A Cruel Vision of Paradise

Southern California has had some marvellous weather. I can only imagine what it was like, oh, say back in the eighteenth century -- or 14th century -- before all the yahoos got here. But the last 5 or 6 weeks has probably been the greatest spell of perfect weather in the history of meteorology. It was so nice this weekend that Yorba Linda spontaneously combusted and nearly burned to the ground.

A photo of Oceanside today:



Almost impossibly perfect. In truth, the surf was rather small in most spots. But just big enough here. Impeccable atmospherics. And me, stuck in purgatory, twiddling bit operators. Quo vadis?

Scripps, 2pm

My kingdom, such as it is, to be there, today:



What charmed slackers be these. King's cord to the horizon. God has blessed thee, little surfers.

I thought about skipping out on work today. But then what would be the point. I'm at least three sessions away from even being competent on a surfboard. And a couple months of steady sessions to get anywhere close to where I was.

If I Could Be Anywhere in the World Today

This is where I would have been:



Somewhere in Oceanside.

Obama Elected

NPR just announced that Obama has won. I was surprised to find myself tearing up. I wasn't overly impressed by Obama's agenda -- not progressive enough for my tastes -- but thank god. Thank America. He managed the campaign well and I hope he serves as effectively.

Halloween

Halloween in the 2nd grade is one of my happiest memories. It's not even a memory exactly, just a warm cloud of happy impressions. The only thing I remember with any distinctness is creating a kind of advent-calendar sort of haunted house out of construction paper. It may have even been the fourth grade. Whatever the case, ever since then, Halloween has been, with Christmas, the most affecting of the holidays for me.

This year my girlfriend and I passed on a couple more adult celebrations and visited my dad to carve jack-o-lanterns and hand out candy. It was not quite the magical night I hoped, not on a par with the Getty visit the week before. The weather was autumny but lacked the kinetic spark of a Santa Ana wind or the ambient infusion of a nice full -- or even well-placed crescent -- moon. And only 11 kids in 4 or 5 groups showed up to collect their candy.

But it was a fun Halloween. We did our jack-o-lanterns. We had piles of candy. I made margaritas and we watched The Departed on HBO. We played some Wii. It was a happy Halloween. It was a memorable Halloween.