We trekked around the Torrey Pines State Reserve yesterday. Photo-tastic!
-View slideshow here-

Was stupid fun yesterday!

Back in college, I wrote an essay for my Philosophy in Literature class about a muddy metaphor Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. makes in his novel, Cat’s Cradle.** I just now finished editing the footage from this weekend’s Muddy Buddy (video below), and, watching everyone again - reliving the tingly joy of being exhausted and filthy - it reminded me of a certain reverence for nature depicted through Bokononism,* the ‘made up’ religion mentioned throughout the book.

I won’t get too far into it, but especially with everything that’s going on these days in the world, and in this country, there is a strange comfort in knowing that a drove of wild hooligans need no better reason to get together and act like a bunch of animals than just that. If anything, it says something about the demand for a feeling of community and release that is created by such an isolated society.

Anyhow, doing this race was really something.

• Read eliza’s entry about it.
• Check out the narrated photos: [set menu] [slideshow]
• Play the video below. Or view it [here] at blip.tv. Highlights include a man finishing ahead of his partner despite his prosthetic leg falling off. (His partner carried it for him.):

*From ‘Books of Bokonon’:

“God leaned close as mud as man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. ‘What is the purpose of all this?’ he asked politely.

‘Everything must have a purpose?’ asked God.

‘Certainly,’ said man.

‘Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this,’ said God.”

**From Wikipedia:

“The book was adapted into script form by Richard Kelly, the writer and director of Donnie Darko [one of my favorite movies]. A film adaptation of ‘Cat’s Cradle’ was expected to be made in 2007 but now it appears unlikely to be produced.”

WTF!

I was just updating my Flickr account today, adding some captions and things, when I discovered this little stat.

Apparently over 1,000 strangers — by way of their own scouring of the internet, mind you, not even a ‘peeing’ photo tag to assist their search — have enjoyed my candid snap of eliza’s quick pitstop in Virginia.

I’m not sure which emotion appropriately describes how I feel about this.

…Elation?

Close enough.

eliza and I went pumpkin picking this week. Autumn in San Diego is more of a season than we expected — trees do shed and leaves get pretty here — but the outing proved to be a much stronger and welcome dose of the east-coast Fall we know and love. After playing around like kids for a while at Bates Nut Farm, we hiked the nearby… Hellhole Canyon. Which, while its title couldn’t be much more badass, is less steep and treacherous than it is spookily beautiful.

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