SUNSHINE = SUNBURNT

so, we went to santa monica this morning/afternoon, which was nice. however, it was very windy, which deluded me into thinking that the sun was not that powerful, and i ended up with a very bad sunburn on only the back side of my body. i kind of fell asleep in the sun for 10-15 minutes. it was chilly, but i have no excuse for not wearing sunscreen.

something that's helpful in this case -- we do not have hot water. at least, not till wednesday. our gas line is not working, so that means no stove/oven/hot water. at least now we have power.

we didn't have power for a few days, p.s. we forgot to switch the bill over to our names, and make a new account, so we had two nights with candles and my almost-dead flashlight. still. at least we didn't realize we had fleas, since we couldn't see them in the dark.

california is bizarre -- palm trees became normal very quickly, as did the warm weather since it's only the begnning of september. however, the whole city's strip mall atmosphere is bizarre. most of the shops and restaurants look kind of rundown, and they all try to out-advertise each other. if that means shaping your restaurant to look like a giant wooden barrel, or having a huge blow-up gorilla in a swimsuit above your car dealership, so be it.

i've taken a few photos, but i can't upload them immediately. i'll do it shortly, as well as update this with more information about our place/la in general.