Escape to L.A.

I took the train up to L.A. for a day to visit my sister and go to one of her shows. I love the train! It’s punctual, convenient, fast, and a very smooth ride. The train runs right along the coast and the view is picturesque. The one along the coast is appropriately called the Pacific Surfliner.

I was there in two hours. When I got into L.A., I wandered around downtown for a little while. There were some really strange people hanging around downtown. I liked it. I also noticed a lot of people riding bikes and none of them had on helmets. Must be an L.A. thing.

My sister and I had a great time and it was cool to see her up on the big stage. She’s all professional now and shit. It was impressive and she managed to draw a sizable crowd to her show. She explained to me that there is a actually a system in place that you have to work your way up through in L.A. Gradually, you start playing bigger and bigger venues if you can draw crowds at the smaller ones.

I took the train back in the morning the next day. I was exhausted and tried to sleep, but a group of sorority girls were singing Hoobastank songs in unison about 8 rows back. It was loud enough to keep me from sustained slumber.

I can’t believe more people don’t ride the train. Californians are crazy. California is so progressive and so not at the same time. Who cares if everybody smokes weed when they’re still slaves to their SUVs? There are SOOO many people and so many people driving cars everywhere!!!

My mom and I went for a ride on the 101 today. It was nice but we were riding in traffic for pretty much the entire ride. No complaints other than the traffic, and it was a weekend so there were lot more people along the coast than during the week. Yesterday my uncle took us riding around Trestles where there no cars and that was more fun. I tried to talk him into taking us mountain biking but there wasn’t enough time. After the ride went to a high end bike shop that my mom’s friend works in and one of the employees asked me if I needed a job….

…Nah…It’s becoming apparent that I like having a way to quickly escape from town by bicycle. That’s not possible in SoCal, and it certainly ain’t possible in Chicago. At least I can cross two places off the list.

Southern California is such a beautiful place with absolutely amazing weather. I guess 20 million other people figured that out too. Most of my family is from San Diego and my grandparents have lived here all my life. Even since I was little, I have seen the place expand and bulge and change noticeably in bad ways. Tract homes are plastered all over the hills, strip malls line the roads, and RVs line the beaches. I blame overpopulation for everything.

Wow I have to go. I’m sitting outside a Barnes and Noble in a strip mall and a security guard just told me to go sit somewhere else because “it looks tacky to have someone leaning on the building.” I guess sometimes dressing like a hobo does having it’s disadvantages. He’s going to love me when he sees me going through the dumpster behind the gourmet grocery store. Awesome.

-L

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