The GeekHiker

Sometimes, despite one’s best efforts, plans go awry. Things don’t turn out quite as you’d expected or hoped they would. Things that you thought were going to be good turned out to be not so much so.

That is to say: sometimes three-day-weekends turn out to be total busts.

Friday started out promisingly enough, with reading and a bit of straightening up around the house, and a little light snacking to prepare for the evening burger feast. I even managed to find the surface of my cluttered desk, an event which I’m a bit surprised did not warrant at least a blurb in the LA Times.

But the day devolved as the neighbors 4th of July party started up. The one with the astonishingly loud music. The one with the really, truly not-very-good cover band. The one to which the neighbors are never invited.

(Maybe it’s one of those “if you’re in the neighborhood, you’re invited” kind of things. I’m never sure of the decorum on these kinds of things, you know? Is it a private thing? An open invite to anyone within earshot of said cover band?)

Every year they have this party. Somehow, amazingly, every year I seem to forget that they’re having it. And so it is that every year I find myself wishing I’d been invited someplace else, away from the racket.

The afternoon got even more interesting when my neighbor’s friends stopped by… my living room. I’d completely forgotten to lock the front door (a rare occasion, as those who know me will attest) and they, on the cell phone with my neighbor talking to him, decided when no one responded to the knock on the door to just walk right in to my living room.

Seriously, if you were expected, if you were on the phone to the person who was expecting you, and the front door didn’t open upon knocking, wouldn’t you at least pause and wonder if, perhaps, you were at the wrong address?

The evening culminated with the nearby fireworks show, which was very enjoyable as I watched it from atop the garage. Except when I turned around and realized that, apparently, the alcohol was a bit more free flowing at the neighbors party than in previous years. How did I know this? The person urinating on my immediate next door neighbor’s wall, which sits across from my front door, was a big clue.

Fireworks on the 4th

At least the burger turned out well.

* * *

Saturday I decided to get out of the house, seek a little quiet elsewhere. I first went to the Natural History Museum, using a shared card I had with The Ex that expires soon. I stopped by the new T-Rex exhibit (wherein they’re currently cleaning the new skeleton the museum has obtained) and visited my old friend the prehensile-tailed skink:

Prehensile-tailed skink. With no flash allowed, I had to brighten it up in PS, hence the grainy quality.

(On a side note, I must try to attend at least one showing of “B-Movies and Bad Science“. After all, who doesn’t like a good bad movie?)

After that, I headed up to the mountains with a picnic lunch to do some reading and writing. Unfortunately, the new crop of this years flys decided to make me their picnic lunch, and although I was able to get some reading and writing done, I spent half the time in the car, away from their annoying buzzing.

With my original plans of seeing a movie with a friend dashed by an unfortunate event in their family, I decided to simply head home, stopping by the BevMo in Pasadena to stock up on the delicious Ace Hard Berry Cider. After all, there seemed little point in driving 80 mies round trip out of my way to see a movie solo that I can see near to my house. At that point, a bit of berry cider sounded much more appealing.

Turns out, the BevMo in Pasadena? Doesn’t carry it.

* * *

Today I thought I would get up early, fill the tires in the bike, and take a ride down along the beach before the afternoon winds kicked up.

So, of course, for the only day in this three day weekend, it’s dawned cloudy and overcast. So much for sunny bike-riding weather.

So I simply stayed home, did some more reading, quite a bit of writing, finished watching “John Adams”, relaxed. In other words, I rather studiously avoided doing anything that might, somehow, go awry.

It was, shall we say, a decidedly less interesting three-day weekend than I had hoped for. I hesitate to say that it was “bad” per se. It just wasn’t what I’d expected, and certainly not what I’d hoped for. Ultimately, I’m simply going to call it disappointing, and leave it at that.

* * *

The one truly good thing to come out of this weekend was my viewing of “John Adams”, which stirred thoughts in me both intellectual and emotional.

But why ruin a good “bah-humbug” post with that? Best to save it for it’s own treatment…