Ketchup (catch up)

Howdy, it's been awhile. I haven't been extraordinarily busy since we last chatted, but here's what you've missed.
This weekend we went to Almería, a sleepy little puebla Southeast of Granada on the Mediterranean coast. We stayed in a fairly touristy hotel, but it was only about a 10 minute walk from the beach. I think the resounding winner of the whole weekend was the hotel dinner buffet. It was mostly seafood and it was all freshly caught, there was also an open bar so we enjoyed a nice bottle of red wine with our surf n' turf.
The beach was mostly gravel. By day, I skittered around from shade to shade and agonized over every moment I was in the intense sun, like a cockroach longing for the security found underneath the refrigerator.
The highlight of the trip was really when the sun went down. A big group of us brought drinks to the beach. The moonlight lit up the entire night, I don't think I'd ever seen it so bright. Mix that with the tranquil Mediterranean and good company and you have the makings of a great evening.
The general consensus was that the trip to the beach was just what the doctor ordered. We also all agreed that the last thing we really needed, with our extremely light class load (if you can even call our classes classes) and the once-in-a-lifetime experience of being set loose in Spain for 3.5 months, was a weekend getaway.
The other noteworthy tidbit from my week was, once again, open mic night. I think it's come full circle from me putting myself out there, to being a comfort activity that I look forward to every week. And I'm not sure that's a good thing. It's most certainly an American bar, although the owners are Irish. Open mic night may have run it's course (plus I'm running out of songs!)
I'll confess that I'm contemplating retirement not because I've reached a plateau of self-realization, but rather, I want to quit while I'm ahead. About 15 minutes before I took the stage, a friendly Canadian came up to me and said he really enjoyed my rendition of "Long Black Veil," that I had played last week. He was a burly fellow and he'd been living in Granada for about a year. I didn't catch his name, but he really made my night. I'm happy to take encouragement/praise from any stranger regardless of tone or credibility. But this guy seemed sincere AND he was quite talented himself. He took the stage for 3-4 songs and did a bang up job.
Tonight, I'm debating going to Granada 10, a discoteca in my neck-of-the-woods. Wednesday is ladies night and it's usually an absolute spectacle. Last week there were male dancers, one of whom had a rat tail down to his lower back. There are also group dancing activities led by the most flamboyantly fabulous MC I've ever seen. This time I promise pictures.

Saludos,

Erik