California Dreamin' Day 11

I believe I am going to be spending most of today doing the same thing as I was doing yesterday -- vegging out in front of anime with happypickle. This prospect fills me with great joy because God knows I don't want to spend any more time running around like a headless chicken than I have to, given that I'm going to spent most of Monday packing, most of Monday night/Tuesday morning travelling and most of Tuesday entertaining myself at the airport. And then travelling some more. I think I've earned some immobility, given the amount I'm going to be moving in the next few days.

It's kind of okay because it's worth it. While parts of my holiday have been enjoyable, I've been having that "I wanna go hoooooooooooome!!" feeling that I just didn't have last time. Then again, last time I didn't have much of a home to go back to anyway, but let's leave that alone for the time being. The thing is that, despite these people being my oldest friends (technically, they're the ones I've been in touch with the longest), I actually feel more comfortable with the bunch from England.

I figured out why, too. There's a lot of reasons, but the main one is there's a lot less effort involved. There's no tension as we try to avoid verboten subjects; if one of those comes up, no one has to actually get into it. There are no land mines in Memory Lane, and we can walk along it happy as you please without fear. There's no tippytoeing around each other, worried about the effect of the next word. It's so much easier. Not that it happens with everyone I know, but there are subjects that, when they have to be addressed, are addressed with care and stress and worry. And they do have to come up sometimes, because of the sheer amount of fuck-up that occurs when they don't.

But funnily, I can have a certain level of closeness with the others without that kind of stress. Kat and Mark were so incredibly there for me when cholten99 broke up with me; I don't know what I'd have done without them, even if I didn't take them up on the offers of support as often as Kat in particular made them. I can talk to them about things if I want to -- I just don't have to, and that makes all the difference.

cholten99 says they're looking forward to my return. They'll probably appreciate it even more when I come home with manga and copies of Haibane Renmei ... and the Tibetan Book of the Dead. ^_^ It's being a nice holiday (particularly since it's cooler here in SB than it's been in SF -- there were clouds yesterday!) but I really am looking forward to going home.

And in my one concession to International Talk Like a Pirate Day, especially for Toos...

"Have at you, you scurvy dog! Arr!"

*ahem*

Back to the Roots

It's been a long time since I watched Daria, but happypickle has pulled out Season 1. Which is a lot of fun for me because I had forgotten how doofy the characters can be. But so far we're at "This Year's Model" and it's doofier than anything. It's fun, though. Maybe with this kind of inspiration I can actually get back to that stupid ficwork before the end of time. After all, it's just a few more before the entire series is done.

Right. Back to the watching.

Meetings and Partings

We had a very nice evening, thank you.

happypickle got in touch with dburr and beepbeep, and they came by despite poor beep being ill. We went out and had dinner at a nice little Indian restaurant (Indian food in the US. Weird) and then went to a little beachfront bar for drinks and chats.

We talked a lot, about a lot of different things, and in the end a whole lot of stuff came out, for example what went down after I left California back in 2001. It's amazing how much less that hurts now. And really, I have a lot to be proud of. It's just not the kind of thing I think about on a regular basis, because -- well, why? There's no real reason to dwell on all the past just because it's been hard. Not that it's a good idea to forget about it, either -- after all, not only is it a part of my life, but it's taught me some important lessons. Still, it's not something I have to dwell on every day.

The other thing was thinking about how much easier I have it than others. The US system is just so fucked up with regard to ... well, everything. Some people are so scared about the possibility of a draft for this stupidity in Iraq. The state-aided health care system is a joke. I know that the NHS can so much suck sometimes, but at least it's there for people who need it, and beep's troubles just serve to highlight why I still work for the NHS, despite the fact that I could work in the private sector and get a lot more money. I like helping people, or at least contributing to people getting the help they need. A lot of people in the NHS forget what benefits there are to helping people. Fine, it's not putting a lot of money in their pockets but surely there's an enrichment that you only get from ... well, helping.

All the same, it was good to see everybody again. We're possibly going to go out and do something tomorrow. It's really strange with people making all this fuss just because I'm around. One thing I'll give nightskywarlock; he was excited about my visit in unobtrusive ways. Not that I'm going to complain -- I've just never been used to fuss. Still, I'm not going to complain. After all, it's kind of nice, people being that fussed that I'm here. I think I'll make sure that I spend more time in Santa Barbara because it's a pity I couldn't have spent more time hanging out here. Talking with dburr and beepbeep has been good and it'd be nice to do more of it, as well as meet some of the other bunch here. But all good things must end, and I'll know for the next time. Which, as I said recently, I don't intend to leave for as long as I did last time. Three years is a little too long, don't you think?

Watching more Azumanga Daioh. It's very much fun. Weird, but fun.