So, I finally made it back to the beach today. But, while the FP went off on his run, I just went for a walk. No taking chances after at least 2 weeks of no exercise. It was nice to get out. It was really windy and kind of cool though. No one was laying out or anything. There were a lot of people out though on the broadwalk, surprisingly.
One thing I noticed around the beach are all the conflicting signs. Like at the Turtle Bay Cafe. The sign on the railing says, "Please enjoy your beverage. Be informed that alcoholic beverages are not allowed on the broadwalk or on the beach." Or something like that. It's a little confusing. Should I enjoy my illegal beer or not.
And then the pet thing. There was a bag dispenser (empty) on one fence by the broadwalk for picking up dog poop. You know, it said please clean up after your pet. Then another sign, across the broadwalk would say "no pets allowed." So, I guess you are not allowed to bring your dog to the beach, but if you do, you better damn well pick up it's shit!
After my walk, I went and just stood on the beach. Whenever it's windy, there's way more trash on the beach. I went to pick up a Naked juice drink label, and it blew across the sand, past the garbage can. Luckily, it got stuck on the sea oats. Kind of ironic, no?
The car was kind of messy, so I figured there probably was a plastic bag in there. So, I went back to look. I found one, and when I was walking back to the beach with it, the wind picked up even worse. It was like a wind sock, and I thought it was going to rip. Anyway, I did my civic duty, and picked up trash along the beach and put it in the bag. Of course, the wind was blowing the bottle caps back out of the bag, so I had to hold it closed.
Before I had gotten the back, I saw some flip flops or sandals washed up on shore. When I came back with the bag, I didn't see them. There was a plastic soda bottle that was full of layers of earth. It looked like it was old, and I wondered if it was already part of the ecosystem that I should leave. Anyway, it got washed out when I was thinking about it, so I didn't have to decide. Yeah, I know it's plastic, but maybe lots of organisms had made it their home and depended on that bottle to be tossing around in the Atlantic Ocean.
Then the FP showed up, so it was time to go. But not before I picked up an empty liquor pint. And nearby it was a closed jar with clear yellow liquid in it. The FP pointed out how it must be "urine". There's something peculiar about him saying, "is that a jar of urine?" For some reason, the use of the word urine instead of piss sounds uncharacteristic of the FP. Anyway, he said how people on boats could piss on a jar, so that's probably what it was. And then he looked in horror and asked, "You're not going to pick that up are you?" And, I replied, "I'm going to pick it up with the bag, not my bare hands." I reasoned to myself that people pick up poop with plastic bags (and these events took place before I read the blog theicingonthecrazycake.wordpress.com which was about dog poop), so I could pick up a jar of "urine" with a plastic bag. So I did, and then I threw the bag in the garbage.
And, yeah, it may seem pretty hopeless for one person to pick up a few bottle caps, a liquor bottle and a bottle of piss from the beach. But, that's a little less trash that I have to look at on my beach. That's how I look at it. It's like saying, there's so many leaves in the bottom of the pool, and the leaves are going to keep falling, that there's no reason to skim the leaves off the top of the pool. But, when I actually get the right connecter for the vacuum hose, that will be a few less leaves for me to clean up later. I mean, life isn't about completing one project and moving on to another to never return to the first project again. It's about maintenance.
I'm not lecturing you, I'm lecturing myself. Whenever a job seems so overwhelming, it's easy to just give up and not do it. But, you know, you gotta plow through, right. You can't just be stuck buried under the snow until spring, can you?
How in the hell am I going to be able to work in a kitchen again, if I ever get a job?!?
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