THE REAL LAGUNA BEACH

There is a trampy TV show on MTV called, Laguna Beach, The Real Orange County...This show honestly represents a very small portion of our town. There are the, "I am so rich that I never have to ask the price of anything," people in Laguna Beach. The majority do not buy Hummers for their sixteen year old kids. Some do, and they are being portrayed as the REAL Laguna Beach?

This bothers me a great deal. My kids go to school with these kids. Although, they do not watch the show, nor do they expect the world to be bought for them, they live in this town and I hate to see the kind of reputation that this show is touting.

My twelve year old has a couple of friends who have moved away and became instant "celebrity-like" people because the kids couldn't believe they came from Laguna Beach. These are good girls and now they have to prove they are not like the spoiled, thong showing, crack baring girls on the show. And, the show was just picked up for a third season. By the way, at least I can say for the show, that it does film in the town. The OC is taped in Malibu, which is in LA county. What a crock!

I know there are a lot of people who like it. My sixteen year old Christian niece, loves this show. My brother told me this today and I was shocked. How can people enjoy watching a bunch of spoiled kids. Not to mention, non actors. I am not saying they are bad kids, I have only seen the show twice. Just to try and understand the draw. They used to tape at the high school where Zoe goes, the only one in town, but they were banned the first year. Now they shoot all around town. Katharine, who wants to be an actress when she grows up, likes to watch it being taped. She recognizes the girls who are on the show, out and about. Maybe she has seen more of it than I know. But, I am not worried, because she is a very grounded kid. Maybe these other kids are as well. I don't know, but I am about to give you an example of how the REAL Laguna Beach is!

Today, I spent the morning on the phone with moms who were inputting Girl Scout Nut Sales into the computer. I walked them thru, step by step. They seemed surprised by my taking the time to hang on the phone and do this. My reasoning was that I am the Manager and want to do a good job and second, I would rather they do it right and not for me to have to go back and figure out where they went wrong. Plus, I really didn't mind. I have never met some of these troop nut moms and I wanted to get to know them a bit. I was feeling like every last one was flaky a week or so ago, but they seem to be coming around and doing a good job, which helps me out a great deal! Anyhow, I digress.

About 11:00 my neighbor called and told me she lost her car keys in the sand. I asked her what she wanted me to do. I know where they keep the spare keys, mine included, but she wasn't sure where the spare keys were, so could I come down and get her. Turns out she and a friend were down there with two little sweet dogs. I retrieved them and dropped of the friend first and then my neighbor ran in her house to get her keys. I took her back down to her car. Problem solved. Last week she was at work and her daughter locked herself out of her bedroom and my neighbor had the key with her at work. Hub and I drove to her work and got the key and we dropped it next door. I do this because they are good neighbors and I want to be one too. When I had to go to the ER, I called her and she took me, hung out with me and picked me up five hours later without skipping a beat. When I had pneumonia once, the same thing. She is just there.

On my way down the hill, I got behind two cars going very slowly. I noticed a brown, medium sized dog running down the road on the opposite side, into oncoming traffic. Luckily, the first car got him off to the side. She got out of the car and called him, he took off again. She got back in her car as we followed slowly behind her. Eventually, there were two more cars behind me, driving off to the right and left of me to see what the hold up is. I was worried one would be impatient, try to pass and hit the scared dog. Again, the first car caught up with the dog, the woman got out and called him, and he took off running again. I wondered how long this would go on. It would have been funny, if the dog were not in danger of being hit. The dog made a turn down a canyon road and the first woman pulled over. The woman in front of me drove on. I stopped and asked the woman if it was her dog. She told me no, it was her neighbor's and the dog was really upset when her neighbor left with her other dog to go to the vet. She was beside herself. I let her pass in front of me, and told her I would call animal control to come up and help her. I drove on down to get my neighbor. I looked behind me and the two cars, had pulled over to opposite sides of the road. Both had dogs in their cars and both got out to help the woman look for her neighbor's dog....I have goosebumps just thinking about this again. I felt so proud to live in a community like this. Then I thought to myself, what a flake I am, still in my pj's, not getting out to help the poor woman. Had I been clothed and not going to pick up my neighbor with the lost keys, would I have been kind enough to get out and help this poor distraught woman? Or would I have just called Animal Control to come up and help her? I guess I will never know. However, I would like to think I would have pulled over and helped her search for the scared doggy!

I did see her on the way back up the hill the first time and she did have a man in uniform walking with her. I could tell by the way she was gesturing that she hadn't found the poor little guy or gal yet....I hope she did. We are surrounded by canyons and the poor thing was probably resting in the shade. Hopefully when it got rested, it came out from hiding to get some water and somebody found it!

This is the REAL LAGUNA BEACH!!!