"Discovered by the Germans in 1904...

....they called it 'San Diago...' "

Goodness, with all those posts about my illness, I've completely forgotten to write about my trip to SoCal. It was great fun.

It started with a night in L.A., and a great dinner with my old friends Kimmy and Guppy. The disturbing thing is that we realized that the next big milestone for all of us is our 50th birthdays. Yeah, that's nine years away... but then I think about how quickly the last nine years have passed, and it FREAKS ME OUT! The good news is that I know I'll still be laughing with these two when we DO hit that milestone.

Then it was off to San Diego, on a 85-degree day. I'm sorry, but that's too fucking hot for November. For me, that's too hot just about anytime. I was grateful for my car's fine air conditioning system. But then I had to get out of the car. UGH.

But enduring the heat was a small price to pay to spend time with my pal Cindy and her family. They let me force them into spending yet another day wandering around the La Jolla Cove, one of my favorite spots on the planet. Lunch at Alfonso's, a fabulous Mexican restaurant there (it was after that lunch that Cindy's daughter Sierra had her little episode that I quoted previously)... watching the seals that have taken over the Children's Beach... and then sundaes at Haagen Dazs for dinner! There's a lot of history for me at that Haagen Dazs store -- in high school, my pal Julie and I used to go there after every beach outing in La Jolla. At the time, I think it was the only Haagen Dazs in San Diego, so we felt really cool and "in the know" going there.
Yeah. I've always been a dork.

Then it was Turkey Day itself, which meant a whirlwind of activity. Cindy's got a big family, and once you count siblings, cousins, significant others and strays like myself, there's always more than 20 people for Thanksgiving dinner. Three turkeys, countless side dishes, and tons of dirty dishes. Always fun, though. Then off to the movies - "Chicken Little," which was really cute. One of the many perks of visiting Cindy & Co. is the free movies, thanks to her husband's job with a SoCal movie theatre chain.

The next morning, we were up before 4 a.m.... yes, you read that right... so we could be at the mall by 5, when some of the larger stores opened. I know. I know. I KNOW. It's insanity. And if it weren't Cindy's big event, I would never do it. It's chaos, and the Starbucks at the mall doesn't open until a couple of hours later, which is REALLY stupid. But Cindy always manages to find amazing deals -- in many cases, saving more money than she spends, so it's worth her while.
This was her niece Lindzay's first post-Thanksgiving outing, and I think she expected us to leave the mall by 8. Hahahahahahahahaha. I think we shopped until about noon, then went home and napped. THAT's unusual -- I think we're usually out until 2 or 3, even, but there was a migraine involved (Cindy's), so we got out of there when the mall started to get even more hectic.

We spent the next day in Balboa Park, where we happened upon a comedy-juggling show that was actually funny, then headed into the Museum of Art. I always forget how pretty that park is. Oh, then we watched some goofy carolers for awhile, before the annoying loud-talkers all around us drove us away.

Sunday was another movie day -- "Walk the Line, " which I really liked -- and just hanging out.

It was great to get away, and especially great to spend time with some of my favorite people.


"....which, of course, in German, means 'whale's vagina.' "*

So, if I have so much fun in San Diego, why don't I want to live there again?

Note: the following contains opinions which are solely those of the writer, who is prone to making sweeping generalizations based on events from her adolescence and young adulthood...many moons ago.

Those of you in colder climes will want to slap me for saying this, but it's too hot there. More accurately, I get bored when it's 70 degrees (or warmer) every goddamned day.
It's too conservative, politically. Why does this matter? It's just another reason I never felt like I fit in there.
And when I was growing up, out in the inland 'burbs, it was too homogeneous. We had very little racial diversity at my high school, and consequently, there were a lot of really narrow-minded (and often racist) attitudes among my classmates. And not a whole lot of curiosity about the outside world.
Then there's that whole Barbie standard of beauty, which I never fit, so I felt like a freak much of the time I lived in San Diego.
And the growth. Oh my god, the uncontrolled growth. Talk about urban sprawl of the worst kind...

It's a nice place to visit, really... but it feels good to drive across the Bay Bridge and see the San Francisco skyline on the way home. It always makes me smile, even after all these years.

*from "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy." FUNNY.