The Agrinautica

   This past weekend I went up to our local snowy mountain, Big Bear, with my friends Mark and Jeff. Up there we stayed at Mark's family's cabin and partook of the slopes.

   It should be noted that I have never, not once, in my quarter century of existence ever been affixed to either a snowboard or a ski, so this was a totally new experience for me. Though Jeff and Mark were both snowboarding, I opted for skis because I felt like I might feel slightly less uselessly out of control if I was strapped to two pieces of wood instead of one. Also snowboarding is cool and I'm suspicious of things that are cool. (=

   It should be noted that my friends are totally jerks. (= The first thing we did was go to the very top of the mountain (At the Bear Mountain slopes) because Mark and Jeff assured me there was an "intermediate" route down to the bottem from there which even an utter beginner should be able to handle. This, it turns out, was a filthy filthy lie.
   I went down the first 100 meter slope of it mostly on my ass, when I wasn't sliding down upside down or some other unintended position. Stopping every few minutes to reaffix my skiis and curse in the general direction mark and jeff had disappeared. Also of course I felt like I was in the middle of a freeway this whole time with experienced snowboarders recklessly rocketing past at a steady rate.
   Anyway I inched down the mountain and by the end was able to stay upright .. at least until I needed to turn, which I hadn't figured out yet.
   Then I spent the rest of the day at the beginner slopes, where the sight of numerous people who were infinitely worse than me made me feel a lot better about myself. By the end of the day I could fly arouond at least the beginner slopes pretty well without incident. So that turned out to be fun and I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime.


   Continuing the constantly-on-the-move lifestyle, this morning I leave to go back up to Nor Cal to work on the bees for a few days again.

   Thursday evening after French class, Aimee from my French class and I caught up with Aaron, Gabi, and Aaron's friends Mark and Jeff at the Lazy Dog Cafe in Huntington Beach. Then we proceeded to Mark's house, where we hung out, played some Cranium, and started watching Blades of Glory. Maybe its because I'm quickly becoming a crochety old man, but these silly slapstick comedies really don't do anything for me (as opposed to hilarious British productions like Hot Fuzz which are brilliant).


   Friday morning I passed the state pesticide Applicator exam, officially giving me a License to Kill!
   Spent the rest of the day studying for the LSAT (I've got work off until after the LSAT this upcoming Saturday)
   Friday Evening Gabi and Aaron were visiting Tatooine Riverside County over the mountains east of OC, so I just hung out with Mark. We went to the legendary only-dive-bar-in-South-County, called Muggs Away or something (famous for mass mooning of the Amtrak train that passes by, on a specific day every year). It was.. divey. Full of drunk old people really.. I'm not sure but I think my old track coach was there..
   Then we went to Hennessey's bar in Dana Point. I'd been hearing about it for awhile but never actually been there. It seemed pretty cool.. really big and with everything from a room for dancing to the latest beats to a outdoor patio with firepits and another room with a live band.. so whatever you're in the mood for they got a place. Unfortunately, however, drinks were outragiously expensive. I'm told its the only bar in South County actually worth going to though.


   Saturday was pool party time, despite the rain. Mark's parents have a big house they've been trying to sell with no luck (the real estate brochures call it an "equestrian estate"), so Aaron, Gabi, Mark, Aimee and I, later joined by Jeff and Aaron's little brother gathered there for swimming and hot tubbing, grilling hamburgers, and such. Apparently I am inherently awesome at Wii golf, kicking everyone's ass (I still think "wii" is the most unfortunate name ever conceived for any object).
   The highlight of the evening, however, turned out to be hide and seek, which we played from abour 12:30am to 3:00am. We played with all the lights out, except the fire, which was the start/finish point. As the house was almost entirely devoid of furniture or personal possessions, one had free range of closets and nooks and didn't have to worry about breaking things while running around. The goal was to make it back to the fireplace before the seeker (who starts there) finds and/or tags you; so one would hide as best the could until the seeker had missed them and moved to another part of the house, and then make a mad dash for it. It was brilliant fun and I strongly recommend it as a party game whenever feasible.


   Sunday I drove Gabi up to LAX in the morning, then went to the memorial for Joey Hanzich. He died last week unexpectedly in his sleep due to myocarditis, a heart condition which accounts for 20% of sudden deaths among young adults, apparently. Hanzich had graduated from Harvard and Cambridge and was now attending Yale Law. To say we expected him to be extremely successful is an understatement.
   Since I've graduated, three people I went to school with have died. One of a motorcycle accident (whom I barely knew), and two now suddenly in their sleep of previously unknown causes (the other being David Allweiss, leukemia no one knew he had, he had just gotten married). While obviously these people aren't a statistically significant representation of causes of death, its scary to think that the overwhelming majority of people in the samplegroup I belong to die unexpectedly in their sleep. )=

   It was excellent, however, to see everyone from HS again, some 70+ of whom turned out for the memorial. Seems like everyone with a poli sci degree works for a non-profit now.
   Anyway, from there I joined Alex Hughes in feeding ducks with her niece.


   This morning (Monday) I picked up Alex Majcher from the airport. I'm just an airport shuttle apparently. (=