The Day Summer Should Always Feel Like

The storm blew south after Tuesday's downpour, leaving Wednesday night clear for the bonfire. Slow start with the regular faces. Played old Columbo episodes in remembrance of Peter Falk. Evening built momentum as the sun went down. Plenty of beer and wine and weed. Jenny riding a good momentum boost from an afternoon spent bumping elbows with the reporting world. I remember Juj and Murphy, Kelly, Brendan, Daniel, three of Daniel's friends, Nick and Ashley, Nick and Jenn, Drew, Arielle, Joshua, Tessa and her roommate (Marissa?), Ely and another girl, and Iven, a guy named Mike with a dog named Borris and maybe two other people. Another good turn-out where I was well intoxicated before the last guest arrived. Found out Daniel and Annie broke up. Found out about Monday evening bike-wine-and-cheese tours. Found out about Graham's Number. Found out about Nick's interview at the Capitol. Found out about Iven's brother leaving for Guatemala. Found out Arielle is moving up to Mt. Shasta for a while, which was big news to Jenny, who, from this wake-up call, is realizing that saying goodbye to her friends is inevitable as Korea approaches. It was neat that Ely was able to come by and he talked about his current video projects and, like everyone else our age, isn't exactly where he expected to be. Jenny crashed early and I called the bonfire over about an hour later, around one, and joined her for bed. I couldn't help but think of how I felt when Sean moved to San Diego and I knew it was hard to digest, watching friends go, but I found it hard to know how to respond as the same thing happened to Jenny. The best advice I have is: life goes on, the memories remain (if you write them down, in my case). 

The next day we breakfasted at Old Soul and then biked to her place to lull about before Jenny went to work and I rode back home. She got her car fixed and silenced the previously boisterous engine that had worn down its mounts. Her newest article was published. Great weather outside, hardly a hint of the storm from Tuesday. I met Erin for lunch at Hot Italian before she left town to visit a friend in Windsor. Nice talk with Erin about the choices we make without thinking them through and how over time we realize how right our instincts were--mainly, my application to the Peace Corps. We parted ways and I hurried home to meet Paul after his eye-appointment and we talked about blogging feedback and maintaining passion for hobbies and we watched part of a Bill Nye episode and I showed him the train level from Uncharted 2, then Paul left a few minutes before Nick and Ashley arrived to pick me up to go see Transformers 3. Shaun met us there. The movie wasn't horrible if you went into it expecting lots of crash-bang-boom with a side-order of short-skirt shots and impossibly resilient make-up. We all rambled for a while about this flawed, beautiful film and then drove back to Sacramento in the purple-orange of dusk when everyone was out enjoying the weather and being with friends, eating on outside patios, driving with the windows down, and the vibe from Sacramento was smooth and cool, just like it always oughta be. Later I rode out to Jenny's once she was off work to cap off what was a really mellow, friend-filled day, a day that reminds me that life is pretty great. 

- Left to Fry