In the morning it’s still raining, but I’m feeling quite better again. I think all the extra fruit and vitamin drinks have done their job. I figure it’s good weather for doing some work, so I walk to the coffice. Luckily it’s dry for a moment just when I go outside. It’s nice and quite at the coffee place and I’m happy to do a bit of work again. It might sound strange to some people, but I feel like I’ve actually missed work a bit. I enjoy working on some websites again. While in the coffee place I notice that it’s the strangest weather today. One moment it’s dark, grey and rainy, the other moment bright blue skies and sunshine again. I decide to stay at the coffee place for the rest of the morning.
In the afternoon I’m taking the bus to a different Walmart than I went last week. It’s not as much that I need to do groceries today, but it’s nice to have a goal, a reason to travel to a different part of the city. In the bus I listen to a podcast a look around at the different areas we drive through. It’s about an hour with the bus, like almost anything here. The city is actually quite big. Just like last time when I took a long bus ride, I can’t help but feel a bit like wasting my time doing this. Maybe the lesson I can learn from this is that you don’t always have to be productive. It’s just quite inefficient to be in a new city and still having to find my way around. At least this ride shows me some neighborhoods where I’d not prefer to live. I feel a bit like the further you go from the ocean, the poorer the neighborhoods, but I’m not sure yet if that’s completely true. I just notice that there are different people on the east side of the city and there is more trash outside. After strolling through Walmart and Target, I’m taking the bus and trolly back to Mission Valley to make a quick stop at a Barnes and Noble bookstore that’s on the route back to the apartment. Like usual I didn’t plan to buy a book, but can’t resist getting one anyway. There is a really friendly elderly lady working there and we talk about books for a while. I show a picture of my bookcase back home and she finds it very impressive. I do feel a bit proud of it. I think that by now I’ve collected so many books that it would probably take at least ten years to read them all. I’ve read many times that it’s good to have more books than you can read, because it’ll show you that you don’t know everything there is to know and that you can always learn more. I love the Barnes and Noble bookstores, the people that work there are really friendly and their collection of books is enormous. I especially love the leatherbound classics and I buy one of those to add to my collection.
The weather is clearing up again as I continue on my way home. It’s Christmas Eve tonight and I plan to get burgers and fries for dinner and watch a Christmas movie. Tomorrow I move to a fancier apartment close to the beach. I’ve seen quite a big part of the city today, so I think I won’t travel around so much this weekend. It’s a bit of a challenge to find food, because many places are closed this evening, but I find a nice restaurant called Crest Cafe where you can also get take-out food. I end the day properly with watching a nice Christmas movie.
