A good friend and I have a guilty pleasure, and that guilty pleasure is known as Laguna Beach. Yes, the Laguna Beach reality TV show on MTV. We both watch it separately in our own homes, but we typically and frantically email each other about the show during the commercials. The funny part of this is that we are both in our 30s but we still go through that type of teenage excitement one can get when watching such a show. I love the show, but I'm often asking myself, "were things really like that when I was in high school and living in Orange County?" Of course, it has been a long time ago since I was in high school...
I grew up in Irvine, California, which isn't that far from Laguna Beach. People who know me often ask me if life in Orange County was like what you see on Laguna Beach and that "other" OC show. I guess that depends on whose life you are considering. The reality on Laguna Beach was different from my own reality. Those kids are extremely wealthy and unbelievably beautiful. When I was in high school my family was financially comfortable and I was of "humble" appearance. (I didn't become bearable to look at until my recent years.) I was never part of any clique. Actually, I hardly had any friends. Maybe it was because my supposed friends were actually one of those cliques and I wasn't beautiful or smart enough. I wasn't involved in any of the social drama, but instead I was one of those strange, pensive loners. This was simply my reality. The reality you see on Laguna Beach is real, it is just a different reality for a different group of people. My reality was more like Andrea Seigel's Like the Red Panda...minus the Catholic schoolgirl skirt!
One thing I can say about the city of Laguna Beach is that you don't see the true nature of it in the TV show. Yes, it is true, it is fairly wealthy. The property is expensive and beautiful. But there is much more to the city than the money. What you don't see is that it is a very liberal community in a county that tends to fall on the conservative side. It is also known as the "artsy" community of Orange County with the Festival of the Arts, Pageant of the Masters, and the Sawdust Art Festival. Laguna Beach is also a very large and thriving gay and lesbian community. You can say that it is the Gayborhood (Gay neighborhood) of Orange County. For those of you in the area, you must go to Woody's at the Beach. It tends to be a gay hangout where straight folks are always welcome, and it has the most amazing food you will ever eat!
I do love living in Boulder, Colorado, but I also miss Irvine. Sure it is getting crowded and it is expensive, but it is an absolutely beautiful place to live.
More on Irvine in another entry...
Current mood: nostalgic
Current music: an assortment of songs from my iTunes library; currently "Crucify" by Tori Amos
Current drink: Ventana's 2005 Monterey/Arroyo Seco Riesling
No comments:
Post a Comment