Goin' to California With An Achin' In My Heart -- Part Two

We were staying at the beautiful Marriot Hotel & Marina.




Be jealous, be very very jealous. Oh, heck, here's another shot.




This is my favorite kind of hotel. The kind I can't afford myself, but that I get to stay at because someone else is paying the vast majority of the bill. The fact that there were four of us in the room didn't hurt, either. Oh, here's the view from my balcony at sunset.




I'm a PHOTOGRAPHER...sue me.








The marina was right out the back door, and chocked full of lovely boats that one could not get close to. To the north was a lovely boardwalk (although, it was cement) lined with touristy shops and restaurants...wonderful for whiling away the free time. I had dinner at a restaurant near the end, whose name escapes me, and of which I have not photos, but it had an outdoor seating area on the front. At any rate, it was wonderful both food wise and wait-staff wise.

I could have spent a week just lazing by the pool (although I had no swimsuit). I had forgotten the simple pleasure of just lying in the sun, soaking up warmth and light.

The convention itself was hectic, and by far the most educational thing I saw was the People's Choice gallery. I saw many photos that made me go hmmmm, some that made me go "What were they thinking?" and some that gave me that "A-ha!" moment of "Oooooh, THAT's why I didn't win!" Some of the images were truly breath taking, and made me proud of my company, and made me eager to learn more. Mission accomplished for the Convention.

The classes (or "Breakouts") ranged from fun, to informative to downright useless. I won a DVD set at the Photographers meeting simply by saying "Yes.", to a question the presenter (Tony Corbell) had asked and the rest of the audience merely nodded to. Suh-weet!

The Convention ended with a banquet where we picked up our Seven awards that we knew about, three more People's Choice that we didn't know about, a great, GREAT high.

Next up...Tijuana Blues.

April Fools Day

I'm seriously beginning to hate this particular day. April 1st, that is. Usually referred to as April Fools Day. My crummy history with this day started in high school, with an ill conceived prank played on my parents. I claimed...loudly...that the floor based heater in my room was on fire. What made me think my parents would have a sense of humor about it, I really don't know. It got me slightly grounded for sure.

The next incident was during my marriage, when for some unknown reason my ex decided to drink heavily and barbecue while his parents were visiting. I spent the afternoon running interference and being generally pissed off.

After that I decided to largely ignore this day, and it worked. Yesterday, it came back with a vengeance. I was in the kitchen fixing myself some lunch when I heard a motorcycle engine revving. Then I hear WHACK! and the sounds of many things skidding across the pavement. My roommate had just left the house, and I went hurrying to the front door. There sat the roomie, safely in the driveway, and looking annoyed at something to my right. I looked to the right, and saw the kid laying in the street.

Shit.

I bolted out the front door and yelled for Katie to call 911. The kid was just starting to move when I reached him. I got down on my knees amidst the broken glass and told him to stay still. He said his ankle was hurt. I asked him if he was having trouble breathing and he said 'no'. I asked him his name, "Mike" was his answer (same as the ex, go figure).

I held his hand and kept him talking until the ambulance showed, which was probably less than four minutes (I'm about three blocks from the fire station). When I moved out of the way, I noticed that the seat of the kid's jeans AND underwear had been completely torn away. Talk about adding insult to injury.

Then I discovered the small cut on the palm of my hand.

But the day wasn't over yet.

I went out with a friend to see Inside Man (very, very good flick, btw). This is at the mall just down the hill. When I arrived the front area was jam-packed with people, most of whom were waiting to see ATL. My friend and I got in with no problem, while the vast majority of folks waiting to see ATL were turned away. Two screens had sold out.

During the movie, a policeman comes in to our theater with a young boy. The kid's parents were sitting behind me and I heard the kid say something about a "big fight". Apparently, an all-out brawl had broken out in the lobby of the theater. When we left, roughly 45 minutes later, we walked outside to a parking lot crawling with people, police, a news crew and helicopters (notice the plural) circling over head. Some folks that were coming out behind us were saying that the police were "locking the place down".

I got home safely, and discovered that the piece of glass that had cut me was STILL IN MY HAND!

So a word of caution, TRUST ME ON THIS: April Fools Day is not just a day for harmless practical jokes, it's a day for idiots to get out and do their worst. Next year, I'm staying home.