Location: Santa Monica

After living with the Gustavsson for roughly 2 weeks, it was time to move on. I said goodbye to these nice, gentle Swedes and moved in with...a different kind of Swede =). I had a great time living in Santa Clarita, and really enjoyed being pampered by Lars n Chiqui, altho I wish I could've given back in more ways. Hope they liked the few times I cooked dinner for them. They seemed to at least. Now, the picture at the top doesn't show the complete family. From left to right we have Chiqui, Yanika and Lars. The two sons Björn and Bengt weren't home at the time the picture was taken. Both were in school, only one of them in a entirely different country as well. Was planning to take a picture of Bengt and 'shop him in, but never took the time to do so. I'm sure there will be more opportunities to get a slightly better family picture.
At the moment, they live in a cute little townhouse in Santa Clarita (or is it Canyon Country (?)...never did figure out what all the different citynames were), waiting to move into their newlybuilt house, which is incredibly beautiful and extremely huuge (as everything else here in the states). Looking forward to helping out when they're finally moving in (after living in a temporary "apartment" for 5 months). Should be around the time my parents are coming over here (I still think it's because mom feels the need to check up on me...hmpff). But thats another 3 weeks, lots of relaxation to do before then in SM =D.

The trip over to Santa Monica was eventless. One thing about it was interesting tho, since I actually saw trees and general green growth out in areas where they don't water artificially...guess I'm really leaving the warmer parts of LA towards the slightly cooler, where plantlife can actually survive on it's own. Fascinating...

When I showed up and saw the house that my friend (ze swede mentioned earlier) lives in, the house that would be my home for the next two months, I knew I'd love it. Lovely, cute little entrance, yet still a huge place for being a "2 bedrooms"-place. I brought all my stuff in, and was greeted not only by my friend Ida, but also by 3 cats....right...first disappointment. 3 cats in the same house as me. Doesn't sound good. But I have to confess that after living here for a day, I had lost all my hostility towards furry animals, at least cats. They're just simply so cute. I actually petted one of them! Still don't like dogs tho. drool.Yuck. (shut up all you doglovers [yes, incl you MrA =) ], I'm entitled to my opinion, and I have reason for it!). I've actually noticed that you can find 3 different personalities among them, one shy, one hungry for attention, and one surprisingly horny female...and just think then what the cats are like...j/k, those are the cats' personalities =).
Huh, not that easy to be funny when writing a silly blog like this. whatever.

When Ida first offered me to stay at her place, she also mentioned that it's a bit cramped, and that there are other people living here (altho thats apparently not static), so I was prepared to find a 1 level apartment, with 2 small bedrooms, and a kitchen/livingroom. Well, as I said, it's big! not only is it on 2 levels, but there are actually 2 rooms downstairs, not counting the kitchen. Sure, the two rooms are only separated by half a wall, but still, beautiful "apartment". The bedroom is even so big that it'll fit 2 queensized beds without any problems. There was no bed when I got here, so I had to get out and buy an airbed. Cheap, easy to get away and very comfortable. Only, once again, as everything else here, is ridiculously large. Not only that it's queensized, but also that it's twice as high as a normal mattress. Sure, I could've checked out the specs, but didn't bother with it, inches n all. Bottomline, it's a great bed, and since it fits, why not feel a bit luxurious. After all, it was only 50 bucks =). Can't believe the pillow cost $5 tho...insane. I mean, it's a pillow!
Finally being installed, clothes unpacked and everything, I decided to end the day by walking down Santa Monica Blvd, and check out this 'hood. I ended up at Santa Monica beach, and my what a view. Can't wait to go here during the day...hopefully it's still warm enough to at least lie at the beach for an hour or two. More on that later....actually, now that I'm here, I'm not sure when I'll do something interesting enough to write about it here...it took me 6 days, just to mention the fact that I've changed location (and gotten a postal-address, ThinkGeek, here I come!). So it might be a while before next post, not the usual 3 days wait. Sorry about that, all my trustworthy readers, if not before, than at least in 3 weeks, when mom n dad shows up...thats scary enough to merit a comment =).
Till then, enjoy the sunshine. If you can't, then think about how much I'm enjoying it here, and be glad about that ;o)

Man it Feels Good to be a Gangsta'

After a "short" (just south of 8 hours) trip to Stockton, I step out of the bus, and I'm greeted by my friend Kurtis and his wife Donna. We've been talking about getting together for over 2 years now, and finally it was possible, thx to my lovely long vacation in Sunny Cali. Stockton is a city about 2 miles inland, with a beautiful "University of the Pacific" campus, and apparently, a marina! Other than that, there aren't any other things to see or do here. But this little journey up into (almost) NorCal was great nonetheless. I actually got to see a huge Burmesian Python snap to, and devour a full rat! Sure, it was a dead, frozen, thawed out, still rat...but still sooo cool. Just wish we would've been faster with the camera, get a better shot. But at least we got a pretty good picture of Trouser (hahaha, love that name) opening his mouth trying to realign his jaw again =). (Unfortunately, not with my camera, so it's not available at the moment, just a pic of Trouser doing what I'm doing most of the time, relaxing)
Speaking of which, when we went to this mongolian bbq yesterday, I so wanted to have that feature installed in my body. Such good food, just simply too much. Wanted to eat much more, but it wouldn't fit. Guess it's also kinda silly that I go all the way to the states, plan on trying lots of new things n such, and I go to a mongolian bbq that basically works the same way as the one down on Järnvägsgatan, back home in Helsingborg. Whatever, I need to eat, and I loved it, and still can't get over the concept of free refills when it comes to what you drink =).

As my last night here, Kurtis said we were gonna go see a concert with a band called Journey. He showed me a video of them playing...from the 70s ! Rest assure, I was a bit hesitant towards going to see a concert by an artist I'd never heard of. But concerts are usually still nice to go to, and it was a nice offer, so I came along, and it was...interesting. It was very loud, but then again, I suppose most concerts are, and I'm just not used to attending them. The music was ok, not exactly my taste, but still good. I also found something out while walking to our seat; this is where most of the hot chicks go! I've been kinda disappointed (as I was last time I went to LA, so not surprised, just disappointed) about the fact that the ratio of attractive girls vs the not-so-much, is maybe 10:1 back home, whereas it seems like it's 1:200 here. But now I know why, they're all hiding up in marysville, attending concerts n stuff. It was amazing, such a difference....eerie.

All in all, a wonderful week in Stockton, California. I figured that a fitting end on this trip would be to relax on the 8hour long busride home...man was I wrong. During the final two hours, I talked to this mexican girl sitting next to me, across the isle, trying desperately to calm her down. See, right before the bus began it's ascent up kind of a steep hill, the driver takes us off course, right onto one of those safetydetours, made of gravel, and goes back n forth, seemingly to test the brakes, without saying _anything_ on the speakers. After spending about 5minutes offroad, scaring the heebie-jeebies out of everyone, we get out on the road again, only driving ridiculously slow. The rest of the trip is spent in a solemn silence of fear, especially because of the fact that the driver never ever even brought up what happened. Messed up...I should sue(j/k) !

Whatever, time to go to bed to get some sleep. Gotta get up and start packing tomorrow, because if everything goes well, I'm moving to Santa Monica =). Gonna be interesting to finally see what the apartment I'll be spending the next two months in looks like.

FYI, title of this post is a modification of a songtitle (from an awesome movie) that I've been listening to while going around in Stockton