On Sunday we had our anniversary observed, which I planned because it's an even year. I took as a loose theme, the theme of pirates, and chartered us a vessel. Well, a canoe. We left before dawn to drive north, to the Delaware water gap, to take an 18-mile canoe trip. The Delaware river is pretty gentle, and the trees were starting to turn gold and crimson and shed their leaves into the water. We saw a lot of geese and ducks, and fish jumping out of the water, and we talked some and listened some, because the water makes things very quiet. And we had a picnic, and a few scenic stops, and at one point I jumped out of the canoe to swim in the cold water. It was very relaxing and idyllic, though also somewhat hard work. By the end of the day my shoulders and back were sore, and my hands a little too, but it was very rewarding.

Afterwards we drove back, which was fun because we were driving past scenery at sundown we had seen at sunup the same day. We had time for a quick shower and then got changed and headed to Buddakan for dinner. The atmosphere inside is beautiful, and the centerpiece of the room is this giant golden buddha, maybe twenty feet tall. We shared everything (I love places that serve food family style), and split a wasabi tuna pizza, lobster egg rolls, crispy duck salad, grilled sea bass, and ponzu chicken. At this point we were too stuffed for dessert, and headed home, where we promptly went to bed because we had gotten up so early. We slept about ten hours last night, and then today was work as usual.

It was really fun. I have to admit that one reason we went canoeing was that I knew that convincing Ben to do it would be hard because of how early we got up, but if I decided for us, it wasn't open for discussion. Heh heh heh. The dinner was great, too, really superb; Philadelphia has this amazing upscale dining scene, but unfortunately we can't afford to go there except on the cheap and for special occasions. I would trade it for the gourmet ghetto in Berkeley, just because I could eat there more frequently, but it is really fun to go have these really inventive dishes at great restaurants. A good example is the wasabi tuna pizza, which was raw tuna, avocado, bitter sprouts, and wasabi on this crispy flatbread with sesame oil and soy dipping sauce. It was delicious, and very interesting. Eating out is a third about the taste, a third about analyzing the cooking, and a third about the experience, or so we were thinking. Though taste is the most important third.

When I see things that are beautiful, or fun, or interesting, I always want strongly to share them with Ben. So it was great to have this wonderful day with him.

path, originally uploaded by clevermynnie.

This weekend, Ben and I spent the first two days doing chores and various things, mostly around the house stuff because I want my house to look nice for my mom. We're expanding our basement storage, we made coq au vin with this wine that tastes much more awful than last year, and we cleaned up a lot. And watched the 60s movie Bedazzled, which was strange and funny. Then on Monday, we drove up to the Poconos, to the Thunder Swamp trail. It's a 50-mile trail system, which we hiked about five miles of, in a very green and pretty, gently-rolling-hills kind of area. It's the sort of hiking environment that Ben loves: lush, fertile, with no particular destination. We saw several tiny frogs, a very large black snake, and small fish in a stream that flowed backwards under a bridge, making it terrible for pooh-sticks. And we found ourselves someplace quiet, where if you stop you can only hear insects, birds, and the wind.

creek falls, originally uploaded by clevermynnie.

I went with Ben on my second foray to the Jersey shore today, this time to Ocean City. Ocean City is very near Atlantic City, but it is a 'dry' town, family oriented, supposedly the opposite of the sinfulness of Atlantic City. Ironically, they still had planes flying over the beach towing signs that advertised Miller Lite. And there was an amazing number of churches! The beach itself was pretty nice... not great though, mostly because it was amazingly crowded. There was also this really weird setup where every few hundred yards they had a rock jetty or a huge pipe blocking the beach, and then flags that you were supposed to swim between, so the beach was rigidly subdivided. And of course, you couldn't swim out very far, which is something I really dislike about the New Jersey beaches I've been to. I love swimming, you see.

After at least going in the water, eating sandwiches, and hanging around, we walked up and down the boardwalk some. This is the first real boardwalk I've been to (as opposed to a touristy pier), and it was sorta cool. I mentioned to Ben that it seemed to be mostly places to eat, and he said to keep in mind the body type of the people around us. He observed later that it was sort of like walking past the same five stores over and over: the kitsch souvenir store, the funnel cake store, the frozen custard store, the fudge and taffy store, and the grilled seafood store. The funnel cakes and frozen custard, though, were delicious.

Probably because it's a 'family destination', there were not so many people our age there. There were a lot of families with children, and a lot of older people. This was most strange when we were in the water. I liked it, but I liked the beach at Island Beach State Park better, and I'd love even more a beach where you can swim out further. I also would like to go to Cape May, on the southernmost tip of New Jersey, which supposedly has all these Victorian beach houses from the 1850s, and a historic lighthouse. And beaches, of course.

It's easy to sit around, thinking about all the places in the world that I want to go, many of which are at the other end of an expensive plane ticket. I love big, exciting trips, like going to London with Jeanine in May, but I can't really afford to do them with any regularity. And honestly, the next time I leave the U.S. I don't want it to cost that much. But one of the great things about moving here for graduate school is that I'm also surrounded by neat stuff I've never done and places I haven't been to, which are much more accessible. It was great going to Cape Cod last weekend with Steph, and then this weekend I went up to the Delaware Water Gap to go canoeing with Jen.

The Delaware Water Gap is about a two hour drive north of here, at a spot where the Delaware river cuts through the Appalachian mountains. There are two peaks on either side of the river (I'm using an east coast definition of 'peak' here) which you can hike to the top of, and a lot of trails because it's actually a smallish national park. Originally Jen and I wanted to go camping, but it's a sticky wicket because of her very young son, and eventually we decided a day trip was better.

I think we canoed about ten miles total, with a break for lunch and a break for swimming, over six hours. It was so very, very beautiful. I would have loved to take pictures, but I would not have loved for the canoe to tip with my camera inside (we didn't tip the canoe at all, btw) so I didn't bring it. The river is very wide, surprisingly deep away from the sides, and easy to navigate. So it was okay that we were beginners who kept zigzagging back and forth. There were a lot of canoes and kayaks out, but the water kept everything quiet, and if you stopped paddling you really just heard the water and the birds. We didn't see a lot of wildlife, other than a beaver dam and some tiny fish, though the rental guy said that the previous day several people had spotted bald eagles. The weather was beautiful too, sunny and warm but not hot. And I was worried about mosquitoes, but there weren't any. It was so lush, and tranquil, and relaxing.

I went to Island Beach State Park with Jen and her son today, got a little bit sunburned while reading Harry Potter on the beach, swam in the ocean, and saw something amazing. There were dolphins, at least ten of them, swimming up next to the little boats by the shore. They were friendly and kept surfacing, thwacking their tails into the water, jumping. I was in shock; I'd never seen dolphins in the ocean before, much less to close to me. It must have been unbelievable to be in one of those boats.

Once I got home, I did a lot of laundry and some cooking. I called my dad for father's day and was making bread, but trying to keep some of the lights off as it got dark because it was already so hot from the oven. And as I was in the kitchen changing the oven temperature, I looked outside and dimly saw a huge bug fly up to the window, and then--suddenly!--a flash of green! My mouth fell open and I peered out the window into the dusk in the backyard, and saw lots of them, fireflies, winking on and off. I laughed and watched and nearly cried, it was such a thing of beauty. Spec-tacular.

After having a really nice time with Joao and Gersende, I discovered that I am really behind on work! I have a stat mech problem set due tomorrow, a quantum problem set due Monday, quizzes to grade by Monday, and labs and pre-labs to grade by Monday. None of these are things I want to do! Ah well... at least I had a nice weekend. Joao showed Ben and I how to make bacalhau, which we bought at a Portuguese grocery store in New Jersey (apparently most Portuguese immigrants in the U.S. live in New Jersey). It used about a head of garlic and a cup of olive oil (all of which was later consumed) and was delicious.

I want to have some time to go on a hike with the Philadelphia Trail Club. And I'm finding out about sushi in Philly... further research will show whether this is a fruitful direction to explore or not.

It's getting cold here and I don't feel like going outside or doing work! It's unfortunate that I have lots. This entry is mostly explaining why I have little to write. ("Rewrote thermodynamic identity using term for tension! Making progress!")

Earlier this week, I was walking home from swimming at around 9 PM. It had been raining off and on all evening, and my clothes were still wet from a previous downpour I'd had to walk through (I didn't know it was going to rain, so I had no umbrella or anything). I was starting down our block when it started raining again, and I rushed towards our building fumbling for my keys, hoping to get inside before I got more wet. But when I was almost to our door, no keys in hand, it opened, and Ben poked his head out and pulls me inside. He hugged me and immediately gave me a blanket and some hot chocolate and snuggled me while I drank it. Ben has been saying how, this being his first winter outside southern California, he will focus on hibernating activities, like accumulating nesting and eating. I think this will work well for me.

Today, my only class was serendipitously cancelled, so we went to the Morris Arboretum. It's more like a 92-acre park than an arboretum, but with labeled trees and different areas landscaped differently (there's an English Garden, an Azalea Meadow, a Japanese Hill, a Swan Pond, etc.). It was brisk but incredibly clear, and we walked around looking at many beautiful things before lying down in the grass and napping in the sun.

Soon I will have a mostly-new computer, thanks to birthday gifts from my mom and Ben which upgrade my power supply, motherboard, CPU, graphics card, and case. I think this will mostly be good for World of Warcraft, though the power suply should help with overall stability.

And while I'm very excited about Joao and Gersende visiting next weekend, I'm also excited about Ben's and my imminent departure for New York City, where we'll stay with Ben's grandparents and hang out during the day with Steph and Scott!

To sum up, I can't remember a previous birthday when I've been so content with how my life is going. :)

Maybe you're wondering... what did we do? ( Read more... )

I'm joining a student-run club swim team here. The practice times are kind of weird, apparently because the university decides who can use the pool when. It seems nice--laid-back--and there are actually meets at times, which is something I miss. I also checked out the practice rooms here, for piano. I was surprised to find that the music department actually doesn't maintain any practice rooms. The easiest ones to use are run by the student union, and are hidden under Irvine Auditorium, which is like Zellerbach at Berkeley. There aren't very many, only about ten, but they're open the whole time the student union is open, which is 6 AM to 1 AM. Awesome.

Apparently the two most popular places to hike around here are Valley Forge and Wissahickon Park, or more generally Fairmount Park. We really need to get out and see those places one of these weekends. I also want to visit the Morris Arboretum sometime. And go to Independence National Historic Park, though it sounds like we'll save that for when Joao and Gersende visit.

Every day to get to campus I walk over the South Street bridge, from which one has a beautiful view of downtown Philadelphia. It's especially wonderful at night, on crisp nights like last night. I am anxiously awaiting fall and the colors changing. :)

Location update: I'm now in Los Angeles, helping Ben pack up. We're renting a truck and moving his stuff up to Douglas and Nancy's place in Ojai tomorrow, and on Tuesday we start our cross-country drive. I think we expect to be in Philadelphia on Saturday evening; we're spending an extra day in Bryce, and an evening with Jeanine and Andrew. I just spent a week in Indiana and Michigan, seeing West Lafayette where Jeanine and Andrew live and going up to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, on the northern part of Michigan's lower peninsula.

south manitou bay, originally uploaded by clevermynnie.

Sleeping Bear Dunes was really awesome. Jeanine and I took a one and a half hour ferry ride out to South Manitou Island and backpacked there for three days. We stayed at Popple Campground, wehich was about 3.5 miles from the ferry landing and was the furthest, most deserted campsite. It had some patches of poison ivy (which I can now identify but had never before seen), but not in our campsite and not on the path. Our campsite had a short trail, less than 100 yards, down to the beach. The water in Lake Michigan was cold and clear, and the bottom was these big smooth rocks. I swam in it a few times, at our campsite, near the lighthouse, and just off the mainland. The hiking was beautiful, green and full of colors and sounds. We saw wild orchids, wild lilies, wild roses, and verdant birch-maple forests. There were also a lot of animals: lots of toads, snakes, turtles, fish, a black squirrel, chipmunks, ducks, seagulls, and a huge majestic wild swan. We hiked all around until our feet hurt and our muscles were sore, and sang old Girl Scout songs. It was fantastic.

abandoned building, originally uploaded by clevermynnie.

South Manitou Island has one of the only natural harbors between Chicago and the Mackinaw Straits on Lake Michigan, so it was settled pretty early in the 19th century. A lighthouse and life-saving station were established near the harbor, which saved many lives. Nonetheless, the island is surrounded by shipwrecks, and there are actually many shipwrecks all over the Great Lakes. Originally, both South and North Manitou Islands had huge pine forests, which were quickly logged out for lumber and to power the ships travelling the Great Lakes. (North Manitou Island is bigger and less developed, but had less ferry service so we didn't go there this time.) When the lumber forests were cleared, inhabitants (max. population, 100) used the cleared land for agriculture, and apple and cherry orchards did especially well. But the services on the island started to decrease, and I think only around 20-30 people were living on the island when the Park Service bought it in the early 70s. At that point, most of the island was still cleared for agriculture. In the early 80s it was incorporated into Sleeping Bear Dunes, and for the last thirty years vegetation and birch-maple forests have been overtaking the island. There are still some relatively young pine forests on the south side of the island, though.

lake sunset, originally uploaded by clevermynnie.

We also had an especially good food trip. The easiest food to take backpacking is dried or reconsituted, things like Lipton noodle packets, dried fruit, nuts, crackers, etc. These are great until you've been eating them for a few days. Luckily, when you're backpacking all food tastes amazing. But we brought a lot of semi-perishable stuff... ravioli, Gruyere, hummus, and onions, tomatoes, and avocados for vegetarian fajitas. There was also a pretty funny moment after we had spent the return ferry trip daydreaming about food, and cheese in particular, and how much we wanted it. But the towns near Sleeping Bear Dunes are small and limited, so we figured our chances of getting good cheese were slim. The ferry docked, we put on our packs, and not 50 feet from the dock did we see an old wooden building with a big sign: 'CHEESE'. It was a gourmet cheese store right by the dock! We didn't have any cash on us, but we ran back to the car, grabbed some, and bought local raclette and chocolate-covered cherries. We had the raclette that night, melted on garlicky toasted bagels, and it was awesome.

birch-maple forest, originally uploaded by clevermynnie.

The day after we got back from backpacking, we rented a canoe and canoed the Lower Platte River. It was our first time in a canoe, but we didn't capsize and didn't really hit anything, though there was a close call with a fish weir and some miscommunication. We floated over lots of cool-looking fish, and since it was early-ish in the morning, the river was pretty much empty. It was extremely quiet and peaceful, and a lot of fun, and it's interesting being the steerer for the canoe. It made Jeanine and I both want to try a longer canoe trip, maybe on the Wabash or the Manistee, though it would have to be pretty easy because we're both still beginners.

in the lake, originally uploaded by clevermynnie.

It was also cool to see where Jeanine and Andrew are lviing now. I saw the Wabash Valley Historical Trust, where Jeanine is working, and some of the cool older buildings in Lafayette, like the courthouse. I also saw a lot of the Purdue campus, and the acoustics lab that Andrew works in, which is really cool. There's a horticultural park across the street from their apartment which has lots of trails through beautiful woods, though many of the plants have labels. It's just nice to see where your close friends are living and working, and what they do all day.

south manitou lighthouse, originally uploaded by clevermynnie.

Overall, the trip was great. It's so much fun to go backpacking, so nice to be out in nature, so good to see old friends. And so strange yet wonderful to come back at the end to Los Angeles, fly into LAX for the last time, and finally have a relationship without the long distance.

I moved out of my apartment and managed to say goodbye to everyone. Dasha and I drove down to LA on Monday evening, slept at Ben's in Westwood, and then drove up to Ojai Tuesday morning to drop all my boxes at Douglas and Nancy's for the move to Philadelphia later this month. We were going to go straight from there to the Grand Canyon, but since Dasha had never swum in the Pacific, we stopped at the beach and jumped in, unplanned, and rolled in the waves and the cold water. I'll need to find nice beaches near me at Penn.

I was unprepared for the Grand Canyon. I know what canyons are like, having lived near them for many years, and I know the Grand Canyon is big, from pictures and from having seen it from airplanes. But I was completely unprepared for its scale, its incredible structure, its amazing geology. There are exposed rocks there that are nearly as old as the earth itself. It was amazing.

grand canyon view, originally uploaded by clevermynnie.

Dasha and I did part of the South Kaibab trail, down to a ways past Cedar Ridge. I didn't expect to see so many warnings against going to the river and back in one day, but apparently around 250 people per year are airlifted out of the canyon because they try something they're incapable of doing. Plus, we got a late start on our day hike and didn't have enough water for that sort of thing, and I was concerned about my knee as well. It was amazingly beautiful. There are mules there, which you can hire to go down to the ranch by the river and spend the night. We saw a few large trains of mules coming up the trail, and said hello to the mule wranglers. It would be ten or so mules, loaded down with huge packs. We asked the first wrangler we saw what was in the packs, and he said, "Trash." I was initially disgusted, since obviously people had to carry in all of that trash and could easily have carried it out. But people without a backpacking background don't want to do that, and what I figure is that there are probably trash cans at the ranch and at all the stops along the way, so that people throw their trash away do it in the cans rather than off the edge of the trail. Then they pack out the trash from the cans with the mules.

friends, originally uploaded by clevermynnie.

When we were hiking back up, we stopped at Cedar Ridge again to rest, and noticed a thermometer... which read 113 Fahrenheit as the temperature. We didn't believe it at first, because it only felt like 90 or so, but then we realized that you adjust to gradual increases in temperature, and that we'd been outside for several hours. When we rested in the shade, we realized it probably was that hot. It's the hottest weather I've ever been outside in, and it really made me realize how dangerous the desert can be: you don't feel that dehydrated, you dpon't realize how dry it is, you don't feel like it's that hot, and you start to feel a little headache-y and tired... and you fall asleep, and never wake up. Gah. Ben's older brother Hollis has a point in that it's nice not to live somewhere where if you go outside for an hour, you might die. But the trip was still beautiful, and we made it back to New Mexico the same night. Now I'm in town until next Friday, hoping for more nice outdoorsy trips around town.

view, originally uploaded by clevermynnie.

Having a student is BIZARRE. I supervise him, I answer his questions, I try to get my work done in the off time. I suddenly find myself much more productive when he isn't around. He's a smart cookie, though, and doing a good job. I think he's good as one-month-term students go, and it looks like he'll actually get something done. But I just found out at the end of his term I'll have to fill out an evaluation that gets sent to his high school... that's right! I'm EVALUATING someone! God this is weird.

Pinnacles last weekend with some BFC folk and others from a Bay Area hiking group. It was a lot of fun; we did about a 15 mile hike through some caves and up to the top of the rocky outcroppings there. I drank about 4 liters of water. Mmmmmm.

My officemate Sherri has an irregular heartbeat, and Joao has kidney stones. For the love of god, people, stop getting sick!

The anonymous confessions thread on the ucb lj is fun to read through. Disturbing in places, though.

Wolf Creek was fabulous. The snow was less than they usually have this time of year, since they do in fact have the most snow in Colorado, but it was still very nice.

We drove up Thursday morning and skied a half-day while it was snowing. It was bitterly cold and fairly crowded, because apparently the entire state of Texas was there. We waited in one lift line for half an hour, and although the snow was great, the people were obnoxious. They had no conception of polite line behavior. Grrr.

But thankfully, after a giant Mexican dinner and sleeping in a hotel that was surprisingly nice for its number of stars, we took a chance and headed over to the Alberta lift, on the backside of the mountain. It was mostly blacks and a two blues, so no tourists had gone back there and lines were negligible. We were thrilled, and skied some very nice powder. It was awesome to go with Steph partly because she's really cool and I like seeing her, but also because she loves moguls and I feel so-so about them. So because I was there with her, I did a lot more bump runs than I would have, and regained some of my skill with them. And Wolf Creek is another mountain like Mammoth, where the runs are classed way easier than on Pajarito. Then again, Pajarito is also a locals hill, and most others also function as a resort.

So we had a great time, it was beautiful, and I'm very glad I went. I hope I go somewhere for grad school where I can do some regular skiing.

So, last weekend on Saturday, Ben and I went to Point Reyes. It was the first time, hopefully of many, that I'd been there, and it was just gorgeous. I really love the ocean, though I think I need the mountains more, and I loved the cool air.

( photos )

Daria and Ben and I also saw Ron perform shakuhachi with Tatsumaki Taiko on Sunday, at the Oakland Chinatown street festival. Daria shared some nice pictures from that with me; the show was really fun.

( more photos! )

Nambe lake, originally uploaded by clevermynnie.

So, I have some photos from New Mexico that I wanted to show you guys. ( Read more... )

So, Friday night after work, Ben and I drove out to Mammoth. We got in around 3 in the morning and went in the backdoor of Douglas and Nancy's house, which they are no longer living in but have not sold. We got up at 9 to drive up to Bridgeport, about an hour away, to see Mika and Tosha, who are working at the Hunewill Ranch for the summer. They're both doing great; Tosh has fallen head over heels for this guy Connor that she met there, which is fantastic, and the twins are going to Australia in November and December, which sounds fun. We went swimming in one of the Twin Lakes during a building thunderstorm, which was beautiful, fun, and freezing cold. After we saw them, Ben and I had dinner and watched the Blues Brothers, and his family arrived around ten at night.

On Sunday, we all hung out, and Ben and I went on a short hike near Mammoth Rock. I played with Sarah, Ben's little sister, a lot, which was really fun. Ben's dad made some comment about how he was glad I was practicing my parenting skills for his grandchildren, and I said I was just getting my parenting out now, so that later I could buy a cat. :P Don't worry, I said, you can still spoil the cat with presents and take it out for ice cream.

Monday was going to be a hike day, but it rained, so it was a snuggle on the couch and read day, and also a making food day. It was the first time I'd made risotto, and at high altitude it takes much longer than you want, but it was very tasty in the end. After dinner we drove back to Berkeley, and when I say we I mean Ben, because I was wiped from four hours of sleep. Ben was very nice to me. We got back around 12:15, and I spent until 1 packing for the trip back here. We got up at 6 and drove to the airport, and I got back to Los Alamos around 4 Tuesday.

Being back in Los Alamos is starting to feel less awkward and conflicted and is this my home anymore, and more just like visiting a cool place with people I love. So I hung out with my dad a lot yesterday, saw Steph, Scott, and Sam. Then today my dad and I did the waterfall hike at Bandelier, and I swam in the Rio Grande and bought Joao a birthday present. I had a wonderful time talking to Sam at Starbucks for a long while, and then he and I and Steph and Scott went to China Palace and had toffee Klondike bars at Ashley Pond. (What would you do for a Klondike bar? Would you... kill a man?)

I'm leaving for the east coast tomorrow, and then I'll be here a little bit more. I want desperately to know my quantum grade, but it is unposted.

So, I didn't quite mention that I went to Angel Island last weekend with Ron. We hiked around the 5-mile perimeter trail, and I learned about the old immigration station, army post, and Nike missiles. It was really pretty and a lot of fun, and of course the view is great.

This weekend, I headed down to Los Angeles for the last time for a few months, to see Ben before he moves up here for the summer. I got in late Friday, and on Saturday we had a leisurely breakfast at the Corner Bakery Cafe (I love their D.C. chicken salad more than words can say), rented Lawrence of Arabia, and started working on various things for the dinner party that night. I think the menu was, avocado and blood orange salad with Asian dressing, cochinita pibil with cocoa pasta, mango and pico de gallo bruschetta, and cardamom panna cotta for dessert. The panna cotta was great; I should make it more often. I also really enjoyed watching Lawrence of Arabia, throughout the day. It's long but great, the sort of movie Hollywood rarely makes nowadays.

As an aside: I guess my french oral comprehension class worked. I watched Breathless (A bout de souffle) on Thursday, without subtitles, and followed along rather well. That's a first for me. And then today at the SNAP collaboration meeting, I could follow some people's French conversation very easily. There are degrees of difficulty, of course, but that was encouraging.

Anyways, on Sunday we went to the beach and barbeque hosted by Ben's master's program advisor, who had one Ph.D. student and one Master's student graduating. That was a lot of fun; we played beach volleyball, went boogieboarding, and ate a huge amount of really good food. I also tried Ouzo, which is surprisingly similar to absinthe.

Slept very little and then got up at 4:15 this morning to catch the 6:00 flight out of LAX. I landed at 7:15, got off the BART in Berkeley around 8:20, ran home to grab my badge and caught the 8:35 shuttle to LBL, and was at the opening talks of the SNAP collaboration meeting ten minutes early, at 8:50. Phew. One of the first talks used my data, and I didn't want to miss it. When he finished presenting my data, Bill's high-voltage data, and Jens' quantum efficiency stuff, someone actually called for a round of applause for how much achievement that is. I'm in a really exciting place right now, career-wise. The talks today were okay; some were really great, mostly instrmuentation ones, and some were really awful. I'll leave it at that.

Now I'm at home, and my plan for the evening is to sleep a lot and not exert myself. My back is hurting a fair amount; I had kind of a wipeout on the boogieboard. I was on this really big wave (all the waves seemed bigger than usual, I thought), and it broke under me and sort of flipped me over, running the board into the sand and my chin into the board, and my legs got swept towards the beach over me but since my head wasn't going anywhere, it sort of crunched and now my back feels very bruised. Bleah. It does make me rethink wanting to learn to surf, a little.