i'm telling you... there's almost nothing better than going to my favorite restaurant with a few good friends... great beer, great food, and a free dessert...

what else is there?

somehow i managed to attain the privilege of hearing glass shatter twice this past weekend. sunday, actually. with much disdain on my part, i might add.

there i am, driving on the 110, minding my own business and enjoying the non-traffic (which only rears early on sunday mornings...) when i heard a loud 'smack'-type noise. smack, being the operative word, usually is never 'soft,' but this was a louder 'smack' than most... and then there's the moments following, when you're frantically looking around the cabin of your vehicle to try and decipher just what that was you heard and to make sure it wasn't, in fact, a rock chipping the crap out of your windshield. followed by, maybe three seconds later, you spying a curious pinch on the windshield on the passenger side.

awesome.

(sigh)

oh, and because once wasn't enough, i was able to go thru the experience again in the evening. being all domestic and everything, i was washing the few dirty dishes i had, and cooking some dinner. it was a bowl, i believe, that managed to slip out of my hands (who was the brilliant guy to make soap slippery, anyway?) and graze one of my glasses before settling at the bottom of the sink. it took off a single slice of glass off the lip, which is the worst, because you can almost put it back on and imagine what it looked like before.... and it was a cool glass, too! the heck am i going to do with a set of 3 cool glasses now? that's not even a set anymore...

what if 3 friends come over and we're all thirsty?

this is my first 5.10a lead climb, back in malibu canyon.

lead climbing is the "true form of Sport Climbing," bringing the rope up with you as you go, and is a bit more involved than basic top-roping. you're not just scurrying up the rock, and trying to look good doing it. now you have to focus on the bolts, on where to rest when clipping in, and just how daring you're going to be with the knowledge that a fall will be double the distance to your last protection. it's a good progression.

so,happy new year. welcome to another millennium (what's so new about a millennium?) and be sure to graciously step aside as the 21st century saunters right on by and then sits itself down in our presence for the next 99 1/2 years. hope you had a good 00, and i hope your 01 will taste even sweeter.

well, i figure i wouldn't waste any time this year. i'm managing to get out the country within the first half of the first month of 2001.... heading out to mexico this weekend with the youth group for a longer-than weekend to build some stuff and play with the kids. i think i'm ready this time. ready to be shown, yet again, just how good i really have it, and just how completely ridiculous it is for me ever to complain about anything. it's life we're talking about here. it's human beings, relationships, experiences, and memories. none of those are bought or sold, or come standard with a 'gold kit.'

ready to be reminded just how trite, shallow and selfish i've been molded to become. and ready to find out how to peel off a few more layers of all that garbage i've worked to hard to put on, or attempt to just squint through.
somehow, clarity is dished out in monumental doses in 3rd world countries, whether you are hungry or not. oh, and just from experience, and so you're not taken by surprise, the reverse-cultureshock (ie. coming back home to america) always has a greater psychological/philosophical impact than arriving at your destination and dealing with the regular, run-of-the-mill i-can't-believe-people-really-live-this-way culture shock.


reality. seen it?