August 19, 2002

Today is the day to keep the toothpaste inside your mouth.

This was, I believe, my fourth or so trip to California in my lifetime. I've only gone to the Sacramento area, with a few side trips to San Francisco, so I have no idea what LA looks like.

California is sort of like a warp zone to me. A lot of it looks the same as my town, but then again, something has to be different; after all, it's a four-hour trip away. There's the overgrowth, and the palm trees. There are chains that we do not have in the Midwest, like Carl's Jr. and Smog n' Go. The water tastes a little different. There is less of it, as well. You feel a twinge more guilt running your air conditioning at full blast.

But then, there is the California-ness of it, too, that stereotypical stuff you try to pretend isn't there but in fact, it is, and that's why it's a stereotype, although a nice one. I might just be one of Brian Wilson's Midwest Farmer's Daughters but I am still blown away by the fact that practically everybody there has a swimming pool. Although I've changed my mind since then, if you had asked me when I was ten, which I'd rather have, a swimming pool or a college education, well, duh, you can't invite all your friends over for pizza around the quad and play Marco Polo afterwards.

And then there's the air. Maybe this is a good reason why I haven't gone to Southern California but the air is heavier and sweeter in California. I climbed out of my aunt's pool and dried off with a towel that had been sitting outside and it smelled like flowers, fruit, and sun.

And now it's raining outside back here in Chicago and I must walk to the El.

But hey, at least we have water.