A co-worker asked me with concern if my family was in one of the fire areas of Southern California. pfft, there's no nature in Huntington Beach -- except for the beach, of course, and you can't burn sand. If there was a tract house fire they'd be in trouble, but there's hardly enough brush at the junior high school across the street to raise any concern.
Although mom is sneezing a lot.
But it made me think of that nutty idea that people have of Southern California being all Los Angeles. Even San Diego! "How close is that to Malibu?" And it's not as though they're idiots or don't know geography; there's just this outsider view of Southern California that puts everything in the same general location. I'm kind of guilty of it too, sure. When people ask where I'm from I say Los Angeles, but it's usually because it's easier than saying Huntington Beach -- and I did live in Los Angeles for a long time, so it counts in a way. If I say Huntington Beach I always have to answer the second question "How close is that to Los Angeles?" People don't say "Oh, you live in Eugene. How close is that to Portland?" Although my brother asked me that once, but it involved directions and a rental car.
Speaking of, I guess the brother wasn't kidding. He really did close down the blog. Why why why?
And speaking of speaking of: Mr. Bascomb, tell me your house isn't on fire. You're in nice, safe tract housing, right? Tell me you're not living in the Qualcomm Stadium ... although if they let you have nachos for dinner, I guess it can't be too bad.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Indeed, our abode still stands...However, breathing anywhere outdoors is not highly recommended at this time. Monday night provided an impressive, if unnerving, display of flames leaping from a hillside about 10 to 15 miles away. It was so impressive that the Mrs. decided very early Tuesday morning that it was time to get the hell out. I, of course, quite rationally made the point to her that while, yes, some neighborhoods a few miles east of ours had been evacuated, no such order had been issued for ours. She carefully considered my argument, but since the car was now already packed it did seem a waste not to actually go. We managed to find an escape route via hwy 8, and made our way to her parents' desert house. I'm now back at the office mostly to field calls from very nervous clients asking, "Am I covered...am I covered!"
I haven't yet been out to Qualcomm to deliver donations. I saw news footage of bottled water being handed out, and couldn't help thinking that the stadium has an end-of-the-world size bunker supply of bottled beer stashed in there...and this is no time to be stingy. How about breaking out some of them "widemouth" Bud and Miller's they regularly charge six bucks for. That really helps those nachos go down easier, if you know what I mean. Especially with the amount of jalapenos I regularly pile on. And, why is it only stadium venues that get the "widemouth" variety of domestic bottles!? I don't recall seeing them available at my local Ralphs. I'm sure they just have the best interests of me, the consumer, at heart. Helps get them down twice as fast so I can blow forty bones on brew before I'm cut off at the start of the eighth inning.
Wait...What were we talking about?...Oh yeah...the fire. so, other than the nice, soft layer of ash over everything, no real damage to report.
After a few widemouths things like "WHEH'S YER DIAPERS" start to make sense too.
I'm on the team with the Mrs. Having seen the start of the Oakland fire ("dude ... it looks like someone lit a fire on the edge of the freeway") and knowing how that ended up, it's good to know you're not "in the shit". (dude ... why's my stuff getting deleted n stuff)
Dude, I totally remember that Oakland fire...Seeing that little blaze by the highway while driving back from walnut creek (hung ovah) after Monica's wedding..and then packing you up and moving you out of the SF (esh-ef) and driving down 101 to LA. God, we had so much stamina back then.
Senior Bascomb! Glad all is well with you, the Mrs., and all the little Bascomb's in SD.
Who needs nachos when there's a Rubio's fish taco stand there?
I tell folks around here that I'm from Orange County. Most folks seem to know where that is, which is both good and bad I guess.
And yes, I was serious about the blog close down.
And no, I'm not coming up for the Halloween party. So John is free to be Bobby Knight if he wants.
Post a Comment