11 05 pm pdt   [ exhausted ]

I am wiped out, from:

A.) getting sunburned yesterday
B.) working out almost every day for the past week
C.) going dancing last night
D.) drinking last night
E.) waking up early every day this week
F.) walking around the zoo with 19 kids today

That was not multiple choice. That's my life.

Yesterday there were just two of us at work all day (10 - 6 30) so that was a workout. During my mandatory lunch break (30 minutes, unpaid) I walked to the local burrito joint and got two veggie burritos (rice, black beans, lettuce and salsa). I then ate one while the kids watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) for the third time this week. The other one I stuck in the fridge to take with me to the zoo today.

Then last night I headed to Polly Esther's in SF with Oscar. We got there really early, so we went to the Mason Café to chat away a few hours. He lived in Kenya until six years ago, and I am fascinated by other cultures, so we had no shortage of topics of conversation.

I can safely say that my favorite part of the evening was laying on the bar. Judging by the fact that the bar was that clean and unoccupied, you can tell how dead the club was, but there was one bachelor party and one bachelorette party, so what more did we need?

At some point I was approached to take a photo with the bachelor. Of course I was happy to do so, but then discovered that what they really wanted was for me to go into a photo booth with the bachelor (who was holding a large can of Australian for beer). "Ok, but I can't kiss; I have a boyfriend." His French friend Terry said, "Fine, fine..." and shooed us into the booth. I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Four flashes later I was back on the dance floor.

Later in the evening I asked Terry how the photos had turned out. "Awful! They are all of his hand and your foot. You guys needed to sit down." Ah, that was what was wrong. I agreed to take four new photos in exchange for the old ones:

In the last photo, you can clearly see that I am grabbing my own breasts in a move know as "The Kathy" due to her propensity for doing so.

Anyway, the next four photos turned out great, with us lewdly sticking out our tongues and making kissy faces at the camera. I hope his fiancée don't get upset!

I really had the best time dancing (and am so sore today I cannot believe it). But I did not have the best encounter with the bartender, Kevin. He said if I was his girlfriend, he would have "86-ed me" for dancing provocatively with other men. Today I formulated a more proper response than my initial reaction about how lame it was to lack trust:

Dear Kevin [who I know will never read this], if you don't trust your hypothetical girlfriend, that's your business. My initial reaction was all about that. But upon further contemplation, it's the dumping that has me stumped.

Why would you dump your hypothetical girlfriend just because she did something you didn't like? Why would you not instead discuss the situation with her? "My loving and wonderful girlfriend, I am insecure and don't like it when you dance with other men. Out of respect for my feelings, would you please not do so?" Would it be so hard to say that? There's a reason you're single, Buddy, and I think I know what it is...

So after a full evening of dancing (and my daily cardio workout, thankyouverymuch) Oscar and I headed home, around 1 30 I'd guess. He dropped me off and went to do his Oscar thing. I went to the bathroom and then Matthew called. We talked for a bit. He partied every night he was in Vegas, which is very unlike him. After talking, I fell asleep.

This morning I fetched the sheets (yes, I did sleep on the bare mattress) which hadn't been dry when I left to go dancing. All our laundry requires being dried twice (two full cycles) which annoys me to no end...

Then my boss called, saying they were short of fruit drinks and would I please stop at the store and get some. Do you know what I learned today? There are a ton of people shopping at 8 45 on a Friday morning. Very unexpected.

If I didn't mention it earlier, we had planned a field trip for today -- taking 19 kids to the zoo (there were three of us adults). I haven't been to the zoo in at least a decade. I used to be very anti-zoo when I was a militant animal rights activist (which is also how I became vegan) but now I'm not sure how I feel about them. I was excited, as I knew this would surely be an adventure.

So off we walked to the local bus stop (oh yes, we were taking public transportation) to begin our day.

The highlight of the day for me was the petting zoo, which we went to first. There were two junior-kindergarten boys (meaning they were a year younger than kindergarteners) named Matthew and Sam, and they were both afraid of the goats.

But I held their hands and showed them how nice and soft the goats were. Matthew was more afraid, but finally he touched a goat.

Some goats were in pens, but most were just walking around hoping to be fed. Matthew and Sam were good around the goats unless the goats began moving. Here is Sam screaming in terror at a goat walking by.

There was this very hairy beast that I thought might be a yak, but turned out to be a cow!

I'm glad I spotted the sign labeling the beast as Scottish Highland Cattle.

This was another priceless moment. Damn I love kids! Here we are at the zoo with tons of exotic animals, when someone discovers there's a big rock they can climb on. Suddenly all 19 kids (plus other that weren't with our school) had to be up on that rock, checking it out. Kids rule!

I really dug the squirrel monkeys (a much more vibrant yellow than my camera could capture through the screen).

One of my co-workers works at the zoo, so he gave us a private docent tour, explaining the difference between monkeys and apes (no tails!).

We got lucky with the beautiful weather and with the animals, most of whom were very animated. But the Sun Bears (perhaps better named the Sun-bathing Bears) were super lazy and relaxed.

The bird made a kissing pose just for me. Thanks, birds!

Flamingoes are just cool. I think they stand on one leg just so people will be forced to study them and concluded that we don't know why they stand on one leg.

I had most wanted to see the lions, but I never got to. Giraffes are a really decent consolation prize, though.