29 April 2002 - 16:19

Yesterday was Hoochiepoet's birthday party. She invited us (I'm "Utility-belt"), so I got to spend most of the day at the beach and eating unhealthy foods and then watching Moulin Rouge.

Can you guess, I love the beach? We were at Lido, and of course, it was crowded. Visibility was less than 2 feet, so I didn't even bother with snorkling. Wheel saw a small stingray and Wheel and Hoochiepoet and Nesrop saw a dolphin, and I didn't see either. The water was nice and blue and very warm. The sun was hot. It's the sort of beach that makes me feel big and awkward and pathetic. This has nothing to do with bathingsuits or body image (I'm totally sexy, just like every one else at the party). Rather, I and my behavior are completely maladapted to the situation. I deliberately lie on the beach--where there is no shade and there's plenty of reflective water and sand. There's very little complexity... essentially no wild animals or plants or interesting natural features are around, either above water or below it. No shade, no food, no fresh water. Humans can't swim worth crap, nor deal well with salt water (at least it doesn't cause us to immediately shrivel up and die...). There is no place to go, per se, and nothing to do, per se.

But in the human culture context of Going To The Beach, it was awesome. (Not to mention in the context of my own long-lived fantasies that there's some delightful destiny awaiting me way out below those beloved waves.) I swam. I read the Animal Learning chapter and tried to analyse our first Jazz piece (Wahhhh... Jazz extended tertian harmony is so hard to analyse!) while more avid partiers danced to Jimmy Buffett and other pop. I lathered myself with 50spf three times over the course of the day, and only got mildly burned (it's bright red, but doesn't hurt) along the very edges of my swim suit. Wheel, distressingly, got completely scorched.

Everything was pretty and friendly and cozy and fun. We left the beach after three or four hours and ate a bunch of appetizers (mmmm, sweet potato fries) at ChaCha Coconuts, and then Key Lime Pie at the Old Salty Dog, and then we got back in time for most of The Simpsons and then the DVD of Moulin Rouge, which I'd seen before in theaters and like a lot (with perfect timing, Heph wrote a scathing review of same this very morning... I think Wheel is working on a rebuttle). Oh, and there was candied apple and then cake.

A good time was had. I needed it. I'm glad Hoochie had fun.

Today was essentially my last day of classes. The internship begins Wednesday, although I still don't know about details. Naturally I spoke with all my professors today about same, and they were all surprisingly non chalant. No special requests or requirements. I'm not missing much that I'm not familiar with in Gillian & Gary's classes. The coming lectures on atonality won't be included in the final exam, so Dr. Fields will catch me up on it, but I don't need to stress. I'll keep in touch with all three of them.

I had to cut my last entry "short" because it was getting really late, but for the record, along with the comic book I would set up an activist organization. Akin to environmental organisations, perhaps even closer akin to the Dark Sky Association, but obviously with a broder and less technical focus.

That's all, folks.