Before I begin, I just want to let my non-Californian peeps know (before you tell me I suck) that I understand your complaints may stem from being in a place you wouldn’t call home–you can’t help but compare the familiar with the unfamiliar, the logical with the stupid. And perhaps there is an underlying longing to be back home and to connect with other non-Californians who share this sentiment for comfort. Much respect.

<rant>

Everything is expensive.
Yes, we know. Thanks. We don’t enjoy it either. I know some peeps in Dublin who will gladly tell you to shut up.

There are no seasons.
Again, this is probably your desire for the familiar from your childhood back in non-California. I’m sorry the fall leaves here aren’t colorful enough for you. You can go to the mountains during winter to at least get your snow fix. But please, don’t take our sunshine for granted. I know some peeps in Dublin who will gladly tell you to shut up.

People don’t know how to drive here.
I am probably overgeneralizing, but I think if you drive around anywhere long enough, you will find shitty drivers. And if you live in a major city in California, here is my amateur sociological observation:

Abundance of job opportunities = Population growth (including people migrating from non-California) = More traffic = More shitty drivers

However, if you’re talking specifically about how Californians can’t drive in the rain, then yes, I agree with you completely–particularly in SoCal.

</rant>

That’s my 2 cents. Thank you and have a great day in the Golden State.

Funny how weekends just fill themselves up sometimes. I finally went to Great America for the first time after having been here in the Bay Area for…jeebus…almost 4 1/2 years now? I went with Ryan and some of his peeps. One of his friends, a San Jose native, says it’s not what it used to be–hence, the not-so-bad lines. And the pulling out of shiny Paramount left otherwise pretty fun rides with lackluster names, such as Flight Deck (previously called Top Gun). Not that I really mind, but uhh, something to say in a blog entry=). The day was hot, but we managed to jump on a couple slides at Boomerang Bay to cool off for a bit (required me to purchase a pair of board shorts at the park because–surprise surprise–I was wearing jeans). Invertigo was my favorite ride. Drop Tower Scream Zone scared the poop out of me…twice. Good times indeedy.

On sort of a whim, I headed down to the Gilroy Garlic Festival Sunday with almost the same Saturday crowd, minus a couple. I’d have to say the Garlic Festival is probably something you should go to once…or not. The hour-plus traffic just to get there had us second-guessing our decision to go at all. Then there was the ridiculous $12 just to get in. It was hot and crowded and dusty. The food was tasty, I have to say–of course, also fair-expensive. I had a deep fried fish taco, tried a bit of Ryan’s garlic shaved ice, and crab garlic fries. Missed out on the free garlic ice cream because the ridiculously long line scared me away. We went to a cooking demo, where they whipped up garlic fried calamari. Unfortunately, it was a look-smell-but-don’t-eat kind of deal. Boo. Kyle, our fearless-but-frustrated driver, felt the festival somewhat redeemed itself, as he found a Slash-looking leather hat that fit his noggin quite handsomely. All in all, I thought the festival was still fun. Oh, how the garlic lingers…

Yesterday I played croquet. Good times, but I managed to re-injure my wrist (I blame my wrist for me being the poorest player, of course=). Fortunately, I still have the magic cast I used to wear overnight, which healed it last time in a matter of weeks. I figure if I wear it again, it will heal in a matter of days, hopefully. I was going to go kiting, but probably a stupid idea with the wonky wrist. Hmm, working on my laptop is probably not the best thing for my wrist either.

Friday I saw Coldplay. I guess I’m not a big fan of in-between-song banter, so I didn’t really notice that they didn’t talk very much with the crowd like Koko did. As already blogged by Koko and Reid, they definitely put on a good show. Neat laser lights always help too. And I didn’t mind Chris Martin’s stumble-dancing stage antics. I was particularly impressed/amused when he kind of rolled upside down and didn’t miss a beat singing the song.

Oh, and I finally put up a blog disclaimer. Now I can say anything I want…bitches.

Matt’s Jitterbug post reminded me of another top-notch product I had a conversation with some co-workers about last week: Flowbee. Basically, Flowbee is a vacuum attachment you can use to suck and cut your hair. It was advertised via one of those infomercials I would watch as a kid over and over again simply because it was on…and what a neat idea the product was. And then somewhere along the way, I learned to question the quality of infomercial products, and the magic was forever lost…but infomercials can still be quite entertaining. Unfortunately, my co-workers and I were unable to find the original Flowbee infomercial online. We did, however, find a plethora of Youtube videos of people attempting to Flowbee their hair off. So no need for you take the plunge. Others have done it for you. Oh, and the Flowbee was invented by a carpenter from San Diego. So very proud.

The uncomfortable summer heat is probably partly to blame at the moment, but in general, I have a hard time getting to sleep, and I’m a light sleeper–a winning combo, indeed. Perhaps some of you can relate (and if I have no readers but myself, kindly disregard the “perhaps some of”). Counting sheep just don’t do it for me. I’d rather not rely regularly on sleeping pills to solve the problem. I was talking a little bit about this with a fellow sleep-deprived friend and then remembered someone’s suggestion once upon a time to try falling asleep to white noise. If you have a radio, simply tune it to your favorite non-station to receive happy white noise. I’ll try that tonight and see how it goes.

I like to think of this as more of a continuation of Charvan in home mode. Yesh, I’ve been home about 3 weeks, but can’t help but still feel a little off for whatever reason. This is my first weekend in a while that I’ve been able to do mostly nothing (hooray) and tinker a bit with my website. I did enjoy watching fireworks last night with Koko and Tilek. Speaking of which, hope peeps had a heppy 4th=). At some point, perhaps I will jump back into the long-deserted musicky part of my brain. But for now, I owe the outside a visit. Peash out…