rainbow sprinkles

According to the marathon training program I'm using, Friday is supposed to be a day of rest from physical activity. I suck. 3 hours of surfing this morning is not resting. But it sure is fun! Bob, Greg, and I went down to El Porto and had a great time! I brought my camera so I could get some cool shots of them "getting tubed" (in the words of Bob). We saw a whole pack of dolphins, and then one who got pretty close to me. Those little boogers sneak up on you. I've vowed to not go in a glass bottom boat while I'm here, because I know as soon as I can see what's below the surface of the water, I'm not going to want to surf again. Bobby came down later and I got to try skim boarding. It's where you stand on the sand with your board, as soon as the wave comes in and goes back out, you throw your board out in front of you and jump on it and ride the foam left behind on the sand. Dangerous. Luckily, no injuries to report from that. I made a few more videos while we were out so ya'll can see what fun it is out at Manhattan Beach in the morning!

After all the surfing, Greg and I met Dana at Red Robin for lunch. Teriyaki burger and a peach shake with SPRINKLES! I love rainbow sprinkles. On our ride back to my house, we listened to a Kendall Payne song on repeat. I tend to do that. Play a song over and over until I get sick of it. I was happy to have found another person who does the same. We could've driven around all afternoon memorizing the song and singing along. Greg and I really liked the song. It's called "Roller coaster":

Life gets a little better, stays a little gray

Live it up, live it long as you can always count on

Those unexpected moments when the pleasure just

Sweeps you away

We were made for something better

Something better than this inconsistency

So while you wait to respond to what's really going on
Under shame, under doubt what the whole thing's about

Sing to me

It's like a roller coaster 100 miles fast

Spins you round in circles till you want to collapse

Makes you so excited you can't wait for your second chance.

I definitely feel like I've been on a roller coaster these last few days. With nothing packed, and a whole list of things to get done, it seems as though I'll never make it to the end of the ride. Now that my time is coming to an end, everyone is inviting me over for meals and get togethers. Farzad and Carol Banihashemi invited me over tonight. I was greeted by their beautiful white husky dog. Man, what a cool/smart animal. He did every trick under the sun. Donna joined us for the festivities, and all three of them were busily preparing the feast when I arrived. Farzad is a blender maniac, so right away he was creating all kinds of goodies. They offered so many wonderful appetizers and treats, I was full before supper even began. When Carol asked me earlier in the week if I had anything I didn't like to eat, I was honest with her and listed a few things. She got a kick out of my list and said Kevin certainly has his work cut out for him with me. Really, as long as it has ketchup on it, he knows it's safe. :) The menu tonight was BBQ pork on a rice patty, lima bean rice (not my favorite--see the picture), watermelon juice, corn bread, chocolate cake with a cool powdered frosting stencil (Andrea, I can see you doing something like this), and homemade gelato. Delicious! Farzad is a camera buff like I am, so he brought out all his toys to show me. Wow. Jealousy started kicking in when he brought out his missile lens. If anyone is looking for Christmas gift ideas, there's one for ya! :) Their son, Arman challenged me to some wii games. He whooped my butt. Carol and I battled in boxing and she beat me too. What's my problem? However, when we sat down to battle in a game of checkers, guess who came out on top? MUA! It was such a great night with these people of peace.