I always love it when friends come to visit me here in Ocean Beach and totally fall in love with it. My co-worker Bryan and his girlfriend Annika came on Sunday, hungover from a wedding. We spent Sunday sitting on the cliffs drinking wine and then we went to The Vine. I also met my good friend Cheryl and another slowtalker, Trish. It was a fantastic day. Bryan and Annika and I came back to my apartment, danced to Arcade Fire and then fell asleep to Sigur Ros. It was a fun, fun day. Bryan and Annika LOVE Ocean Beach. Now I am trying to convince them to move here.

Yesterday was a little tough at first, what with the 700 bottles of wine we consumed on Sunday. But it turned out to be a mellow, lovely holiday. It wasn’t so crowded on the beach this year. I went over to my friend Danielle’s house and watched her dip strawberries in chocolate. Eventually Danielle and I, along with a cool, funny architect, Jennifer, went and fetched Jennifer’s also cool boyfriend, Nick, and went to the beach.

It was beautiful down there. There was a red tide. I can’t seem to get a real answer out of anyone as to what causes the red tide. I tried to take a picture of Danielle and Jennifer running to the water, but it didn’t turn out too great.

Oh well.

After the beach I went to The Vine, where Brian was grilling meat for an assortment of employees and uber-regulars. Some people got on surfboards and paddled out to see the fireworks, and the rest of us scattered. I ended up on a deck on top of my friend Andy’s building. It was quite mellow and I didn’t have to worry about bottle rockets being launced at my neck. I HATE when that happens.

Today was totally mellow. I had the day off, and meant to do a bunch of writing, but instead went and sat in the window at South Beach Bar & Grill and ate a shrimp tostada and merely thought about writing. Then I went back to the beach. Yes, it is true – I am an obscenely lazy person. And Ocean Beach is such a great place to be totally lazy.

I know this is really boring but if you have made it this far – there are two kinds of people in the world. Dickheads, and everyone else. Thankfully there are more non-Dickheads than Dickheads. I always strive to be a non-Dickhead, even if I am a fucked up and lazy person. I am glad I live in Ocean Beach, where being a Dickhead is kind of verboten. I’ll always love my last home – Venice, Italy. Yet, Ocean Beach is Better. It really is. Really! For me, at least.

I think the antibiotics I’ve been taking after my oral surgery are messing with me. I can’t sleep, I’m having nightmares, my body feels funky. Yesterday I saw my cousin Robin and her kids. Robin told me one of her kids has Scarlet Fever. I got all wiggy inside because I am convinced antibiotics lower your resistance. Hence, I am going to get Scarlet Fever. So I keep telling myself “you are NOT going to get Scarlet Fever.” The kid was running around so it didn’t look like Scarlet Fever was all that bad. But still.

I HATE taking medicine. I haven’t taken any of the pain meds, so far haven’t been desperate enough. Wine is the BEST medicine. The best medicine for a regular fever is a bottle of Champagne. I wonder how many you’d need if you had Scarlet Fever?

Anyhow. I’ve been riveted lately by Rar’s Blog. Rar is spending a few months in South America, traveling around by himself. I am jealous of him. Because he’s a guy, because he’s young, because I am too much of a pussy to try to bushwack my way through a Bolivian jungle. Right now he is chillin’ in La Paz. He has a great way of putting things into perspective there and also of describing the things he does and the places he sees. I wish I was chillin’ in La Paz. Though I would be scared of the rubber bullets.

If is a foggy morning and I have to get my house cleaned up because my co-worker Bryan and his girlfriend Annika are spending the night. I talked them into it last night when they were drunk in a hotel room in Sorrento Mesa, where they attended a wedding. I love Bryan. He’s the perfect combination of fun, smart, and eccentric. And Annika is a sweetheart. I’ll do my best to keep them out of trouble.

Type “pro life blog” into a search engine.

This is going to get really fucking ugly. I love my country, and I love living here, but things just keep getting scarier and scarier.

Now is the time to get involved with NOW. All the work our grandmothers and mothers did might be history if we don’t. There’s going to be violence. It’s really, really scary. Thanks god for self-medication.