Did: Finally sell the 38-year-old convertible beach cruiser.
Didn't: Replace it with a totally useless SUV.

Did: Like the renovated Hermosa Beach pier when it reopened.
Didn't: Like it when they told us it wasn't finished.

Did: Fall into just about every beach cities fashion trend of the 70s, 80s and 90s, including OP shorts, terrycloth Lighting Bolt shirts, knit ties, baggy shorts, etc.
Didn't: Ever wear Day-Glo.

Did: Travel to San Francisco many times over the last 20 years.
Didn't: Fall so in love with the goddamn place like so many others.

Did: Vote for Gray Davis the first time.
Didn't: Vote for him the second time.
Won't: Vote for Gray Davis ever again.

Did: Work in local city government.
Didn't: Turn into soft foam rubber like so many of those poor folks.

Did: Go to Mira Costa High School
Didn't: Fail to recognize the Redondo Union High School is a fine school as well.

Did: Vote for Robert Benz at least once.
Didn't: Nonetheless let him convince me that whoever yells the loudest is right.

Did: Read "Gravity's Rainbow" in college.
Didn't: Learn until much later that Thomas Pynchon wrote the book in a tiny apartment near 33rd Street and Highland in Manhattan Beach.

Did: Buy a hell of a lot of books at Either/Or Bookstore over the years.
Didn't: Think the place was all that great in its last days and wasn't all that sorry to see it go.

Did: Grow up in Manhattan Beach.
Didn't: Realize that the town was as good then as it was ever going to be.

Did: Want to own a house in Manhattan Beach.
Didn't: Enter the stupid-ass home contest.

Did: Learn to play a decent game of volleyball
Didn't: Become a habitual surfer.

Did: Sort of learn to like old school South Bay punk rock.
Didn't: Ever like the Hyperion Outfall Serenaders.

Did: Own a pretty cool Logan Earth Ski skateboard with Road Rider 4 wheels when I was in my teens.
Didn't: Go on to be one of those overweight guys in their 30s trying to look cool by skateboarding up and down The Strand.
Also didn't: Ever try Rollerblading. Not once.

Did: Buy a new TV.
Didn't: Get cable.

Did: Learn to love the Internet in a big way.
Didn't: Get DSL or cable.

Did: Find the Newt Gingrich-era attacks on the arts as overly simplistic and Puritan.
Didn't: Ever think that government funding was what the arts were all about anyway.

(August 21, 2003)

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