Teens on the Beach: Hollywood Florida, 2007

We had spent the day in Coral Gables and decided to drive back along A1A (the coastal road) and watch the scenery. A1A is not a scenic road between Miami and Boca Raton. It is littered with high rises condos, hotels, restaurants serving bad food, fishing piers, more condos, beachwear stores, bars, surf shops and on and on for 30 miles. The amazing thing is that just behind it is the Atlantic — one long beach that stretches from south of Miami all the way up the coast of Florida. Every now and then there is a sort of ally with a small sign that says "BEACH" which is the access to the shore for the public. Somewhere in Hollywood, I saw one of these signs and stopped to have a look. It was on a small road with small shacks renting rooms for $45/night and all around were ultra-tanned French Canadians hanging out in the bar, toasting themselves on the beach, or just plain hanging out.

I walked through this small strip of land between a bar and small motel and saw the beach. There was a road that went along for miles with the beach one one side and an endless series of bars, beach shops, ice cream parlors, and tacky motels. It was great! Just at the end was a lifeguard shack with four teenagers hanging out.

Voila!

Taz: Thanks Man!

Taz is one of our two cats. He is very friendly, outgoing and a bit high strung. His favorite spot is on my desk between the keyboard and computer screen. (He likes to keep close to us.) A few days ago, my wife noticed a large bump on his right hip so we took him to the vet. The vet thought it might be cancerous and said it should be removed. A few hours later he called to say he was fine and the mass was benign so we picked Taz up and brought him home. He had a large gash on his shaved hip where the wound had been stapled closed. He was wearing a plastic head collar which prevented him from chewing out his staples and he was groggy from the anesthetic. Anyone who has ever owned a cat knows that the animal has absolutely no idea what is going on, does not understand that this is being done for his/her own good, and is just sitting there looking at the owner with a "what the fuck are you doing to me" look on their face.

I had this dream last night. I had died and on my way to heaven, I had to take a detour for a "cat intervention". This was where all the cats that I had owned in my life were there to confront me. Tortoise Shell, Dracula, Clod, Woosel, Dook, Fritz and last of all Taz all faced me with serious stares as the airing of grievances began. I gave them stupid names, I fed them cheap food, I did not allow them to eat garbage, I teased them too much, I stopped them from going out: it went on and on. Toward the end, I began to feel a bit down but then Taz who had not participated so far stepped up to me, licked my hand and said "thanks man".