This weekend Amy and I went to Redondo Beach. I made sure to put the sun block in the car. I did not however make sure to put it in the actual bag we walked down to the sand with. We lounged around on the beach for about four hours. Needless to say upon returning home I looked like I’d spliced my genes with that of a tomato. Amy wore her speedo swimsuit and a t-shirt the whole time so her burn was mostly limited to her legs, and she is Asian so she already had more melanin than me anyway.

So, I’ve been in pain the last few days. Just moving is agony as the burn is basically everywhere on my body except where swim trunks would go. Even the tops of my feet got scorched. Never have I felt more like a true “white-boy” than this week. Surrounded by brown skin people (of whatever race) wherever I go makes it all the more embarrassing. I wore sun block all the other times I went to the beach…so I don’t know what I was thinking.

Hey all you folks reading this from other parts of the world than southern California – guess how much vehicle registration renewal costs out here……

$196

My car insurance is going to be due again in about two weeks as well, guess how much that’ll be (and believe me this is a really cheap rate for out here)….

$2000 (a year)

How much is my rent (and I live in a bad bad neighborhood)…

$700 (a month)

How anyone without a college degree can afford to live out here is beyond me.

In other news, I paid this guy that has a little guitar repair shop on Sunset (that has worked with Keith Richards, Tom Petty, and the like) to give my guitar a tune-up and fix the feedback and humming I’m getting now. Well, $160 later the humming is still there. I emailed him about it and (unlike the other times I’ve talked to him through email) never heard back. Now I’m in the awkward position of making a big stink with him until he fixes it or finding someone else. This is sort of like getting your car fixed. You hope and pray that they do it right the first time because if they don’t and you complain they might mess up something else on purpose to get back at you. (this already happened with my Mazda’s rattling dash problem by the way) So, I have a feeling that if I go back to this guy and threaten him he’ll just do something to my electronics or put my truss rod out of whack or something… Oh, and he deals in cash too so it isn’t like I can dispute my payment. Either I look like a real sucker…or I AM a real sucker because I keep getting ripped off by these people in the “service” industry whenever I try to get something done/fixed.

I think I’m going to get myself a new guitar for a birthday present next year.