I live near picturesque Newport Beach where the sun is shining, the water is glistening and the douches are rampant. Full of beautifully fashionable people with perfectly suntanned bodies and quaffed hair, it's enough to make you throw up in your mouth. (Side note: I don't hate beauty or fashion, I just get sick when it's so contrived.) Two things have recently brought this to my attention more than it already was.
1. A photo album was posted on Facebook by a group in Newport called ShoresCrew. I have no idea what these people do aside from drinking too much, putting OZ's of white girl up their nose, inevitably vomiting or pissing on themselves and documenting it all along the way. I seriously don't know if this is a clothing company or any of them have jobs, I only know that they got in trouble a while back for posting some compromising pictures of girls on their website and that they run wild throughout Newport's bar scene. They're all good looking, both girls and guys, and they're hip to all the trends so right now they're a proper mix of surf meets hipster which is really just a lot of skinny jeans and bright colors. Oh, and they sport mustaches and flannels which completely throws off my radar because I used to think that was the indication a person I could actually talk to. A year or two ago, yes. Now, it just means you've walked into Urban Outfitters in the past six months. (Superficial, maybe, but we all have our thing.)
2. My roommate and I took a trip down to Carlsbad to hang out with my brother. He and his band of misfit friends are all tatted up with long hair, facial artwork, grungy clothes and appropriate music interests and skill level. I love hanging out with his friends because I feel like I fit in with them considering I share the same interests as they do. The best part about them is that they don't take themselves too seriously and they're always having a good time with each other. If you just looked at them you might think that they fit in with the Newport crowd but the difference is that their style is their own and they don't do it to be pretty and trendy; that's just who they are. Anyway, we went to a bar there called Hennessey's and both Lara and I were taken aback when we didn't see the kind of people we expected; Newport look-a-likes. It was almost as if we forgot what people looked like in other parts of the world, even 45 minutes south to us, and realized that not everyone looks like they belong in a magazine. It was a harsh reality that I actually felt embarrassed about. Had I become that short sighted?
Here's the thing; I actually really like living in Orange County and am able to see beyond the money and how vapid it can be. It's much like anywhere else that there's affluence. People hate on it here but I'm from San Diego where people in Del Mar aren't much better; they're just older which sometimes makes it more sad. I know I've bitched and complained about Newport before and those that populate it so I feel a bit like a broken record. Or hypocritical even because I too care about fashion and culture, but I've certainly reevaluated where I spend my time, money and who surrounds me.
I appreciate Orange County, particularly Costa Mesa, for it's eclecticism and subversiveness which allows me to eat at my favorite vegan restaurant and go to Detroit and check out bands and write for an online music magazine. I truly do believe that living in Orange County has shaped who I'm going to be professionally and had helped me figure out who I am, particularly what and who I like and don't like.
And, at the very least, these folks that I continue to bag on will add endless amounts of entertainment to my life.
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