California, Californiiiiiaaaaaaaa, here we come!

It's been a life goal of mine to visit California, probably since.....oh I don't know...(actually I know precisely when)...probably when the O.C. first started airing and I heard that opening theme song titled, wait-for-it......"California!" It's just a bit of nostalgia, mixed into an anthemic theme that makes you a little hopeful and wistful all at the same time, even if you have absolutely no ties to California. :P


SO, since my Dad had to attend a conference in Los Angeles this summer, bringing my mom along, I figured three wouldn't be a crowd at all. I've only been here three days, and that life goal to visit California has turned into a life goal to live here for a while. It's gloriously sunny, there are beaches and incredibly attractive women EVERYwhere, in addition to that fact that the state happens to be one of most progressive legislatures in North America, paving the way for tighter automotive emissions standards and renewable energy targets.


It's been quite a while since I've had to spend this much time with my parents, but it's been pretty good. The pace is definitely slower than what I would do with my friends, but it's a lot more relaxing this way. Case-in-point, I have the time to take a mid-day break and blog about our adventure. For starters, my dad's taken us on campus tours of the two universities he attended in Southern California (SoCal), California Lutheran University (CLU) in Thousand Oaks, and San Diego State University (SDSU). It's been about forty years since my dad's passed through those schools, so not a lot was the same when we visited. It was a little hard to imagine my dad among all the uber-preppy looking American college kids; it's one of those life-imitating-art or art-imitating-life things where all the students dress EXACTLY like they're depicted in the movies. One nice thing about the campuses though is that they looked gorgeous, completely unlike my alma mater, U of Waterloo, where it's sterile campus was only good for encouraging the students to stay indoors and study. My mother kept on commenting on how nice the weather was and how difficult it must be to study with sunny weather all the time. 


Beach. Beach. Beach. They're lined up one after the other on the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and they're all incredibly gorgeous and filled with incredibly gorgeous people. There must be some kind of unwritten rule where ugly and fat people aren't allowed, either that or they all get plastic surgery. I don't know if it's because I've lived in Vancouver (where everyone is pasty-white) for the last year, but everyone looks so unnaturally tanned. I guess with the sun beating down on you all the time, there isn't a choice. We've stopped close to Malibu beach, and walked around Huntington Beach so far. The waves look monstrous - I have an urge to learn how to surf now, and the gears in my head are already ticking on how I can come back and camp out on the beach for a couple weeks (or longer) to learn. We'll see what the future holds though...


On the stereo
Listen as we go
Nothing's gonna stop me now
California here we come


-excerpt, "California" by Phantom Planet