excuse me sir, you dropped something

Ok so, get this... me and christopher are sitting on a bus stop bench killing time before he has to head into the base. This guy walks by, kinda meandering. He gets like 3 feet past us and he just stops. I look at christopher, he looks at me -- were both like, what the fuck -- and the dude stands there for like what seemed like an eternity, even though it was only like a minute. Just as i leaned over and wispered "what the hell is he doing?" HE FARTED. And, im not talking about no little poot here, were talking like full on Pttttttttttthhh pttt pt. Then buddy just walked away, back to his meandering pace -- crossed the road -- then paused again for like 45 seconds (i think its safe to assume he dropped another stink bomb). Now, ive heard about people who have a hard time walking and chewing gum, but.. walking and farting!? I mean seriously who cant do that? maybe he was chewing gum as well, and the combination of the three things was just too much for the poor fella. Or maybe he just likes to savor his farts.

fire, fire!

So, the thrill of the blog is finally wearing off, and im down to one reluctant post a week. Ah, the joy of things getting old quick.
I went to get my nails done this morning, and as the woman was sticking on the fake nails to my own, huge sparks started raining down on us from the light above -- all the while making an awful hissing and popping noise. We both made a mad dash for the doorway and when we looked back the florescent light above where we had been sitting was actually on fire. Thats about the most excitment ive had all week -- not that im complaining, normally excitment in my life can be equated with very bad things so, a little peace is always welcome.
They have a new series on TV here, dont know if you kids in canada get it or not, but its based on the movie Blade. Anyways, its really cheesy, but i watched it last night only to realise that its filmed in vancouver. It made me home sick. I was fine til i saw the skytrain, and pigeon park.. ah the fine memories of those places.
Hope all is well with everyone... and thanks for all the movie suggestions -- so far ive ignored em all and rented the machinist and one called the jacket. We havent watched the jacket yet, but i recommend the machinist (even though i thought it was kinda slow). Anyway... until next week -- aye aye and goodbye.

"insert witty title here"

You know, im not sure what is more lame -- that ive only gotten TWO comments on my blog so far, or that like half of you dont know who mr furley was. Thats gotta be the route cause of whats wrong with the world today, no Jack Tripper to guide developing minds. Alas, what shall we do!? Anyway, I went to go rent a scary movie this weekend and couldnt pick one, so i asked the guy that worked there and he recommended "zombie honeymoon", needless to say i rented the exorcism of emily rose instead. It was alright i guess, but i had just seen the DaVinci code the day before -- so watching TV commercials for 18 hours straight with a wedding singer wailing boy george in my ear at the same time would have been alright too in comparison. Surely some of you cool cats can suggest the next flick i should rent so im not actually forced to rent something thats named zombie honeymoon!

one week down, a lifetime to go

Well, my first week is officially over, and what better way to spend it than with canadian friends -- tom and mel -- who are in town on their honeymoon, traveling the west coast. They stopped into monterey for the night, we perused the farmers market (which happens every tuesday), then ate at papa chano's which is only the best mexican place ive EVER eaten at. And god did we eat. Then we went for ice cream and walked and talked. It was really great to see some familiar faces. Its like, when you go somewhere foreign you can sorta lose yourself; you question what it is to be you when the people you use to ground yourself arent around. It was awesome seeing them... it helped me to see that just because things and choices in my life are changing, i am still me... the witty girl we all know and love named susan.. oh, wait.. i mean tiresa.

my landlord is mr furley

...and im totally not kidding... this afternoon I walked up the stairway to my apartment -- outdoor stairs that lead to the small hall that connects my apartment with the landlords -- as i get half way up the stairs i see a man with a california sun weathered face, knocking on my door. A man wearing 70's style large plaid patterned baige slacks. In fact, the pants were so stunning that i've forgotten what his shirt looked like. In one hand, he was was holding a crystal glass with 3 ice cubes and four fingers of burbon... a marlboro in the other. He stayed and spoke with me only briefly, yet he left an impression on me that is sure to last a life time.

The best weekend ever

... infact it was so good that I dont even know where to start. I swear living here, its just like being in the movies (except i'd drive a fancy car). I guess though, its kinda neat walking as much as we do, today we walked along the beach path over to a place called Cannery Row. My dogs sure are barking, but it was well worth it to see all the different beach places. The sand at these beaches is not at all like the vancouver beaches... its so fine, so soft in comparison. We spent alot of the weekend by the beach, friday night we walked down the other way, to the acutal monterey bay..
and we watched the sunset. After, we went into downtown (i remind you there is only one main road in downtown) and we shared an ice cream waffle cone. Last night we went for chinese, tried a new place out.. and although it was a tad more authentic, they were too played classical music -- maybe its a local thing.
Everyone here is so nice... they all say hello or smile when you pass them. Its so great. Its one of my favorite parts of being here -- the people. That and the stars. I forgot what the night sky looked like out of a big city. Theres stars EVERYWHERE. Its totally cool. Now, if only the tap water didnt taste like dead things life would be totally perfect.
;)

"what kind of meat is this"?

OK.. so Christopher comes down to my place for lunch today, soup and a sandwich -- nothing special. We had picked it up at the rainforest safeway yesterday; the soup was called pepper pot. I'd never heard of it, but it looked sort of like beef and barley, and Christopher wanted to get it. Hell what do I care. So.. were having our lunch, and im first to try the soup... the meat in it looked kinda like chinese style bbq pork. I asked Christopher:
"did you notice what kind of meat was in this soup"
Naw" he replies.. "why"?
"Cause it doesnt look like beef" I answer.
"its probably pork"
I thought it looked like pork, and was fairly satisfied with that answer, so i had another bite - trying to avoid the meat and just get some of the veggies. But, there was so much meat in it, i decided to focus on my sandwich instead -- which I was certain was ham. Christopher, having devoured his sandwich already, moved on to the soup. He had about 3 bites before he asked:
"Do you think its pork"?
I laughed, "Im really not sure"
He got up and got the campbells can out of the garbage and asked,
"Whats Tripe"?
I quickly covered my mouth scared i was going to puke...
"dear god tell me your joking"
"why!? Whats tripe"!?

Needless to say, I promptly lost my appitite, threw the rest of the soup out.. and tried not to think about it for the rest of the day. Christopher is NEVER going to be incharge of choosing the soup ever again.

... I have a lemon tree in my back yard...

OK.. so it's not really in my backyard.. its in my neighbour's back yard, but some of the lemons hang over the edge of the fence, so that means their mine right? Ive never seen a lemon tree before -- and im not sure if its because im still in shock about being in californ-i-a but i sure think the lemon tree is cool. I sat outside on the balcony that over looks our back "yard" and played my guitar in the sun today facing the lemon tree, playing a homage to it. Christopher and I didnt make it on the picnic today, time just seems to fly too fast. We went to the pub by the base for lunch, and oh my god I had the BEST california chicken burger Ive ever had (cheesy i know but i had to order it). It was a bit strange being the ONLY civilian in the place, besides the staff. The presidio (aka the DLI, aka Christopher's base/school) is on top of a huge hill, and when they play the songs that they broadcast across the base you can hear them all the way down at my house. Im glad that the 7am reveiller went un-noticed by me this morning. Taps was beautiful though. They play it every night at 10 pm in remembrance to those who have fallen. It was almost erie. I walked christopher back to base for his 10pm curfew, and jogged down the hill home after, and the song just broadcasted over the whole hill. It was like something out of a movie. I made it home from the base in 4 minutes at a really slow jog, so thats how close we are. Its so cool! We went to a pub for dinner tonight, and the oilers game was on. Go oilers! Anyway I met a fellow canadian, from Coquitlam no less. Nothing like hockey to bring canadians together. I enjoyed dinner, we sat at the window and i did some people watching. The city is filled with so many young people because there are so many schools here. Im enjoying myself, and am doing better adjusting than i thought i would. Now if i can only find a place to get some damn keys cut so i can venture out on my own with out needing to be back to let Adama in! Down town is so small i cant seem to find anywhere to do it!
Other than that, So far so good. Ill post some pictures soon. Promise.

June 13, 2006: Day one of the here and now

June 13, 2006
So… I made it to Monterey! The trip here wasnt so bad, I was in too much shock for even the 5 hours bus ride to seattle to bother me too much... I had some hassle at the border and was worried I wasn’t gunna make it thru, but obviously I did. The guy was a real dick but I guess that’s his job. Monterey is very quaint. Christopher met me at the airport, which was TINY! I even flew in on a propeller plane… and it was scary as hell. I can’t tell you all how happy he was to see me; he had the biggest smile ever! I’m sure we had matching ones. We just hugged and hugged right in the way of all the people getting off the plane (lol the whole 15 of them). Then we just hugged and hugged until everyone got their bags, except for the 2 people who had their luggage lost (thank god that wasn’t me). Then we grabbed a cab and came to my new place right away... dropped off my stuff and then we walked into downtown if you can call it that. It reminds me of gas town. All of downtown is probably smaller than gas town actually... but it’s really very quaint, and only like a 5-minute walk from my apartment. Overall the entire town is not too terribly small... it’s spread out – yay urban sprawl. The beach is beautiful!! I saw it as I flew in; there are these cool sand cliffs that people were parachuting off of. I guess it was like a cross between parachuting and Hang gliding. I told Christopher in the cab that I wanted to try it, and he promptly said he would get a motorcycle if I did; which we all know how thrilled I am about. On the main drag downtown they were having some sort of market in the street, with little vendors set up selling everything from fruits and veggies, to Bob Marley t-shirts and incense. It was very strange. Christopher and I walked thru the market, then down to the pier to look at the sea lions. The pier reminds me of some small town version of Coney Island with out rides. There were all these seafood restaurants, face painters, touristy stores, old-fashioned candy shops… it was neat. There is this look-out place at the end of the pier that overlooks this rocky part of earth that stretches out of the bay where the sea lions all lay out... a TON of em. They’re loud as hell too. Then we went for Chinese food. Not like Chinese in Vancouver that’s for sure…were talking American Chinese. I was surprised to see that Chinese people actually worked there. But, there were no chopsticks on the table, no hot chili sauce, they were playing classical music, and everyone else eating there was Mexican. It was very surreal, but nice, and we sat on the same side of the table and shared our dinners. You know its love if your willing to share your sweet and sour chicken. We walked the street market a bit again, which was completely packed and overwhelming and then opted to go to Safeway... I think I wanted something I was familiar with. Get this... in the produce section... you know how the water spray mist thing comes on to wet down the veggies? Well, in the Safeway here in Monterey... when it goes off… they play a thunder soundtrack, and they have a mini strobelight; its set up to mimic a thunderstorm. You can here it thru the whole place, but that’s not saying much – it’s the smallest Safeway I’ve ever seen in my life. Then we headed over to target to get me a towel and one of those "bed in a bag" things, as there are no sheets here for me to use. I guess Adama has stripped the bed so she has bedding for the couch, I asked her about it, and she just laughed. She does that a lot. She's African, but watches Spanish TV and laughs her ass off. French is her first language I think She speaks English fairly well, but I find that when we try to talk to one another more times than not she just giggles her ass off. It’s pretty comical – and I’m left wondering if she understands anything I’ve said. But she is incredibly nice, and I have a feeling Ive really lucked out here. She is leaving her computer behind, and has already said I can use it (and I’m sure you all know I jumped right on that opportunity). I have yet to meet the roommate that is actually gunna be here for the summer - Adama is the girl whose room I’m taking over -- she leaves on the 19th I think. She’s not even sure yet. Or maybe she has no clue what I'm saying when I ask her, who knows. So... that’s my day in a nutshell... spent way too much money, and I’m exhausted. I tried to unpack, but I decided to write this instead. Amazing the things you can do when you are trying to avoid doing a chore. Just like how my house would become spotless anytime I had an exam I needed to be studying for, or a paper that needed writing. Not much planned for tomorrow, Christopher and I have plans to pack a lunch and go somewhere. He gets 2 hours off for his lunches, and often gets released at around 3, with a 10 pm curfew. So, that’s pretty cool. It was hard saying good-bye tonight though. Just as it seems I am here now as well. I think I’ll be productive, and actually unpack so I can find everything I need in the morning.
Take care everyone. I miss you all!