Let me make something pefectly clear. I love Los Angeles. I'm not sure why. I haven't tried to analyze it too much. But, this crazy city that people love to thumb their noses at has more to it than shallow, image crazed, anorexic idiots. I mean that exists, too. But, that's what's so great, it all exists in Los Angeles, warmed over by the sun ready to be shaked up every now again by the earth.

Living in LA isn't it for the feint (another word I don't know how to spell) of heart. There is the smog. It's getting better, but it's still there. There is the traffic. Trust me you don't know rush hour traffic until you've driven the Sepulveda Pass. There are brush fires, earthquakes, mud slides and flooded streets. The most annoying thing, there are people who move here and don't appreciate it always complaining about how it's not like home. LA has everything, but it doesn't have Shake and Steak, White Casltes, Friendlies, coffee syrup, or some other regional favorite thing. But, it does have In and Out. Oh, sweet In and Out.

That's the first thing if anyone reading this is considering moving out here, don't expect it to be like home. It won't be. There is no other place like LA. If you like rainy, cool days, this is not the city for you. We have sunshine. Living here for awhile and 60 degrees becomes a winter cold front and not a spring thaw. We do get rain in the winter, but that's broken up by 80 degree days. About every five years we get a whopper of rain storms thanks to El Nino. But, for most of the year it's sunshine.

The thing about Los Angeles you have to understand is this, beneath the crap, the bad traffic, the earthquakes, the image conscience idiot who ruin it for the rest of us, is a gem. It's a place where its brilliance isn't put on dispaly. It protects itself behind a curtain, pull that aside and you'll find all it's treasures. It's loud and noisy sometimes, sometimes seems tacky, but look beyond it and you'll find the hiking trails in the middle of the city, beaches, Malibu, the numerous art museums, libraries, plays (ignore they're all starring people who want to be in soap operas), movies, movies, and movies.

Los Angeles has it's own particular charm. It likes to play the court jester for everyone else, but beyond the grease paint is a place worth living in, seeing, and treasuring.

Those who can't do that shut up about how much it sucks. I really don't want to hear it.