Abcarian: Is “California sober” a real thing, or just an excuse to keep getting high?
On my way to the gym this morning, I decided to visit the new Facebook site that lets you make your own personal “calendar”. Apparently, these calendars are cool, because this one, titled “California Sober”, makes the bold claim that there is more to life than getting wasted (and this one has a cool little calculator to determine how much you’re getting wasted).
The big, fat claim (and big, fat FACT) on the “calendar” is that California, with its strict “soda and wine only” rule, is the only state in the world that is “somewhat” clean:
But there’s an even bigger FACT: California is also the only state in the country that is “very”, or “extremely”, or “somewhat” clean.
California is clearly the #1 state in the country for public places where you can smoke and drink on the premises. (I just Googled it). When you do not live in CA, it is really easy to find places in the USA and the world where smoking and drinking are allowed, and this is the real reason why California is so clean.
The author of the CALIFORNIA SOBER Calendar, who goes by “Ish” on the site, is a young adult, and an interesting young adult at that. I first met Ish at a local bar, several years ago, and was immediately struck by his good looks and the fact that he seemed like he could be the kind of person who would be an interesting, intelligent, and funny member of his generation.
Ish is from Los Angeles, which may explain why his home-page, in which he refers to himself as “Cal”, is the first one on his site.
On Thursday, Ish took an interesting and brave step and posted a photo of himself on the Facebook page that is now “California Sober”:
I did not really know what to expect when I visited this site. Is Ish telling the truth? Is the California SOBER Calendar a scam? This morning I was thinking about it, and when I got out of the shower it became apparent that my first reaction was that this was a joke. That’s because the first thing that hit me is that I just can’t imagine this guy