Home is where all your crap is?

That's a picture of my house.

HA! Yeah right.

Actually, this is me in my living room--


I know, I know. Not bad. I actually love my house. But that's beside the point.

This year has been different at school because my friends and I moved off-campus. Now that we have a house, it has become home. When we call each other and say, "Yo, where you at bro?" If we say "home" that doesn't mean Minnesota or New York or Concord, California. It means we're at our house in LA. Our new home.

I can no longer call the place I grew up "home" because I only spend a couple of weeks a year there. My parents turned my old room into an office, so now when I visit, I sleep on the floor, the couch, or in my brother's room. When people ask me what I'm doing this summer, I tell them I'm staying here in LA and going to visit my parents for a week or so before I start work here. Then I ask them, and they say, "I'm going home...I mean, to my parents' house." It is a transition period for everyone.

I'm not "homeless" in the normal sense of the word. I am lucky to have a warm bed and a roof over my head every night, but is it really "home" when I know I'm only going to be there for another year or so? All my crap is there, sure, but really I'm just squatting until I get out in the real world. I don't have a permanent address. Hopefully someday I will....eek! Until then, I'll just call my house in LA "home."

"Cali"

If I hear someone say "Cali" one more time, I'm going to drop kick the ugly, annoying chihuahua that chases me down my alley into that person's face.

"Cali" is what you name your calico cat or call your baby who's real name is Callista or something. Cali does not mean California. At least not in California it doesn't.

I don't mean to sound like a snob and I am not trying to pretend to be native to CA or anything...but seriously. Give me a BREAK.

Please. If you decide to come to California, do not call it Cali. If you do, you will sound like an idiot. And you SHOULD come to California! California is wonderful! It is a great place!

Besides, if you're coming to California chances are you're coming to Los Angeles or going to the Bay Area (San Francisco.) So, to avoid any confusion, just say "I'm going to LA." or "I'm going to the Bay Area/San Francisco." This way you don't run the risk of sounding like an idiot.

Anyway, that's my rant for the day. I hope you learned something.

Go Dodgers!

PS: Just because Hollister says Cali doesn't mean squat. Do you know where Hollister, CA is?? Yes, it's a real city. It is in the Central Valley, aka the middle of nowhere. They have lots of gangs in Hollister.

How the Internet Has Changed My Life

1. Fantasy baseball. I guess there was Fantasy Baseball before the Internet, but who wants to do that? That would take for-ev-er.

2. YouTube videos. Try "Snake regurgitating hippo" or "shark attack slow motion." HOURS of fun.

3. TV online! Namely House, 30 Rock, and 24.

4. Facebook. Dur. I would be in touch with many fewer people without the wonders of the Facebook.

5. Wikipedia/Google. We used to have to look up stuff in REAL encyclopedias! What a drag! I've learned so much from Google, including where medical waste goes, how anesthesia works, and the number for centimeters in a mile.

6. Phone numbers. Who needs a phone book anymore? Plus, I can find phone numbers for ALL OVER THE COUNTRY! and the WORLD!

7. E-mail. Another dur. Would not know what to do about bff Alex in India if it weren't for email. Mailing letters takes like weeks and the telephone is too expensive and too much time difference.

8. Skype. AMAZING solution to phone. It's a video phone! and it's FREE! And you can call landlines or cell phones from the Skype for really cheap. It's wondrous. You should get it. Keeps me in touch with my bffs Celeste in Chile and Becca in Scotland! Or, even my roommate in the next room!

9. AIM (AOL Instant Messenger). Not so much anymore as I got rid of it, but remember in middle school when you'd just be in AIM for hours and hours until ungodly hours of the AM and then your 'rents would yell at you? AIM got really dramatic there for a while--people would ask each other out and break up over AIM. They would get in friendship-ending blowouts over AIM. AIM was the quickest way to spread a nasty rumor in middle school. Those were the days.

10. Online shopping. Need I say more?