just one look

all i've done for work in the past week has been to respond to two simple emails (how sad is it that this is worth mentioning?), so despite having to lug my laptop to colorado just in case, i had a weeklong holiday. and perfect timing, because the day i arrived it was in the 80s and sunny and i could almost believe the assertion that all these coloradans were making: that boulder gets 300 sunny days a year. but are they warm? who cares? the place is freaking beautiful and almost makes up for not having an ocean with the flatirons jutting up on the west side of town and a creek running through the middle.

my dear friend CP has lived there since leaving california more than a decade ago and graciously picked me up from the airport, put me up, lent me his truck, showed me around, introduced me to friends, treated me to an awesome indoor skydiving session, and took (admittedly skeptical) me to the sushi bar where his friend is manager and sushi chef. the sushiyasan mentioned that their fish is shipped daily from tokyo's famous tsukiji market. well OK then. i WILL have another order of shiro maguro.

CP's short film made the cut into his film school's end-of-semester student show, which we went to see friday night. we both took late afternoon naps and overslept and ran a few cars off the highway tearing over to the school to miss only the first film. which wouldn't have been a big deal had it not been HIS excellent film opening the show. i saw it later at home but was disappointed not to see it on the big screen (not nearly as disappointed as the filmmaker, naturally).

i also rang up and had lunch with a fellow spy i'd never met before. she was really nice, and over wood-fired pizza and local beer we talked about my possibly dogsitting/subletting while she and her fiance go on assignment in madagascar (so. very. jealous. must learn to speak french properly). they have a plaster mermaid from louisiana on their porch, so they struck me as people i might enjoy getting to know.

the basic index: quality local microbrew, gorgeous setting, charming town, clean air, easy access to trails, good coffee, high concentration of artists and healer and active types, 300/365 days of sun, 5:1 men-to-women ratio, proximity to an international airport. plus one person who cares about my welfare. so i think i'll run away to the hills for awhile.