so, i hate starting my blog off with a negative, but i have to vent on some of the craziness that goes on here in socal.
see, i'm born and raised a south mississippi girl. now, i'm no camo wearing country girl, but i can appreciate (and do enjoy) that good 'ole southern hospitality. the sweetness just doesn't get old...most of the time. i know people like to put this sort of thing into a nice little cliche'd box, but it's the real deal. the south is actually, in reality, a much nicer and friendlier place than southern california, for example.
from the moment i moved here to ventura, california, i noticed the personality difference right away. it wasn't so much of a culture shock, having had a 'buffer' of breckenridge, colorado placed between the extreme opposites of mobile, alabama and southern california...but it definitely was a culture 'jolt'.
things move so quickly out here. the traffic, the people, the attitudes, the professional environment, the greetings between strangers (on rare occasion), and even the road work. i was driving to the office one morning via my usual route (a two lane road that travels along the coast, avoiding the freeway at all costs) with my windows rolled down, nice cool ocean breeze blowing, listening to the my latest inspirational obsession of sound (ryan adams, wilco, the tallest man on earth, city & colour, bon iver, the decemberists, mumford and sons or anything of the like) and i notice the orange cones and large machinery in the distance, getting closer. as i come to the roadwork, they are performing the red stop sign, orange flag dance, allowing one string on cars to go this way, then the other string of cars to go that way, using only one lane.
i thought to myself "oh great, here we go...i know this whole routine. they're going to be repaving this road for a year. because, in all seriousness, that's how long it takes down south. i remember one time, it honest to god took 3 years to repave a stretch of side road (that evolved into a main road with population increase) back in mississippi. it was like the routine of avoiding the repaving became a part of everyone's life. it was the main reminder in any conversation about the woes of avoiding hardy street traffic. "now, don't forget they're still repaving 4th street...presently you have to get off at weathersby and back on at cole." it was nuts! but people lived with it. we lived with it. everyone accepted it (with a lot of aggravation and curse words).
so i thought for sure this is the way it would be, here on harbor boulevard in california. you could probably imagine my reaction when, on my return trip home at the end of that same work day, i saw the road completely paved and all machinery and workmen removed. and i am not exaggerating a bit...this was the same length of road that took 3 years to repave back home. unbelievable. one day, they were done. not even one day...one work day! i was astonished. i thought to myself (and probably said out loud) "man, they get shit done out here!"
i guess the craziness can contribute sometimes.