A day off is an interesting concept for me. After all, I don't have a "real" job. OK, the job itself is real, but the hours really aren't. So even though I can't really take off and go anywhere for more than a couple of days at a time, I do have a lot of free time during the day. Thus, the idea of a day off is different than that of most people, I guess. Nevertheless, it was nice to have a real day where I didn't go to work at all, and it was even nicer (at least in theory) to be able to spend the day with my old friend M (read: dysfunctional relationship).

He arrived about an hour after we had planned, due to some communications issues. (We kept missing each other on the phone.) He got to meet Milo, which was nice. Milo actually liked him, after the initial wariness. Then we were off to breakfast. I kind-of wanted to go to Foxy's, but I hate the parking there. So we just went to Ihop, where I had country fried steak and eggs (no lectures, please), and he had a strawberry sundae. It was mediocre, but I love breakfast anyway.

Then it was off to the beach. There was some tension in the car because I didn't exactly know where we were going. It would have been easier if he had told me which beach he wanted to go to, but he we pretty vague and then was annoyed because I managed to confuse the both of us. *sigh* We finally ended up at Santa Monica, found parking, and walked to the pier. I hadn't been there in FOREVER, so it was fun to see it again. We walked around a bit and then rode the Ferris wheel. That was really fun but very overpriced. We walked around some more and then headed toward the actual beach. The beach was crowded--one of the reasons I rarely go to Santa Monica. But we sat on the sand, watched people, and talked. That turned out to be very nice--or so I thought.

After running out of quarters, we headed back into town to have dinner. We faced a bit of a dilemma, because we were leaving right at the height of traffic, so I suggested an alternate route. Actually, I thought I suggested heading back to Century City and hanging out at the mall until the traffic was better, but I think he just heard the directions and not the part about the mall. *sigh* We ended up being in the car for a really long time. Unbeknownst to me, he was getting more and more annoyed with driving. *heavy sigh* It all came to a head when I managed to get us lost. (I really did think those streets met!) Soon I was in big trouble for getting us lost, not paying attention, and not respecting his feelings by making him drive for so long. (Gee, I only drove us everywhere for 4 years . . . why in the world would my feelings about that make a difference?) *enormously heavy sigh*

We finally ended up in Pasadena, where we had dinner at Green Street Restaurant. The food is really good there, even though it's not where I was planning to go. It's amazing how good warm, freshly-made potato chips can be. Dinner was OK, though still kind-of tense. I had wanted to go to the movies afterward, but I figured that wasn't a good idea. I wanted to go to Vroman's, but Borders seemed closer to walk to, so we went there. I was very sad, because the day hadn't turned out how I'd hoped. So even though most of the day was nice, it was now ending on a not-so-great note. He drove me home and gave me a hug good-bye.

I don't know if I'll ever see my friend again. I miss him already. He was my best friend, and now he's gone . . .