3 posts tagged “california”

Yesterday morning, I saw something that I have not seen since we moved here 49 days ago: someone carrying an umbrella!  I was in Whole Foods with a cart full of stuff, but I couldn't resist the urge to run outside and look heavenward -- so I parked the cart and did just that.  There were white clouds in the sky, moving quickly, and I said: "Look, Dash, CLOUDS!" 

And the elderly lady passing me paused.  She tapped me on the arm.  "Excuse me, you're not from here, right?"

"No, m'am," I answered, "we just moved here."

She looked heavenward.  "Just so you know, dear, that's the fog blowing away, not clouds."

"Oh," I said.  "I thought maybe it was going to rain."

She actually chuckled at me.  "Not yet, hon.  'Bout another month."

I smiled at her.  "Well then, back to our shopping, Dash," I said to him, and to her, "You have a nice day."

It is very, very, very strange to live in a place where there are never clouds in the sky-blue sky and where it goes months on end without raining.  The Guv claims to have seasonal affective disorder -- which is part of the reason we're here in Silicon Valley and not in Seattle.  But now I think I have developed that disorder... I miss the freakin' rain!  I think I have a psysiological need to be watered every so often (by God, not by the shower)!  The other thing missing from our town in Silicon Valley, by the way, are African Americans.  We're definitely in a more diverse environment -- there are a ton of every different race of Asians, lots of Mexicans and Latin Americans -- but there are very few black people.  I wonder why... (Seriously, why?  It's weird.)

In any event, we're still loving it here in California, more than ever, really... Like the nice lady from Whole Foods, we're finding a lot of helpful, nice people here -- people who lend a hand or information without seeming rude or imposing, except maybe for this one crazy preschool co-op lady, but that's a story for another post... or not, so they don't kick us out of there...

Since I am Californian now, I have to up my tech game and am aiming to have my next post appear on the new and improved Rox and Roll... I'll announce it here when it's ready to roll!  'Till then, hang loose...

(For Thoughts on California and Californians: Part One, click here.)

Three guys, Crooked Hat, Baggy Pants, and Earrings had the following conversation right in front of me:

Earrings: Yo, Crooked Hat!  Whattup, man?  I heard you got locked!  (Slaps, hugs.)

Crooked Hat: I did, yo, but they kicked me, man, they kicked me right outta there.  I didn't even get to say whassup to Ching and Doughboy, man, I didn't even get to see my boys before they kicked me.

Baggy Pants: It ain't right, yo, it ain't right.

Earrings: But your boy still locked?

Crooked Hat: Yeah, he still locked, and that's problems, man.  A lotta my stuff still at his house, and his mom, his mom don't like me, man.  His mom don't like the boys.

Earrings: So what you goin' to do?

Crooked Hat: We gotta get in the house, man, and get my stuff.

Baggy Pants: We gonna do it, yo, we gonna get your stuff.

Earrings: I'm in.  What we gotta do?

Crooked Hat: Call me, man, we gotta make a plan.  We gotta make a plan for when mom's gone.

Baggy Pants: We make a plan, yo, we gonna get your stuff.

Earrings: I'm in man, call me, I'm in.  (Slaps, hugs.)

Crooked Hat: Alright, yo, I'll call you.  We gotta get that shit soon.

Baggy Pants: We get that shit soon, yo, we get that shit tonight you want us to.

Earrings: Say the word.  Call me.  (Slaps, hugs.)  Later. (exits)

Then Crooked Hat and Baggy Pants take their seats next to me.

*****

My reaction?  I'm sure that Crooked Hat just needed to pick up his baseball card collection and the DS games he lent his incarcerated BFF, right?  Because I'm sure I did NOT just hear that conversation in full voice in the middle of a DMV teaming with coppers, right?  RIGHT?

Since tonight marks my second week as a Californian, I thought I'd share my first ten scientific observations of life here on California's Peninsula:

1. The sky is blue, cloudless, and brightly sunny every single freakin' day.

2. I need to break my habit of obsessively checking the weather channel every morning, noon, and night -- a habit that intensified in Vermont this past summer as it rained so heavily so often -- because the weather doesn't change.  People tell me that it'll change in a couple of months.  Really?

3. Probably because of (1), the people here are the happiest people I've ever been around in my life.

4. Also because of (1), people bike and walk everywhere.  There is still too much traffic, though.

5. People I don't even know have my back.  When I shared with a friend-of-a-friend whom I just met that I was planning to drive my son to a neighboring town for preschool, she listed a host of fantastic reasons why I don't want to do that, then provided me with a list of local co-ops that she believed were taking applications.  Now, instead of losing at least 40 minutes driving round-trip three times per week, I'll be biking a mile and a half each way.  Not bad, not bad at all.

5. a. There are two types of preschools here: drop-off preschools and co-op preschools.  Drop-off preschools cost quadruple what co-ops cost.  Many of the co-ops are funded in part by the local school districts, but they require a ton of parental involvement and "adult education."  I figured it's a great way to meet other parents, and save a ton of money, so co-op, it is.
5. b. Preschool is going to be hugely important to me here because of the price of childcare.  Nannies make $50,000 per year at minimum, usually around $25/hour to start.  Babysitters run about $15 an hour.  Twelve-fourteen year-olds make $8 an hour.  Looks like Taylor and Grace will have some new adolescent friends, plus it looks like the Guv and I will only date when a grandparent is visiting!
5. c. That said, moms here actually do seem to value -- and take -- "me time."  I'm not seeing a lot of keeping-up-with-Martha-Stewart mommy-martyrs. 

6. People actually "get" me here.  I have to get glasses, and I was bantering with the optician about life here in Silicon Valley.  I kept trying on "safe" style after "safer" style, and she finally took my pile of frames, put it aside, made her own pile of frames, and said, "You're edgier than all of these" as she handed me a pair of Danish frames that fit my style and my face.  I don't think I'm as cool as those glasses, but maybe I'll become cool by wearing them.  Ha!  (Picture to follow in a week or so!)

7. I'm not quite sure how the state has ever elected a Republican for anything, because I have yet to see a McCain sign anywhere while Obama signs multiply like rabbits daily.

7.a. I have heard a lot of people talking intelligently about politics rather than just Bush-bashing.  Actually, I have heard a lot of people talking intelligently about a lot of things.  When I heard that 84% of parents at my daughter's school have graduate degrees, I wasn't sure what that would "mean" -- and am figuring out that it just means that there are a lot of smart, thoughtful people here.  I am in intellectual heaven, and I love it.

 
8. The ladies here are not all tall, blonde and sculpted from silicone and Botox.  Apparently that's LA, not the Peninsula!

9. My LLBean barn coat marks me as an "outsider," according to the Guv, who informed me that he'll be buying me a softshell, whatever that is, to wear instead.  (I think a high-tech jacket will go better with my Danish glasses, too!)

8.a. I will need my softshell whenever we go to Half Moon Bay, which is the coldest beach I've ever been to in August in my life.  I will need both a softshell and a turtleneck to run around San Francisco, which is bitter cold after 7 pm. 

10. I am going to be very, very happy here.  We all are. 

(I will draft ten more thoughts after another couple of weeks...)