Day 25 (Sun., Sept. 25)

The beach was fun yesterday. So, since I had my second consecutive day off, I decided to enjoy it again today. First, however, I stopped by St. Anthony's for noon mass. Wow! I have been going to Sunday mass on consecutive weeks for a while now. I might end up going to heaven, after all. Woohoo!!!

Noon mass was good. I usually go in the evening, but today was so pretty out that I just wanted to be out in the world for as much as possible. So leaving out of the house early allowed for many cool things to happen.

Again I ran three miles on the beach. I laid out and read more of my Gabo book. I relaxed and got back onto my clean-looking truck four hours later. It was fun hanging out at the beach. I saw a co-worker there so it was cool to see a familiar face.

Being at the beach was fun, but I realized that I have been all about work lately that I haven't made some away-from-the-office friends. It's time to do so. I need to be able to have people to hang out w/ on the down time. One cool thing about this past week is that all the Sun-Sentinel's fall interns are now here. So, I hope we can get into a few group activities soon. I need friends. Being alone at the beach is pleasant. It gives you time to think. But I think a lot about my family, my friends, my doggy and my girlie. So, it makes it hard. I miss them all.

After the beach I headed home and washed up. Then I headed out to do some grocery shopping. That's when I was reminded that I am in a big city. As I unloaded my shopping basket onto the counter, I told the cashier "hey there, how are you doing?"

SILENCE....

That's all that came out of her mouth. She did not reply anything back. I was dumfounded and very offended. So, the only thing that my mouth could say a few seconds later was "not good, I take it."

SILENCE...

I was still dumbfounded as she did not acknowledge that I was trying to be nice and then rude to her. Wow! Then I figured she is so immune to connecting w/ customers since she probably sees a whole lot of them in a normal day. I figured she stayed quiet because she was shocked at the fact that someone was nice to her. I have no idea.

I miss San Angelo, Texas. There, everyone says hi. They are never too busy to wave hi. They are always nice when you shop at their stores. Everyone there is nice. George and Betty Taylor, my San Angelo adoptive parents, are the epitome of the good old West Texas friendship. They invited me into their home as I went there to take photos of them as they celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. After hanging out w/ them on consecutive days, their nice behavior swept me off my feet. After the business relationship was done w/ and their photos had appear in the newspaper, we got together on a weekly basis for dinner. I do miss hanging out w/ them. I especially miss our trips to get ice cream.

Being from Mexico City and Los Angeles, I should be used to people being rude. Yes, I am. But I got to fall in love w/ San Angelo and their cool ways. I miss driving on the roads and waving at everyone. No one waves over here. Well, they sometimes wave their middle finger, but that's because someone just cut them off. At least they wave something, right?

After the shopping experience, I figured I was better off as a loner. So, when I got home I sat on the porch overlooking the small lake behind the house. I saw the sun set as I was able to read up to the final pages of Memorias de Mis Putas Tristes. That's right!!! I finally finished my book. A book that I bought on Monday, Nov. 14 last year, but that I have been reading from time to time. This weekend was reading time. I finished the book and was so excited to do so. It's the second book that I read from cover to cover in the past two months. That says a lot. I have read a few books cover to cover lately, but those are all text books for class. This book was all about fun and I finally had enough fun reading it. I hope I make this a habit. I really want to continue reading. It fulfills me.

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