today's the start of the long weekend. woo hoo. i worked from home, and i'm ready for it to begin officially. i'll get to do some surfing and sunning and will hopefully get to see step into liquid, too. i was going to take tuesday off, but i have too much work to do. it'll be ok, though. i have a new perspective on work these days.

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last night, i went through my vacation planning ritual. i opened up my calendar and my vacation time spreadsheet (yes, i actually have a basic spreadsheet that keeps track of my vacation days at work). i'm not quite sure why i opened up the spreadsheet, cuz i told myself i would take the time off regardless. anyway, i have a few trips planned.

in october, i'm planning to do 5 days or more in new york. i had tried to go back for the field day fest, which ended up being a bust. no field and hardly a fest. i'll have a place to stay on cornelia street, which is right in the middle of everywhere i usually go in nyc.

in november, i'll go to chicago to see my family. my dad's bday is near thanksgiving, and since i already prepared for my skipping christmas in chicago this year, i've got to go home for the other holiday. after thanksgiving, sarah and i will go to costa rica. although plans aren't solid, i'm hoping for the best. after talking to a few people, i'm going to try to extend my trip to 10 days, so that i can see more of the country than just jaco.

i'm not sure what i'm going to do for christmas, actually. although it's not a huge holiday, i don't know that i'd want to spend it alone. i may stay in sf or maybe i'll go somewhere alone. who knows.

i'm hoping to visit rick next spring in london. that will be a good base for me to take a couple short trips to italy and france, i hope. maybe i'll go to spain, since i haven't been there yet.

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i still haven't decided what i want to do for my birthday.

res fest is coming to sf again. can't believe it's already time for that.

sarah emailed this morning. she got the time off from work. she was working on the flight. i reserved a flight to costa rica today. it's only for an 8 day stay; i'm not sure that it's long enough. i have to investigate a bit more.

i'll leave from chicago, since i'll likely be there for thanksgiving.

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i ran into a friend at work who i haven't seen in a while. i've talked to him recently about my angst about work. today i told him that i was feeling better. i don't know what changed, actually, cuz work is still the same. it's like i woke up and all of a sudden, i felt better.

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my meds arrived today. some of them had leaked or exploded, but most of the packets were fine. i already took one. i'm hoping for the best.

one of the things that took a long time for adjustment is the early nature of san francisco. nothing stays open late. i thought i had acclimated and could predict the anomalies, like the 24 hr safeway. i was wrong.

tonight, i tried to get a battery holder for my car at kragen in potrero hill, and i tried the door at 8.20 and actually kept trying it in disbelieve. the barely readable sign on the store indicated that they closed at 8. geez. i guess my battery will have to rattle around for another day.

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tomorrow's wednesday, and i have a 9am meeting. yikes. i have a lot of errands to run after work, and i'm hoping that a work out will be included in the day somewhere, but it's not looking good.

i'm supposed to meet up with rick and rebecca tomorrow. rick's leaving for colorado and then london. he'll be returning to colorado around christmas, but is not sure when he'll be back here. tomorrow is sort of like a farewell for a while. he did invite me to visit him, which i may have to do sometime next year.

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the other day i was talking with jane about the fact that i wear my watch to bed. i can't remember how it came up, but she told me that wearing a watch throws off your body's natural energy. no wonder. i've taken it off ever since she alerted me. i think i actually wake up before my alarm now.

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rebecca told me that i looked thinner the other day at the beach. i told her that i had lost a bit of weight, but nothing that i found to be noticeable. it was probably the tan the clothes i was wearing at the time. i mentioned to her that work wasn't stressing me out so much anymore and that i wasn't as angry and frustrated as i had been while i was on the meds. i suggested that the meds might have made me that way. she suggested that maybe the meds were actually helping.

mom called today to tell me that she sent more meds today. they arrive tomorrow.

i'll still be diligent about taking them. who knows... maybe they are helping.

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last night i found the site from which my friend got the info about the green car and green clothing. it said "Take care of your Nervous system, Liver and Gall bladder". it said that my best years were going to be during years 60-70. great. only 28 yrs left to go.

i had a really hard time falling asleep last night. it was still really hot at midnight, and i had a lot on my mind. this added up to a lot of tossing and turning. up until a few months ago, i had no problem falling asleep. while i was taking the herbal meds from chicago, i couldn't sleep enough. i've been off of them for about 10 days now .... maybe there's a connection.

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today, my friend told me that i will die rich and that my luck will come later in life. she also told me that i should wear green and drive a green car in order to maximize my luck. hmm.... what happens if i wear black and drive a black car?

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i had my violin lesson tonight. i actually can't remember the last time i had it, but he said that i had seemed to improve. my octaves, which are probably the most difficult part of the piece cuz they sound horrifying if you are just a millimeter off, were actually pretty good. i guess i'll keep practicing.

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i've been looking for a surfboard on craigslist. i'm often too slow on the uptake.

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i heard about this concert that kroq is having in la. the lineup sounds great! i'm definitely stuck in the 80's, musically speaking. i actually saw the psychedelic furs with ian mccullough of echo and the bunnymen a couple years ago. they were amazing. i'd love to see duran duran, the cure, and general public. unfortunately, they only have lawn seats left.

duran duran will be at alice's now and zen. maybe i'll try to make that instead.

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i just heard about a cool architecture tour in la. it's the day before my birthday, so i'm not sure what i'll be doing. a friend of mine is having a brunch that day since her birthday is a couple days before mine.

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i still haven't decided what i want to do for my birthday. i started drafting an evite. there are almost 50 people on the list. last year i invited a lot of people, and it was pretty fun. i'm not sure if i should do drinks at a bar somewhere or if i should host something at my house. i'm not sure if i should do it on my actual birthday, which is a monday, or if i should wait until the following weekend. i'm also trying to figure out if i should sign up for ceramics on mondays or thursdays, which seems unrelated to this, except for the fact that the first session of the monday class is on my birthday. thursday is actually my first choice, but that makes going away for the weekend and working out of the office on fridays difficult and more expensive. hmm ... decisions decisions. i could also just not do anything for my birthday. yeah ... just not sure.

i got up late. i turned off my alarm and stayed in bed until after 9. rebecca's call signaled the start of my day. we were trying to figure out where to surf today. bolinas is great, but it's a hike. we didn't know what time to go, either, since neither of us yet understand the relationship between the tides and the surf.

it was so incredibly hot in my apartment that it made me sluggish. i knew i should go out to do something, but since i wasn't sure when we were going surfing, i didn't do much except vacuum.

at around 3, we finally got around to getting out to the water. we went down to linda mar, which is in pacifica. it's a pretty popular place to surf, and the beach was packed today with both surfers and sunbathers. it was kind of unnerving to be surfing so close to swimmers and boogie boarders, but luckily no one got hurt.

i borrowed wes's 9'2" fiberglass board, and i was a little worried about going out on it. i haven't had much success with fiberglass. i went out with no expectation, and much to my surprise, i got up on my first wave. i even got up a few more times after that. it was great to be out there.

i'll definitely have to investigate getting a board of my own.

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scott, a friend of rebecca's came out to surf with us and it was good to talk to him. he suggested a book that he has been enjoying lately. i'm going to order it on half.com. it's helped him with his creativity and generally affected his outlook on life. the ocean has had similar effects on me, and i'm glad that i've gotten the equipment to make it a more regular outing.

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i was supposed to go to jane's tonight for a bbq, but i am tired, and i haven't played my violin in several days. i think i'm going to stay in tonight and go to sleep early.