decidedlyodd

I only took a couple of random pictures while I was down in SoCal for Christmas.

Since I was staying in a hotel in the neighborhood where I grew up (until I was 11), I drove by my childhood home and took a picture of it:

The paint job on the place is pretty hideous (teal and beige) and the lawn is rather dead. Where the bench is now, there used to be a palm tree whose top stuck up through a hole in the roof. There also used to be a very tall tree on the park strip, but even I remember when that had to be cut down since it would drop large, heavy branches occassionally. I also remember when the block wall on the right side was built.

I also drove by my old elementary school. Here’s a picture:

Yes, I really went to Walt Disney Elementary School. I’m not sure if that’s bizarre or tragic or what, but I generally liked going to school there. In fact, I attended no less than 3 elementary schools as a kid. Mattie Lou Maxwell School for Kindergarten and for maybe a couple weeks of first grade, Disney until about March of 6th grade and then finally Ole Hanson Elementary in San Clemente for those remaining few months. I’m still not sure who Mattie Lou Maxwell was. Everybody knows who Walt Disney is. Ole Hanson was the founder of San Clemente and Twenty-Nine Palms and oddly enough a former mayor of Seattle.