today was spent in chaos.  i keep trying to tell myself that it's all in my head.  so i unpacked my discman, popped in my "bach for book lovers" cd, and went outside and lazed on the hammock with a good book.  it was a gorgeous day.  a breezy 70 degrees and those little white puffy clouds.  that sort of did the trick.  then my cat came over and swang with me (swang?  that's not a word.  it's swung.  what the hell kind of english major am i?  aw, who cares.  i hate grammar.  no, not really.  hmmm...chaos remains).  i need a vacation.  let's see...oh, i'm supposed to be on one! 

     my parents are throwing around ideas of going to california this summer, l.a. in particular.  i've never been and really want to go.  my parents are also hosting an exchange student who would go with us.  he seems to be a great guy, but that would be a little odd, i think.  he's extremely quiet and not very...er...hygienic.  another vacation with my family??  we haven't done that since i graduated from high school.  no one screams "tourists!" louder than my family.  i can imagine my father now in his jean shorts, red and white striped polo, and clip-on sunglasses.  my mother would be close behind wearing pink old lady shorts and a white frilly t-shirt or perhaps some pink overalls (also shorts) completed with pony tail, fanny pack, and clip-on sunglasses.  now picture my extremely white self (look at your socks for a good idea...better yet, think of the movie "powder") on the beach in orange county.  we would be the only people there without six-packs.  okay...at least the rest of my family. (hey, it might happen!)  my reflection on the water would probably blind everyone there...which, i suppose, wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.  then, of course, it really wouldn't be a vacation, but it would be a trip because we would be dragged around to every possible tourist place in the entire state of california.  something tells me that all of this spells disaster.  will it be averted?  possibly.  will i ever get to see the pacific ocean?  maybe someday when i'm fifty and dressed up in my jean shorts, red and white striped polo, and clip-on sunglasses (please, oh please, don't let that happen to me!).