It's funny that surfing, eating, being at the beach, and everything I do all the time seems so much better when friends are with you. Sometimes I wish that I could have Boston during the week and San Diego during the weekends. At least, weekends once a month or something like that..kind of like a vacation.

Actually I've decided that I will really miss California. Maybe it's one of those situations where you're always longing for the thing you don't have, but soon I think San Diego will be just a memory that I'll miss. And it's not necessarily that I liked the weather that much, or that downtown or the suburbs themselves were any special, or even the fact that there is surf here. But I think that any place or experience ultimately gets defined by the people you end up knowing during that time.

If I were to stay in San Diego, I think I would be very happy with the way I get to see my friends. I am perfectly fine driving up to LA once in a while. The distance makes each visit to Costa Mesa, then to Inglewood, and now up to Culver City, a more worthwhile and meaningful trip. Now that Hyon is living in LA, there would be a network of Phi Sigs, going from San Diego all the way up to the UCLA area. Anyone could make a roadtrip through SoCal and have a place to crash every night.

And that's exactly what Beeg did this weekend, basically roadtripping over most of California with Tiff, Susan, and Patricio. We celebrated Hyon's birthday Friday, complete with a 5 am trip to BCD Tofu house. And that's when I realized that my understanding of California has begun to solidify. I am able to take people to good places to eat, sleep, party because I have experienced enough of California to start to play host to a very very small fraction of it.

On the way home was an interesting mental game of communication as cars. I was following Tiff as she drove down to SD, and later I went ahead to lead them to Sei's. But during that time in my mind I amuzed myself by thinking of how to communicate to them purely by responding to a lead (for example, changing lanes) and using the blinkers and high beams to signal things. And I realized that I'm one of those people that would imagine and overanalyze any such signal, much like people read into nuances over AIM a bit too much. For example I'd think of a complex way to indicate that we should change lanes (when I was in the back) then I'd also think of ways to tell them that I was going to change lanes to get ahead of them, but that they shouldn't do it too. Of course, the other car probably didn't notice anything.

This morning we made it to La Jolla Shores beach. Beeg and I were both amazed at the surf today. La Jolla Shores' turquoise waters were clear enough to see the shadow of the surf board five feet deep. Then we played at the Cove while waiting for the rest of the group to return from lunch. I think I have some prescient ability to find members of a part that are separated, because we randomly parked after not being able to call them on the phone, and there was the other car parked right across the street. So now I have gained the dangerous trust in my ability, if planning doesn't go well and a party gets separated, to find them and reunite the lost.

After thoroughly enjoying the food offered by Convoy ktown restaurants, we said goodbye over bags of spicy chicken. It's back to life as usual, I guess, Your usual week of labor so that weekends like the last could happen.