My Old Neighborhood

I had dinner last night with Brande at our neighborhood pizza place, Marri's! It is just around the corner from my house and we could have walked but it was raining. I use to eat at Marri's when I was in high school! Yes, it's been there THAT long. They have great pizza, so-so service, and really, really horrible Italian music playing. My friend Ginny had emailed me asking me a question about how to do something on her blog, which by the way you should go read! I was emailing her an answer and also about the place I had dinner at. Still being amazed that I've eaten there since I was in high school. Actually it was our hang out back in the day! Right next to Marri's is a dry cleaners, Montgomery Cleaners. That was my very first job, I made $1.65 an hour! But back in the day, it was enough to join my friends at Bob's Big Boy for a combo plate. And actually the building Bob's was in is still nearby, but is now a Blockbuster. I hated that job. They did the cleaning on site, and the smell was enough to make anyone gag. God only knows what chemicals they were using way back then! I went to Millikan High School, and as you can guess, that too is just "down the street"! I was in a soriety, Tabu, and that is a soriety picture of me above (not sure why its so big though. I loved high school, but not because of the academics, but because of my friends and hanging out at places like Marri's and Bob's Big Boy! I ate meat back in the day, which I gave up a very long time ago!! Life seemed so simple back then. As many of you know, Katie and her family bought my parents house after they passed away, the house I grew up in, just a short distance from where I live now. Riley has joined us for dinner at Marri's, bad music and all. I love East Long Beach, the part of Long Beach I live in. Cal State University Long Beach is within walking distance. The beach is only a ten minute drive, a nice mixture of people in my neighborhood, and now my grandbabies are growing up in the old LBC too! I like simple, you know, it makes me happy. Here's a link to an article that was in our local paper this morning. Wilson HS was always a big competitor against Millikan's football team, "back in the day". This article is just another example of why I LOVE Long Beach!!

What Happens When We Get "Weather"!

This picture was taken yesterday by our local newspaper, the Press Telegram. I've been reading our local newspaper since I was a kid! This is an intersection a few blocks from my house by California State University Long Beach. We've had a bit of rain this week. And here in Southern California we don't really have weather. It gets a little cold, and a little hot and some in between, but no real weather to speak of. Until this week! So what happens when we actually "have" weather? All hell breaks loose, people go a bit cuckoo but make the best of a bad situation as you can see! It rained so hard that Riley was yelling at me to make it stop as she held her ears. Then we got tornado warnings, here, of all places, what the hell? Justine got scared and came in my room with Morgan. A car actually flipped over down in Sunset Beach, a few miles from here with a couple of small boats being flipped over as well. Sadly it just missed flipping over Mr. Wonderful's boat!! Again, isn't this Southern California, we have NO weather! No burgers for lunch at Ruby's that sits on the end of the Seal Beach pier! The waves were too close to the burgers and fries, they closed it down. I think they got over 15 foot surf! The waves FLEW over the big sand berm they build each year down in Seal Beach. Brande lives across the street from here, and thankfully upstairs. They say we have a couple of more days of "real" weather here. Again, damn! I mean, I have to roll up my jeans so they don't get wet, hope my tennis shoes don't get soaked from the water. Maybe I should break out my flip flops since "surf's up"!!

High School Graduations

Yesterday, I was making a quick trip to the grocery store and drove by my old high school, Millikan HS, here in Long Beach, I asked myself, "how did time pass this quickl"? I can still remember the cheer song that spelled out the name of my school. Great, now I won't be able to get it out of my head all day! I haven't traveled too far from my roots. Katie and her family now own my folks home that I grew up in. My house now is right around the corner from my first job I had at a dry cleaners. And the pizza restaurant we all hung out at in high school and college still sits next to the dry cleaner and now my family and I eat there. I'm on the left in the picture above and posing with my bestfriend since elementary school Donna Nagel. Peace and love were big back then considering we got ourselves over in the Vietnam "situation".

I loved high school, had lots of friends, in a soriety, life was good back then. My folks didn't have a lot of money but I never did without much. As I sat at the red light in my car watching all the kids leaving Millikan, carrying their yearbooks, some wearing the school color of blue & gold, I thought about my life and all the years that have passed since I was carrying my yearbook, and re-reading all the stuff my friends wrote in it. I wondered would I do anything different if I could do it all over again? I think for the most part the answer would be no, I'm happy, content, and satisfied with my life. There is one small thing I "may" have reconsidered. When I was in my last semester of college at Cal State University Fullerton, I had only 12 units left until I received my BA in Sociology and minored in American Studies. Spent some serious time on the Cocopah Indian reservation in those days as well. I wanted to change the world! So, looking back the decision to quit college so I could continue to work, party, and have my own apartment probably was the only dumbass regret I have!! So, my wish to all this years grads is to "think, think, think" before you make any "dumbass" decisions about your education like I did. Happy Graduation Class of 2009!!