thanks but no tanks

We saw the perfect sign outside a restaurant in Aptos this evening; the sign requested proper attire by saying "thanks but no tanks", which is only funny to the people I was with and not really to anyone else, given that Adit tends to say "tanks" in a very obnoxious way when he is attempting to thank someone.

Anyway, today was great; I made it to work by 8:30, slogged until 2pm (an hour after they said we could go home for the long weekend, but given that I had a meeting from 1-2pm with the big boss, my director, my manager, and a bunch of other people, I could hardly skip it), then celebrated Joy's birthday briefly before heading out into the sunny afternoon. I made the drive down to Santa Cruz in decent time, given the weekend and the Bay Bridge closure, and found the rental house with no problem whatsoever. Since I was the first to arrive, I explored a bit and stocked us up on snacky snacks and mixers at the store down the street.

This area is quite lovely, and it makes me want to rent out a house down here for a week when I want to get some serious writing/relaxing done. However, I need to remind myself that it's not quite as much fun without friends. I was having a good time by myself -- but when Zach (aka Pincubus) showed up, things got markedly better. "Markedly" is appropriate, actually; my slightly intoxicated brain still does well making random connections, since what happened was that Zach and I sat around the kitchen table drinking Maker's Mark and catching up with each other for an hour or so, which was totally lovely and long overdue. Then, Katrina arrived, and we all gorged ourselves on chips, salsa, and guac while waiting for Adit (some people call him 'the cat') to finally stop getting himself lost and make it to the house.

When he arrived, we walked down the street to a Mexican restaurant that may have been slightly overpriced, but was quite delicious. My $10 shrimp tostada was absolutely covered in shrimp, and the pitcher of margaritas was good. Then we came back here and played a couple of ridiculous games of Uno using Adit's special house rules.

I would tell you more, but I'm getting dragged to the beach -- goodnight!!