Greek Weekend with a Side of German

I watched the debate on Friday. As an undecided voter, I don’t think I’m any closer to a decision. It’s tough when both sides tell half-truths – I mean many of the facts and numbers the candidates throw out are true, but taken out of context their statements can be misleading. It’s so difficult trying to decipher the truth and I would hazard a guess that many voters (me included) don’t want to do the work it takes to research things for ourselves instead of just relying on quick media sound bites or the opinions of those around us. I am making an effort to read and watch all of the debates in the hope of making an educated decision, but frankly, no one person can be the answer to all that ails us. I’m lucky, though, to live in a country where I feel like my vote actually matters. Did you know that you are legally required to vote in Australia? I think the penalty for not voting is only $20, but still, I like the idea of it.

It was a busy weekend running from event to event. It started out with a compelling documentary at my friend Thom's backyard movie theater. On Saturday I took my niece to a Greek Festival. Poor kid. It was a bit of a bust, except the food was good – particularly the Greek donuts dipped in cinnamon and honey. They tasted a little like a Greek churro. We tried to hit the Discovery Science Museum after that, but they closed early for a fundraiser, so we went to the Santa Ana Zoo instead. A tiny zoo, but they redeem themselves by displaying monkeys and lemurs almost exclusively. For two monkey girls such as Kira and myself, it was good viewing.

I then headed to my friend Antonio’s 40^th birthday party at the Red Lion in Silver Lake, a great German beer garden and restaurant. I’m not a beer person, but they gave me a diet coke in one of those ginormous German beer glasses. I’m still jittery from all that caffeine. To be honest, I thought I’d slip in, make a little small talk, wish Tony a happy birthday, and scoot out of there. I didn’t really know anyone. But after a plate full of red cabbage, I settled in and had some really great conversations with some very interesting, nice people. It seems like as we age it’s more difficult to go outside of your social comfort zone, but I’m glad I did. I met a friend of Antonio’s who plays ukulele, too, and digs folk music and I also found a group of guys who play squash, so I’ve been invited to join sometime. I’ve been saving my squash racquet from when I lived in Australia in 1989 because I ADORED playing when I was over there, but I was unaware that we had any local squash courts. Who knew?