Last night I went Neighborhood Camping with my roommate and friends.

My roommate grew up in El Sobrante, which is sort of a fringe suburb in the East Bay (and for those of you who don't speak Spanish, El Sobrante means 'the leftovers'.) His parents, being the super-nice people that they are, naturally found all the other super-nice people in their neighborhood right quick, and they have formed this amazing non-relational clan of people who are tighter than cousins. The kids of the neighborhood all grew up together, and so C (my roommate)'s best friend is A, who grew up across the street. As C's friend and first roommate away from El Sob, I have automatically been annexed as part of the neighborhood, and so enjoy the benefits of being part of his family, friends and all.

So once a year, they go Neighborhood Camping. All the aforementioned super-nice people and their close friends rent a huge camping spot on the Russian River for a weekend to play around and re-bond. I had to miss it for the past couple years, but I was able to make it last night.

Needless to say, perhaps, but I had a wonderful time. A day out in the sun and water has not been this fun and interesting and simple in a long time. We were just enjoying ourselves. It was great. People were at their best, it's hard to describe, but their best. The world was at its most welcoming. I got lightly toasted as I thoroughly enjoyed my body and personality, and everybody else's. I dare say... I DARE say, that was The Most Perfect Vacation.

As a side note, the timing was interesting. Perhaps you've all heard the buzz about Mars being as close to Earth as it's been in 60,000 years. Technically, the peak of its proximity is midnight-ish on the 27th, BUT--last night was a New Moon, and I dare say, I DARE say that last night was The BRIGHTEST Mars Has Been In Sixty-Thousand Years. On top of that, us young'uns spent a good portion of the late nite on the beach of the river, under an unobscured sky--zero cloud cover, nearly zero light pollution, and a wide vista--and the stars couldn't have been stronger or more present. Such a Very Good present, Thank You.

Oh, and if any of you are interested in the NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) stuff I wrote about in the previous entry, the book I have is a good one. Introducing NLP, by Joseph O'Connor & John Seymour. Other than that, I can only say Google it. It's out there.

11:30 p.m. 2003-08-24�