facts and figure eights

This morning I woke up to the sunlight at what I never would have guessed was 7:00 in the morning. For having fallen asleep around 1:00, like I usually do, I felt strangely rested, or at least unable to keep my eyes shut. I pondered several courses of action, the first of which was to convince my subconscious that I would do good to catch a few more hours of sleep, but that just wouldn't take. The day's thoughts were already starting to swirl in my head.

I went through the usual morning rituals: grinding coffee, selecting the ripest banana, but all at a more relaxed pace than a normal morning where I've left myself precious time to get to work before 9:00. I used to arrive much earlier - I'd be the first person at work in my department, and my breakfast over the LA Times online crossword puzzle would be finished by the time whichever editor I was working with that day would arrive. This Saturday morning I opted for a book of short stories by David Sedaris to read on the porch under the morning sunlight.

We had no planned destination for the day's bike club ride, so I threw out the idea of a bookstore. Nobody was opposed to that, and I agreed to play leader and navigator. We pedaled to Book Beat in Oak Park (which was the same destination as my first ever bike club ride last year.) Before going inside, we posed for a group picture and a lady walking by agreed to take it for us. At Book Beat a young guy who was riding with us for the first time exclaimed under his breath, "There's just so much to read!" I decided I would pick up something new and settled on Naked, a new Sedaris book for when I finish my current one. Afterward I went with a couple people over to the Baskin Robbins which was in the same strip mall and tried their Nutty Coconut ice cream. It did not disappoint on either part of it's name. From there we headed back to Ferndale where we bought groceries for a barbecue. The few of us that remained hung out for a few hours with hamburgers, bratwursts and chips with a wide assortment of dips.