but really, Land Rovers are pretty nice

I don't know what it is about this blog, but it kind of feels like a confessional. I can get things off my chest without having to face looks of utter disgust. Let's just pretend I'm on a reality show and it's my turn to spill my guts in a soundproof closet. Speaking of reality shows...

I am addicted to Laguna Beach.

There are no 12 steps. If I'm lucky, 12 more episodes.

I started watching the second season sort of on accident when I moved back to St. Louis 14 months ago. When the season was over, I bought season one and watched it in one day, barely pausing for lunch. Now there's a new season on, and because I can't get Micah to watch it without streams of sarcastic commentry, I wait until the weekend because they always rerun it in the mornings when Micah is still in bed.

I am not at all proud of this addiction. I loathe it.

(I loathe it so good.)

I try to sort out why exactly I am so goddamn happy when I watch it. The reasons, they make me shudder in shame.

Why I Love Laguna Beach
by Gabby

I love Laguna Beach because it shows me a side of high school was not privy to. I always hated the popular girls, but I know it was fueled by jealousy. Some of the most popular girls in our grade had been my very best friends in younger years, and I always wondered what I did wrong to be excluded from their collective climb up the social ladder. Of course now I see why I was so stupid to think this way, so veryvery stupid, but it doesn't stop me from feeling like somehow I'm living a popular girl's life for thirty minutes every week. SO SUE ME. (Actually, heal me, for I am sick.)

I love Laguna Beach because it makes me feel better about myself. Weird, right? You'd think those impossibly skinny, wealthy, and well-sunglassed girls would make me feel like a poor unfortunate slob, but they actually don't. They are so stupid, catty, conniving, materialistic, and clueless about real life that I feel like I am operating on a higher plane. It reminds me that money sure as hell ain't everything, and while it'll cushion their princess lives forever, I wouldn't trade how the real world has shaped me for an ignorant and blissful life. It's like a rubber ball - the harder you throw it to the floor, the higher it'll bounce up. It'll bounce up and down with the same rise and fall if you bounce it gently. You can't have truly high heights if you've never known deep lows. Ya with me?

I love Laguna Beach because the scenery and the houses are gorgeous. I'd live in California just so I could have an infinity pool.

I love Laguna Beach because one of the girls on the show, Jessica, drives a Camry instead of the ubiquitous Land Rover (so pedestrian!). She graduated last season but she sort of has a thing going with a senior, Cameron, so she's kind of back on the show. (I definitely have a love/hate relationship with Jessica! Don't even get me started!)

I love Laguna Beach because the soundtrack is always spot on. So angsty, so fraught, so appropriate to the mood!

I love Laguna Beach despite the fact that I know the producers prod the cast into having conversations about relevant drama in the 'hood. I just don't care. Micah doesn't understand how I am able to suspend disbelief and enjoy it knowing many of the scenes are fabricated, to which I reply with unsuspended disbelief, "You watch STAR TREK. People don't have foreheads like that in real life and they wouldn't be caught dead in those uniforms, either!" And then I take a deep breath or two and get back to my show.

The crux of it? I love LB because I love hating bitches. And don't we all.