| July 14, 2002 A Tomato-free Catch-up Ok, so long time, no rant, I know, so here's a (hopefully) quick (and mostly painless) recap on the happenings in good ole Hemet since last time. So...went to the wedding of a guy I went to high school with, nice wedding, but the whole idea of people my age being married is so amazingly mind boggling. That day had a visit from Suje, gave her the tour of the wonder that is Hemet (including the much commented on Starbucks drive thru). Went to a huge Fourth of July party at my cousin's house...tons of people there, didn't know most of them, my other cousin (sister of host cousin) put on a fireworks show in the street, and because he was pretty smashed by that time my cousin whose house we were at, didn't really care, even though he's super conscientious fire fighter guy. That weekend we went to Laughlin and stayed with my aunt and uncle at their house in Bullhead City which is on the Arizona side of the river. Spent a day on Lake Mojave, got burned to a super crisp, but am now enjoying that 15 minute window where the burn turns into a tan before transitioning into the trademark blinding whiteness. Went to some casinos, hit the blackjack tables....that's right people, I broke the law, I'm a complete delinquent, and if in the future I become a felon, you now know how it all started. They say crime doesn't pay, but on our last day there I had a pretty good run and walked away with 50 bucks. I didn't get carded once, I heard other people got carded, but they didn't bother me...possible conclusions, 1) I have the steely look of the criminal I now am, or 2) I just look really, really old...further conclusion, I wish there's a choice 3. Had a battery acid incident in the back seat of my car, which has resulted in that seat having some added character, and my having something to hold over my friend Mark's head for years to come. That's the gist of it, and aside from all those oh so exciting happenings, I've been scorekeeping basketball games, trying to save money to possibly buy a car with, if I ever manage to unfreak myself out (but at least $300/ month for at least the next 5 years of my life, that's a huge commitmment, who knows what I'll be doing in 4 or 5 years, I'm too young to be tied down with this huge thing.....dude, this is what guys must feel like when the word marriage comes up). Ok, so back to the show, where was I....scorekeeping, yeah, yesterday I spent seven hours in a hot, A/C-free gym, that was undoubtedly more fun than is legally possible..ooh look at me go, breaking the law left and right. Ok, so scorekeeping, check we've covered that, I got a job with an in-home senior care company, haven't started yet, who knows when I will, and aside from that I've just watched alot of movies, supervised the cleaning of my back seat, hung out with my few friends that decided to come home this summer, and done a whole lot of nothing otherwise. So that is what I've filled my days with. And more fun is instore, yes indeed, tomorrow I get to go and get immunized for my trip to China, I don't mind shots, but I'd rather be breaking a law somewhere. |
| "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" by Me |
| June 21, 2002 An Exuberant Use of Questioning Exclamation I have been home for about a week now, just long enough to be filled in or see for myself all the strange new things there are to see. Therefore, let us first begin with this, Starbucks in Hemet?!?!? Strange, you think I would remember hell freeing over. So now that Starbucks has infiltrated Hemet, I think it is time for me to start buying into those theories about Starbucks and Global domination, I have officially seen the light. Ok, Starbucks aside, and while we're at it let's forget about Panda Express, Dairy Queen and the forthcoming Wendy's, FarmerBoy's, and Pier 1, and simply ask, WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? Can we focus for just one minute on the fact that the entire Hemet governing board have become possessed by some higly commercialized, franchise-loving alien species? I'm telling you, this is some crazy shit. I suppose it might be best for those you not familiar with "H-town" if I give you a little Hemet 411, so that you too may begin to see the strangeness of it all. Yes, it is true that way back when Hemet was a bustling farm community, complete with railroad station (ooh, ahh). Years passed, the hot springs in the foothills of the Hemet-San Jacinto Valley became less of a clebrity draw and Hemet was once again a small farming community. Fast-forward to a time beloved of many, a time of hippies and protest that somehow melted into a Travolta obsessed haze. It was during these days that Hemet became a haven for the retired, a mecca for the silvering set, Palm Springs for the working class. And even with the coming of the Reagan era, and the migration of more families into the valley, the Senior Citizens managed to keep fairly tight control over all aspects of city government. Over the years, the Families to Seniors ratio has become more and more even, and it's probably safe to assume that somewhere down the line Families gained the majority, but it's still safer to say that the town has mostly been ruled by the Senior Citizens. So bearing in mind the traditional make-up of the city governing body, and the fact that as much as I can remember there has always been an undercurrent of mistrust of large franchises and a lobbying for smaller family owned businesses (This may well be the case, and despite some franchise type places that have folded up shop, there is a fair amount of big business in Hemet, even though everyone swore they wouldn't last [in the case of Home Depot: "Who needs that much hardware?"] ) Ok, back to unparenthectical typing, is it even kinda clear why this whole Starbucks thing is so mindboggling? I mean Starbucks is so not Hemet, it's just so weird to drive the Hemet Valley sMall and see it here. Craziness, I say. And just when you think you can't process the thought any further, they throw you one more curveball Yes, it's true, there is a Starbucks in Hemet, and it has a drive-up window!?!?!?! What's that all about?!?!?!? |
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| August 1, 2002 Cool So countdown to China has begun....Getting excited about it, it's going be really cool, but enough about that, let's talk about something else. You know what's really cool, Jack-in-the-box commercials. What can I say, I dig 'em. You know what's also really cool? BBC America, yeah, in the words of people who live by these things known as beaches, "it's totally bitchin'". Yes, it's my latest obsession, and believe me, I'm quite an addict, I can't get enough of that stuff. But, it's not a totally time-wasting experience, I'm learning, really I am. For instance, I can now clearly distinguish Irishmen from Scots and other Brits. And thanks to shows like Changing Rooms and Groundforce, I now know how to redesign a room or garden in two days on a limited budget. You may say to yourself, didn't you learn that from the endless hours you and Suje spent watching Trading Spaces. In theory, yes, this seems a plausible statement, but the problem is this, I only was able to focus on the actual learning and idea gathering half the time, only when the girl carpenter was on the show, the other times I was a tad distracted by the cute carpenter-man. What can I say, I'm easily distracted, a problem of those of us with selectively short attentions spans, but did I mention he was cute? Needless to say, it's not so much of a problem on the English version, and thus is more conducive for learning, which is, of course, my main purpose in life. Now for things that are not cool.....the fact that only half of Hemet gets certain radio stations and the other half gets others, and my car radio has been known to be possesed of the devil and come and go as it sees fit, and I have to ride in silence or static, neither of which is preferrable. Having all your CDs but the two you want because you left them in the computer which is now in a box in the garage, and not being able to listen to the Ataris or your supercool jazz compilation CD because you can't summon quite enough desire to go to the work of retrieving them and are thus left to listen to spotty radio reception, now that is also definitely not cool. Classic "Saturday Night Live"s, cool for sure, um Conan O'Brien,hmm, let me see, cool, c'mon people as if there was a doubt. Being awake, dressed and somewhat coherent before 11 am, definitely not cool. Turner Classic Movies, very cool. Cool: Days when there is cereal and milk left for breakfast. Not Cool: When there is only milk or only cereal left because Father or Mother or brothers finished cereal or milk, somewhere in the mythical time known as morning. When your midnight snack is Magic Mormon potatoes, that's cool, and tasty. The sound my cell phone/alarm makes when I have it on silent mode and the alarm goes off and it rattles on the shelf and wakes me up and I think the house is fallen down, that I could do with out. But it's ok because that was a run-on sentences and in case you were wonder, those are so very cool. Oh and did I mention Jack-in-the-Box commercials? They're cool. |