Harmonica Review; follow up

Now I can better guide anyone considering getting a decent harp.   If you play real hard and aren't much of an overblow player, then maybe the Suzuki M-20 Manji is not you.

HOWEVER, if you want a really responsive instrument with a wide dynamic range, M-20 is for you.  I had to become accustomed to the trade off when things are set for over bends and easy response.  You have to play gently, but you can go faster, and control over note bends, and intensity is a real treat.  It does not deny one the expression of passion.

It is possible that I will slowly switch over.  Though I guess I'd stick with Lee Oskar minor keys.  Don't know if Maji makes them.  Anyway, the durability test remains to be conducted.  I should say, it is in process.  Let's hope I can give a good report in several months.  A sensitive harp should last longer if the player learns the trick of playing hard while using very little force on the reeds.

Many advantages.  Better dynamic range. Faster, more control over pitch, shape and volume.

You Call It Pride...

but viewed from outside your group, the effect is often dripping in hostility and an unpleasant sort of jingoistic separatism.

It does get old to those who have never harmed you and your band of whatever

the end

Spending Money Like THEM: harmonica review

Spending money I don't have for that which I do not really need.  Reminds me of guitar players I have known.  They will hock the house for a new guitar (new to them), gadget or accessory that is not essential.  I have been guilty of just such lack of fiduciary conscience.  However THEM can easily have broader reference.

Conscience: from the gypsy words "con" and "science"; the science of con. How to dupe effectively

So, I happened upon a video with Jason Ricci talking up the Suzuki Manji M-20 harp, claiming you can get overblows and overdraws on most notes with little or no tweaking.

couldn't keep still, sorry for the blur

On most harps, you can't do the over-bends without taking the thing apart and messing with the gap and arc of the reeds, embossing the slots in which the reeds vibrate, etc.  Those things are little, and can be brittle.  Also, if you get a reed slightly rotated it will hit the sides of its stall and life goes south.  Very hard to get it back right, in most cases.  I'm batting zero on that.

Jason was right. These harps do play differently.  Not for players who value force over technique.   They are highly responsive to just a whisper of breath, even on the highest note of the C harp.   It takes very little air to get a rich, authoritative tone.

I'm not yet very good at overblows and overdraws.  That is what they are called.  How it works is that you change the shape where the back of your tongue hits the soft part to stop airflow.  Called the H-spot, I guess because it is the part that acts if you were to say "hey" several times in rapid staccato succession.  You feel it as the word is cut at the end.

What happens on a blow note is that you are choking off the normally vibrating blow reed and the draw reed then vibrates at a higher pitch.  Ideally.  Once you master getting the blow reed choked by changing the shape at the back of your mouth, getting the other reed to cooperate is not always so easy.

You know it when you hit it--the tone comes out bright and loud.  The trick is how the air is flowing, not how hard.  Too much force and you get nowhere.

These diatonic harps come in different keys, 2 reeds per hole, 10 holes and in 2 cases notes are repeated.  Just how it is.  Bending notes down in pitch has been in play forever.  Just about any harp off the shelf is good for that.  Bending notes up is a relatively new thing.

For me, the Suzuki Manji M-20  is probably the best bet for incorporating over blows and draws.   Overdraw= when you bend a draw note up in pitch.  You breathe in and out on harmonica--different note drawing than blowing in the same hole.  Can't talk harp without it sounding kinky.

The body or comb is made of some kind of composite synthetic material. It is better than wood or plain plastic, in my book.  If the reeds are as healthy as Ricci claims, then they may last awhile.

I've seen Ricci at seminars and such, and found that he gives information in a way I grasp, and he doesn't ever appear to be leaving stuff out or over complicating things.  I pretty much trust his word.  That's why I bought 2 harps for lots of money I don't have.

Didn't see any in minor key tuning, so I guess I can do it on the major key harps when I become fluent in the bends I'd need.   I can do minors on major key harps now, but the scope is highly limited.

Manji has stainless cover plates which seem much better than the usual.  They have that Marine Band thing with the edges of the reed plates forming sides of the note openings rather than the full plastic face of the Lee Oskar--which is gentler on the lips, usually.  On the Manji, I don't mind the way it feels.

If you want to play fast and bend notes with ease, this is the harp.  But they are pricey.  Cheapest I found was just over $50.  If you can not play gently and be happy, buy something else.  But if you want as broad a range dynamically as I've experienced, the Manji it is.

Lee Oskars are still good.  These have a certain versatility those don't.  If they last like Oskar's harps, then we are on to something.

Why did I get these, and why am I posting this if I don't much feel like playing anywhere?  I sure don't know.   I'm not happy with my inability to create and establish a rhythm that makes me want to dance, and I don't feel what I do brings out any of the thrills I'd hope.  I am strong on tone and nuance and playing clean notes.  Yippy.

I should have been a physicist.
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PS: they can say what they want, but what I think happens on bends like these is that slight changes in the air chamber (back of mouth/top of throat) cause a certain turbulent flow which spins in the right way to affect the reed you are working.  Since you have vibrations involved, one can learn to sense and control it.  You feel it.

Everybody's Talking At Me

I know I should be concerned, and have an opinion on a whole range of issues, preferably assigning the role of hated villain to some group or individual in each case.

Turning to Huffington Post, I find that an easy villain is the GOP because they hate women, are all rabid racists and celebrated after the Newtown massacre.  Perusing other sources, I find that democrats are totalitarian communists who want to enslave me and take any money I may have now or ever.  Sometimes, I must admit, I tend to believe the extreme view of democrats.

However, the truth is that the GOP is as riddled with bad logic, ridiculous causes, and deception as their supposed opponents.

Both the major groups hate libertarians.  With good reason, because anything that trends in favor of a libertarian take, necessarily limits the power of both Republicans and Democrats.   I was a bit surprised to see such vitriol toward libertarians here and there in news forums.  In some circles "libertarian" is as bad an epithet as "republican".  One of those things where the word loses meaning, just becomes an insult of vague definition.

 I'm not sure what all libertarian views are on everything, anyway.  I know I lean that way but I also know they sometimes trip over the ideology.  I rarely find the RNC or DNC have any consistent ideology.   Except that they both avoid embracing individual freedom and autonomy as I wish they would.   And they promote a sick foreign policy which does not yield the taxpayers a lot of benefit.

In my book, the bottom line for both establishment dems and reps is power.  All the rest is rationalization to justify it.  People flock on the bandwagon to mock the presented enemy.

If you don't agree with democrats then you must be republican and want to shoot children, force religion, etc.  So it goes, the "national conversation" is a big game of beg-the-question, skew the study, warp statistics, and otherwise avoid establishing and checking the basic premise of an argument, suggestion, idea.

Don't want government involved in marriage or abortion, then you must be a Godless demon who doesn't care if babies are killed, etc.  Guilty.  I wouldn't personally perform an abortion if I could, would rather it not be done if I were papa and mama says she doesn't want to stay pregnant, but I am in no way in favor of preventing people from having abortions.   In many cases I encourage it.  Not all people should multiply.

Geez, believing what you hear, you'd think the NRA is somehow on trial, or at least responsible for Newtown, that  Obama is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the democrats stupid position on foreign policy and protracted  police actions is somehow less stupid than the establishment republican position.

Garbage.  Expensive, harmful, pesky garbage.  All we really want is some positive personal reinforcement, a degree of comfort, decent food, and abundant sex.  No.  That "we" part of the sentence is unsubstantiated.   It seems most people want to be victims, or vicarious victims so they can have evil ones to hate.  It is the national passtime.

Too bad.  I'm reluctant to say why I'll probably never move back to the South.  Or why I'd not consider living in most big cities anywhere.  Why go where you are hated before they even know you?    Gets old quick.

I will say, whether Obama's fault or not, the hostility of subgroups in the population of the US toward one another seems to have amplified considerably over the last five or six years.   To certain people, that means big money and power.  Too few in a position of influence have good motive not to feed the animosity.  And people follow their team blindly.

If you are liberal you must agree that if you aren't for the proposed gun laws then you hate children, especially the ones slain in Newtown.   If you are conservative then you must care about gay marriage, abortion, and prayer in schools, and be in love with police and other armed government employees with guns.

Personally, I do think the visible, in power, democrats are mostly neo-bolsheviks, and corrupt.

I think most visible, in power, republicans are timid hall monitors, potential theocrats, and corrupt.

Not cool to say, but I believe the dems may have the edge on volume of corruption.  Hard to be sure.  Both groups have thrown away more money that is not theirs than one can even imagine.

Neither outfit is honestly presenting much.   On the side of republicans is the fact that I've heard a few of them suggest abolishing the irs in favor of something simple and less abusive and oppressive.  Not the old school GOP, though.   And then some of them who make sense on the tax thing go and get all entrenched in worry about abortion and gay this and that.

Seriously, can't people understand that, though you don't like or approve of some behaviors, it behooves you to stop short of using the law to force others to live as you do?  If they are not assaulting your rights or personal sovereignty, try to bite the bullet.  Your own freedom  will ultimately suffer, as we have already seen.

Modern day regulatory environment causes me to hesitate to even think of becoming something like a window cleaning service, and I certainly would not create an enterprise that involves hiring employees.  You need to already have plenty of money, and even with all the fees and licenses,  you are probably breaking some rule or open to bizarre lawsuit.  It is good to be poor in a litigious society.

Hilarious that McCain and that charlatan, Schumer were at the border being useless, and some woman scaled the fence to flee Mexico as they watched.  Probably works for McCain or some other official.  Climbs back and forth daily for minimalistic wage, which is maximalistic by Mejico standards.

OK--that sounded like air America or the like, starting off with a very far fetched "probably", then building on it as if it is true.   Al Franken is big on that, as are many of such ilk.  Maybe good for laughs from the unthinking, but contributes zero in truly supporting or refuting an idea.

All there is to do is the immediate list of personal tasks before me.  Screw the rest and hope I can afford the basics.  Maybe I've dropped too far off the mainstream, and maybe not far enough.

World view: Guatemala; 1959 or so

Much of this story will not be told, but the part that I often remember best will be.    In ways, my childhood would classify as "privileged", but not os much if you were there.

Back then, if you wanted to fly Pan Am from east US coast to west. you had to fly all over the place, hopping around Latin America, eventually arriving in San Francisco.  I'm lucky enough to have experienced this prior to and after the universal use of jets by the airlines.

It is a toss up whether my favorite airliner was the DC-6 or the 747.  However I didn't ride anywhere on 747 until much more recently. I liked the DC6 at least as well as 707.  I wasn't in a hurry I guess.

The coolest stop was Guatemala City.  The main lobby of the terminal was full of shoe-shine boys and men.  People selling cool little knives, textiles, etc.  It was nothing for an 8 or 10 year old America kid like me, or my brother, to wander the place on his own, bartering over things and making friends with the shoe-shine kid.  I thought the shoe-shine kids were the coolest of cool.

Everyone really looked happy.  Except the occasional cop/military guy.  I couldn't tell one from the other.

I daydreamed about running away and becoming a shoe shiner in Guatemala City.  But I never did.

That is where I experienced my first tortilla.  We spent the night sometimes and the restaurants were the first ones I actually liked--judging from highly limited experience in life.

It was always my mother, brother and I on these trips.  We flew standby because of my father's job, but he never went, thank God.

I think we did well because we all had respect for people and weren't pushy.  They were always doing little extras.

If I recall, I think that airport was built on a cliff or in a canyon or something.  Pretty sure you could easily either fall off a mountain or fly into one.  We never did.

It never occurred to me back then that some would think that whole thing awful in some way.   It does now.  Paying truant children to shine your shoes!  One man had been there for most of his life.  He sent his son to a university in the USA off the money he saved all those years shining shoes.

One kid I remember was there the two last times we took that trip.  He showed me his method but I didn't speak spanish and don't know what was in the unlabeled bottle.

He didn't drink it.  He brushed it on my highly scuffed shoes after wiping them off with a cloth.  Then he did all the polishing and making the shoeshine rag sing.  Then it seems like he applied more of the clear magic formula.  No one could believe he made those abused shoes look good.  Back the you wore leather shoes ad dressed up to travel, and only spoiled kids wore loafers, which everyone knew were bad for feet and posture.  In other words I had one choice--tie up shoes.  But they stood tall whenever I left Guatemala.

After my first exposure to good jobs for kids in Guatemala, the main thing on my Christmas list was a shoe shine kit.  I never asked for much stuff, so I got things like that.  Sometimes.

I kept that kit for may years, shined my brother's shoes when he had a date in high school.  Had not I been otherwise trapped in my environment, I may have gone into the biz.  Of course, even then, they wouldn't let a 10 year old set up shop in Miami International Airport shining shoes.

And you wonder why I so reject most regulations which cross my credenza.

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Summertime

Couldn't get it to load right.  Here it is Had to just use the link.

Maybe this is a little better.  From last time I played. I've been not playing for a week.  I figured out why I got so fed up with it.  It's complicated and has much more to do with things unrelated.  But not unrelated it seems.  I'll not share my realization.

 

Climbing up a Sand Dune

That's how it is.   You go up some and slide down some, never too sure of the grip or footing.   At least I am not concerned with the "why are we here?" question.  What difference does that make?
The more personal questions involving not giving up and which way to go and why am I my own most formidable nemesis do tend to plague me some.

Oh well.   Some people actually think "we have an obesity crisis".   Life expectancy has grown by leaps and bounds in the last couple of centuries.  Oh my god, some people are fatter than studies indicate is optimal.  Who cares?  Want to lose weight?  Just continue to support all the neo-luddite initiatives afoot, and pretty soon it will be hard to score enough food on the average salary to do aything but starve.

I've decided to go on a hunger strike to show them!   Never did understand hunger strikes.  I oppose you and your policies, therefore I starve myself until you do it my way.  Seriously, if I were The Man you are opposing I would support your starvation more than anyone else.  

California Dreaming; blues and news

Today I drove 20 minutes to look at snow, the headed into El Cajon to see what was up at Downtown Cafe since someone had suggested it.   They had a bunch of blues harp players there to promote the annual harp fest.  That is harmonica, not the lovely stringed device which elicits visions of Heave and beautiful angels.  I like harps.

That is neither here nor there.  There were several players at the cafe, some with their own bands, although the same drummer and bass served more than one group.  It was that sort of thing.  Most of them were good players but, I hate to say it, I found most to be boring and unoriginal in content and personal style of play.

Now that I figured out I am more of a Texican at heart, I don't mind admitting that I'm not your garden variety blues player.

There were a few older guys who played that veteran musician card, but the best harp, and group, were young guys---maybe 25 to 30 something in age.  Maybe younger.  Red Lotus Revue, a local group.

It could be that they reminded me more of some of the Memphis blues outfits I liked, or because the harmonica player had more style ad imagination than the old hotshots.  Those guys were good but it is like they are phoning it in--just nothing unique at all.   That is a problem with a lot of blues players--they resist bringing anything to the table that is new, and skilled as they are, it gets old quick.

Overall, though it was a great time.  I knew a few people there--not the players so much.  I am familiar with the hardcore blues clique ring leaders, ad for that reason I avoid them like the plague.  If there are lines here, you may find something between them.

Lots of people there, and some interesting sights which involved near see-through spandex.   And no players were bad or painful for more than a minute.  I may be a snob, I think.  Lots of those guys seem silly trying to look like Mr. Badass.  Really?  Are you going to fight someone or what?   Live and let live, and be nice.

Last year I went to the big harp fest because Jason Ricci was playing a set--and it was good.  I feel guilty that most of the groups just don't hit me where I live.  This year, we'll see.

I almost posted a link to a video that is up of me playing a cool song with some locals.  None of us had really played together, as far as I know.  I do know most of the players, though.  It was a cool tune which I'd ever heard but they all had.  Minor key thing.  I overplayed and wished I hadn't so I leave it out of this.  I reviewed it and voted No.

The good thing about seeing these other players is that I can pretty well rate where I stand, which is in some other field altogether, for the most part.  Not saying better or worse, just in a very different place, and today reinforced that.  I enjoyed just being an anonymous element in the crowd.  No desire whatsoever to up there playing, and there were good people on guitar and such.  It either speaks to you or not, and today was not.

Women smiled at me, and a few people suggested I should be playing, so my ego was fed a few crumbs.

The girl up the hill has a baby shower or something the night Los Lonely Boys are playing.  I told myself I'd go ahead and get tickets if she wanted to go.  I figured if I went to all that trouble I'd be sure to get lucky.  So, no go on that and not sure if I know anyone else who'd enjoy such a evening.  Maybe I'll just go, and then head north aways and camp or something.   I think I put enough guilt out there that I might get lucky anyway when convenient.  Or not.  I'm possibly just fooling you.

If the text is missing any N's it is because my keyboard has issues, mostly with N.

The moral of this story is that I am already playing music with the best people I could have found, and I should make time to work on things more with them, particularly Cliff because he has time, and he's one of a kind and leans toward original efforts.  And he's got that kind of talent that can't be taught.

Quite often the diamonds are in your backyard.  No need to go after blood diamonds in Africa.  Now if K and L could make the time, it would be eve better.  Here on ballistic Mountain I have my 3 favorite players, and I just fell into that.  Life does me that way, yet I still seem to believe my job is to ruin my life no matter what.

I'm trying to change that.   It is touch and go, and gets to the point of being a little bit scary every now and then.   Totally an inside job.  I can't blame anyone, because I am treated by people and the mysteries of the universe far better than what mere odds would dictate.  It may be an art.  Or just luck of the draw.  Or both.

Oh.  I just found out, never mind.  My family is growing like the rabbit family under the cabin.

Those kids picked perfect cities.  I already know Seattle is great and maybe one of the only urban areas I could dwell.  And Austin is a hotbed of my favorite music.  Plus I like Texas.  I'll let the nephews fight it out for who will take me in and support me for the duration.  I'll charm their daughters into forcing them.

LOS LONELY BOYS - Senorita. Live concert (HD)

This is my idea of a band.
None of the people I play with know who these guys are.  I'm stunned.
Inundated with Neil Young and Eagles, but this is way more me.  Way, way, way more.
Makes me jump and dance, and forget my disillusionment with being me and alive.

Last Will and Testament: part 3813

Be it known, that whether I am killed by the CIA making me catch cancer, like the late Senor Chavez, or kick the bucket by other causes, known or unknown, if Jesse Jackson and/or Sean Penn show up at the funeral for any reason, just shoot me, then shoot them, or at least give them a good tazing.

In Jesse's case, I understand his fondness for Hugo;  Jesse is a thief and extortionist, much like Chavez.  They both pretend it is all for a good cause and betterment of the little people.

Don't cry for me, Venezuela.   But, please please please, can you just keep Jesse, Sean, and any of the other idiots who are there helping you grieve over your departed dictator?   If you will keep them, we will find some way to repay you.  We'll give you Ft Lauderdale, or Chicago, or maybe Connecticut.

Jesse mourns his pal, makes speech in Venezuela--overcome with grief

So, I don't know why anyone like that would come to my funeral, but just in case.  Actually, I don't think I will have a funeral.   I will go missing for quite some time, then just be declared tardy, or absent, and soon forgotten.  I'll leave no footprint.  You'll never know I was here.

If I am found, please burn the evidence and scatter my ashes over the naked thighs of beautiful virgins over the age of 18.  If none can be found, then just scatter me over the naked bodies of all those who rejected me, and those I rejected but shouldn't have.

Even so, I'd rather leave no mark than be remembered because I was part of the corrupt power structure of a nation or anything else.

Still, it is a shame to know you leave nothing of consequence or value.  It is a world of idiocy in which most of the rich and famous and powerful are negative examples of life, and evil doers--often because they haven't the ego control required not to become unbearably insane once they taste a bit of power and acclaim. .

Woke Up This Mornin'; or did I?

What a wonderful world.

Dennis Rodman, world class intellectual and moral compass, says Kim Jong Un is a great guy.

If you can't take Dennis Rodman's word for it, who can you believe?   I did not hear what he had to eat while there.   Maybe they roasted up some starving peasants.

photo lifted from huffingtonpost.com

Celebrities love dictators, and mass murdering heads of state.  The pretense required to make the celebrity feel righteous is so thick you couldn't break through it with a shoulder launched missile.

Update: He ate a baby pig.  lifted from tmz.com

Undaunted, the rich and famous will pretend that their hosts are the Second Coming, despite the evidence of suffering and abuse.  They envy that power, and the way the captive audience of peasants has no choice but to cheer with approval.

Hollywood types, in particular, love that kind of spotlight.  The kind that comes from being a King or Queen who wields absolute power.   Look at me!!! or else.   Love me!!! or else

Sick bastards.

The same mentality has infected those who aren't rich and famous, but who possess just enough education and intelligence to assume they are among the elite, and that they'll be running things when all things in life are finally run by elite boards and committees.

That group either got picked on too much as kids--or not enough.   I can't stand the pompous creeps.  Piers Morgan syndrome.

OK.  D Rod is da man, and not terribly bright.  He did manage to party in N. Korea, possibly eating them out of house and home.

It's just crazy enough--it might work!

D.Rod may reform and liberate N.Korea, create a warm and fuzzy relationship between them and the US.   This is worth watching.  Will they hide their wimmins when he returns?  Or the opposite?
\
Sometimes the world is entertaining, if bizarre.

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Valley Ain't Dead

Perhaps you've noticed that valley speak is not just for California valley girls.   In the SoCal environment, it took me a few years before I could understand what women under 35 were saying, but I have it almost mastered now.

The downside is that understanding the words doesn't go a long way toward making sense of the content.

Knowing that it is futile to attempt much in the way of understanding, I've settled for mentally cataloging certain characteristics in valley pronunciation and sentence flow.  It is mandatory that a proper valley girl end sentences in a low sort of girl growl.

News women have picked up on this, so it is a bit of a national epidemic.  May as well include flight attendants who aren't satisfied with emphasizing unlikely prepositions and such.  We've got a crisis ON our hands.

And the word "you" no longer rhymes well with the word "who".  You is pronounced "yeow", and is best said at the end of sentences in a fading girl growl.

There are many words like that, but yeow is the best example.  Lots of times the vowel E is pronounced as if it were a A, but that gets tricky.  Example: OK, say whan (when).  The last words of sentences must include both the growl and the vowel butchering.

Conspiracy?   Perhaps.  I suspect the young women are being brainwashed at the tattoo parlor, and the waxing/bleaching salons.  I'm not suggesting any legislation at this point, but beware.

I'm wondering if people practice this accent, then go try it out on their friends at the local night club.   Probably so.

I wonder if this ties in with the whole weapons ban controversy.   Admittedly, at this point the connection is not clear, but few connections are when it comes to legislative feeding frenzies.

Think yeowww.   (thank is another word which must be altered for proper valley speak)
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Adios, Hugo, Guess You had to Go

What concerns me most about the tragic death of a dictator is the impact it will have on his pal and protege, Sean Penn.   Venezuelans must possess more patience than I when it comes to certain things.

yes, the campaigning is fun and we can feel important and better than all the little people we protect

I can't imagine some actor or celebrity from another country riding around with a candidate for president and that not having backlash.  I have a hard enough time when the president of Mexico advises us about how to treat people running from his country.  Not to mention his immigration laws are far more draconian than ours.

I don't know.  Even if I were rich and famous I'd find it more than a bit arrogant to insert myself into another country's political life.  But then, I doubt I'd be a real fan autocrats in any case.

...and then Fidel says, "If that's not a Revolution-sanctioned golf ball, then you get a hole in one; En su cabeza!! boom".  hahahahahaha

This must be the worst day for Sean since they shot Che.


The moral of the story is: even otherwise intelligent people can be complete idiots.   Celebrities, by nature, want to be liked, so many of them come off like parrots playing the role that wins peer approval.   There's a snowball effect.   Sean, though, really seems to believe ruthless theft or murder, for an, allegedly, ultimately benevolent cause is OK.

He always manages to hang with the more equal people when he visits these wonderful egalitarian dictators.

Iditarod Justice

...because sled dogs need a good lawyer




...
.Probably not affiliated with earth justice; because the earth needs a good lawyer.  I see a day when we will face off in court

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Why Stay; or Go? California dreaming

If I were even slightly in the mainstream of authorized life, I'd probably leave this state.  If you are rather wealthy, or not even on the scale, it works out OK.  The in-betweeners are screwed.   They try to screw the nebulous entity know as "the rich", but have only met with mild success.  If one has no tax specialist on retainer, I guess times are tough.  I don't know.

In my case, I lucked into the right place at the right time, and for now I see no better option.  So, I stay put.

The latest in California political buffoonery, if you don't count Maxine Waters claiming that "the sequester" will cost more jobs than exist in this country, is the plan to raise the tax on gasoline.   Why? Because people aren't buying a much as they expected them to when they set the last gasoline tax.

This is a state in which you often find specific parking places, up front by the handicapped spots, set aside for hybrid vehicles.   Yes, we reward you in you can afford a hybrid car.  

The hybrid perks are supposed to encourage being green and using less fuel.  Whether that all pans out when one considers various aspects of carbon footprint is not commonly explored.   I don't think it is anyone's business, but I'm in another universe, obviously.

So, go green, ride your bike, don't drive, great white sharks are people, too, welcome to California.

By the way, since you people are not using enough gasoline, we are going to raise the tax on it.  I guess they first used changing behavior as the rationale for upping the tax, and now they openly complain that they want more money because people changed their behavior.

In the long run, many of us will drive less, buy even fewer gallons of gas, experience even higher prices, and finally give up and move to Utah or somewhere.

This causes me to conclude that all the talk of wanting the leetle peeple to use less gasoline, drive less, etc., had nothing to do with environmental concern, but rather control and "revenue".   The revenue part is ever enough, so now they will punish the frugal for budgeting their automobile use.

If I were just a little bit closer to the border, it would make sense to buy gas in Arizona.   I don't trust the Mexican options over that border.  Besides crossing the border is too much trouble.  Search this and search that, and can't bring guns in case the Mexican police or gangsters (which is which?) decide to kidnap or kill me.

Already the highest prices in the US.  I thought I'd hit a real bargain yesterday when it was only 429.9 for a gallon of regularo.

What I do like about where I live is that I do not experience the harassment of gimme dollah guys like in Memphis.  There was almost nowhere you could go that you weren't bothered there.  Especially if you looked a little like me.  Four, five, six times a day if many errands were to be run.

Unlike some more urban areas, out here we don't have great herds of people clamoring for money or power under some mass ethnic hypnotic spell.   That is the advantage of more sparsely populated areas.  People do what they do and mostly shut up.

You still have riffraff, but they don't run things.  In town, the tweekers and criminals pretty much run the show, wear the badges, and cut the ribbons on crooked crony projects.

I'm not sure I could ever live in a more urban area again.  Especially the way the culture is trending.   It must be hard to continue the big pretense in those places.

We in CA are leaders.  Maybe if gas is so expensive in your state that you find ways reduce consumption, you too will be rewarded with additional per-gallon taxes.  It's for the children, I think.  Or maybe it is for Moonbeam's high speed rail to and from places which draw no riders.