I keep seeing all these, so here ya go. Ask away.
Ok… unless you are monied via your parental units, how is life different for a teen in California than in any other state?
They are in the norm to be abnormal?
There was some discussion in another thread about how people get an impression of other countries from TV programs.
OK, here in the UK we get:
Baywatch
Beverley Hills 90210
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
How accurate are the above?
What part of California? Lots of differences in geography—I was a California teen in the Central Valley, Ag country, and the number one life and death priority was a car at 16, because the nearest McD’s was 40 minutes away and there were no buses running more than a daily schedule!
What’s the average annual rainfall in the Amazon river basin?
I’m 18 and live in Palo Alto, which is one of the nicer parts of the Bay Area.
Those all take place in southern California. I live about 450 miles north of Los Angeles.
The nearest beach is 30-45 minutes away and you wear a wetsuit unless you want hypothermia. California is a huge state, most of us don’t hang out at the beach everyday and surf.
I’m from California, I used to be a teen. (It was a while ago, but yeah, I used to be a teenager! 
)
To answer the question about the TV shows, Baywatch, Bev. Hills, Fresh Prince: they have little relation to the L.A. I grew up in, and see now. (Those shows all take place in the L.A. area.) Maybe that’s because I grew up in the Valley area, but truthfully, I doubt most CA teens experience what the people in those shows experience. The main thing I remember as a California Teen was the intense pressure to be thin, thin, thin. And, a lot of my schoolmates would cut class to either surf, or go to Big Bear to ski. But I bet all teens who live near the beach and/or the mountains do the same thing!
When I was younger, the big hangouts for kids were Melrose (Ave.) or Westwood (near UCLA.) And sometimes Hollywood Blvd. I think Old Town Pasadena is a big hangout now? (I am probably out of the loop on the current trends.) These are fun areas, but I’m sure other cities have simular “cool” areas.
All the above shows mentioned are stupid and should not be watched. They are just shows, fantasies really. While there may be tons of hot babes on the beaches in Cali, there aren’t big breasted life gaurds bouncing around saving someone everyday. Rarely do people need saving, at least where i live.
I live in Southern California, the best part really. It is the only other place in the world where there is a mediterrean climate besides the mediterrean (if i’m wrong about this, correct me).
What’s different about living in Cali? Well, from what i hear, that aren’t as nearly as many fat people, almost everyone has a tan, and I can go to the beach whenever i want. I consider myself fat, but relatively, I am a regular David Hasselhof.
Any more questions? If i failed to answer any that have already been asked, just ask them again.
OK, I posted the TV shows expecting them to be unrepresentative. I wanted to show support for your thread!
But I do have some followup questions:
Is there a lot of social pressure on California teens, as shown in 90210?
Are geeks and nerds singled out at school?
Well they may be silly - but don’t you ever chill out with a sunny fantasy world? It rains a lot in the UK…
Perhaps they produce too much ceratonin. Therefore, God does not exist.
Geeks and nerds are singled out in school wherever you go, I imagine. As to the accuracy of “Baywatch”, “90210”, and “Fresh Prince”, all I need to do is take a look in the mirror to answer that question. Do I live in Los Angeles? Yes. Am I ridiculously, inhumanly good-looking? No. Am I rich beyond my dreams? No. Are my parents either saints or shallow, disgusting human beings? They’re somewhere in the middle, like most parents. Is there a lot of peer pressure? Far less than I thought there would be when I was in the DARE program in 7th grade. They made it sound like every day I’d get offered a joint and be beaten up if I didn’t take it. Do we all go to the beach constantly? I don’t think I’ve been to the beach in at least six months. Do we all drive flashy cars? I drive a 1988 Honda Accord with bad brakes. Before that I took the bus.
The truth is that Southern California is a lot grittier and far less glamorous than what you see on TV. Well, not less glamorous, necessarily, but the glamour is a little more sinister than what they show you.
I need to know the current slang word(s) among teens for drunkenness (for a short story about teens).
Boiled? Plastered? Snoggered? Wasted? Three sheets?
Or other things I haven’t heard of?
Thanks.
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For what reason are you able to speak for every Californian teen? Also, what makes California teens any different than other teens?
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Why do you feel that it is important to make yourself available for questions?
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Why is this a Great Debate?
[Moderator Hat ON]
“Ask the” threads can be in GD if they deal with potentially volatile topics, like sexuality, religion or politics (the Holy GD triumvirate). But this seems to be casual chatting, so I’m moving it to MPSIMS.
[Moderator Hat OFF]
this conjures up quite a picture - three men passionately interested in sex and politics (the religion is covered by the Holy bit) ;j
(oh, sorry - HIJACK)