4/15 Laguna Beach

Dear Readers,
I'm in America for the next 2 months and I'll be posting a lot of non-Japanese stuff on the blog. Basically I'll be posting pictures of my vacation and some other random stuff. (Reverse-Culture shock! No one here speaks Japanese! Fun!) Anyhow, some of it might be Japanese related, but not much. Sorry for the inconvenience.

First post: Laguna Beach Homecoming

Currently in Laguna Beach were I grew up. Everything is the same but slightly different. The road that is always under construction was under construction. Traffic was bad. It was unpleasantly windy.

Took Yuko to see my old houses. Could barely find the one that burnt down in the 1993 firestorm. Yuko commented on the size and how rich the neighborhood looked. Back when I was young I thought this place was pretty middle class, upper middle perhaps. It wasn't "rich", nor did the people who lived here thought it was, at least that's the way it looked to an elementary school kid. It was always a weird, eccentric town to me. The people here seem totally different to me now. The anti-tax protest didn't help but to reinforce that. Bleh. Taxes are ok to pay for your wars, but not to bail out all those obscene loans you took out. Give me a break. Massive disconnection going on here.

Seeing the city for the first time as a tourist I realized (1) there are way to many home furnishing/crap stores here and (2) wow it is a really beautiful place. I understand why tourists come here. Laguna Beach is truly a beautiful place.

Saw my pal Alec play live in the Ocean Ave. Brewery downtown. He was great. That was a treat. I miss him and his good energy.

Photos are here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sleepytako/sets/72157616852048634/detail/

Gotta sleep.
Later

P.S. Wow, AM radio. WOW! It's gotten even dumber.