Well it was a fun and relaxing weekend and it didn't break me too badly in the bank account. I'm still waiting on some back pay too, so that should help if it ever shows up! Axel and I headed out to Palm Springs pretty much as soon as we could Friday afternoon. The cab ride was actually pretty nice. This area out here is so desolate, but it's worth looking at. anything that's out there just stands out that much more, even if it's something as insignificant as an old run down shack of a house. And there are a lot of those out here. People who thought that it'd be a good idea (and maybe a cheap deal) to buy a little property just off the highway out in the middle of nowhere, found out better, and left. can't be an easy sell I wouldn't think. except to someone whose already gotten it into thier head that the desert is what they want. I couldn't do it myself. I see a lot of beauty out here, but I couldn't live here for an extended time (not that I live anywhere ever for extended time it seems); I'm much more for living near the ocean or in forested areas. I'm a fire sign with a respect for living Earth and plentiful Water. balance. I'm always thinking about balance. But this was an attempt at relating my weekend, not a philosophical diatribe, non?
So we drive through the desert and arrive in Palm Springs. It's warm, hot even, but nothing like 29 Palms' 120 degree hothouse. here at least you can feel the difference in the shade. We walk to the hotel and get checked and head down to the pool, having noticed on the way in the small bar poolside with the small sign that said "Happy Hour 4-7pm. 2 for 1." no way we could have missed that. We have a couple of drinks, letting the tension and worries of the past month or so drain out of our limbs and drip out our toes to sizzle on the clay walkway around the bar and pool. We have our couple of drinks and are noticed by an older kind gentleman who was once in the military himself. He buys us both a drink and we talk with thim and the bartender (who is from Texas incidentally) and have a pleasant early evening of poolside drinking, conversation, girlwatching, and so forth. Having achieved a nice level of inebriation, Axel and I head back up to the room for a breif rest before letting ourselves loose on the poor, unsuspecting souls of Palm Springs. Except it seems that the heat and the cumulative month of non-relaxation and the three strong rum and cokes have laid my companion in arms low. In his defence it was a big day for him, having been promoted earlier that morning. But in any case, I am certanily inebriated and in need of some time to recover. Axel is completly out and doesn't recover until the next morning. No worries. We order pizza, enjoy the wonders of cable television and stay in to rest. Well...I do all these things. Axel sleeps the sleep of the dead awaking only to make drunken phone calls to female friends and to expunge previously ingested rum.
We do much better the second day. We get up in time for the breakfast (barely, sleeping in past 5am is a rarity and we take full advantage). Then we spend the first part of the afternoon by the pool basking in the sun...trying to rectify this tanline conditon common among military people and, apprantly, farmers. We also do a fair amount of staring about as there are girls all around the pool, most married or just a bit too young for me not to feel guilty...I also get a fair amount of reading done just to keep myself out of trouble. balance. it feels nice to be soaking in the sun taking in the heat, though it displaces an exceptional amount of sweat from me. but it feels cleansing. like a sweat lodge or sauna. sweat slicked skin refreshed by a quick slice into the cool swimming pool and then back out to relax in the shade. it's extremly tactile...temprature and sensation. it doesn't help that there are two girls directly in line of site:
"leaned back on the pool steps. a position that is part lounging and part pure preening...the nearest one is long smooth curves up from her knee just out of the water, her hip angled out, even her stomach's well-defined muscles- long rolling curves, her breasts (of course her breasts), shoulders. It makes me wonder if she's saved up all the angles for her face...high cheekbones and such, but I can't tell because her hair falls shoulder length along the side of her face, obscuring it. in any case it all just spits pure sex." if that gives you any idea.
after writing that I dovetailed into an internal conversation regarding aspects of basic wants and desires like lust and desire and appetite as opposed to more elevated aspects and that in turn dovetailed into thoughts on my favorite subject of late, balance. After some of that I took off my headphones, put down my notebook, and bought a drink.
Ate well that night at a nice resturaunt (I had some steak coated in peppercorn and crushed espresso beans with some red wine...REALLY good. especially after a month of chow hall and MRE's) and then returned to that resturaunt later that night when it transformed into the better danceclub on the strip in Palm Springs. Had a good time. drank and listened to the music. I am not one to go buck wild on the dance floor usually. and while I protest and stodginess or curmudgeonly tendencies, I just aint current on this hippity hop music. but I managed to move both feet at the same time for brief periods without falling down or being pointed and laughed at. I equate that to a minor success. Besides I had fun and got to walk too girls back to thier hotel after the club closed.
Sunday wasn't much going on. repeated the process of breakfast and sitting out by the pool...(somehow that girl i wrote about seems to be appearing everywhere. I'm probably hallucinating it.) then Axel and I head out to the movie theater to catch the second SpiderMan movie. entertaining. we get a late start that evening and we just go to a good loud pub for a drink and some fish and chips (even with Malt Vinegar on the chips) for me and then back to that danceclub where not much of anything happens. today was just getting back to base. The drive back through the desert got me thinking again. We drove through Joshua Tree...so of course I had to put my Mp3 player on my head (or more specifically the headphones connected to that Mp3 player) and listen to that particular U2 album. it makes sense. and now I'm back on base and getting ready to get up at 0500 again in the morining and get back to work. I probably won't have another day off until I get my leave to go to LA or SF in August. I'm not sure though. My language training will probably deviate me from my platoon and thier training for a while.
anyhow. I hope this hasn't been too much of a ramble. I typed it up as much for myself as for y'all. I hope you all had a good weekend.
v
So we drive through the desert and arrive in Palm Springs. It's warm, hot even, but nothing like 29 Palms' 120 degree hothouse. here at least you can feel the difference in the shade. We walk to the hotel and get checked and head down to the pool, having noticed on the way in the small bar poolside with the small sign that said "Happy Hour 4-7pm. 2 for 1." no way we could have missed that. We have a couple of drinks, letting the tension and worries of the past month or so drain out of our limbs and drip out our toes to sizzle on the clay walkway around the bar and pool. We have our couple of drinks and are noticed by an older kind gentleman who was once in the military himself. He buys us both a drink and we talk with thim and the bartender (who is from Texas incidentally) and have a pleasant early evening of poolside drinking, conversation, girlwatching, and so forth. Having achieved a nice level of inebriation, Axel and I head back up to the room for a breif rest before letting ourselves loose on the poor, unsuspecting souls of Palm Springs. Except it seems that the heat and the cumulative month of non-relaxation and the three strong rum and cokes have laid my companion in arms low. In his defence it was a big day for him, having been promoted earlier that morning. But in any case, I am certanily inebriated and in need of some time to recover. Axel is completly out and doesn't recover until the next morning. No worries. We order pizza, enjoy the wonders of cable television and stay in to rest. Well...I do all these things. Axel sleeps the sleep of the dead awaking only to make drunken phone calls to female friends and to expunge previously ingested rum.
We do much better the second day. We get up in time for the breakfast (barely, sleeping in past 5am is a rarity and we take full advantage). Then we spend the first part of the afternoon by the pool basking in the sun...trying to rectify this tanline conditon common among military people and, apprantly, farmers. We also do a fair amount of staring about as there are girls all around the pool, most married or just a bit too young for me not to feel guilty...I also get a fair amount of reading done just to keep myself out of trouble. balance. it feels nice to be soaking in the sun taking in the heat, though it displaces an exceptional amount of sweat from me. but it feels cleansing. like a sweat lodge or sauna. sweat slicked skin refreshed by a quick slice into the cool swimming pool and then back out to relax in the shade. it's extremly tactile...temprature and sensation. it doesn't help that there are two girls directly in line of site:
"leaned back on the pool steps. a position that is part lounging and part pure preening...the nearest one is long smooth curves up from her knee just out of the water, her hip angled out, even her stomach's well-defined muscles- long rolling curves, her breasts (of course her breasts), shoulders. It makes me wonder if she's saved up all the angles for her face...high cheekbones and such, but I can't tell because her hair falls shoulder length along the side of her face, obscuring it. in any case it all just spits pure sex." if that gives you any idea.
after writing that I dovetailed into an internal conversation regarding aspects of basic wants and desires like lust and desire and appetite as opposed to more elevated aspects and that in turn dovetailed into thoughts on my favorite subject of late, balance. After some of that I took off my headphones, put down my notebook, and bought a drink.
Ate well that night at a nice resturaunt (I had some steak coated in peppercorn and crushed espresso beans with some red wine...REALLY good. especially after a month of chow hall and MRE's) and then returned to that resturaunt later that night when it transformed into the better danceclub on the strip in Palm Springs. Had a good time. drank and listened to the music. I am not one to go buck wild on the dance floor usually. and while I protest and stodginess or curmudgeonly tendencies, I just aint current on this hippity hop music. but I managed to move both feet at the same time for brief periods without falling down or being pointed and laughed at. I equate that to a minor success. Besides I had fun and got to walk too girls back to thier hotel after the club closed.
Sunday wasn't much going on. repeated the process of breakfast and sitting out by the pool...(somehow that girl i wrote about seems to be appearing everywhere. I'm probably hallucinating it.) then Axel and I head out to the movie theater to catch the second SpiderMan movie. entertaining. we get a late start that evening and we just go to a good loud pub for a drink and some fish and chips (even with Malt Vinegar on the chips) for me and then back to that danceclub where not much of anything happens. today was just getting back to base. The drive back through the desert got me thinking again. We drove through Joshua Tree...so of course I had to put my Mp3 player on my head (or more specifically the headphones connected to that Mp3 player) and listen to that particular U2 album. it makes sense. and now I'm back on base and getting ready to get up at 0500 again in the morining and get back to work. I probably won't have another day off until I get my leave to go to LA or SF in August. I'm not sure though. My language training will probably deviate me from my platoon and thier training for a while.
anyhow. I hope this hasn't been too much of a ramble. I typed it up as much for myself as for y'all. I hope you all had a good weekend.
v
VIEW 11 of 11 COMMENTS
Any chance you can sneak one a'them up this way?
..it's just an observation that I have made.