I was flipping the bod-ometer over into the 30's this weekend so my family went to Florida to relax and soak up some gulf air and sun.  My son got a little too much and ended up with a blister from sun burn.  Oops, d-fax, I promise, it won't happen again.   At least we learned on a short trip in February rather than the middle of summer.  We're now much more aware of how quickly little fair-skinned mini-people can burn.  Now I know what they mean by "the blistering sun"

Rosemary beach is really incredible!  I'll post some pics soon for all to see.  I was very impressed with this little oasis in Florida.  I've never been a big fan of the swampy state.  It all gets so cheesy.  I can't quite figure out why people have to have pink flamingos in their yard and seashells all over the house.  I even stayed somewhere once where the streets were paved with sea shells.  Oooh, great idea! until I found my beach path blocked by the rising tide and had to use the road with no sandals.  None of that in Rosemary beach!

The prices are a bit, um, premium.  You get what you pay for.  The Summer Kitchen (and Blus by Night) was a fabulous local dining spot.  You can literally eat there breakfast, lunch and dinner and never bore of it.  Its casual cafe early, fine dinner in the evening.  The salmon was out of this world and the breakfast was superb.  Apparently the owner/chef studied at Juliard in New York.  All I know is that sounds pretty posh.  The food is proof!  Don't hesitate to eat there no matter what mood you're in.

Seaside was nice.  They have a great market.  We ate at some seafood / po-boy restaurant with folk art on the walls.  Everything was fried.  It all tasted the same.  I asked for the tuna special and requested it rare, explaining I hated over-cooked fish.  It arrived grey, well-done, tasteless and nasty.  I ate a few bites and moved on to finish everyone's fried shrimp.  You can't screw up fried scrump!  So, back to Rosemary with us. 

Note to self: when prices are high, don't get the cheap wine.  I threw out a $17 bottle of wine.  It was acually a $6 bottle marked up a bit.  I should have gotten something a little better, then at least I'd have enjoyed it. 

The last two notes are the only things that went even remotely wrong, however.  Everything else was amazing.  The beach was clean and beautiful, the temperaure in the mid seventies - perfect.  Even the construction was fun, my boy loves "tucks". 

I did have some trouble with the kite I bought.  It took some re-engineering before it would fly.  I needed a challenge for the weekend.  I was very proud when I let the last of the line out and tied it to our rented wagon.  It hung out up there for about fifteen minutes before it crashed to the earth.  Big fun.

Well, back to the grind, I suppose.  Before I left, I thought, "what good is three days at the beach in Florida?  Too far to drive, to expensive to eat, I should just stay home instead."  I was wrong.  It might as well been a week.  I let off a lot of stress listening to the waves crawl gently up the sand.

One last thing: the moon on the night of the 19th was bizarre!  There was a halo around it that filled half the night sky.  I've never seen such a thing.  I pointed it out to some neighbors whose dog had gone nuts and ran into our house.  They hadn't even noticed.  They also hadn't ever seen such a thing.  I will always remember that night sky the night I was turning 30 (I actually turned on the 20th).  When I am 80 and I see it again, I can say, "oh my, 50 years ago when I was merely 30, the moon did that."  ...then I'll make up a story about a ufo and space creatures.  I'd like to do that when I'm old and acn get away with it.

When I was a young man, I had very long hair.  It was all one length, reached the middle of my back, and earned me the nickname "Favio" -which also dates the experience.

When I moved to Atlanta, I cut my hair short, real short.  Since then, I'd played with different lengths.  I finally committed to growing it out and achieved a chin-lengthed bob.  This was last summer.  Suddenly, I found myself in an altercation with an old, crotchety, high-strung, unfriendly, selfish, hateful, inconsiderate moron who pepper sprayed me and my dog because he was off his leash in the local park.  The dog was off the leash - just to clarify.  We were both issued disorderly conduct citations and required to appear in court.  The other man and I were issued citations, not the dog.  I was issued a citation for having the dog off his leash however.  Stupid dog.  I told him he was going to get in trouble!

Well, anyone knows that you don't show up to court with a hippee-haircut if you expect to have any justice served.

I cut it short again.  8 inches of hair plus all charges dropped.

So, after 5 long years of in-between length, it had finaly reached "long" status when I lost it again.  It finally looked about like I wanted it to.  It was out of my eyes.  It was artistic and rebelious yet not totally unstylish.  It his the geek that lives in my skin under a shroud of something different, something interesting.  It suits me to have long hair.  In truth, I like to hide behind it.  I like to let it fall over my face when I sing, as if no one can see me and they are forced just to listen.  Perhaps I ought to wear sunglasses...

Hair is not that important to me.  It represented something when I was younger but now I have more important things to concern myself with.  I still miss it, however.

Today, I came into work after having just had my hair cut.  I had let it go a little too long.  I'd event trimmed it up a few times with a bic razor (you'd be surprised what you can do with a disposable razor).  I asked for as short as possible.  After all, might as well maximize the cut.

Several people made some "Joey" jokes with me and a few came right out and said they miss my long hair (women, particularly).  I guess it represented something for them, too.  What, I wonder?

I am not ready, nor willing, to go through the discomfort of trying to let my hair grow past my eyes again.  Not yet.  One day, I think I will.  I think I'll not cut it again, once I do.  I'd better get any more court appearances over with before I take the plunge.  I'll roll into 30: short-haired and clean-shaven.  That way everyone can say I'm having a mid life crisis when I grow my hair out again :)