From the Road

Or Wow....Ya'll have trees here don't you?

This is a bit of a ramble, so ignore or bear with me as you see fit.

So here I am in undisclosed college town in the south, just for the week to find a place to live and get everything squared away with the school. I landed at a major airport and drove 4 hours to get here. It's not as small as the town I grew up in (which when discussing just its size, my brother jokingly refers to as "East Buttfuck Egypt, not just Buttfuck Egypt but East Buttfuck Egypt..."), but it sure as heck is different than where I have spent the last 19 years of my life.

For one thing, trees. L.A. is planted smack dab in the middle of a desert. Unless you are gaining elevation such as in the Angeles National Forest, any tree you see has been planted and metticulously manicured during it's short life. The color palette of the city is beige, grey and sage green. Well, winter is comming on here and though a lot of the trees are bare, it's honest-to-gawd wild growth. Hallelujah! It is a very beautiful town.

But it is small town. I never took to L.A. the way my siblings did. My brother especially is an L.A. person; West L.A., restraunts, galleries and plays, trying to be a photogrpaher. When he landed at LAX I think it was like finding home. And my sister is a Southern California Girl. Different animal altogether. Loves the outdoorsy stuff, the multi-culturalism, and so on. I love the multicultural aspect of where I have lived and consider myself blessed to have experienced it first hand. Last week I sat in the board room for a staff meeting with at least 8 different ethnicities and at least 3 major religions that none of us even took notice of everyday. That's kick-ass man: When it's so natural it's not even an issue.

Oh, I did the L.A. clubbing and the whirl-a-gig (most of it before I was legal) until I burned out on it completely and I have enjoyed the museums and the the coast and Catalina (which rules once you get out of Avalon), and having a movie theatre 5 minutes from my house, and Trader Joes, but I've been there, done that and ready to slow down a bit. Different scene, different part of America. But still it's a big change and I'll freely admit I'm feeling some "moving out of my comfort zone" twinges.

And this place...I'll tell you folks. Wow. I'll tell you what happened today. I was sitting in an office of a property management company (chewing gum *duh*) talking over what I was looking for with a very nice lady when a temperary crown I had popped out.

I can't imaginge what the look must have been on my face.

Finished up the chat with the crown tucked in my cheek like a squirrel, went to a local pharmacist who pointed me in the direction of the family care center who shuffled me right in and cemented the thing back on in 15 minutes. I don't think it was off for more than a hour and everyone was so nice.

Never would have happened in L.A. Noooo way. If I could get into a dentist that day withouth insurance, I would have waited hours.

Now while I was in the city center I did go in the Library (beautiful building) and checked out the history section (O.K. not stellar, very focused American history and WWII, but how anyone assuemd that a biography of Joan Collins qualifies as history I don't know) and looked over their Religion section which was almost exclusively Christian, with one rack of 4 shelves of 4 feet devoted to Judasim and the only referrence to the nature entwined religions are a handfull of "World Mythology" books.

Help meeeee.

But in wandering around on campus I saw some students from different backgrounds so I am not too concered. Nobody looked at me crosseyed when I ordered a veggie burger at a local cafe/lunch place near campus. (And I have to having lived in Los Angeles for so long, that was the best damn veggie burger I have ever had). ;)

But living in L.A. is living in urban sprawl that stretches on forever. I mean it, you can drive for 3 hours in any direction from my house and still not leave the city. ('Cuz of the quakes, L.A. couldn't build up so it built out.) It's going to be nice living with it again. And while it will be nice to get away from the traffic (Heck, even drving through the capital at rush hour was nothing, NO-THING, compared to spending 45 minutes every morning and again every evening to travel 35 miles round trip), I'm going to miss it. L.A. sucks, but California is a very beautiful state in its way, be you a desert rat (something I never took too) or a coastie. But it's not like I'm never coming back, so it's all good. And I know the Atlantic definately has her charms, touchy-not-to-be-trifled-with-charms for sure, but charms all the same.

On To The News...

Will Someone Please Tell Mrs. Hollaway to STFU?

Enough. I felt a lot of pity for the family up until this point but...Enough. The poor woman was stupid enough to allow her 18 year old daughter to go on a non-school sanctioned, vasty undersupervised trip OVERSEAS after obviously not giving her daughter the common sense nor the skills to deal with such freedom. I'm saying not that the Holloway family deserves the loss and pain they have suffered, far from it. Nor am I excusing the perpatrators of such a henious crime, but I am saying that this entire "Boycott Aruba" BS is just a band-aid for her own guilt and cupability in what happened to her daughter.

You know how many young girls have been murdered or gone missing since Natllies disappearance...here in the U.S.? Hell of a lot more than one. Last year the FBI reported a that violent crime had reacted a low point it had not seen in 40 years, yet still there were 16,137 murders in the U.S. 10 percent of which were children 18 and under. Where is the moral outrage for them? Where it the demand for justice for them? Where the intense news coverage for them? Natalie has got her own damn FBI task force, a lot more than most missing children, who were never dumb enough to drink themselves into such a position, ever get.

I used to feel quite sorry for the Holloway family, but it high time they got off their high horse and take a good hard look at the part they played in Natalie's being where she was before they go blaming an entire country for their grief.

You know it wouldn't be one of my blogs if it didn't have a rant... :D

Take care all, I'll talk to you when I talk to you.