Goodbye, Los Angeles.

It's official: after five years stewing in the smog-ridden, palm-lined, botox-injected, SUV-infected, post-modern monstrosity known as the greater Los Angeles area, I have finally escaped its clutches in order to return to the comparatively serene San Francisco Bay Area. And while these past few days back has led to a great deal of gardening--an activity I hate more than most reported stabbings--and a large house-cleaning with my family leading up to our mega 4th of July party, I couldn't be happier.

This blog, while originally intended to be an extension of my two-year column "Beetle's Corner" at the Los Angeles Loyolan in which I would solely discuss matters related to pop culture, has now evolved in my head to be a grab bag of rousing rambles, dealing with my sudden life change only a year after my graduation from Loyola Marymount University, now living with my parents, my experiences in the film/TV industry while in L.A., an occasional entry in what the New Yorker would call either "Wit" or "Talk of the Town" (although not nearly as polished), my new and hopefully fascinating experiences in Berkeley and San Francisco, and, as aforementioned, pop culture bitching.

The only frustrating thing I've encountered up here, so far, is my selection of a different television than I had in L.A., which for some inexplicable reason goes completely batshit insane whenever I turn on my VCR, disallowing me to view videotapes or spend a few mind-numbing hours on my GameCube or PS2. The set-up is exactly the same save for the television, so I can't help but imagine this is God or Jeebus' sign that I should probably watching TV less and start reading more. But when you pay $150 for a used PS2 and upwards of $200 for games, you definitely want to see some bang for your buck, even if it does mean your children won't be as sharp as you were before all those drugs and alcohol--you lush.

I will leave you with one random item: when my family moved into this house, the former owners by the last name of Jacuzzi (yes, that Jacuzzi family), they left two rifle racks in the upstairs office, a room we have now turned into the master bedroom. Like the liberal I am, I am in the midst of turning one of them into a large oak bookcase for my room. How much does that say about me?