Smoke and Sunlight

Smelling like smoke and beer, I sit here at my computer feeling satisfied. It has been a good week.

The sunlight still shines through the beer glasses as the old men sit at outside tables conversing. A blurry Lisbon shines back at you from the tiles as you walk and as you look up past the buildings, also tiled, to the sky, the green of the palm tress stands out against the blue. I never really noticed, until this trip, how much Like San Fransciso Lisboa is. Also,how is it that a people can have such old world, European style and still be as nice and unspoiled as a South American? That's what I love about the Portuguese.

As always, the shopping in Januray is fabulous. I hit up Zara for two days straight and came back with several in-expensive treasures.

That was on Tuesday and Wednesday. I flew back on Thursday and don't remember very much except that I probably said and did things that I would be embarrassed of if I remembered them. When I have been awake for 24 hours, I sometimes behave strangely. This was the first trip I have worked in a month and a half and I forgot about this phenomenom my friends tenderely have termed, "Stoner S."

And moving right along, tonight was Friday the 13th. The day dawned cool and foggy and continued with the same into the evening. I caught a glimpse of a blossoming tree on 13th and South and felt sad for the poor confused tree. The unusually "warm" weather has convinced it that it's spring in the middle of January. I told this to the Dutchman named Eric tonight at Brasil's and he told me of the eclipse of the sun in Europe in 2000. Apparently it lasted for only 15 minutes but confused "the hell" out of the chickens and the rabbits and other animals because they all settled down to go to sleep and were shocked out of their short slumber by the sun again. This is what made talking to Eric so interesting. He got "IT". Not everyone gets it. He got IT. We talked about Africa and Philadelphia and Utah and China and the Netherlands and various other things. He told me I look like Lisa Marie Presley which is strange but respectable.

Earlier, I was with Katie and friends and we were drivng to North Philly via Broad to go to a Colombian restaurant. The fog was so thick that we kept having to roll down our windows to vent out the car so we could see. Everything looked strange and spooky and made it that much more fun. I kept thinking that the unusual weather in Philly was also a lot like San Francisco. I don't know how I ended up at Brasil's afterwards since my back and leg were bothering me (from an old back injury) but there I was at a Latin dance club talking to Eric and Diego and watching Katie dance her secretly latin heart out. On the way back from the club, Katie and I laughed as we talked about all of the crazy things we have done together. It actually wasn't in Philly that we became friends, although that is where we met. We first became friends when she moved to Arizona. I stayed with her a day or two when I was dating a guy out there. Later, our friendship was cemented when we visited Buenos Aires. We went to rock concerts, dances, historical sights, natural wonders, great restaurants, street vendors, small sports shops and expensive boutiques. She was up for anything and everything and I loved it.

So here I sit at my computer with smoke in my hair remembering the foggy night and the beautiful week. I am half in love with Eric and half in love with a professional basketball player I have never met. But most of all, I guess, I am in love with life right now and all of the many interesting and amazing people that are participating in this life with me. The weekend is still young with the hours of Saturday and Sunday yet to be filled. Hope is in my heart.