I’ve always wanted to see the mighty Pacific since I was a boy. It took me until I was forty, but I made it! If you told me when I started this blog that it would take me to La Jolla, California I would have never believed you. Many thanks to the young lady who took me there!
Life has a funny way of working out.
I remember the first time I saw an ocean (the Atlantic). It was such a thrill – I couldn’t get enough of it! And actually, I still feel the same thrill, even though I’m lucky enough to live right next to it.
Enjoy Cali, and fingers crossed that you run into Marisa again! 🙂
I definitely feel privileged, I can see the Pacific from my college. I love the ocean, it’s truly beautiful.
Congrats! Ive only been to California once in my life and that was in a semi. Not my preferred mode of transportation. Enjoy!
Lucky me I grew up here, and actually almost wound up at the beach in La Jolla yesterday. Glad someone enjoyed it though, even if I didn’t make it there.
Peace,
Steven
As an east coaster myself, I well remember the first time I laid eyes on the Pacific Ocean. It was nearly a religious experience — a pilgrimmage come full circle. Congratulations. Hold on to that happy fulfilled feeling.
I live a couple of miles from La Jolla…glad to hear you enjoyed visiting the Pacific!
As a fellow NJian, the water is on the wrong side at that beach! 🙂
Welcome to our Ocean! I grew up on the pacific and only saw the atlantic for the first time a few years ago – in my late-20’s.
I’m up north, but the ocean is just as spectacular.
Enjoy the sites and sounds, La Jolla is one of my fav places in Cali!
good for you! i love all that has changed in your life all from writing…blogging…taking chances. enjoy the west (its the best you know)
Cue reference to The 400 Blows.
Who was “the young lady who took me there”?
You look happy like a little kid in that photo! As another reader who grew up on the Pacific, glad you enjoyed it!
Indeed – the Pacific has an entirely different demeanor than the Atlantic. I miss her rough and treacherous beaches and rugged beauty.
If you get a chance – go a little further north … to San Onofre – you’ll see a much less cluttered and more windswept landscape. It’s the closest to matching the Northern California coastline (which I think is the best**).
**but not for sunbathing – I’ll still give the nod to the Floribama beaches there.
San Diego rocks. If I knew you were coming down, I would have tried to get you to do a book signing at the Bookstore at SDSU.
I was raised on the Atlantic at Jacksonville Beach. I remember the first time I saw the Pacific – there is a difference and a majesty to both oceans. To have seen both is a privelege some people don’t get. I am fortunate and so are you!!!!!!
You are very welcome — it was my pleasure. We had a great time having you here.
Wish I had magically bumped into you while you were in LA., I hope you’ll be back soon! I’d love to end up at a booksigning of yours or something. My mom suggested that I invite you to the restaurant I work at but I told her our service was too crappy and you would, of course, be able to tell! Glad you enjoyed the beach!
Hey Steve, enjoy the ocean and stay safe
What, you’re here and no book signings? Dude.
While in San Diego, you should try to hit up one of the Santana’s taco shops. I recommend a California burrito with added sour cream. It’s got carne asada, french fries, salsa, and cheese, and it is delicious!
Did you at least get to see “Hotel del?”
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hotel_del_Coronado_Front.jpg
Balboa Park?
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&um=1&sa=1&q=Balboa+Park&btnG=Search+Images&aq=f&oq=
I hope you didn’t do get in the water at the children’s pool (doesn’t look like it)
Stupid seals…. grumble grumble
You were in La Jolla.
Wish I’d known, I’d have come to see you.
I hope you’re having fun.
Alright, I got 22 again!
If you look really, really hard in that photo, you can see my little country, roughly 13,000 kms South-West from where you’re standing.
Yay OCEAN! 🙂
oooooo lookin good there darlin! 😀
Hey,
It took me 46 years to flow from Wells Beach, ME to Brookings,OR/Crescent City CA.
The first thing that blew me away was the amount of driftwood on the shore in Oregon. The second was (after I had moved forty miles south) that there was a continuous flow of fresh water channels onto the beach, right on the border of California and Oregon. The whole time I was there I grilled fish and potatoes and was no further than fifteen feet from fresh water.
Good for you! And keep that picture so you can remember!
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/090418/K041802AU.html
NJ crook poses as a waiter, makes of with about $185. Yeek!
Thought people might be interested.
Kevin…the seals were here first! and we have plenty of beaches to go around. I am so sick of the ” that dude bequeathed that beach to the CHILDREN!” gah…wasn’t his to begin with!
Great picture! You must officially post one less self-deprecating comment as a result.
Hey, you’re in my neck of the woods right now! I hope you missed the heat wave- or maybe it was good for you if you were at the beach! (I was at work… not nearly as fun when it’s so ridiculously warm)
Congratulations, it looks like bliss!
Steve,
Thought you would be glad to know that we recently sent out an edited version of one of the pieces you did for us to about 14,000 people. It’s working well, and I’ll be happy to send you a copy when you get back if you are interested. Continued best wishes…
nigel
I live in NorCal and in my opinion, La Jolla is heaven on earth. If I could move there I could. Too much money!
La Jolla, CA, home to The Salk Institute designed by Louis Khan, a great piece of architecture. I’ve been trying to get out there to see it for years. If your still there and haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth it.
Glad you achieved your ambition – mine’s to visit the States and see Art Deco architecture in NY and SF.
But why are you wearing such grunge to go to a lovely place with, presumably, a lovely lady. I know you’re just exiting the sea and soaked, but why drab blue-grey and dire brown-grey? Why not damp orange and soggy purple?!!!
What a shame you didn’t travel when you were younger. New York ain’t that great! Much less New Jersey!
Pacific is nice n all that but it;s no Irish Sea……seriously……
I live in the great Canadian Prairies and have not once even gazed at the ocean! I envy you! I hope you made the best of your trip!
Looking good. Bet the water was colder than you expected, even in La Jolla.
Greater San Diego’s not my ‘hood, but it’s a great town. Hope you enjoy/enjoyed it.
Stephen,
You look so full of joy that I had to respond. It reminds me of when I finally landed in my beloved England. Peace to you.
Besides everything else, I miss the “Burnt Pork” @ the Panda Inn Horton Plaza [Downtown]. And of course the 3AM post-party stops [coming back from Avenida de Revoluccion [Tiajuana] ] at Juanberto’s/Royberto’s/Alberto’s for Carne Asada burritos–damn those were T_A_S_T_Y_! 😉
Move west young man, you won’t regret it!
You were only forty minutes away while in Portland….you missed some beautiful Oregon beaches 🙂 Now you can say you’ve been coast to coast!!
hey – can you write and upload a new post? i need something to read at work….
Now all you need is come to the nice warm part of the Pacific downunder. Flights are cheap at the momemnt and Australians rarely tip! Sounds like a job for the waiter.
This is my first time on the site; I’m on page 47 of “Waiter Rant” (I’m a 40-year-old ex-bank guy-turned-waiter-again) and I LOVE IT!
I also was raised going to Jacksonville Beach (the Atlantic) and the Pacific Ocean is a totally different experience. The coastline is so much more rugged and the water is more treacherous. I would think the Caribbean has the prettiest water, the Pacific has the most beautiful coastline, and the Gulf of Mexico has the whitest sand.
And I quote page 257, Chapter 21, “I tell myself I should move to a town where short skirts are 365 day a year proposition. Some place like LA or Vegas – but I’d miss having seasons too much…”
Hey Wiater! Its been awhile since you updated. Are you giving up on the blog bc if so I will stop checking it every morning
What happened? Did you fall in?
“What happened? Did you fall in?”
Nah, he died and went to Heaven after eating Carne Asada burritos 😉 lol
Either that or he went into hiding over H1N1…….
I bet it’s a girl.
“I bet it’s a girl.” Yup. After this long it’s got to be trim related 😉
Do you have to ask? it’s written in all the last posts, dear waiter has managed to jump up a notch above internet blogging, he’s out doing projects, making a name for himself and also a paycheck.
Hey steve, don’t think I’m bashing, this is all perfectly understood, those who understand this process call it “Life”, it is natural that when this platform has done it’s work, you will either abandon it completely, or just save all the good writing to one of the books, the ones which will actually make money, right?
Wish you the best of luck and success in all your endeavors, too bad the blog has become dead/dead boring in the process!
It figures I finally discover this site right after the Waiter hooks up and abandons ship. FML. 🙂
I think he got ate by a shark.
Just wanted to let you know that the book you wrote Waiter Rant is absolutely fabulous. I’m a bartender in Tulsa, OK (of 3 years) and waited tables for a few years before that. My manager recently bought me your book as a present. I read it in two days! I could relate to most things in your book and I’m glad someone actually wrote a book about it! Keep doing what you’re doing :]
no, he read Gerals’s post (no.45) and probably it would be cheaper and faster just to swim ….
you think itcold in LA area drive up the PCH to norther cali say above San Fran-they walruses living off the seaside cliff-water kill you in min if you fell in its so cold. Should do it -scenery is worth the drive and food in SDan Fran and wine country nuff said
Ahem, *taps foot impatiently*, unless you have a note from your doctor, young man, you’d *best* show up here soon. You’re keeping the class waiting. You are missed.
I hope everything is ok. Its been quite awhile.
He almost “meets” a few stars and now he is too good for us little folk 🙁
I hope nothing is wrong. I went so far as to check the obits. I did see that an elderly lady in Clifton NJ passed on Sunday, and her maiden name was Dublanica. I am wondering if it’s Steve Grandma…Aunt? I know one of the last times he was not posting for a while he was in the hospital. I am hoping he is just having a real vacation! And that he did meet a girl!
Steve, do you think Obama tipped enough at Ray’s Hell Burger? $6.95 plus fries for a sit down meal(assuming Biden paid his own tip since he paid for his burger), $34.75 for takeout for the reporters: $5.00 tip. I never know what to tip in that kind of place.
It’s been two weeks. Too much of that famous California nose candy?
Steve – are you OK? Where the hell are you?
Hey Buddie!
Where are you? Welcome to CALIFORNIA. Face north….look left and there ya are! I was in Virginia Beach in 2000….You face North and look right. Are you serving lately? I was a waiter for a decade and I miss it. Hope to see an entry soon. I look everyday.
See Ya
Kelly
I love reading your website. especially about those days when you were in the f&b service line.
i’ve never been to the ocean and i think it will take me longer than it took you, to see the ocean. anyway, congrats on getting to see it! 🙂
I think he ran off and got married–remember you heard it here first! lol
Where forth are thou, Steve? Getting a little concerned here; I hope you haven’t given up on this site. Still a favorite of mine to come check out several times weekly. Just a line to let us know you’re still alive and kickin’, ‘k?
Steve! We miss you!! Please come back!!! It’s been so long!! Dont leave us hanging!
he’s back …..
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Again, i know you wrote this months ago… but im catching up! Anyway, glad you made it to La Jolla before the summer rush. It’s a pain in the ass during the summer. I know. I’m a surfer. Some of the best spots up and down San Diego will become littered with people either learning how to surf or just playing in the water. La Jolla will usually be the most crowded. So, once again, I’m glad you made it before the summer rush.
Does anyone else comment on old posts?
Reply: Yes they do! 🙂