rain drops keep falling on my head

This morning I was all set to go to school -- new green longsleaved tshirt, black capris, and black flatts -- and I did a double take as I opened the front door. The steps outside the door were wet. I thought, "Strange. The sprinklers don't usually hit so high up the steps." Then I looked up and saw the rain coming down. It was a nice rain, not just a little pittiful mist and not a torrential down pour. It was just enough to require me to run back inside for my rain coat. The walk to school was probably one of the quickest because to keep from getting soaked through I was walking fast. Even still when I walked into the class room I got a few funny looks and a couple, "you're soaked!"s. The rain let up in the morning and by the time I had to walk home it had completely stopped.
Then while grading midterms at my desk I heard it start to rain again. I could hear what sounded like buckets of water being dumped over the gutters and landing on the cement right outside my room. Just listening to the rain made me feel content and took away a little bit of the pain of grading 200+ midterms. It was still comming down pretty good when I had to leave for swimming. I bundled up, but this time I wasn't so lucky on the walk to school. I arrived very soaked through. That meant I had nice damp clothes to look forward to after I got out of the water. The rain seemed to be letting up as I ran from the locker room to the pool. I jumped into the warm water quickly and did 400 yards to warm up. As I sat on the wall waiting to hear the next set the rain picked up again. It was bouncing off the water creating the neatest rain sound I've heard. It was like music.
Thankfully, the rain had stopped by the end of practice and my clothes were only a little damp. Maybe it'll start raining again later tonight and I'll get to fall asleep listening to it spill over the gutters and hit the ground.

The rain always reminds me of home.

A long weekend...

This wonderfully long weekend has come to a close. It started the moment I got out of epi on Thrusday. All morning I was watching the second hand move around the clock, waiting for class to be done so I could get on the road. By 12:35 I was in the car and headed north. After a quick pit-stop to pick up Yvi in Santa Barbara I finaly made it to SLO. It was wonderful to be out of the city and back in San Luis Obispo with Lukas. Thrusday night was spent watching movies (Ladder 49 and Thankyou For Smoking).

Friday morning it was off to Avila Beach for a session of picture taking and enjoying the amazingly beautiful weather. Lukas got some great shots and I took a little dip in the freezing ocean. You can't got to the beach and not get in the water. That just wouldn't be right! Then, that night after a Shabbat dinner of juicy hamburgers it was off to Sycamore Springs hotsprings for a nice hot tub. (my valentines day present to Lukas) It was wonderful to spend some quite, relaxing time together. And the stars out there were amazing.

Saturday morning I got woken up by my phone. Diane calling me to come have breakfast with her and Ileana. At the end of her invatation to breakfast Diane says, "oh! and could you pick us up?" I laughed out loud. "Sure, I can pick you guys up." Breakfast with the girls was fun. Funny to see Ileana in SLO again now that I'm used to seeing her down here in LA. After breakfast it was bowling time with Lukas. I rolled 115, 118, and 118. Three of my best games in a long time. Bowling's deffinately more fun when you're doing "good". That evening Lukas and I along with James and Yvi went out to Morro Rock to watch the sun set. We all had fun laughing at the people that got soaked by the waves crashing over the rocks. I just couldn't help saying "Ooooooooo!" every time the waves broke up against the wall of rocks. Lukas spent forever trying to get a good picture of it. Every time he'd stop to take a picture the waves wouldn't cooperate. Later, after dinner, we all headed downtown to see Ghost Rider. The movie was ok. It was more fun just to go out.

Sunday was spent at Montana de Oro freezing our butts off. The sunny weather was nowhere to be seen. Here the birds (condors I think) were doing their best to evade Lukas and his camera. I got to man the camera for a bit and ever time Lukas would hand me the camera or we'd look the other way the birds would fly right over our heads. Our shoes got filled with so much sand hiking around the dunes that weeks from now we'll still be shaking them out.

The weekend ended today with a long (but not too long 'cause traffic wasn't bad) drive back down south. A quick stop in Santa Barbara and I was home again. Now, I have managed to put off homework for the 4 hours I've been home and to completely forget to go swimming. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

That's all for now. I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend. I know I did!