Fake Last Day of Vacation

Although I began school yesterday, I am psyching myself out to believe that today is my last day of vacation. Of course by the first day of class, we were supposed to have already read Chapter 1 so I was already behind in my assignments when I got to school.

This morning, I began my "last" day of vacation by accompanying BF to the local bowling alley for his first "real" bowling lesson. I cheesed out of taking bowling lessons and read Chapter 1 of our dysphagia text while he learned how to approach the line. One and a half hours, Chapter 1 and a few pages of Chapter 3, and 3 bowling games later, BF and I bowled two games. BF thinks I was subconsciously "itching" to bowl b/c in my first game, I bowled 3 strikes and picked up a spare, totalling 136! My second game was a bummy 80 something but I still had fun. Unfortunately, BF noticed that his ball was chipped so he was incredibly bummed out! Fortunately, his new coach is doctoring his ball over the next few days.

Afterwards, BF and I went to Costco. One of his New Year's Resolutions that I made for him is to eat out no more than once a week (and to eat healthier). That means we need to stock up on food that he will eat at home so we went all out at Costco (my favorite "market"). The rest of the day inclued more errands such as stopping by one of my doctors, who gave me a calendar of "Beautiful Korea" and bid me a very enthusiastic "Happy New Year!" in her accented English. That made me really smile. I also went to Food-4-Less and picked up a few more stuff...including peppermint and vanilla extract to make ice-cream! Yeah!

I decided at the last minute to join Bro and FBIL for a night hike at Temescal Canyon in Pacific Palisades. I thought we were joining a large group of their friends since they said we were hiking with a "large group." Turns out we were hiking with a large group of people. Strangers to be precise. I have to admit I was a little leary, especially since it was a full moon (all the crazies are out) and we did not know to bring flashlights. Still, we ventured on.

Our hiking leader, a 6 foot 8 inch naturistic dude, led about 25+ of us on a really dark hike that takes place every full moon. The theme of tonight's hike was "Feast of the Senses." The guy made us narrow down which sense we would not want to live without. Most of us chose vision. Quite appropriate since we were going on a night hike where those of us without flashlights would have to rely on our other senses (well, not taste) rather than our vision, which I am certainly most used to. For a few yards, we hiked silently and listened to all the sounds. We walked farther away from the highways and traffic died down and all we heard were crickets, trampling of leaves, whispers, and Coco the dog sniffing around. Our next trek honed in on our sense of smell. Lots of sage and other herbs. For the rest of the hike, we just went uphill and didn't really zero in on any of our senses b/c we were too busy huffing up and up and up. I was so not ready for such a wild hike.

Nevertheless, we made it to an opening at what seemed like the top of a mountain. The view was magnificent. We could see Santa Monica Bay, LAX (sort of), and Downtown LA. I was more enthralled by the moon and the stars above. The full moon often reminds me of my mom. I could be wrong, but I think every full moon, my mom and her temple put on a big celebration of sorts. What really surprised me tonight was the thought of how I haven't seen Orion, his Belt, and the Big Dipper in probably years. That thought made me happy and sad. As corny as it may be, I thought about the "light pollution" that our cities have (and made me think of stuff I'm reading in Voyage of the Turtle). The only times I really look up at the stars are when I'm at Ama's. She lives at the base of the Foothills, so we can actually see the stars.

Rewind: I was actually star-gazing New Year's Eve with BBN. I asked him if he could see the moon. He said yes and pointed to the moon. I asked if he saw the stars. He said no. I tried to point them out to him. Then he finally said, "Those are spaceship!" LOL

Anywho, the view was wonderful and the dude made us do a pirate's trick of staring at the moon with one eye so that our rods and cones would adjust to the dark. It was a neat trick that I am not explaining very well b/c my mind and body is mush from the hike. Bro, FBIL, and I ended up leaving the crowd and treking downhill IN THE DARK all the way back down.

Our downhill trek was interesting for me. When we were going uphill, I was so anxious about tripping in the dark so I kept running after the stranger ahead of me w/ a flashlight. I didn't really enjoy my surroundings. Going back down in the dark with no light except the full moon was such a different, calming (occasionally scary when I tripped over rocks or missed a step) experience.

I'm glad I went on a night hike. It was my first night hike and my third hike, said the sheltered girl.