Is it the 24th already?

Wow, I've been gone for a while. I've been wonderfully busy--here's why:

Last week on Thursday and Friday I headed up to San Fransisco and stayed with Art and Michael for a couple days. Ate lots of good food, walked quite a bit, and went with Art to Yoga. I've been to San Fransisco quite a few times, but not recently, and I noticed quite a bit that I had not before. The city really is, as Art says, "compact", with neighborhood personalities which, in LA, would be spread out over miles, all compressed into a few blocks. I walked to-and through-downtown in an hour or so, and every street's architecture and focus was different. San Fransisco is, of course, famous for being radically gay and environment friendly, and while these were certainly the most distinctive undercurrents, what I did not expect were the age and eccentricity of the place (reflected mostly in the buildings, architecture and otherwise), as well as the fact that it IS really an urban center, and so has basic "building block" elements that you could find in any city. All together, a great first semi-solo trip.

I came back on Saturday afternoon to a party my parents were throwing at our house. It was fun having something at our house where I at least knew the people (most of the time parties at our house are for Dad's grad students), and watching adults getting terribly drunk is always fun.

Then, for the last two days (Sunday-Monday), I have been sitting on the couch with my mom (and occasionally dad) reading the final Harry Potter book outloud, switching readers every other chapter to give our voices a rest. I won't give any spoilers, but let me just say that this is an absolutely worthy ending to a series that has paralelled my journey through Middle and High School. Beautifully done.

And today? Sitting around. And yennow what? It's kinda nice.