My home away from home

Back in my favorite West Coast hotel in Union City. It's very nice as it has a fantastic Chinese resteraunt withing walking distance, as well as a Borders and a movie theater.

Oh, and a BEST BUY. 'nuff said.

So last night I stayed in Monterey. After landing and picking up my rental, I headed to the coast and drove south. Before Monterey, I wanted to stop in and check out Santa Cruz. fuckin' hippie town. I expected that i wouldn't be able to drive a block without hitting one of them bastards, and I was right. The temptation became too strong and I had to park the car lest I mowed a few of them down (and it being a hippie town, someone might actually care).
I figured I was much safer on foot, as if I felt the urge, most of the stoned-out freaks wouldn't even miss my kicking them.
So I walked around, stopped in a bar for a beer (where the 60-something bartender was really blissed out on something), then walked back towards the car. I did stop in an Irish pub for lunch, which was good.
So, needing to get the hell out of there, I headed south to Monterey. The hotel I stayed in was about 3 miles north of the town, so I didn't see it at first. And when I got into the room, jet lag hit me heavily. I took a nap, then headed into town.
The town was immaculate. and empty. It seemed at times almost deserted. At first it was awkward, as I walked through the town and heard voices I was constantly looking behind me, always cautious. I caught myself doing this and realized it was conditioning from living in Philly. Here I was in a relatively safe little town and I was wary of getting jumped! I feel said that I am like this - I wasn't a few years ago - and hope that there is some way that this paranoia will go away, but I just feel like it won't. Maybe after I'm out of the city for a few years. Having street smarts is great, but I want to be able to relax.
This was bad, but even more jarring was that I stepped on something, felt it slip and crunch, and without looking down figured I had just stepped on a piece of candy bar wrapper some kid had carelessly thrown to the ground.

it was a leaf.

Like I said, the place was immaculate, no litter anywhere. And with this I have to say, shouldn't we demand more out of our cities? While I'm sure there is no ghetto in Monterey, there are at least people who care to keep the place clean. Why can't other places be like this? I want that. I miss the country, where I can safely walk around at night, and don't see any litter besides the occasional cigarette butt. It's times like that where I realize that I will one day retire from everything and move to a cabin in the woods. Should any woods still exist.

Now, I rage against hippies, but I do love the earth, and I try to do my part, as little as it is. I pick up random trash, I recycle, I've dry-humped trees. But it won't do anything while there are people walking around who just don't give a shit. So I want to move away from them, as nothing I do will ever convince them to do something to clean up.
Maybe I am actually considering moving to CA. It sounds like I'll be out here longer, so maybe I should just stay.

but, I mea, my FAMILY is over there.

I don't know, things are actually confusing for me right now, been doiung some soul-searching. However, it has to stop as I'll be in a laundrymat all night otnight. joy.