I finally got around to watching Kiss Kiss Bang Bang last night, and in addition to it being completely fucking hilarious and having lots of great Raymond Chandler references, it had a really fantastic quote in it that spoke to something that I've been feeling/thinking about lately.
Given the events of the past month, I've been reflecting a lot about people and relationships, and specifically what it is about this area, and why there are so many people my age in this same situation, even though we're all ostensibly looking and trying to find relationships and make them work. Someone asked me the other day what I thought the differences were between people here and people back east, and when I'd been asked that question in the past, I didn't have a concrete answer, other than people in general seeming a little more superficial and image-oriented out here. But in thinking about it recently, I just wonder if the fact that a lot of people born and raised in Southern California - with the perfect weather and everything being sunshine and happiness - just are missing a level or sadness, for lack of a better word. Not meaning being depressed, but just the sadness or at least understanding that you get with like having to go through a cold, dark winter every year - or any changes in season for that matter. It just seems like things are a little bit...less out here, and I think that maybe there's just an experience or experiences that are missing that kind of shape how people are out here. I know that I'm not very eloquent when I try and relate this type of thing, and I know that there are a lot of people out here that have been through and are going through really hard times and struggle a lot on a day to day basis.
Anyway, back to KKBB - there's a point when Robert Downey Jr. is at a party, and after an encounter with a random woman, he says "I swear to God, it's like somebody took America by the East Coast, and shook it, and all the normal girls managed to hang on."
Maybe his theory makes more sense.
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5 comments:
maybe it's not even an east coast v. west coast thing. i think it's provincial v. cosmopolitan mindset. san diego is just a small town. move to san fran or nyc. that's where you're going to meet people, find some purpose, and build your legacy. or least that's my plan. i feel very lucky i met you guys in sd. but you all are the exception not the rule. the rest of the people are midwest and arizona transplants with no desires besides finding happiness in the sun. nothing wrong with that and the majority are good people, but come on, there is more to life...at least i hope there is....
I just want to know how you found this blog already, or at least knew that I had posted after today after I let it just sit for months.
I think you're right about the transplants, but I find that there's just something about people that were actually born and raised in SoCal - be it LA or SD. I guess it's like people in Hawaii - why not be happy, you live in paradise? I guess it's just harder for people from outside or who weren't raised in paradise to relate to that. Who knows...
ah yes, many mysteries in life. but i was reading "simon says" and linked over to your blog. your post summed up many of my feelings on sd, so i thought i'd expand further. also let me say that long-term relationships are highly overrated. it's the stuff of fiction. for more accurate fiction i suggest reading a little herman hesse and albert camus. always cheers me up.
yay, you are back online! (i also followed the link from j*'s blog.)
since i've been on the east coast for the past week helping mom move from PA to NC, I've been thinking about this east coast-west coast thing. not to be self-aggrandizing, but i've definitely received more attention from males since i've been east. as i said to your sis, "i think we'd be hot here!" by which i meant that people on the east coast aren't "holding out" for the skinny but somehow large chested bikini-wearing so cal "ideal." not to say that that's what all men want, but it is so visible in so cal and therefore might seem more attainable, whereas here people are more "real" it seems and less obsessed with body image. so i agree with you on that part.
i've always thought that going through difficult times make people stronger and more complex and while i think that holds most true for emotionally difficult times, i wouldn't be surprised if the same is true for all kinds of hard times, including harsh winters and humid summers. it almost seems silly to say that, but i think it's true that so cal folks often seem a bit "soft," particularly if they are from relatively priviledged backgrounds. so you may be onto something there as well.
lastly -- trying to figure out of I understand the RDJr quote -- is he describing the west coast? if so, then it's lucky for you that a few of us normal girls let go enough to make it out here ; ).
xo j
Yeah - he was living in NYC, and ended up getting whisked out to LA, and it was his interactions with women out there that prompted the quote. Hope to see you tonight...
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