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Friendliness

Ok I was in the Topeka library the other day just hanging out waiting for my dad to get done with his appointment at the doctors. I had my headphones in listening to my iPod as I was walking out. And as I was walking a young man was kind of walking beside me. He asked me how I was doing and it really surprised me. No, it didn't just surprise me, it freaked me out. I didn't know how to react. I ended up replying that I was doing fine and kept on walking. I'm sure the guy meant no harm but I am not as trusting as I once was.

The tables have been turned

So I'm back in Kansas for a few weeks. I found myself very confused about how I felt as I flew over Kansas City.

I saw this car driving through... well I don't know what because there were no lights on the ground except the car's headlights. And all I could think is why is this person driving somewhere where there are no lights? I mean is he driving through a field or what? I've gotten so used to seeing street after street of lights. Seeing houses and cars and every crack in the pavement. And seeing the dark and knowing not to walk in those areas. I've gotten so used to it that coming "home" seems strange. I feel weird about feeling weird about it. I feel like this isn't home any more. And I feel like California isn't home either. So I'm stuck in between two places and don't know what to feel any more.

Left turns

There's this crazy thing that happens mostly in south LA but pretty much at any intersection that doesn't have a left turn arrow light. When the light turns red and there are cars still waiting to turn left in the intersection two cars will turn through the red light. Sometimes when someone is really frustrated, daring or impatient a third car will go through the light! Needless to say you never go the instant a light turns green. It's just not safe. The best part is when a semi turns through the light cause it takes extra long.

I have to tell this to every new group that comes to LA so they don't freak out.

Dollar stores

They are EVERY where here in Los Angeles. They're about as common as liquor stores and laundry mats. But seriously I started keeping track of the different names.

1. 89¢
2. 98¢
3. 99¢
4. 1 Dollar Mas o Menos

It's madness I tell you, MADNESS!!!!!

Groceries

There aren't many people buying groceries from grocery stores in LA and the stores are few and far between. It's so bad that if you spend $25 at a local Ralph's the store will give you a free ride home. How crazy is that? I really need to go shopping....

Read an article about grocery store shuttles here!

Restaurant Grades

We noticed that all the restaurants have to post their Health rating in their front windows. We also noticed that most of our restaurants rate a B. The food is really pretty good so we don't think too much about it. That is until a cockroach the size of a mouse runs across your feet. Then you scream and tuck your feet in under your legs and put your bags on your lap. One of my co-workers "Con" actually thought it was a small bird on the floor. She didn't know it was a roach until we talked about it again days later. Thank God none of our restaurants are a C. Who knows what runs around in there!

The best way to hide that your restaurant is shady:

Ghetto

I was at a local restaurant a few nights ago and went in to the women's restroom. As I looked at it I thought about how "ghetto" the bathroom was. The seat enamel was worn off, the mirror was Plexiglas and sitting on a chair, and the sink was in bad shape as well.

I had to laugh at myself when I realized that the bathroom WAS ghetto! I was in the middle of LA!

Carts

Ok I'm still stuck on the laundry from the other day. I noticed that most people brought their clothes to the laundry mat in a folding cart. In the past the only people I've seen with these carts are the elderly. I don't really understand where someone buys one of these carts; I've never seen any on sale before.

This is what I'm talking about.

Laundry

I went out with my roommate today to do some laundry at the laundry mat. We unfortunately do not have a washer or dryer here so we have to walk about a mile to get clean clothes. What surprised me was that all the machines were HUGE. There were 3-load, 6-load and 8-load machines! Who has that much laundry? And even more, who has that much separated laundry? 8 LOADS!!!

Stereotype

I went to a "hoedown" yesterday. It was a party for a friend of mine who just turned 20. When I saw her on Thursday she singled me out to ask about square dancing. I know nothing about square dancing except that you have to have a partner and you stand in a square. I was not particularly bothered by this. When I went to the party EVERYONE was "dressed up" in what they though was cowboy/cowgirl/country clothing. That didn't bother me much either; what did bother me was that everyone expected me to be dressed up too. In the last, well as long as I can remember I have only owned one "cowgirl" shirt and never cowboy boots. I thought I got away from all that when I moved to Cali. I was quite mistaken. Another thing that really bothered me was that everyone was trying to speak with a country/hick accent. And while they were way, way off and I tried really hard, I could hear myself slip back into a true hick accent. This bothers me so much because I had to be very careful while I was in college to not have any hint of an accent other wise people would not listen to me. I felt like these people at this party were making fun of where I came from, making fun of me, without even knowing it. I'm glad the party was a lot more like a costume party than a barn dance because I don't think I could have taken watching people pretend to do things that they think I have actually done just because I came from a rural area.

Moving to LA

I'm four days out from moving to LA. I want to start a garden at the new place and my father was telling me to make sure no one outside can see it. He's worried that people would try to break in to get food. However I know that I can only put plants in the back of the parking lot and that I would have to make raised beds AND that if I put up a screen my plants might not get enough sunlight. I'm really looking forward to eating my own produce as well as sharing it with others.

Skat!

I was teaching my Big Kicks soccer class today and there happened to be a large brown cylinder of solid something rather. I just wrote it off as dirt from the soccer field since we recently aerated it.

But one of the moms decided it was poo and that it came from a deer! What I figure is that her thought process was this: large animals make large poo. How ever this poo looked more like the size for a mid to large sized dog. Deer poo is about the size of rabbit poo (which we see a lot of at the fields). I bit my tongue instead of correcting her and just told her I didn't think it was poo. If I had gone on about the lump being too hard (it hadn't flattened much nor had it disintegrated when it was smashed), having too much whole grass in it, or how it was too uniform she might have thought I spend a bit too much time looking at poo. It just can't be helped when you grow up around a lot of dogs and in a wild life area.

Pictures!

Food: Part 2

Pastrami. I love it! My friend mentioned that she sees it a lot out here (she's from Kansas too). Maybe it's just too expensive for Rural Kansas where we both lived. Anyway Pastrami is one of my favorite sandwich meats which I rediscovered when I worked at TOGO's for a short stint. There's just something about fatty, peppery, hot meat that is very yummy!

Rent

I've begun talking to a friend of mine from college who has recently moved back to Lawrence where we went to school. He was speaking of the cost of living and asking me about what it's like out here.

Lord have mercy! The cheapest rent I've found here is $220 without utilities. To achieve this very low (by SoCal standards) rent I lived with 5 other young women in a 1080 sq ft apartment and shared a 10x10 room with a roommate.

In Kansas where I went to school the rent for the same situation and size would be at the most $160. And that's just what I found searching for only a few minutes. If I ever plan on living in Kansas I should think to save as much money here as possible as it will stretch farther there than in SoCal.

Voting- Part 2

Since I talked about voting yesterday, I though I could throw this little bit in today.

I don't know about you but I do not like talking about politics. It breeds bad blood. So I was shocked that I was asked by at least 5 people who I voted for only a day or two after the election. I remember asking my mother who she voted for when I was in high school and she wouldn't tell me and said it was rude to ask. In college no one asked either. I inquired with a friend and native Californian to see if it was normal to be asked who you voted for and he simply told me "yes." I wonder why that is.

Voting

I am back from my holiday reprieve.

With the up coming inauguration I was thinking back to the presidential election. I could not believe when I went to vote in November that I was not asked anything except for my name and to sign the line. That's it! Talk about the chance to commit voter fraud! I had to explain again to the poll volunteers that Miss "Run Yow" was supposed to be me, Miss "Runyon," but was misspelled during registration and should be removed from the polls. I was registered twice thanks to this little mistake.

How backwoods do you think I am?

I'm working on a project about a "redneck Christmas" which reminded me of a conversation I had with the lady I live with, Delia.

Within the first few weeks of living in San Diego I mentioned to Delia that I'd like to go to the store and get some things for my bedroom. I suggested Target since I had a gift card for the store. Delia looked at me and with the most serious look on her face asked me if we had Targets in Kansas. I was completely shocked. Is there any state without a Target? I'd be very, very surprised if there was.

Long Boards

I have never seen the draw to skateboards so there is a good possibility I understand nothing about long boards. An extra long skateboard does what exactly? Some one tell me, I really have no clue.

Safety Patrol

I was shocked the first day I went to help at a local elementary school that there were a troop of kids in white and red standing on the side of the road as school started and got out. As a kid even when I was in the city all we had was an adult crossing guard but I had only seen a Safety Patrol in movies. The one time I had to stop for these kids I was on my bike and they stared at me first like I didn't see them (yeah, cause they're so hard to see) and second like they were better than me. I was annoyed because as soon as I actually stopped, which required me getting off my bike, they pulled up their signs and blew their whistles. I can't help the feeling that the little buggers just wanted to see me stop, since their intersection was quite clear before I got anywhere near them.