page 1A

---

New Home, New Life

---

BERKELEY, CA -- living up to the reputation.
So in a recent column about housing ads, i poked a little fun at Berkeley stereotypes and sorta implied that my new roommates were all vegetarian lesbians. This was a mistake and i'm really sorry if i prejudged anyone, or if i led people to believe that berkeley residents are as counterculture as i previously suggested.
Now that i'm here, i can tell you the truth. Some of them eat meat.

I arrived in Berkeley about a week ago. Three girls greeted me here, the second floor of a two story house on 59th street. From what i can tell so far, Berkeley really does live up its reputation. Organic waste in this house is never thrown away but composted in the backyard close to where the corn stalks are growing. Rumors of "pickling parties" (and i thought tupperware parties were ridiculous) float around the kitchen. Herbal teas serve as an accompaniment to the nightly, pre-bedtime hookah smoking sessions, during which I have seen smoke rings like never before. And then when the hookah is all burned out, we all up and run off to our futons where we sleep because there are no actual beds anywhere in the house. Even this very column is late for posting because there wasn't any internet until i hooked it up myself.

Last night, hoping to get a glimpse of the olympic ceremonies, i ventured out to the TV. Upon reaching the television set, i learned that we receive a fabulous total of four(4) channels through our bunny ear antennas. Unfortunately, none of the channels happened to be NBC. Channel 2 was covering a race between 40 midgets and an elephant to see who could pull the 747 airplane faster. Channel 4 was local news. Channel five was airing some show hosted by Barbara Streissand who was showing clips of old musical moments. And on channel 9, a portly woman with platinum blonde hair was trying to sell identity theft preparation packages. The packages were $240.

Anyway, Berkeley has been an interesting place. Adjusting has been pretty tough and making friends has certainly been a challenge. I miss San Diego and all its familiar faces. Maybe i could invite some people over for our next pickle party? Well, that's not for a while. For now, i'm gonna cheer for the the midgets.


  ¶ 1:50 PM