Seagull Poo

I just spent the afternoon at the beach over by Cape Canaveral - my first time at an ocean beach in quite some time! I laid out on my little towel, soaked up the sun, enjoyed the ocean breeze, did some reading for class, but most of all, I people-watched. Apparently in Florida, there is no age limit on wearing a bikini. No weight limit, either. And the 80's? Never went out of style. Great stuff, I tell you! I was particularly impressed when two older men in speedos and white t-shirts walked down to the water in front of me and then started stretching. This was entertaining until they did the whole bend-down-and-touch-your-toes thing, which in speedos was not so entertaining. These guys seriously stretched for like half an hour, at which point, sufficiently limbered up, they took off into the water and started swimming. And swimming. And swimming. They disappeared from view about ten minutes later - still swimming. Wow, I think. They really did need all that stretching.

But I digress. A short time later, I am laying on my back, blissfully taking in the sand, surf and sun, when I feel something land on my leg. I immediately do the whole spasm-leg-jerk whereupon I expect whatever nasty insect that has landed on my leg to fly (or, even grosser, crawl) away. Nope. Still there. So I sit up, and much to my dismay, I see a big white gob of seagull poop running down my calf. And that spasm-leg-jerk thing? Yeah, it served only to smear said poo even further down my calf.

After a girly, ew, ew, ew, gross, get IT OFF! moment, I summoned the presence of mind to grab a handful of sand and exfoliate the heck out of my leg. And then I went swimming. For a long time.

I love the beach.

It's funny what happens to your life when you aren't paying attention. For the past few months I have been so obsessively concerned with all the little things, it comes as a surprise that I find myself living in Florida with a boy and a dog. I'm a graduate student. I am taking out yet more student loans. My apartment comes with a dishwasher and a POOL. I have cable television!!! This is the first time in quite a few years that I have been able to watch Sportscenter. In some ways, this is a bad thing, but in others, I feel so much more plugged in to the world. For the longest time, I would be out with people and the conversation would turn to what happened on Trading Spaces or Queer Eye or gee, did you catch the game last night? Uhhh, no. No, I watched Antiques Roadshow. Did any of you catch that? Yeah, the silver tray was actually made by Paul REVERE! It was worth thousands!

But the best part of cable TV? Anderson Cooper 360. Wow. I thought "the Mole" did him in. But he's back...suave! sophisticated! articulate! knowledgeable about current events! I knew he was destined for great things in high school when we would watch him on Channel One every morning, reporting live! amidst great danger! It's so reassuring to see that all that hard work paid off.

My new life!

Inspired by Vim, Lindsay, and Angela, I have decided to give this blog thing a try! Hopefully it will be a good way to keep in touch with my people, now that we are REALLY scattered all over the country. So, bear with me while I try to figure things out...