11 November 2003 13:58
Post 1, Mt Baldy Visitor's Centerwell, my animosity towards california is going away by fits and stages. the biggest blow to my harbored dislike was yosemite park, which i drove through on my arrival five weeks ago. then the day the smog cleared enough for me to see that there were actually mountains visible from where i work was a tremendous spirit lifter for me. (i see a deadly trend though: i used to work at an airport where the mountains were strait out the hangar door, a mere 8-10 miles away. then i moved up the valley and worked at an airport where you could walk out the hangar and look over at the same mountains, now over 15 miles away and often clouded by haze. now, i'm still working at an airport, but i have to walk 100 feet out on the ramp to look around the next building and i can see mountains over 40 miles away and covered 97% of the time with smog. what it will be next i hate to think)
yes friends, believe it or not, LA is actually surrounded by only two things. These are: greed and materialism. oh, wait, i meant mountains and water.
speaking of sarcasm, i have a great idea for a new line of tshirts. you know the ones that quote scripture? how's this?
"THOU SHALT NOT KILL (unless thy commander specifically orders thee)
—Exodus 20:6, The New Sarcasm Translation"
hmm, i guess it's not quite up to the "they shall know we are christians by our love" theme, that and it shows my ignorance of scripture (if that truly is verse six, it was a lucky guess) ::end tangent::
so this morning i wandered up here to receive yet another blow to my animosity towards CA (henceforth the I Don't Like California (IDLC) program). i fight traffic to get here (= increased IDLC). but i ask the forest service lady some questions (who wasn't very forthcoming, incidentally. i mean, she was helpful because i asked the right questions, but she wasn't volunteering). i picked up a parking pass, good for the year. at five bucks a pop for a daily, thirty bucks for an annual, i figured i could make it up here six times in one year. i'm planning to climb mt san antonio. i'd kinda hoped to do it today, but really wasn't ready. that is, we're out of bread and i couldn't make any sandwiches ;). i found out from her which of the four trails up is the most deserted. there's snow in the shaded areas, but shouldn't be too much of a hindrance. i plan to get up here early on saturday and give it a go.
anywayze, the blow to IDLC. i decided to pop up the trail a ways and see what i could see. i set a strict time limit of 30 minutes (i have severe trouble with "i just want to see what's at the top of this stretch" syndrome). it took me a long time to get out of civilization, but it was nice when i did. k and i noticed in texas that in the desert, mountains seem to have the most vegetation, especially in the valleys. i'm sure this is a well-documented scientific fact, that everybody knows it, and that it makes good sense, but i find it new and refreshing. (and quit acting so surprised that i've actually learned something). so this happens here too, i was severely disappointed in june when i found out that the angelos national forest should properly be called national scrub land. but over here on the eastern edge of the san gabriel mountains, you hike up the valleys/canyons and there'll be huge pines and cedars, as well as a few varieties of deciduous. walking up along a trickling creek, it reminded me more of new england than california. then you pop over to the other side of the ridge and you're in scrub no higher than your shoulders, lizards running everywhere and not a drop of water in site. except the "scrub" in this region is actually a huge variety of plant life, another desert tendency that i had actually learned in school then promptly forgotten. so this place has some redeeming value anyway.
i'm just glad God's letting me figure this out by wandering around in the woods. i'm sure he could have created up a much more painful way. he recognizes what i'm sure is hard for you to see through my writings, that i'm actually trying to have an open mind here. my antagonism towards california was indeed seated in a bad experience and fed through many negative impressions. but my constant vocalization of IDLC is only a self-protective reaction to moving to a new area that i really didn't want to move to. right? quit rolling your eyes :).
there's this great ad, i don't know who it's for (isn't it always htat way). some store is selling something, and the young female speaking dares anybody to beat their prices. a young man comes in and starts making accusations, "this place is selling this for this much, beat that!", she's like "but our price is already lower", his comeback is quick, "Fabricator!".
round two, "aha, this product is only this much at this place"
she, "but our price is already lower"
he, "Liar!"
round three, "This place is selling this, for only this much!"
she, "uh, that is our ad"
he, "oh"
he, breaking down in a very funny manner, "everything i've said is wrong, i'm a terrible person, i need to be held"
hmm. it's much funnier on the radio. pete and i have taken to saying "Fabricator" at random moments. good kicks :).
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