7/3

Lovely Saturday afternoon here in San Diego. Woke up today with plans to take the trolley into Little Italy to catch Spain play Paraguay in the quarterfinals of the World Cup.

Pleasantly surprised by the free parking at the trolley station. The card dispenser wouldn't scan my debit card so I walked back to the car to pump in some dollar coins. Then had my day pass. During this process, one trolley came by headed downtown. I didn't think too much of it until another 45 minutes past and I was still waiting for a trolley. The match had started and I figured, since I had to switch trains and then walk a bit to my destination, it would be better to just drive in. Got back in the car and the GPS lost its signal a time or two, but I'm familiar with downtown San Diego so I didn't get lost or anything. Nevertheless, I was still pretty bent out of shape by this time. It was already 12:30, an hour into the match and I was still walking to the pub where I was told there would be a great crowd watching the World Cup. There certainly was a great crowd, and very limited space to stand. Once I had a pint of Carlsberg I wedged my way in against the back of the booth and my nerves began to settle. Plenty of tvs all around and a very full bar of patrons completely wrapped up in the game. It was a British pub and, strangely enough, the crowd was not what you would call a handsome one. Lots of jagged faces and bad teeth, British indeed. Everyone was into the game and rooting for Spain. The match was very intense and came right down the end. I was next to a guy around my age who was there with his father, very nice people. Everyone was nice and upbeat. The picture there is of a fellow Spain fan who is developing his young son's affinity early. There was a roar for the final goals, all the close plays, and the final outcome of victory.

After the match I walked out into the street and strolled through the farmer's market. Apparently there are farmers markets every day of the week rotating through the neighborhoods of San Diego. I found some kale/spinach/carrot/apple/seaweed juice which was delicious. Ten minutes later I was in dire need of a restroom.

I made my way down to the glistening harbor which was full of boats, under both sail and motor. Thought back on fond memories of being down here exactly two years ago at this time of year. I remember driving along Harbor Drive at sunset as The Blow Monkeys' "Digging Your Scene" played over the radio and I felt a strong, simultaneous mixture of calm, excitement, and beauty. San Diego is a lovely city.

Back in Mission Valley laying low for the afternoon. It's only about 70 degrees here, which means by the beach it's even cooler. But the water temp is around 63 degrees which is great. I think tomorrow we'll be at the beach.

For now, back to researching the housing and job markets, looking forward to when this apprehension anxiety will subside.