Surfed. Went out footsore, came back more so. The waves were big boomers with a NW swell. I was out at almost low tide, with the tide falling. Pretty close to a neap tide too, so it was breaking almost all the way out at the jetty tip, and I could practically walk out that far. Shortly though, the big curling waves, which were cross-grained and choppy from a SW wind, turned into sorta flat, crumbly stuff. Didn't have much luck, but even a bad day on the water is a pretty good day.

I limped back out and stopped to check out the Venice graffiti walls.The walls have seasons of their own - in the Winter it's mostly artists that out there painting them up. In true ephemera style, on any given week it's something different, always bright and big - and sometimes very interesting; hip-hop samurai woodcut paintings, crazy caricatures, political slogans, you name it. Mostly in the Summer though, people just paint their names in big graffiti-style letters. It's colorful, but not very engaging, really, unless you're that guy. There's a big sign that says "painting by permit only" and I wonder if that isn't just a forlorn hope. I mean, by definition it's graffiti, right? Can you imagine being the chump that gets the citation for painting graffiti on the graffiti wall?

I saw my favorite sea-bird today, too, a cormorant. At least I think it was - a juvenile because it was light gray, rather than the typical dark brown or blackish-gray that is common around here. There's a huge block party on my street next weekend, and the neighborinos are all gearing up for it, but alas, I'll be down in Irvine. It'll probably still be going on by the time I get back, though, which should be cool.