Santa Barbara

Mike and I went to Santa Barbara yesterday, and I have lots to report.

1) The first report must begin with a seemingly meaningless incident from last weekend. Mike and I were driving down Sunset through Echo Park or Silverlake, when I saw someone from Tt on the sidewalk. He was reading a newspaper and appeared to be waiting for a bus. He seemed very out of place, and not just because I was seeing him outside of the office. This is why the image stuck in my head. Well, yesterday I saw him in SBA. Mike and I were walking down State St and he was walking toward us. This time I think he saw me, but he didn't say anything, so I left him alone. Also I was completely dumbfounded at seeing him in SBA so I couldn't have said hello if I wanted to. They say there are no coincidences. I don't know if that's true, but I was a bit weirded out that my circle has crossed with his 3 times in the last week (counting working together), in 3 different locales.

2) The second report is that I love sparkly things. I have this blue rhinestone bracelet that my nephew Ben gave to me. I wear it all the time because it is so, so sparkly. I happened to be wearing it yesterday, even. Mike and I walked past a jewelry store called "So Good." And it was! Probably 50 yards long, 4 aisles of rhinestone jewelry! I purchased 2 rings. One of them is so sparkly that if you look at it under a floodlight you can not look directly at it!

3) The last incident to report was that in the evening we went to a show which was an exhibition of a bunch of local dancers. On the quality of their dances, let me be silent. Though I will mention that I laughed when my friend Kellie yawned loudly after the Lindy Hop. Anyway, the story I want to tell is about the coolest part of the presentation. A group of 6 couples were on stage performing a salsa. Well toward the beginning of their dance, their music stopped due to some sort of technical difficulty. For several seconds, they continued to dance in total silence, while we waited for the music to return. When it became obvious that this was not a momentary musical lapse, a few of the dancers began to fumble. The audience started to clap and provided the dancers with a beat. The dancers finished their salsa to nothing but the rhythm of our clapping hands. They were the only performers to receive a standing ovation.