Catching up

I turned 29 this past Wednesday. In a way it was nice being away from home with a bunch of strangers who didn't know it was my birthday. No one was able to make a big deal out of it. But let me back up.

My second day in Santa Monica, we got out of class early, at 4:45. I changed quickly and went for a big walk--first down to the pier, then down Main St. past where we ate dinner the first night. I went down to the beach there and walked the rest of the way back north in the sand. Talk about a workout. Except for the 10 minutes that I sat down and talked to Marc, I was walking the entire time. I had planned to stop for dinner somewhere along the way, but by the end, I didn't want to get caught in the dark by myself. I went back and ordered room service.

Wednesday (my unknown b-day) we got out of class really early--4:00--because our teacher thought it was 5:00. Six of us from class decided to meet at 5:00 to go down to the pier together and get some dinner. We wandered around and decided on Rusty's Surf Ranch (with Good Eats!) where most of us got seafood. It lived up to the huge neon sign hanging on the inside wall. As we were eating dinner, we started seeing lots of trucks filled with lighting equipment driving down the pier and hooking up wires. Then we saw trailers pulling up to the beachfront parking lot. Turns out they were getting ready to film an episode of What About Brian. We joked about going down there and trying to get on the show as extras, but we didn't follow through.

After dinner, we stopped in a little English pub. They were getting ready to start some kind of trivia contest. I knew I wasn't going to stay awake much longer, so I cut out early with another classmate who was also ready to go back to the hotel. We found out the next morning that wherever the other 3 went after the pub, they sat down at a bar next to Damon Wayans. I'm not a huge celebrity-nut, but it would have been cool to see someone famous and be able to come home and say so. I guess I'll have to settle for my teacher having a strong resemblance to French Stewart.

So my birthday was uneventful, which is okay. On Thursday, we had a half day of class and then a 4 hour exam. I only spent 3 hours on it. Once I get through something like that, it doesn't do me much good to keep rehashing it. I'll find out in a couple of weeks whether I passed. The airport shuttle picked me up a little earlier than scheduled, but the 5 mile trip took over an hour in weekday rush hour traffic. I got to the airport, made my way towards my gate, and noticed that there was a Portland flight scheduled to leave in about 2 minutes. I interrupted the gate attendants to ask if I could possibly hop on that flight instead of waiting another 2 hours, but I was denied. If I had been just a couple of minutes earlier, they could have put me on it. Bummer. United has the coolest, nerdiest thing now, though. At least on the bigger planes like the 757 I was on, they broadcast the conversations between the pilots and control towers on one of the airplane's radio stations. The true nerd that I am, I listened to them the whole flight. It was pretty neat.

Friday was a recoup day. We slept in really late, then went to see Flags of our Fathers, which was really good. Then we cleaned the house. Fun! Saturday we caught up with my cousin TR at Saturday Market and tagged along with him to the Zoo. We tried to go to Henry's for dinner, but that failed because it was so freaking crowded--too bad they didn't still have the outside seating set up. We ended up at PF Changs instead, which I felt bad about because it wasn't a uniquely NW experience for TR. Then we headed to the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse for after-dinner drinks. I was pooped by the time we got home, but it was worth it for a fun day.

Sunday turned into an ebay day for me. I got pictures taken and descriptions written for tons of crap in my closet that I don't wear. Hopefully most of it will sell. Anything that doesn't, I'll donate to get rid of. It feels good to purge old stuff every once in awhile. That consumed several hours, and besides changing for my workout, I didn't ever change out of my PJs. Lazy day.

I think that gets us all caught up. It's been an eventful week!