Today was a pretty nice day: the afternoon was beautiful. It was sunny, with large fluffy clouds floating overhead, and those clouds, so innocent-looking at first, actually started to drizzle water on my head as I was walking back from the gym today. At first, I thought maybe it had just been a bird dropping... I never would've expected those whispy, weak-looking things to be capable of rain. But I felt more drops, and, sure enough, it was sprinkling. When I got home, it started raining at a moderate pace, and I had to run out onto our balcony to watch the rain fall, for rain in the sunlight is not something you see very often. But the suns rays were coming in from the side and underneath the high clouds, and the blue sky was shining through the whisps above. I looked up and searched, trying to find the cloud that was the cause of the wetness, but the clouds ahead were so thin, with blue peeking through, that it couldn't have been them. Perhaps the wind blew the rain over to us. Nevertheless, it was really beautiful and fulfilling to just stand out there and was the rain fall as the sun lit up the shining branches. And then the familiar smell of ozone drifted up from the newly damp soil, and I breathed in my favorite scent, utterly at peace. The sky was so beautiful, patchy clouds and blue sky and sunny rain... I badly wanted to run outside with a camera and take pictures. But I opted for just relaxing and enjoying it as an experience.

Today I felt like I was at some kind of summer camp, like the ones I'm most fond of from my memories of childhood. First off, my apartment has the air of a cabin about it, surrounded by the woods, isolated, beautiful. The rain just made it even more so. And then my apartment-mates were both home today, and I was enjoying a nice time lounging peacefully in the living room with them, fresh air coming in through the open balcony door, sunlight, rain, a pleasant physical exhaustion and cleanliness... it was refreshing. The only thing it was missing was for me to go and have a long, restful, dream-filled sleep, like the one you described. That would have made it perfect.

As it was, Kim made homemade chiles rellenos, and while she was cooking these homemade delicacies, me, her, Imani, and Imani's study partner/friend Maria had a long, long discussion about physical attraction. Kim and Maria had said that they were shallow in the way they chose their men because, they said, if the man in question wasn't physically attractive then that was it - they wouldn't be in a relationship with someone who wasn't good-looking. Imani was concerned about this. He said, how is a guy like me supposed to get a girl if they all reject men they don't find good-looking? It made him more worried about his looks. Meanwhile I voiced my own view on the subject: I didn't do it that way. In fact, I'm just the opposite: I don't even take looks into consideration. The girls were very skeptical of this and asked, "So when you met what's his name - Ricardo? - you didn't find him attractive?" I said, no. I had originally met him in dance class, and had noticed him because of the carefree way he danced - I had liked that he was able to dance like that without being embarrassed. Looks had nothing to do with it. And they still don't. I'm largely indifferent about the way people look.

This argument went on for at least two hours. We were all enjoying it despite it getting a bit heated at times. Several times, Imani and Maria would raise their voices, trying to make a point while the other tried to contradict what the other was saying. Kim, meanwhile, cooked, and occasionally nodded and added a comment or two. I sat there and listened: I thought all of it was extremely interesting. And then I posed possibly the most important question to Maria: "If a guy had everything you look for in a guy - everything you wanted - EXCEPT for looks, would you have a relationship with him?" She said no. But my question opened up a whole new line of thought, and eventually Kim and Maria conceded that sometimes the attraction wasn't all sexual. They said, you can grow to be sexually attracted to someone after you get to know them. And they also said that it was also more of mannerisms that made a person attractive: how confident they acted in themselves. I was happy - my question had the desired effect of making them think and change their minds a little, to see how one might come to love someone without them being physically attractive, initially.

It was a good, good night. I love discussions like that. I like seeing how other people see the world.