I added some first lines I wrote in a prompt with Leslee today when we had dinner at Compadres. They're a little macabre!

Gondry has created a new commercial for the Motorola Razr2 (a cell phone), using entirely mechanical effects! See an interview with him immediately below, and below that is the commercial:

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The time comes every week (or more often) when one must do one's laundry. For the past several years, I've always lived someplace with a washer/dryer. Now I'm back to using a laundromat. Unfortunately, they are few and far between in Waikiki.

Google maps said that there were two 0.3 miles and 0.2 miles away from me, but Google maps lied! After consulting the aforementioned map, I went laundryless on a scouting mission to find the nearest one. After speaking with an ABC* manager I discovered that the laundromats I was seeking were mere phantoms. He told me to go Diamond Head 4 blocks or so. I went, saw nothing, then stopped at a Starbucks. I asked the young lady at the counter, she directed me one block further on the makai side of the street. I found a tiny laundromat next to a Fun Factory (a chain of arcades). It was at least a mile from my apartment.

I walked back to my apartment to pack up my laundry. I was drenched with sweat. I loaded my laundry bag about half full, carefully choosing only the most essential items to launder so that I wouldn't break my back on the way over. I shlepped it to the laundromat. I put my clothes in a washer, but didn't have enough quarters for the drier. I went the nearest ABC to find an ATM, but their ATM was down (was feeling thwarted). I went across the street to the Food Pantry, which, as luck would have it, housed a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf (like an oasis in a Starbucks filled desert!) I found an ATM, withdrew a twenty at a two dollar charge, treated myself to an iced mocha (to make change of course) and went back to the laundromat imagining my wet clothes being stolen in my absence (they weren't).

I settled in and read a short story called "Five Billion Eves" by Robert Reed, which was awesomely subversive. It's the last story in the "Best Science Fiction of 2007". I put my clothes in the drier, and for $1.50 you get 24 minutes! How lame. I didn't have enough quarters for more, so I took out my clothes semi-damp. The extra water weighed down the bag! So I got quite a workout on the schlep back!

I finally have a new entry for Story-a-Day. View it here!

Well, I've moved to Waikiki, and have finally recovered from the move. Hence this post. I didn't want to post earlier about this, but I had been having some very stressful roommate issues in Kapolei, plus the 1 and 1/2 hour one-way commute to Honolulu took out a big chunk of every day and certainly didn't help the situation. I was more exhausted from leaving a negative situation than I was from actually moving, so I was mostly camped out in my new living room for the past few days - zonked out on the futon.

Waikiki is so awesome - despite what some of my Hawaii friends say about it. It really is viewed as a totally sold-out (as in corporate) neighborhood, totally focused on the tourists. Yeah, it's that, but it's also a really convenient place to live. I'm 1 minute's walking distance from a Starbucks. I'm about 2 minutes to the beach. If I want to eat at 4 am, there's a Denny's around the corner (or the world famous Wailana Coffee House down the street). I don't feel trapped by not having a car anymore (or trapped by all the expenses of having a car). I wouldn't raise a kid in Waikiki, but that's not likely to happen anyway.

Best of all, I actually feel at peace in my new apartment - I feel safe, and that's happened rarely in all the places I've lived. If you've read my blog for awhile, you might recall that my last place in AZ was plagued by the serial shooters (a pair of serial killers that randomly shot people and animals walking at night from the back of a car), and there was one time I couldn't go to work because the police wouldn't let me out my front door because I would have been in the line of fire of a guy holed up in his apartment with a gun. And need I reiterate the time we were robbed at the bookstore? That was interesting. Lot's o' fun stuff!

Anyway, I wanted to tell the story about when I was packing to leave Kapolei. I had rented a red Ford Explorer (actually quite pleasant to drive), and had just begun loading it up when a little boy, a preschooler with curly blond hair, shirtless, and actually playing with a ball in the parking area caught sight of me.

"Are you going to fly on a plane?"

"No." I answered.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm moving to Waikiki."

"Why?"

"To be closer to work."

"Where do you work?"

"Downtown in a big skyscraper."

"Oh." There was a pause as he watched me intently. "Do you have any kids?"

"No."

"Do you have one in your tummy?"

"No." Darn, shouldn't have worn such a loose shirt. Kid thinks I'm pregnant.

"Why not?"

"Um, because I haven't gotten around to it yet."

"Why not?"

"I've got lots of stuff to do."

Thankfully, at this point the SUV had grabbed his attention. He wanted to help me close the doors. I told him to be careful, but he did a good job. I locked the door with the key fob, which totally fascinated him. He followed me back to my door as I went in for another load. He would have followed me right in if I hadn't told him to stay outside (kids in Hawaii!) I came back with more boxes and he was waiting outside the door with his ball.

"I can kick this really high!"

"Can you?" He kicked it, and whizzed it right by my face. I was taken a little aback, he had a grin from ear to ear. "Good kick. You'll be a sports star."

"Can I open the door?" He was referring to the liftgate.

"Um, okay. You can unlock it." I showed him which button it was on the key fob. He pressed it with great glee. I had stuff in my arms, so I was struggling to get the lift gate open.

"Let me do it, I'm strong."

"Ah, okay - be careful - " but he got it open quickly, again with a big smile. "You are strong." I pack my stuff in, then let him lock the doors with the key fob. The car horn beeped every time this happened, so he really loved that part. Finally a parent appeared.

"Sawyer, get over here!" The little boy ran to his father. I felt really guilty for talking to a kid I didn't know - but somehow I felt that kid's name really was apropos. He was probably named after the character from the TV show Lost, but my mind wandered over to the venerable Mark Twain character. That kid really made that day for me.

The Good News: I did get the 'new' apartment in Waikiki. Rental agreement is signed, hands shook, key in my possession.

The Bad News: it's really, really, really hard to move from one end of Oahu to the other on less than 24hr prep time, by yourself, especially when parking in Waikiki is scarcer than liquid water on the moon and your moving van is a rented car and the rental agency won't let you extend the rental period enough to actually have time to move without charging a few hundred dollars for a few extra hours. Yeah, that's not a proper sentence, but I don't care. Moving is stressful. I got really stressed out, and burst into tears in public a few times. But I don't care. Living alone in a quiet, spacious, super cheap (for Waiks), slightly funky apartment, 2 (count'em two, (uno, dos)) short blocks from Waikiki beach (one of those blocks is the beach), where I could paddle out and half drown in view of dozens of Japanese tourists every morning if I want to, is more than totally worth all of the hassle.

Oddly, I've moved so many times in my life, and have so little stuff with me in Hawaii, it took me about an hour to pack. It took me four hours to attempt to resolve the rental car snafu, and I eventually gave up. If I had known I would waste that much time, I could have just moved. Sigh. I'll try again tomorrow or Wednesday.

Did I mention I have a wraparound lanai? The new apartment also has a stove, which is not something you can count on being furnished in an apartment in Honolulu. And yes, it has a fridge - er - icebox, as it is called here. It is also equipped with a comfortable, inviting desk - so maybe I'll be able to finish a novel there.

In a bid to be more efficient at apartment hunting, I rented a car last night (upgraded, to a Pontiac G6, hence the sunroof). so I could get to multiple showings over the weekend. Right now, I am sitting in the back of said car, after seeing a place (no stove), that didn't show much promise when I looked at the outside yesterday. When I went with the real estate lady, she took me through a dark hallway to a downstairs apartment tucked beneath a staircase. I thought, oh god, not another pit. However, when she opened the door, it was bright inside, though tiny (studio). I was immediately drawn to the sliding glass doors on the back wall - there was a small private yard! It was actually very pretty and secluded.

I ditched a bit on work (only hurts me 'cause I'm a contractor) to go with some co-workers to Aloha Tower Marketplace to see the periphery of the Thunderbirds airshow in Waikiki. I'm guessing we missed all the really good bits from so far away, but the jets used downtown Honolulu to turn around. It was quite impressive, and there were times when it looked like they were going to plow into the skyscrapers or the docked cruise ship (which is part of the thrill - waiting for an accident to happen). At one point, one of the jets *hovered* over the roof of the large gazebo we were in, then he slowly flew past, and the jet was close enough to see the pilot. My friend Nesan had a huge grin on his face after that (clearly still a little boy at heart - and I mean that in the warmest sense).

The show went on for an hour, at which point, in the heat and humidity (me complain about 90 degree heat after living in Arizona? Shocking!!) we were all sweaty and dehydrated. Another co-worker (Darin) and I sought out refreshment. Darin took me through the bowels of a nearby skyscraper to a perky little convenience store tucked within. I had no idea it was there (and there were several restaurants as well). I was feeling, adventurous shall we say, and decided to try something new, something I had been eyeing for quite awhile - one of those, only-in-Hawaii food items.

Calpico is a "non-carbonated soft drink", "the Softer Sensation" (yikes!), with a "pure and gentle flavor". Hmm. I checked the location of manufacture. Yup. Japan. The ingredients are as follows:

• water
• high fructose corn syrup (yeah, yeah, horribly bad)
• sugar (a double dose?)
• nonfat dry milk (treated with a lactic acid culture)
• lactic acid (wow, not for the lactose intolerant)
• natural and artificial flavors (always ambiguous there)
• citric acid (a vitamin!)
• soy fiber (fiber?)
• sodium citrate

The whole shebang is 220 calories at 16 fl oz. What does it taste like you say? That's actually what Darin asked me, because although he's a long time Hawaii resident (not sure how long, but longer than me), he has never tried it. I thought it was very sugary (no surprise there), but it took me awhile to nail down the actual flavor. It was a bit orangey, but still milky. I finally decided that it tasted most like creamsicle. Which is odd when you look at the color, and it makes me wonder how much "flavor" is actually color and packaging. After I told Darin I committed a horrible faux pas and said "not the flavor you would expect from a fluid that color and consistency". Oh the shame. At least he laughed.

I feel like that's what my life has been compressed down to lately. Oh, and TheBus rides. But I don't really notice them anymore, which is weird since I'm on a bus 3+ hours a day. Now the people who brought us TheBus, are bringing us TheBoat, which sails between Barbers Point (near where I live) to Honolulu Harbor (walking distance to work). This would be totally convenient and exciting if it weren't for the fact that I'm trying to move into town. It would be cool to commute on a boat though. They have something similar in Sydney (AUS).

TheBoat apparently has food and beverage service. If you followed the link above, you can see the building (with the aquamarine glass) I work in behind the boat. Famous Aloha Tower (the clock tower) is on the left hand side. This is near where all the cruise ships dock (it's fun having a meeting and a cruise ship blows it's horn - it's so loud you can hear it loudly even through the sealed glass).

Yesterday was a phenomenally good day. It was the kind of good day you know is going to be good from the outset, and you just roll with it knowing how cool it is.

Actually, the goodness started Thursday night when I went to the First Thursday Poetry Slam. I was initially reluctant to go - I had rented a car so I could get back, and I was only going to go because a few friends said they might go for the first time, but they both ended up ditching. I was down, and annoyed at myself for spending the money on the car (cheap actually at $21.95, the prices are coming down, but the $300 hold on my debit card is a bit much to swallow - hate Budget, love Avis, but in the luck of the Hotwire draw I didn't get them this time. Avis only puts on a $100 hold). Anyway, I ended up going, judging, having a blast and making contacts. I even got a potential lead on a photoshoot, so that was really cool. I'm considering doing a portrait series of local artists and performers.

After the slam, when I arrived at the airport to pick up the rental, it was so late that the shuttles weren't running. I was stopped twice by Homeland Security (in the guise of two older Hawaiian women). They didn't want me hanging around the airport, and eventually I ended up walking through the airport grounds to the rental lots. It's really not that far, but I had nothing more than a general direction and a fuzzy recollection of where it was in relation to the terminal. Oddly, on the trek itself there was no Homeland Security to be found (I kept thinking that was awfully lax). After about ten minutes, I approached the lot to be met by the Budget shuttle driver. When he saw me he stopped, and we talked story for a bit. Apparently he was making a final run to pick up any stray people coming off a flight from Sydney (Budget never does any business from that flight). I walked on, since I was then only a few yards away. I picked up an Impreza, which I don't find terribly comfortable, though it does have plenty of zip (I'm partial to the Ford Focus). It was nice to be driving again, if only briefly.

Yesterday morning, I had an appointment to get my hair dyed (even though I don't consider myself appearance obsessed, being 31 with over 50% gray hair makes me a bit self-conscious about it. I'll be really happy when my hair goes completely white - which will happen in my forties at the rate I am going - I think it will look good). I got my hair dyed by a stylist who messed it up, but was able to save it. Afterward I picked up some lunch and drove to the nearest beach, Nimitz, and ate lunch in the sand. The beach was virtually deserted, which is fine by me. Going to the beach like that sometimes feels surreal, and I sat their soaking in the sound of surf and the gorgeous shades of aqua. Just a few minutes at a beach like that is worth all the hassle of living on this cock-eyed island.

While I was enjoying my lunch, I noticed that I was being observed by a small sand crab. At first I didn't think he was looking at me, but then I noticed he was following my movements with his eye-stalks. I love interacting with animals in nature, it hints at intelligence, and I never thought crabs could be all that smart. Beside me was a piece of bamboo skewer, evidently abandoned from a beach luau. I picked it up and tossed it to the crab to see if it would run away. To my utter delight the crab did not run away, but rather ran towards the skewer, picked it up in his claws, than ran back to his tiny hole, and drew the skewer down into his home!

A few seconds later he popped back up empty-clawed and resumed watching me. I found an old cigarette butt in the sand - surely the crab wouldn't be interested. I tossed the butt his way, and again to my surprise, he ran over, grabbed it in his claws, and drew it down his hole! Unbelieveable. I repeated the sequence a few times with other objects, and most times he collected the items. The only thing he didn't seem to like was charcoal. I would have loved to have seen a cross-section of his pack-ratted hidey-hole.

I only spent a few minutes with the crab, I was running late on returning the rental. After I finally did, it was off to work. Work was fine, but after I went to First Fridays, which is a night that the downtown galleries open up with wine, cheese, cookies, etc. I met my friend Leslee at the Kim Taylor Reece gallery. She was out supporting her friend Corrine from her telephone company days who had two piece that just opened in a juried show there. We had a blast hanging out together, Corrine and I instantly hit it off. She happens to be easygoing and well connected, working for a state senator. Her boss came, and I got to meet him (a clearly a seasoned politician, but in the nice, laid-back, Hawaiian style). I also got to meet Kim Taylor Reece himself, an icon of the Hawaiian art scene - arguably one of the most successful artists on the island. He's really cool, and when Corrine introduced me, he hugged me Hawaiian style and kissed me on the cheek. I felt awkward, I'm still not used to Hawaiian greetings of strangers! Some Kim Taylor Reece (can I drop that name enough?) trivia: he's color blind. His signature sepia style was a practical result of the color blindness because then he doesn't have to worry about how the color looks.

The gallery happened to be stuffy from the crowds of people pratically sardined into the display space, so after we hobnobbed for a respectable amount of time, we three escaped the claustrophobic heat and did the gallery rounds. The highlight though was the venerable Hawaii Theater, which had opened it's doors for free to show several animated shorts. The only one we saw in entirety was about a stick figure named Bill. The characters were so well created, that Leslee later said that her negative attitude towards animation had been lessened. Now if only I could get her to appreciate graphic novels...

As we left the theater, Corrine wanted to get rid of her leis (she had at least six). She put one on me before I knew it - a beautiful white and purple orchid lei! I was totally flattered. Since I got to Hawaii, I've bemoaned the fact that I had never been lei'd. Before I got here I was under the impression that people were actually paid to greet you at the airport and give you a lei. (it happens in movies!) I thought it was really cool actually that it was so spontaneous and unexpected. I still have the lei in my fridge.

I'm really exhausted, so this is just a placeholder to remind me to write up the story of this past Sunday - so funny!

My dad recently complained that I hadn't blogged lately, and the truth is that I was enjoying a really cool labor day weekend. On Saturday, Leslee and I played tourist and went to the Art Academy for lunch, the Waikiki Aquarium, the Kahala Resort, and the funky neighborhood of Kaimuki for dinner and a tarot reading (yup).

At the Art Academy we had a decent gourmet meal, which was served way to fast. Literally 2 minutes after ordering, our meals arrived, yet it was quite busy. I wouldn't think I would complain about service being too quick, but when you are sitting down to eat in an environment meant to be enjoyed, service that fast just seems rushed. There was a beautiful post modern fountain babbling near the outdoor eating area and that was quite peaceful.

The highlight of the meal for me was a superbly presented dish of vanilla bean ice cream. The ice cream was great, but I ended up spending five minutes taking photographs. The color of the chilled ceramic dish complemented the ice cream perfectly.

Afterwards, we skipped the exhibitions ($10) to tour the grounds ($0). Leslee fielded a call from her best friend Amy (who was recently in a car crash and was already scheduled for surgery for a really bad sinus infection). While Leslee was on the phone, I was practicing portraiture on her. I took many photos on the grounds, but lamented not taking my macro.

We ditched the Art Academy for the Waikiki Aquarium, and actually found a parking spot right near the door (there are like eight parking spots at the Aquarium - most people have to scrounge for street parking, which is nigh impossible in Waikiki). The Waikiki Aquarium is considerably smaller than the Sydney Aquarium, which is my only place of comparison. There were some cool displays, including jellyfish tanks, seadragons, cuttlefish (Leslee made friends with a cuttle that was interacting with us through the glass - really smart creatures), and a huge take full of very large, people sized fish. The latter was my highlight, since I scored a fantastically composed photo of Leslee in silhouette against the tank (I think it might just be the best photo I've yet taken).

After the Aquarium, Leslee drove down Diamond Head Road so we could ogle the houses in the most expensive neighborhood on Oahu - the beachfront community of Kahala. The road ends at the Kahala Resort, the only five star hotel on Oahu. We stopped and had our car valet parked (we tried to act like we were wealthy, but that's hard to do when you are stepping out of a Ford in hiking sandals and pigtails).

Leslee took me past the lobby and through two colliding wedding parties, and out into the grounds where there were several lagoons, filled with dolphins! I had never seen a dolphin in person, so this was a really cool surprise. Anyone who knows me well knows that I can go on at length about dolphins and their bigger-than-us brains. Apparently, this is one of two places on the island were you can have a "dolphin experience" and actually swim, interact, and touch them. In the open ocean it is illegal to do that.

We stayed at watched for a bit (didn't get any good photos of them), but it got a bit thick with wedding-goers so we went inside and Leslee showed me a really cool staircase lined with living orchids! One of the orchids is called a Sherry Baby, and smells exactly like chocolate (which made me seriously reconsider my aversion to gardening).

After an impromptu photoshoot on the staircase (getting a great portrait of Leslee which she calls "The Rich Bitch" shot), we went to the outdoor bar and ordered drinks and an appetizer and listened and watched the surf as evening approached. I had a mai tai for the first time, which was not at all what I was led to believe it was from the movie "Blue Hawaii". It was more alcohol than fruit juice and was really quite gross. Apparently the Kahala is the place to go if you want to get blasted in an elegant setting.

As we sat there, we watched one of the wedding parties tromp through the sandy grass to get photos taken. We both were appalled that the wedding photographer was dressed in tee-shirt and shorts - totally unprofessional. A wedding shoot for a party that formal requires a suit or at least something black and artsy. Worse though, the bride looked about to burst into tears - this further strengthened my opinion that marriage ought to be avoided at all costs by women.

When our drinks were depleted, we contemplated jotting a room number on the bill, but paid and went out to the beach. A ways down there was a hammock strung between two palm trees and it turned out that Leslee had never sat in a hammock before. I told her she should try it but she was nervous so I got in to show her how to do it without flipping out of it, blissed out for a few moments, then as I got out for her to take her turn, a couple of rude little wealthy brats ran up and snuck into it instead. Leslee was miffed, and we continued our walk/chat. On the way back, Leslee did get to lay in the hammock and was able to experience that simple joy.

Leaving Kahala back for town, we decided to go to Kaimuki, a neighborhood that was originally settled by Japanese immigrants but is now quite Haole. I began to realize I'm getting quite familiar with the layout of Honolulu because I was able to tell her where a hidden public parking lot was. This was the same place that I came one weekend to find a camera shop that sells 120 film (Kaimuki Camera). Across the street from the camera shop is a funky little coffee shop that makes a really great tart lemonade.

We went to dinner at the 12th St Grill, which from the outside looks like a hole in the wall, but on the inside it is completely posh and New Yorky (but actually kinda reasonable). The menu was really cool in that they offered small plate dishes and large plate dishes. This is wonderfully intelligent, as you can get a yummy entree that won't completely stuff you to the gills. The small and large plates were different, so there was a lot of choice. We both had a small plate of handmade cheese and sauteed mushroom ravioli. It was so incredible! I love mushrooms, and these weren't the standard button mushrooms, but the funky-shaped fungi (haven't a clue which species, but sliced and butter-seared to perfection).

After dinner we walked across the street to a metaphysics shop Leslee's been wanting to show me. We opened the door and were greeted by a strong waft of incense. There were lots of interesting things, but this is much more Leslee's milieu than mine. The owner was there, who happens to do tarot readings. I'm up for anything new, so I decided to get a reading.

The owner, this slightly squirrelly old dude who was reading science fiction when we got there, led me back to the plush reading room. He was very nonchalant, almost bored. He brought out his tarot deck which he had designed himself using 20th century imagery. My familiarity with the tarot deck is middling so I can't tell you which cards I drew (what I know of the archetypes is fascinating just from a psychological point of view - my favorite being the Magician (which I drew from Leslee's new deck after I joked I would draw it - and it was the very first card ever drawn from that deck so Leslee took it as a good omen)). The reader made me draw 22 random cards, placed in a pile face down. After the cards were chosen, he turned the pile over and began to lay them out in a modified celtic cross formation (that's what Leslee said it was anyway).

Supposedly, the first card drawn represents my view of my own personality. I drew the queen of swords (I remember a few of the cards). He said that this card means that I see myself as a decision maker constantly analyzing and critiquing (the swords suit represents the mind and thinking). I'd say that's pretty true, but I might have agreed with any number of cards.

The second card I drew had something to do with strife (it had a bleeding WWI doughboy on it). In that order, this meant that others see me as a troublemaker - too critical, too opinionated. That's definitely something I've struggled with! I don't remember the next few cards, but they all had to do with my personality traits. After this first set, the reader asked me if I was a writer! I said "Um, yes.." and then he told me I would finish a work within the next 4-6 months, that I would find my voice as a writer (which is kinda already happening since I started reading Bukowski), and that people would finally recognize my maturity (a great concern considering everyone I meet here asks me if I am going to school). Hmmm. Then he placed the five of pentacles (I think the pentacles suit is associated with creativity) down by itself and told me to get my butt in gear and start writing in earnest. Double hmmm. After that he laid out a column of cards that supposedly represented my expectations for the future, and he told me that the theme of my life is oppression, and freeing people from it. Only those closest to me know how true that is! Wow, my life has a theme...cool.

He laid out some more cards. I don't remember much about those, but one in particular stood out because it represented unconditional love. He asked me if I was in a relationship, to which I said "No...", he went "Hrmm" then "you will be in one soon with either someone you already know or someone that when you meet will feel as if you have known them a long time." Yeah right, though that did get me thinking about getting a dog - that's the only true unconditional love there is in my opinion. Haven't a clue what the next card was, but apparently it modified the previous one, and he said that the relationship would be "mentor-student" which I thought was kind of icky, though that could fit a lot of situations (including dogs - the best mentor I ever had was a dog - Sookie, my third parent).

There were some more cards, then he laid out another by itself in the formation with great exasperation. It was the death card. He remarked that "everyone" was drawing that card in that spot lately, and he exclaimed rather boldly "the economy is going to crash." Hrmm, yeah (Leslee drew the same card in the same spot in her reading later).

The next part of the formation represented the fulfillment of my expectations (matching the previous column). Apparently I am not going to be able to relieve the world of oppression - didn't think there was much chance of that - so guess that prediction is true! However, he said I will find public accolade and be able to report on oppression, which is certainly feasible and definitely a goal of mine. The last card I drew was the lovers card. To this he said that I would get married within the year to the unconditional love/mentor guy. That was truly hilarious!

One thing I have been thinking about lately, and the tarot reading brought up again, is how metaphysics is really interested in qualities of things (the what), while many religions are concerned about morals (good behavior/bad behavior), and science is concerned primarily with the how and why of things. Science and religion are often portrayed at loggerheads, but I wonder if the dichotomy could be softened if consideration of metaphysics is thrown in the mix. Hardcore scientists will bristle at the thought of that, but from a philosophical perspective I think it could add a bit of objectivity - thinking of the could-be's instead of just "this is this and only this and everything else is wrong".

Oh, this is completely tangential, but I think it is awesome that a Wiccan finally won the lottery and attributed the win to the several deities he prayed to - you always hear that it is a Christian (how "Christian" is it to gamble?) thanking God. So ironic!

All in all, it was an interesting, well-needed, very different day :-)