It's a charmed life, but somebody's got to lead it!

Life is almost too good to be true at the moment. It feels like I'm due for a really big disaster here soon. Please, loved ones: don't get yourselves hit by buses, and make sure you survive any and all hostage situations of which you find yourselves on the wrong end. Here is a sampling of the things I have been doing and learning here in sunny California (because I love lists):

• how to drive stick shift. I've driven over 200 miles in the last 2 weeks on the thing. Go me! I'm still figuring out gears and hills, and I still stall every now and again (to remind myself that I'm human), but all in all, I'd say I am now competent at driving standard cars!
• where to shop. specifically, for wine. I went to Safeway (because I just found out that a US Bank is inside! this is big news because previously I had thought the nearest one was up in the bay area...boo), and they were charging $6, $7 for a bottle of Barefoot! As if! So I spent $10 on food (for me and the cats) there, and $20 on 6 bottles of wine at Trader Joe's. 3 bottles of 2-buck-chuck (Charles Shaw), and 3 other reasonably priced bottles ($4-$6). yeah!
• i have also been hosting BBQs, going out dancing, hanging out with Hannah (SO fun! I think reunions are in order every so often, wherever we are in the world...it's healthy for my soul to be with her and laugh at other people, making each other feel good that we're us, and not them, ugh!), and watching great movies. The Lost Boys, filmed in the 80's in Santa Cruz, featuring Keifer Sutherland, is actually not half bad. But Corey Feldman, with a crazy deep voice, really took the cake in the film. Hannah and I watched the movie and then went to the Boardwalk later in the week...we rode this ride where it's like you're in a hang-glider and I felt like a vampire: flying above the boardwalk and swooping down on unsuspecting citizens...I couldn't stop cracking up. We also saw: the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Conclusion: I still love oceans! They (and the creatures in them) are so grand! Screaming kids and crying babies, not so much.

I have also been trying to keep up with my reading. The New Yorker, Entertainment Weekly, and currently The Road by Cormac McCarthy are keeping my occupied and informed...The Road is definitely going to make a sweet film with Viggo Mortensen. That's all. I'll end with this: don't be jealous, just come visit!