that owns your condo and the health inspector must be working in tandem to prevent your obvious infestation of German cockroaches from allowing you to break your year-long lease, forcing you to relocate, while still paying the insanely over-inflated rent (however, if you end up moving into the guest house of your uncle who makes loads of money from voice-over work, enough that he lives a few houses down from Paris Hilton and has a view of the city that would make a blind person weep, perhaps it is not all bad, after all).

Here is a quick re-hash of the past few days: read three of the five books I brought along, and purchased another in order to extend the fun; spent about twelve hours total on public transportation, which would not be so bad if it were not filled with needlessly ornery bus drivers and scuffles about which clamps need to go on a wheelchair, thus extending what would be a fifteen minute ride into an hour of bus-riding fun; stayed with a friend of mine (at the previously mentioned gorgeous hilltop home) and visited Venice Beach (though after dark, without all the supposed people-watching and shopping that would have been possible before dusk), LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), and The Grove (the first outdoor mall in the world/country/state); spent a good deal of time—where else?—on the beach; and, finally, I have sufficiently submersed myself in the mindset of vacation-hood, so that I do not know what day or time it is a good chunk of my wakened being.

So, after visiting a few friends and temporarily parting ways with the other member of our voyage, we will soon be making our way back up the coast to stay with the aunt of the high school ex-boyfriend of my sister, who apparently Jenn has not seen in something akin to three voyages of our lonely planet around the sun (when the aunt-in-question made her prom dress, I hear). After that we will be road-tripping further up to Monterey and Santa Cruz, camping for a few days, and ending up in San Francisco to catch our flight (which leaves right after midnight one week from today) back home. Sounds lovely, does it not?

Next time I shall share some pictures, but for the moment my sister sent back the memory card we were using, so I have none to post: sad times.

Buh-bye!