weekend weather

A winter storm blew through Southern California over the weekend and brought with it some much needed rain. It had been over a month since there had been any recordable rainfall, and I have to admit, I missed it. I was getting somewhat homesick thinking about rainy days, the ones where I would walk around in my rain coat and boots with the bottom half of my jeans soaking wet. There always seemed to be something cleansing about water falling from the sky.

The forecast for Saturday called for rain all day long. How I was looking forward to the gloomy grey sky and constant soft percussion of steady rain. Instead I found myself cursing the warm bright sun beaming down through the sparse popcorn clouds. As night fell, the promised precipitation slowly crept its way into the area. Just before dawn, I woke to the comfortingly familiar sound of rain outside my window that lulled me back to sleep despite my desire to stay awake and listen a little longer.

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day also. The air was crisp and the sun was shining, which didn’t bother me so much because it allowed me to see the most exciting sight. SNOW! The rain that I had so enjoyed the night before had fallen in a different form up in the higher elevations of the nearby mountains. While all I could really see was a dusting of the white stuff on the higher more distant peaks, like any good South Texan, I was still giddy. As strange as this may sound to a lot of people, especially those living in the northeast, the sight of snow made yet another sunny day bearable.

breaking news

One thing I have found incredibly fascinating about Southern California is the utter ridiculousness of the local news. First of all, it is on all the time. If I wanted to, I could watch 14 hours of local news each and every day. And then there are the anchors, who all have tans that look about as real as their names sound. But of course no matter if it is 4am, 11pm, or sometime in between, the broadcast will almost without fail begin with breaking news. I tend to question the magnitude of these stories at times, but I realize that because the stations have to fill hours of air-time each day, they cannot always be picky about what they report. Race riots in the LA County jails – breaking news; fires burning out of control in Orange County – top story; Britney Spears driving with her baby on her lap – sure put that on too.

In honor of my local news coverage, I give you a rundown of the top stories going on in my world right now. I cannot promise any personal edification from the following stories but if nothing else, I hope to entertain.

Appropriately I will begin with education news. Somehow I have already finished six weeks of this ten week quarter. I have no idea where the time went. It took me five weeks just to buy a new 2006 day planner so I could begin to get organized. Part of the chaos is due to the fact that this semester I do not have any tests, only papers and weekly homework assignments. Also two of my classes only meet once a week. This may sound like an ideal situation, but one of those weekly classes meets for four hours, from 5-9pm. Fortunately the class is saved from being an arduous weekly ordeal by the professor’s entertaining British accent. Because of it, I feel like what he is saying is always very important, and I tend to laugh at his jokes whether I get them or not. Of course anyone who wears a Coldplay t-shirt to class and references The Police while discussing the Old Testament wins my approval.

In other entertainment news, I finally had my first star sighting. And this was not just a sighting, but an actual encounter, and at church of all places. While I’m guessing most people probably have no idea who Steve Ryan is, to my friends and I he is a bona fide celebrity. His recurring role as J. Walter Weatherman, the one-armed man hired by George Bluth to teach his children a lesson on Arrested Development, has been the source of many laughs. Sadly though, it appears our favorite show has met its end, with FOX airing the final four episodes this past Friday. Still, the show will live on in our hearts.

In music news, I have been fortunate enough to hear some really good bands play over the last couple of weeks. Fortune, however, was not smiling down on me a few weeks ago when I tried to see Mute Math, one of my favorite bands, play a show in Hollywood. There had been much confusion all day as to who exactly was going and when exactly the show was going to start. When things were finally straightened out, a friend and I made the thirty minute drive out there and headed down Santa Monica Boulevard to find the venue. As we walked up to the ticket window, my heart dropped when I saw the most unfortunate words, SOLD OUT. After talking with a few other poor souls on the sidewalk, we discovered we were probably about ten minutes too late and that there was absolutely no way we were getting in. The night wasn’t a total bust though because I was able to purchase the band’s new CD, which was only being sold at the show.

But enough about the show I didn’t see. Last weekend a carload of friends and I headed down to San Diego to see a couple of bands play. Although we didn’t exactly blend in with the mostly teenage scenester crowd, with their impossibly skinny pants, converse shoes, and unnaturally dark hair swept across their faces, the show was quite enjoyable. Briertone opened with an eclectic mix of indie and southern rock, proving that a banjo can work outside of Nashville. In the end, I’d say I dug them more than the headlining band that night. A few days later I was out in Orange County to support Ann Lynn, which is quickly becoming my favorite SoCal band. This was the third time I have seen them live, and they continue to impress me.

In travel news, as mentioned earlier I recently took a nice trip down to San Diego. It’s generally not a bad drive, unless you happen to leave on a Friday afternoon when traffic averages speeds of about thirty miles per hour. Nevertheless, six people in a car can always find ways to entertain themselves. Our night was consumed with the concert and a late-night dinner, but a quick detour through UC San Diego provided a glimpse at the beautiful campus with its eerily lit eucalyptus grove. The next morning we awoke and headed to La Jolla, where we came upon a seal rookery. This particular group of harbor seals, although not doing much, captivated our attention for a good while. After finally pulling ourselves away from the fascinating animals, we drove to a beach a little further north. Here we played a little sand bocce and then savored some fish tacos at a little place on the shore. Responsibilities called us back up to Pasadena, thus ending our fun little excursion.

If you’ve stuck with it this long, you are a better man than I am. Usually, after a minute or two of news I am already changing the channel looking for something else to watch. Therefore I will end things here and spare you any more of the minutiae of my life. If you find yourself now wanting a more meaningful experience, may I suggest seasons one and two of Arrested Development, now available on DVD.