Levon sells cartoon balloons in town

Last night was mini golf, G&T's and nachos at Eli's Bar, putting Sarah on a bus and riding bikes down Hennepin to Nordeast, seeing the Pioneers, Mr. Freezies and the Chipmunks Punk Rock album at Jeff's, karoke at the Vegas Lounge (1am, Elton John's Levon), and a ride home in a Saab station wagon. It was hotter than it's been in a long time, but it felt so good that even the mosquitoes were a mere annoyance. Isn't this what college was supposed to be like? Seeing so many familiar faces on the streets jump starts all those social instincts that laid dormant through that long, long winter. Summer in the Twin Cities is first rate - there are so many people crawling out of their winter shelters and basking in the radiance of the summer sun. I declare the last 8 months "The Time of the Cave". It's good to venture out and see what is beyond those shadows.

Minnesotans do a fantastic job at summer because we spend (at least) 7 months a year running between car and front door, bus stop and office cubes. In all my 6 years in Southern California, all I learned was that 12 months of mind blowing weather breeds a special brand of elitist apathy. Who wants to drive from Venice to Fairfax to see a movie? Does anyone really want to try to park in Manhattan Beach on a weekend? Nobody walks anywhere, bikes don't exist off college campuses. It doesn't seem that anyone in Southern California wants to run into friends on the street or meet them on the bike path. What ever happened to dialogue and learning from other people? Sometimes I think it's been replaced by TV shows and internet monotony. Robots. They will get us all.