california dreamin'

I know, I know, I'm lucky to be here. I'm in Italy, an amazing country filled with so many great things. And I'm trying to get out and experience little bits of it in whatever small amounts of free time that we get. This is NOT meant to be one of those "Italians don't know how to..." comments, and I don't want to sound like the typical rude American in Europe... but I have to confess that I'm a little homesick. I miss my big comfortable bed. I miss information at my fingertips with 24 hour internet access and I miss my tivo with tv in a language I can understand. I miss being able to get in my truck and go anywhere I choose. I miss the sound of the waves when I go to sleep and surfers in the morning.

More than anything, I miss the Southern California light. There's a certain glow to the light that I don't see anywhere else I travel. And that light captures on film. All over the tv, I recognize locations or even just the light from California on commercials and tv shows. Even if it's just a shot of a person in a yard, I can tell the tone of the light. And it shows up in ridiculous places given where I am - from the Italian-dubbed Starsky and Hutch I watched the other day, to espn and orange juice commercials, to MTV shows like "Next" and "Date My Mom" that they show on MTV Italia... I can't escape it.

And by the way - this overnight stuff sucks.