good times, bad times.

There are times when a vacation is just what you need. Even if you're not technically escaping from anything, and life at home is actually pretty darn good.

Then there are times when you're sick from the moment you leave home. By the time your plane touches down, you're on the verge of puking. A few hours later, you are, by the grace of God, in an emergency room somewhere in the desert, rehydrating fluids literally coursing through your veins.

The vomiting will stop -- things will be looking up. A doctor will prescribe for you some antibiotics, to deter the progression of what might or might not have been a minor infection. All will seem right once again.

You will venture out into the desert, where you will be badly burned by the sun. You will spend the next few days prickly and miserable, hot and cold, and itchy.

This has been one of those vacations.

Regardless, I'm having a grand old time. We spent two bad days and two good days in Twentynine Palms, seeing friends and visiting Joshua Tree, and now we're in LA. I made Marc stop at a place called Cyberjava because I couldn't walk anymore. He's a good guy. He says he believes he suggested stopping. I say nobody's supposed to walk this much in LA.

Erik's put us up for the night at The Standard, for which we are really not attractive enough. We're pretending we're eccentric celebrities. I'm regretting the hasty explanation I provided for the valet who delivered our luggage to the room: "We don't usually travel with Saltine crackers..."

A few steps away is the Hollywood Walk of Fame, so now I think we'll go for some more walking, and try to guess what some of those more "mainstream" celebrities are known for.

I'm using my new (and tragically hip) Lomo camera to document this adventure, so I probably won't be posting pictures unless I can convince Marc that we need a new scanner. We do have one, but it was a hand-me-down and we've never found a suitable power adaptor. Actually, we're staying at Erik's from tomorrow on, so maybe we'll take advantage of his generosity and use his scanner.