Roller blades in Armenia and why sand is NOT overrated, even if it is just a bunch of tiny, little, rocks

So I saw a child trying to rollerblade on the the uneven, destroyed sidewalks of the dimats, my suburb I live in in Vanadzor. It was so funny, and sad. I haven't thought about rollerblading here at all, it just didn't even occur to me. But now I have realized the reason: it's not a good idea. You need smoothly paved roads or sidewalks, which you can maybe only count on in Yerevan, and otherwise you end up like this kid stumbling, having to stop to walk over the uneven pavement, meanwhile his friend is trucking on his bike but has to stop for his friend who has to keep stopping because of all the holes in the ground. Absoss.

And secondly, I'm being bored on facebook, because today is Armenian independence day and the second day in a row I have off work (after the absurd weekend) so I see some pictures of some beaches. Yeah yeah Armenian is landlocked blah blah whine whine, I'm usually okay, I have been so far but just wait for the first warm day of spring then I'll write a post about how much I miss the ocean/lake Erie and beaches. But I'm looking at these pictures of the beach, and I'm like whatever, nice beach. But then I see the people posing and there sprawled out on the beach and there's sand all over their jeans.

One of the things I hate about going to the beach is the sand getting everywhere when you're done. Gets in your hair, all over your clothes, your shoes, sandals, in the car, later in your apartment, just everywhere.

So I see this picture and it reminds me of that feeling, only now the sand everywhere is what I miss the most about the beach and the ocean. I want it clinging to my jeans, in my hair, underneath my fingernails, in my teeth, track it all through the house. What I once loathed has become the thing I miss the most. Strange. Perhaps . . . absurd? (Okay I'll get a thesaurus!)

And this is where I think I just really want a shower. I haven't showered in . . . I'm not even gone say how long. I didn't have water for some time but even having it back I just haven't had time with people visiting, and only having water in the evenings and having to go through this whole preparation, boiling the water, I just couldn't find the time.

I just really want to shower, and showering off sand is an awesome feeling because you feel even cleaner because before you felt even dirtier (with all the sand everywhere) by comparison than you were.

Time to eat and then bucket bathe!

-Joseph