What does dilletante mean? - Debi
A dilletante is a person who is lazy and does nothing, like you in the summer. - Emily D.

So last week two dilletantes and myself set out on road trip down to Santa Barbara. I don't include myself as a dilletante because unlike them I was on a big girl style business trip. To be fair, the both of them did seem tired when they picked me up from work at the end of each day, but I can't consider sunburning yourself due to lazy sunscreen application as "work".

And before I say any more, my apologies to anyone I might have inadvertantly slighted by not visiting them on the way. I seem to be having a lot of trouble with that lately.... it's a downside of a blog that people not only catch all your social faux pas, but also bring them up in the realm of cyberspace... do people still say cyberspace? Anyways, I'm sorry. In advance. For everything. To everybody. OKay, good that's taken care of.

Anywho, the trip was great, Santa Barbara, as expected, was beautiful. Spanish colonial architecture, refreshing ocean breezes and an abundance of fried calamari was enjoyed by all. Having to work and leaving Arnold home alone for a week were drawbacks of course, but I really do love calamari.

Now anybody who knows me, knows that I am not a driver. I am more of a passenger, sit in the back seat of a towncar sort of girl. However since dilletante No.2 Emily D. has been living in China recently, all the driving was left up to me and dilletante No. 1 Debi. After what became an interminable ride down I-5 to Santa Barbara we had finally arrived in downtown SB due to Emily D's stellar map-reading skills. Problem was there were people everywhere, crossing the street, riding their bikes all over the bike lanes etc. , darting back and forth with their stupid Paris Hilton sunglasses and their fake tan skin. Seriously, the whole scene was quite alarming. So my natural reaction of course was to whine with the expectation of support and sympathy from my dilletant groupies.

Inconveniently Emily D has been living in the most pedestrian/bike populated place in the world, China. "Oh three bikers, how overwhelming!" she sarcastized my way, which is why I blame her for what happened the next day...

I was chauffering around my two dilletantes so we could go eat. Emily D is giving directions. I sat there in the middle of the intersection waiting for the traffic to clear for my unprotected left turn. At some point I notice a man in a truck driving slowly through the intersection and gesturing at me quite earnestly. I merely stared at him, trying to decide where I had met him before. In the end I decided I didn't know him, but I thought I'd smile anyways, to be polite. I mean just because he's a weirdo doesn't mean I can't be nice... but he only got more insistent with his hand gestures. Disconcerted I thought "That's my reward for smiling at weirdos?" until I noticed that we were patiently waiting to turn left onto a one way street, the wrong way. Oops. My bad, or rather Emily D's, she's the one who advised me to turn left. I guess it takes two Emily's for a traffic accident.

So there you go, if you don't count the bizarrely blotchy sunburns that the dilletantes acquired on the beach, the trip was almost incident free.

So to close, I leave you with a great story about my cousin Rob, who recently posted some great tips regarding drinking in the W.C. and with whomI have taken many a road trip down I-5. On the way back home we passed through SLO, Rob's alma mater, and I remembered the last trip with him and his friends right after high school. We stopped in SLO on the way down, but since there were 5 of us, we ended up about 3 beds short. I was like "whatever, I don't mind sharing a bed" but I guess no one wanted a night of having me kick them in the back because everyone declined. (I'm sure my parents would be so proud that their teenage daughter offered to share a bed with any of 3 strangers.) To make up for my bed coup my chivalrous cousin Rob however decided to steal all the sheets off my bed in retaliation. What a gentleman! So I settled down for a below 50 degree night without sheets or pillows. SO FUN! However, in the end the Grinch's heart grew one size and Rob gave me back one sheet sometime during the middle of the night.

To be fair to Rob, I did invite myself along on his guys only post-grad road trip. And in honor of him I'll wrap this up with a proper PEACE OUT! to R-O-Double B you see Diggety Dogg.