pleonasm:now

SDSU: Surfer Dude State University?

This could only happen in California. San Diego State University now allows students to take elective classes at the Mission Bay Aquatic Center, and apply the course credit to their undergraduate programs. Beside surfing, students can also take classes in waterskiing, sailing, kayaking, and other watersports. That's totally tubular, dude!

I'd love to eat at this restaurant in Chelsea, London. [From the excellent Swish Cottage blog.]

21 december 2002

A little excitement

I'd just got home from a hard day at the office, around eleven last night (yes, really), and sat down with a cheese sandwich and a plate of salad, when my televisual viewing was interrupted by the sound of sirens and helicopters. (This happens a lot in San Diego; the police often chase fleeing robbers/drunk drivers/hit-and-runners by both road and air, shining bright lights down on the cars or running people.) “Gracious!”, I muttered to myself, turning up the volume so that I wouldn't miss a single word of my stories.

Just kidding. I would never watch El Juego de la Vida. It was El Privilegio de Amar.

Anyway, as I was saying, the noise outside was getting louder and louder, so I looked out of the window, only to see the helicopter's searchlight shining right in front of the house. A car screeched to halt, and a deranged man leapt out, throwing himself at a police officer who had pulled up behind him and was advancing, gun drawn. Within seconds, the policeman had the man on the ground, handcuffed, and police cars kept arriving until there were at least twenty police officers there. The helicopter kept circling, sirens wailed, police car lights flashed, people were shouting ... it was chaos. I loved it! It was like being in an episode of Cops.

The police told us later that the perp (a bit of cop slang for you there - I'm just so “street”!), upset over a breakup, had gone on a speeding jaunt, hit something (the front of his car was completely smashed), fled the scene, and gone a bit bonkers. When he was thrown to the ground by the police, he was injured, and had to be taken away on a stretcher. Hurrah!

Oddly enough, something vaguely similar happened in exactly the same spot just a couple of months ago. I was awoken in the middle of the night by a loud screech of brakes and two bangs, and ran outside to see a drunk driver sitting dazed in his car, having totalled two cars parked in front of the house. That stretch of asphalt must be cursed; perhaps it lies on the site of a Native American cemetery or something ...

Keeping abreast

While I'm on the subject of trashy behaviour, something bizarre happened to me the other day, about ten blocks north of my house. I was walking home from work, as I sometimes do (it's only six miles), when a car with two women in it pulled up next to me. “Oh,” I thought, “they must be lost, and need directions.” I leaned toward the car to see how I could help.

“Do you want some?“ said the one nearest me. Stupidly, I said, “Some what?” The answer was soon revealed. “These,” she said, opening her shirt to reveal what can only be likened to two pink balloons filled with wet oatmeal. Speechless, I looked at the driver, who proceeded to unveil her plentiful bust in the same manner.

“Er, no thanks,” I stammered. “I think you've got the wrong person.”

“Oh, OK,” said the one nearest me, smiling, as if what she had done was nothing out of the ordinary. “Bye!”, she shouted out of the window, as the car sped away.

There may be a lot of trashy people in San Diego, but at least they're polite.

20 december 2002

Erm...

Yes, I'm still alive, still around. It's always totally lame when people post reasons why they haven't been writing, like weekly columnists who publish articles about writer's block. (Hmmm, never read that one before...) Suffice it to say that it really has been impossible, and it's my website, so there!

If I haven't just totally alienated you forever, tune back in about four days from now, and I should be up to speed.

16 december 2002

Surf naked

While browsing the stacks at Amazon the other day, I noticed the following recommendations halfway down the screen:

I love the implications: that not all of Amazon's customers wear clothes; that those customers who don't wear clothes don't shop for clean underwear (I guess that one makes sense, as nudists don't need underwear); and, best of all, that the Gap sells “clean underwear,” as opposed to the piles of soiled and filthy underwear also available for purchase.

The strangest thing of all is that I was looking at DVDs, not clothes. There's a spanner in the works at Amazon's database, methinks.

2 december 2002

I don't like reggae

So sang 10CC in their 1978 hit Dreadlock Holiday, which was also recorded by - gasp! - Boney M. But as I was saying, I've never been a great fan of reggae ... except for one song, another 1978 classic: Uptown Top Ranking by Jamaican one-hit wonders Althea and Donna. It's a great song. Amazingly, it reached number 1 on the UK's singles chart; I remember it clearly, even though I was only six at the time.

And now - hurrah! - their album, also titled Uptown Top Ranking, has been rereleased! Hey, Christmas is coming up, you know ... Anyway, if you're wondering what the hell the single's lyrics are about, here's an explanation from Althea Forrest and Donna Reid themselves, from a 1978 BBC radio interview (1'00", RealAudio). Excellent stuff.

That one on the right was a bit of a minger, though, wasn't she?

1 december 2002