Vacation for me started on Friday night when I hung out with my cousins and friend at their hotel, eating Diddy Riese cookies. Saturday--went out for breakfast, played tennis, went to Chick's tent sale, out for dinner, bowling, then tea. Sunday--church, bookclub, and 9 holes of golf. The book selection was Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. As usual, the food was amazing. At least five different cheeses, crudités, paté (goose liver never tasted so good), eggplant dip, prosciutto, buffalo wings, sausages, fruit salad, iced tea with fresh raspberries, plum brandy, and coffee and ice cream for dessert. Even though no one finished the book, we had a good time discussing our favorite characters and parts of the book as far as we read :).
On Monday, I went shopping and then to the King Tut exhibit at the LA County Museum of Arts. As my friends suggested, I picked a day when I thought there would be fewer crowds. It worked out well. I went through the exhibit in about and hour and a half, having seen and read everything, but they did put up additional copies of text to speed up the movement of the crowd. I'm not much into artifacts, but I've always been drawn to the Egyptian ones. What I found fascinating was the forensics involved in determining the cause of King Tut's death. It is still unknown. When archaeologist first X-rayed his body, they found a crack in the back of his skull and thought it was due to a blow to the head from a battle wound or murder. More recent studies involving CT scans revealed that the clot in the base of his skull was actually resin from the embalming process. There were multiple fractures in his body, possibly from mishandling by the archaeologists. One notible fracture was that found above his left knee which occured a few days before his death. It may have gotten infected and taken over his body. Other interesting facts: King Tut was 19 when he passed, 5' 6" and still growing, and had no cavities.
I met up with a friend for dinner at the Farmers' Market. I had jambalaya with mustard potato salad and a cornbread muffin. We played tennis afterward at the Sunset Recreation Center courts at UCLA. We walked through the plaza between the new residence halls. It sure beats the "rape trail" late at night. It was nice to see the finished product of all the construction that took place across the street from my apartment while I was in school. We treated ourselves to taro slushies after tennis.
On Tuesday, I took my car in to get a new timing belt, water pump, and sealant. It was pricey, but it had to be done. I went shopping before going to play volleyball. My church volleyball league just started, and it meets once a week for ten weeks. Since I'm on vacation, I was able to make it for the full three hour session. I made real progress on my goal of learning to serve overhand. Once I go back to work, I'll only be able to make the second half of the sessions. That's okay with me, since it's structured as an open gym, with people rotating into teams of players of all levels. I hope I'll get fewer and/or smaller bruises on my forearms. Tennis and volleyball in that short of a period left me hobbling. My quads (front thighs) were so sore at the end of the session that I was not able to make it up the bleachers without grimacing or using my arms. I guess that rules out rock climbing in San Diego :(.
the reason my bookclub continues to meet
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