Birthday weekend recap (part 1 - Venice Beach)

Saturday was Ramy's birthday, and we really enjoyed celebrating it. I'm always amused by how different he and I are when it comes to our birthdays. He really prefers it to be as low-key as possible, whereas I don't really think a ticker-tape parade would be too over-the-top.

On Saturday morning, Ramy decided he wanted to spend the day at Venice Beach. So off we went. For all of you who haven't ever been to Venice Beach, it is the epitome of every bad stereotype about California. There are freaks everywhere. It's great spectator comedy.



On the boardwalk, there are all kinds of stores that no one in polite society would ever admit to entering. Any kind of sick, twisted, perverted, crude, crass, sexually explicit, funny and even not-so-funny t-shirt can be found in one of the shops. You can also find every sickening scent of incense you'd ever need, along with all kinds of "art," and there are several stores that sell nothing but bongs. Of course, you can receive "spirital counseling" before or after getting either a real or henna tattoo or have some of your chakras cleansed before you get a piercing (yeah, I have absolutely no idea what I just wrote).



And for the health conscious, there are all sorts of medical establishments on the Venice Beach boardwalk. Does that seem surprising? If so, I should urge you to think of "medical" quite loosely. More specifically, there are all sorts of hole in the wall places staffed by physicians who do evaluations for medical marijuana. At the same time, you can also get botox! I actually think it might be important to be stoned before you get a paralyzing toxin injected into your face. Some of these places have big signs out front telling you what symptoms and conditions meet the standard for the law allowing prescription of marijuana.



What were we doing at Venice Beach, you ask? Well, before you change your opinion of us, let me tell you that we weren't getting body art or weed or anything like that. Rebecca missed a good bit of the spectacle, because she was still in the napping frame of mind.



The birthday boy and I ate pizza while we people-watched.



After we'd taken in enough vulgarity, we strolled past Muscle Beach (where people looking to get discovered for their abs like to work out) and then hit the sand ourselves. By this time, Rebecca was wide awake and ready to participate in the action. She's still a bit skeptical about all the waves coming in, but she has no qualms about the sand.



Look, here's my foot in the water of the Pacific (yeah, I know I need a pedicure).