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September 19, 2009

Kalifornication

I had planned on going down into Mexico for the weekend, but I just can't find anyone to say that it's a good idea. Without exception, everyone I talk to tries to talk me out of it with tales of robbery, kidnapping, murder, you name it. The only reason that I have held back so far is that I don't have a few things I need like a decent GPS, a money belt, and of course, it would be a huge plus to have another person to go with me. So, I chickened out and decided to drive to LA instead.

The photo above is a shot of a wall on the side of I-5. Note the inlaid Birds of Paradise flowers set in concrete. Is it any wonder that this state's budget is 24 billion in the hole this year?

The drive to LA was an unmitigated disaster and I can promise you I'll never try to go near that city again. LA is on my list of cities that I swear I'll never visit again, like Detroit. The only way I'd ever try to go through LA again would be to hit it like the last time I did - drive through it balls out at three o'clock in the morning. The traffic is just indescribable. A true urban nightmare.

The photo above, and the 3 photos below are shots from Ocean Side, a little trailer-park-by-the-sea north of San Diego.

The photos below are from Ocean Beach where I retreated to lick my wounds and choke down another Hodad's bacon cheese burger.

The menu at Hodad's defines the term "Hodad" as "A person who does not surf, but who spends time at surfing beaches pretending to be a surfer." But this doesn't sound right to me, as I've never seen anyone pretending to be a surfer. You either are, or you aren't. I think this defintion of hodad makes more sense:

"50's term for a greaser, someone who hung out at the beach, but definitely not a surfer. Hodads were into cars, music and were a type of counterculture style. These were NOT posers, as some of the other definitions had stated...Surfer's and Hodad's would be completely separate groups, that often clashed with each other.
in the beach communities in the 50's one was either a hodad or a surfer. Hodad's wore a very specific style of clothing.....black shoes, jeans, and a t-shirt (preferably white). They were NOT posers, and wouldn't be caught dead hangin' with a surfer."

This defintion seems to make more sense to me. A "hodad" would have been a different click. A non-surfer, perhaps, but I doubt that you would ever have seen a lot of people pretending to be surfers. Plus, the waves at San Diego aren't all that, anyway. It's not like it's the Pipeline, for Christ's sake.

I asked the homeless people that hang out by the pier at Ocean Beach who this (above) is supposed to be. The one guy said it was the president of China panhandling the United States. I'm not real clear that this is correct, but it's all I have to go on at this point. Update: Now that I look at him, I'm thinking that this is probably supposed to be North Korean president Kim Jong-il.

Posted by Rob Kiser on September 19, 2009 at 10:34 PM

Comments

> I had planned on going down into Mexico for the weekend,
> but I just can't find anyone to say that it's a good idea.
> Without exception, everyone I talk to tries to talk me out of it
> with tales of robbery, kidnapping, murder, you name it.

Even Fred Reed is warning people to stay away from Mexico, and finally admitting that "Haiti must seem a paradise by comparison. Oh, if I could repent and redeem myself! I know now I have lured many innocent Americans, virgins (well, that may be stretching it), children, people of ripe years and helpless, into this hellhole of disease and corruption, where they have been robbed and killed and left to moulder in unmarked graves, like Ambrose Bierce. I laughed at Americans who asked me whether Mexico had paved roads. Oh, the shame of it! The truth is that Mexico does not. There are no paved roads in Mexico. How I repent my lies. But it is too late."

Posted by: Robert on September 20, 2009 at 2:47 PM

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