California

Noun. (cal-uh-forn-yuh) or (cal-uh-for-nee-uh) Note: California natives often refer to the first pronunciation. *31st state to be admitted in the United States *3rd largest state in size, after Alaska and Texas *1st largest state in population, before Texas and New York *Yes, we have a Governator. No big deal except for the massive budget cut *Known for forestfires and earthquakes *Also known for its diversity of culture, race, lifestyle, weather, and landscape *Is divided in three parts: NORCAL-Bay Area residents say they're from NorCal; CENCAL-residents of the extreme Nor Cal say the residents of the Bay Area are from Central Cal; and SOCAL-home of bum Hollywood, smoggy dirty LA, Six Flags Magic Mountain's Ventura, Disneyland's Anaheim, & Sea World's San Diego. As a California Native, I would say that the state trumps all the other states in America, even the everlasting warm Hawaii, sunny Florida & crunk Atlanta, judging on my experiences. The weather varies so much that I have to say it's pretty annoying since I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area where it's often cool. In mid-July some summers like this one, it's hella COLD while my SoCal native friends & relatives say it's sweltering hot in Adelanto, Riverside, or Inglewood. It's so big that it's impossible to drive less than half a day to get into either Oregon or Arizona or Las Vegas from the Bay Area itself. That's one of California's cons. Although I'm a full blown commited resident of the Bay Area and love it so much that I'll never leave it, I have to say SoCal is a place to be for tourists because there are much more activities to do than in NorCal other than Napa Valley, Lake Tahoe, the okayish Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, San Francisco & San Jose. California's landscape is hella tight! You can go skiing any time, just drive a couple hours from the Bay to Lake Tahoe or an hour from the beaches in SoCal to the mountains. There is the broad horizon of pure country and agriculture in NorCal, home of the grapes and where there are a variety of vegetables and fruits growing in places near Bakersfield. We have different kinds of places from the bustling cities like metro San Francisco and my least favorite, Los Angeles to the ghetto & dangerous Compton, Richmond and Oakland (i lived there, it isnt bad though there are high rates of homicide--Richmond is worse, I believe) to the suburbs and cleaner areas like Dublin, Hercules, San Ramon, and Fremont to the really nice quiet cities like Alameda. There are beaches in NorCal in cities like Mendocino, Santa Cruz, Monterey and myraids of beaches in SoCal like Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Venice Beach, just to name a few popular beaches. California is definitely NOT like you see on OC and other crappy TV shows with all the beaches and hot girls and dudes. It's all fake because the real SoCal is just a place where nomadic vagabonds roam, weather changes often-it's not always warm and sunny, and NO, YOU DO NOT SEE CELEBRITIES AT EVERY TURN YOU MAKE! How many times do you non-Californians need to be reminded? Good schools that are challenging and beneficial are plenty here, like University High School in San Francisco, Berkeley High (YEAH Yellowjackets! yadidasayin!) in Berkeley, Albany High in Albany (no, not the capital of New York) all in the Bay Area. I have no clue about the ones in SoCal except the fact that all the good schools that are in the richest and snobbiest neighborhood in the Beverly Hills area are the schools nobody except celebrities and rich people can afford their kids to go to. The Bay Area is hella tight! We, the Baydestrians use different lingos here. You may hear them more often from the kids who are from the EAST Bay Area. Heard mostly in Vallejo, Richmond, Oakland & Berkeley. Just to list a few of the many words we kids use in our everyday conversation: *hella *yadidasayin *yee Most words started with Mac Dre, may he rest in peace, and other people, then later more artists like E-40, The Federation & Keak Da Sneak added more terms, like the word 'Hyphy'. We go dumb here in the Bay Kountry like yall get crunk in the A! This is the home of turf dance, giggin, 18 dummy, dittidummidum, thizz, doing the stupid dummy retarded mayne, and most of all, shakin them dreads and shoutin out YEEE! This is why I love the Bay Area so much. There is a tight knit culture and dialect in the Bay Area that we created together. I like the fact that everybody in the SF Bay is diverse, you can find people who are punky and rock, hippies and yippies, gothic, gangsta, religious, weird, homeless, prude, stuck up, well you know the rest, we have everyone! But mostly the weird ones but I'm sure you'll find yourself being friend with one of the weirdos and find them a cool person! We have an everybody love everybody attitude here in the Bay! We dont care if you're deaf, blind, in a wheelchair and have multiple disbilities, different color, from a different country with different religion and culture or if you're a Hispanic immigrant (legal or illegal, doesnt matter haha) as long as we cool with eachother! That's the spirit of a Baydestrian and the Bay Area! Above all the negative facts about California, Cali Cal is a place to be! So is my hometown-- the Bay Area! Haha.