Day 4.

It's beautiful outside. It's been sunny for a couple of weeks now, but the past couple of days have been HOT. It's also February. In northern California.

My friend reminded me that it's standard to have a warm spell in the winter in NorCal. But it's been a long time since it rained, and I don't ever remember the warm spells lasting quite this long. I mean, I'm enjoying it. I took a walk around Lake Merritt this morning, and it brought a smile to my face to see so many beautiful brown folks out doing the same, especially since I've been experiencing some severe Oakland hipster overload as of late. But still. The weather feels like . . . a hot, drunk person with a not-quite-right glint in their eye trying to pick me up at a bar. I'm tempted to just go with it and enjoy myself, but I'm pretty certain it's not good for me in the long run.

Another thing that's going on today is that multiple platoons of US Marines are deploying to Egypt. While no one has written a fancy news story about exactly why, I can make a pretty good guess. It's because people are tasting their freedom. And the US can't help but to intervene in that. Especially since an ousted Israel-friendly Mubarak and a free Egypt under new, democratic leadership would create some rifts in the relationship between the US and Israel, and thus less US control of the so-called "Arab world" of the Middle East and North Africa. Namely, their resources.

So the climate changes, and what get here is some extra sunshine in February. The political climate changes in the Middle East and what the people get is the West intervening in their stand for freedom. And it all has to do with resources and oil and money and power. Again. Sometimes I feel like I am having the same conversation with myself every single day.