She sells sea shells by the sea shore

So it's Memorial Day weekend and Philadelphia is EMPTY! Everyone has gone down to The Shore. Not the beach, The Shore. That's right, anytime between Memorial and Labor Day weekend, all the big city folk toodle on over to The Shore. The Shore is not any one place in particular, it's the all encompassing term for any place that has long stretches of sand and salty water. What any one in CA would call the beach. Roomie and I think it's so funny that no one calls it the beach, apparently it's not posh enough. I also learned that you have to pay for the privilege of sitting on public property. At most places sun bathers and ocean swimmers alike must shell out around $7 for a day pass for the beach. The money supposedly goes to pay the life guards and for general upkeep of The Shore. I learned this little factoid about two weeks ago and it still outrages me. It's the beach! Shouldn't it be free to all? You also aren't allowed to bring your dog or barbecue or have bonfires. The upside to all of this is the water is supposed to be really warm and pleasant to swim in. All my memories of ocean water is walking in up to my ankles and scampering out because it's so icy cold. Perhaps the $7 is worth it to be able to walk farther into the Atlantic than I can in the Pacific.

Anyway, the city is pretty much dead. Usually there are people out and about on the weekend shopping, seeing the sites or lounging at a cafe, but everyone has escaped the heat of the city for The Shore. Getting to work today took less time than normal since the bus was on time and I didn't have to fight my way walking down the street. Work was pretty slow, but it felt great to be in an air conditioned building.

In life adventure news, I tried sushi with raw fish for the first time last night. I've had sushi a couple times before, but if it had any meat in it, it was cooked. But, I decided that I needed to stay on my roll of broadening my horizons and conquer my fear of uncooked food.
Here's the thing, I don't like things that aren't the way they're supposed to be. In my humble opinion, if I'm going to eat meat, it should be cooked all the way through. When I order a steak, I order it medium well. If I'm going to eat vegetables, I want them raw because that's the way they're supposed to be. I think fake meat made out of tofu is silly (though I totally applaud vegetarians for their commitment) and trying to convince me that it's real meat is even sillier.
Anyway, we ordered a roll with raw tuna and eel along with a shrimp tempura roll, California roll, and something called a Mexican roll (which was basically a spicier California roll) just to be safe. I have to saw that as long as I wasn't focusing on the fact that I was eating raw meat, it was pretty good. The tuna kinda melted in my mouth which was pretty tasty.

I wouldn't say that I conquered my anxieties of undercooked meat, but I do know that I can consume it and not drop dead the next day.