A little bit of an insane week

So last Wednesday was my last day at the newspaper I'd been working for since October 2007. To celebrate, I went to Long Beach to hang out with Casey for a few days-something I've been doing every Wednesday since I got back from New York/Florida. What was supposed to be a two or three trip turned into a week long adventure. This was the vacation I needed. It was relaxing and packed full of stuff and many new faces.

Wednesday night I show up in Long Beach around 9pm. Casey and I chill for a while before going over to one of Casey's friends' houses. From there, a bunch of us take off to the nightlife, where we meet a number of savory, but mostly unsavory, characters. The party makes its way back to Casey's place, where we stay up talking until 5 in the morning, finally noticing the sun rise and deciding to go to sleep. Also, I love playing Halo.

Thursday I woke up at 2 in the afternoon and spent the day at a coffeeshop, preparing my Freshmen Writing syllabus. Around 8, Casey and I met up again and went over to the same friends' house. We'll call it the party house. We show up in the middle of drama. This is reality show stuff. You stole my beer so I'm gonna slap you, then start a rumor that you punched me, and then I'll drunkenly skate my anger away. It was rather ridiculous, but that's life in Long Beach. Anyways, the best part of this evening was meeting Chuck. He seemed like the cliche drunk guy chillin' on the front porch until we got him talking. The dude taught himself Greek to learn what Paul was talking about in the New Testament. I love these kinds of moments.

Friday
I wake up late again and do the coffeeshop gig. Casey and I opt for a chill night. We catch a late showing of Pineapple Express, before Casey's three friends from Arizona, Amber, Kalani, and Natalie, show up at 2 in the morning. So come 2, we head to the beach. We're just walking around when a group of 7 people invite us to join them and have some free Coronas. So random. That night was great.

Saturday Yet another late start. We get up, hit some coffee, and head to Hermosa for the Hermosa Shorts Film Festival. We do this until 10pm. There are a lot of amazing short films and some really bad ones too. I'd actually scene one, titled Monsoon, last year at a small film festival in Colorado. Crazy. Anyways, it's this night that I decide I'll stay until the girls leave on Wednesday. Why not, I don't have a job. We end the evening hanging around at the party house and then throw on Blade and fall asleep.

Sunday
Beach day! So we don't leave for Sunset Beach until 3pm. Very late start, but we still get 2 exhausting hours in on the water. Casey and myself frog hopped each other into the waves. Sounds fun until the big wave knocks you over. "My kidney! My kidney!" So, we keep it chill that night. Amber and I end that evening at the Pike, a really awesome bar in the area, while everyone else knocks out early.

Monday
So by the way, last week I set up an interview on Monday at Biola to teach a writing class this fall. Since I have no work clothes, the "ladies" (that seemed to be the word of the week, since "ladies" always seem to sound shady) help me find some dress clothes-I needed some anyways. I end up with these nice dark blue pin-striped pants and a light pink shirt. The interview was fine, though the Biola faculty application is 20 pages long with 5 pages of response to their statement of faith. Bull shit! Afterwards, I meet up with the girls at Hunington Beach. We chill, walk around, and stick our feet in the water. We then head back and catch Greek food for dinner. We do yet another night at the Pike and bond some more. Have I mentioned how great these girls were.

Tuesday
Late start. We decide to keep it simple and just head to the Irvine Spectrum. These girls like to shop. But I did find some awesome plaid dress pants from H&M. We do this for a few hours and head back. We decide to finish the night, and week, off at the beach. We take a guitar and some drinks down to the sand and spend the rest of the night singing the first half of whatever cover songs we know.

Wednesday
I wake up nursing a headache and we say our farewells. Threats are made to visit in less than 2 weeks, and hopefully they'll come true. This trip reminded me of how much I love meeting new people since my job and other environments don't really afford me such opportunities. This was truly the funnest week of my summer. I was legen...wait for it...and I hope you're not lack tose intolerant, because the next part is...dary. And now, back to preparing lectures.