del playa

For those of you who don't know Spanish, playa is pronounced "ply-a" and not "play-a." On that note, Ben, Corey, and Jonathan and I went to visit our friend May in Santa Barbara last weekend for her graduation.

This is the view from May's house on Del Playa, which is right across the street from the beach...

...and this is the wonderful futon on her porch that we "watched" the view from while Corey and May took the couches inside.

IV (Isla Vista to you non-Santa Barbara folk) is known for several things. First, it's the student living area of one of the biggest "party schools" in the country. Second, it's literally right on the beach. And third, there are parties going on all day, every day. One thing the parties are known for (other than alcohol and loud music) is the couch burning. Especially around graduation/move-out time, one can walk the streets of IV and see random fires EVERYWHERE. One will be able to hear several fire trucks in the distance, but may never actually see one through the throngs of drunken college students. Upon closer inspection of the fire, however, one can see that these flames in the middle of the streets were actually the remains of couches. Rather than said couches being moved back home, or wherever the students came from, they get thrown (literally) off the balconies and set on fire wherever they land. They burn on the street, in driveways, on the beach, and even in dumpsters. This, really, is a phenomenon that can only make sense once you have witnessed it. So next time you plan a vacation in the mid-to-southern California region, take a trip to Del Playa and see the location known for the worlds most couch-burnings per year.

All in all it was a great trip. Got to see friends, the beach, lots of fire trucks, and burning couches. Partayyyy

new place for the new year

New Year's was interesting. We were able to move into the apartment New Year's Eve. Since I didn't get off work until 5, we were only able to move the two couches, the tv, and the microwave moved. That, though, was plenty to have a New Year's party.

With the tv perched on top of the microwave's box (a tarp covering it to make it look a bit less ghetto) and the couches set in weird angles across the living room, we were all set.

Some friends and I went to get pizza and then watched some movies. We ended up falling asleep before midnight, sprawled all over the living room. So much for late nights in the new place, eh?

PS I'm pretty sure I met my future husband tonight. It's a weird feeling I have, so we'll see how that goes...

next on COPS...

Well, I got some..interesting news today. My other best friend seems to be moving..so this is both of them now. I'm really going to miss him a lot..

It doesn't help that the church situation is not going well. I don't want to badmouth the church, so I'm not going to post the specifics, but please keep them in prayer. Satan is attacking and the church isn't ready to fight back. Other than that, I'm not really sure what to do about it.

On a good note, though, we won the football game against SMU so we are 3-0 so far..which is the best our team has done in probably nearly 50 years. It was one of those end-of-a-football movie games, where you knew the "good guys" were going to win, but it came down to the last play during the last minute. It was amazing, though I'm sure I'll need several painkillers to make the college-kids-screaming headache go away. (Just kidding.)

We, unfortunately, got our pictures taken (by someone with no camera skills) with the big Ronald. He was completely hitting on us and wouldn't leave us alone until we got our pictures taken with him. I'm going home and watching COPS; I'm sure he'll be the next guy they nab. I can just see it now: "Drunk Ronald McDonald sentenced to five years in prison with 2 counts of kidnapping, 1 count of DUI, and 3 counts of fashion crime." Geez.

On a lighter note, we found a random couch on the grass by the parking lot. It looked quite comfy. I was extremely tempted to take a nap on it, since nobody was claiming it at the time, but Amanda didn't want us to get caught. Alas, the couch was gone when we left the game. I may never know that kindred spirit who thought to bring a couch to the football game.