Hollister, California
My best friend Kim works at a Hollister in Valencia, and I went camping last night with her and all her friends from work. The trip was actually really fun, but also surreal just because of who I was surrounded by.
The entire set-up, to me, seemed like a real-life advertisement for Hollister, and as the only outsider, I felt like no one else noticed it. Everyone was wearing faded blue jeans and beach-style button ups, and we were all sitting around a campfire right next to the beach. And when it got darker and colder, they all changed into their Hollister hoodies and sweatpants. Everything about this night seemed to embody Southern California Coastal culture, or the way mall stores try to make it out to be, anyway.
One guy even said, "Damn, I forgot my guitar." That probably would have sent me over the edge.
But the trip was fun. As much as these people looked like mall-rats, they were actually very genuine and fun to talk to. And I think I had my first "I'm getting old moment" in a while when one of the girls that was there got a phone call from her mom. Apparently she told her mom she was spending the night at her friend's house and got busted in a huge lie. I said, "Why didn't she just tell her mom she's going camping?" Everyone quickly let me know that this girl hadn't even started her senior year in high school.
Damn.
I can't remember the last time that parental permission was even brought up as an issue to be confronted. I just felt awkward and old.