While I’m at it .Homework!A major bugbear of mine.Its ramped right up here and I’m guessing Australia is following the same pathway.Its ok with me to do some basics but not at my expense .With both parents working ,time is at a premium in most households . At the moment I can be sitting with both my kids for up to 2 hours a night . We are getting lost in expectations . Ok your going to laugh and say your not working Howie why worry ?Its the fucking fight I have every night that shits me . And if I ever get a meaningful job here ,the kids will not get my help . Hello tutor.The push is big here. We were confident ,almost cocky that the Aussie system had our kids ready. No. They both will repeat next year .This is actually a relief for both EJ and me . Tex is not happy ,after establishing his friends he will start again . He’s embarrassed but hopefully it might give him a better chance. Leroy is not fussed. We thought he may stay up but as I previously stated they are well ahead . Grade 1 here would likely be grade 2 and up at StMacs .Theyre doesn’t seem to be any holistic approach. It’s performance and performance under pressure that counts for a lot . I get it ,but it troubles me that kids who fall behind  will have to walk a precarious path . In Australia we’ve got other avenues for those kids . Here you can still make a good life without being a good student but your going to have to work much harder . It’s a jungle at the bottom and the pathway to trouble is so much easier to find.Youve got to get that degree and you have to pay up front.The kids are smart around here and they have to be to keep this lifestyle .They can’t fail

Ok , I’ve been sitting on this for a while and maybe I should wait until I’ve rounded up more data . Education is big business Comparisons between the Southbay in LA and what I know back in Aus isn’t a simple process .Our kids went to primary school in grades 1 and 6 at St Macs in Mornington . We were pretty comfortable with the school and although we had some issues they would stay the course and head to Padua College once finished .On arriving in the US our place of residence (Hermosa Beach) has a reputation for its high academic standards.. The kids were placed in the same year levels as at home . The issue being that they would jump from the start of the year to the back end of the US equivalent. The schools are split .Elementry: kindergarten(Aus grade prep) to grade 4. Middle school : grade 5 to grade 9 . High school : year 10 to 12. After settling in for a week we noticed there was a significant increase in home work . Actually it was a shock to me and more  so the boys . It gets murky when making comparisons as there is a lot of variables to consider ,but I have no doubt that at the very least the Hermosa schools are well ahead of the StMacs equivalent. You may read this back home and get defensive about the schooling your child is receiving and I sympathise . My kids are average and are always going to have to work at it and maybe yours are going extremely well at StMacs ,but I am convinced that even without missing a chunk of the year that they would start well behind the hermosans .The race to achieve startled me . The kids are tested every week. Every term they get tested for ranking throughout the state. Leroy does 1 hour of homework a night . Tex…..   It’s a war zone at home pushing him to do anything but he’s drowning with what’s expected .Testing ,competition and comparison is they’re way. Yes Tim Hoffman you were right with our little school debate.You are expected to push your kids up the educational ladder by any means .A lot ,and I mean a lot of kids will go into summer holliday tuition . There is no let up if your child is in the pack . You should ‘pay ‘ to boost them . I am guessing this is how your top private schools operate in Melbourne.The US is all about getting that degree . If you don’t you are flipping burgers for a living or worse , a tradie .As of grade 5 you are in middle school going from individual classes and teachers throughout the day like in year 7 in Aus . Like junk food outlets there are tutorial services on every corner here . Yep it’s big money to get you’re kids to the top . A user pay system that will keep your child out of the trailer park . This is the US.

I know I gotta be careful and not turn this blog into a surf journal but it is a big part of my reinvention process at the moment .  I’m prone to work best off a structured program : get the kids to school as quick as possible , get a car park  b4 10 am so as it is free and of course, get a wave before the sea breeze arrives . Fucking priority! The day ain’t any good until those boxes are ticked . Then of course I can dedicate myself to the less important .Anyway a bit of gush today . It’s one of those steely grey ,still days . You can see right around the coast in both directions and straight out to sea you can see an island . Probably Catalina . You get days like this in Mornington where you can look across the bay to Melbourne and almost touch it . Here , a rarity but today is the 1st since arriving.And the surf,nice .Couldve pictured yourself at mills beach or safety beach with perfect uncrowded rollers coming through .Its not Australia but sometimes it gets close.​

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Well Emma’s work has signed off on all the legalities and requirements on my eligibility to work permit .The L2. I’ve got a social security number .All we need is our American drivers license ,which we’ve got to do a written test ,driving lessons and an on road assessment.Yep back to school there.Shit ,reality is kicking in now . I gave myself permission to have an extra hour in the surf this morning as the impending doom of getting a job put me in a funk. I’m thinking I ‘l have to squeeze every bit of ‘me time ‘ in before I start work sometime soon . Probably around January ,unfortunately. Yep ,looking forward to flipping burgers ,packing groceries or collecting trolleys . It’ll have to be in another suburb so none of the school mums see me . Cause when I tell them I can’t keep up with tennis and school volunteering and sippn Starbucks with them they’re gonna wanna know why? Of course I ‘l have to tell them I’ve got too much business commitments which will really impress I reckon . Life can be cruel

https://aussiehowieinla.wordpress.com/2017/05/24/may-25-the-myth/

Hate to say this folks back home ,but we don’t seem to be that popular anymore. I think LA must be saturated by Aussies and thus we’ve lost our novelty. I can  honestly say there has barely been a murmur about the love for all things Aussie. It’s just something we think we’ve got that will help us get mobbed over here . Not true.Im often met with an indifference when I speak .They struggle to understand .They usually lean in a bit closer then slowly arch there back away in puzzlement. I’ve been told a couple of times that I’ve got the strongest accent they’ve ever heard. Fuck me drunk who’d have thought.On other occasions they have thought we were poms!wtf!!!Thing is ,we are not special anymore.Tex thinks I’m an embarrassment as i say g’day ,mate and howz itgoin . But fuck it I’m not conforming and joining the biege brigade . Yep ,they’re  very polite and quite reserved (so un stereotype ).Its actually Aussies who are forward and to the point .We are actually more self assured and willing to connect than the yanks . We are happy to reveal a lot about ourselves from the opening foray and it tends to put them back a bit . I’m not sure they know how to take us initially. But I will say they have been on every occasion willing to help. Yep ,they like us but do they gush? Not really

An extension to the police presence is the traffic flow.You can rest assured that if the traffic is all flowing faster than the signed speed limit you should do the same. For over here your  not going to get your photo taken . Yep there are nearly no speed cameras .Havnt heard of one yet. Common sense prevails there folks . Don’t have to have one eye on the curb or foot over the break pedal. If your flying through traffic ,good luck. As the police are out looking for you .Now I’m sure if they bring those cameras in here they’d be winding this through the courts ,protesting that it is an envasion of they’re civil liberties.I do love the big brother approach of more cops over the nanny state approach of tax by stealth.And finally there’s no way I’d sit in a mobile traffic camera car in LA . Your probably not coming home 

What’s noticeable about driving around LA is not just the traffic but the police presence . Now when you drive around home you’ll see them every now and again . Here , every trip. It does keep you on your toes especially when your an Aussie who is still not comfortable in this upside down system.At school time there often scoping for a an infringement . You see them there at least twice every week . The population makes things congested so there’s a need for more enforcement but it works . The driving is passive, there rarely is occasion where someone needs to be 1st or more important than you. Now I may preface this by stating the obvious ;the cops don’t fuck around over here . So if you want to be Vin Diesel there more than ready . Just get ready to crawl out of that car and imbed gravel into your navel if you don’t want to be shot . No really ,these cars they drive are straight out of MadMax . Big bodied fuckn hulks that are kitted up for the pursuit . The intimidation factor of the boys in black works . And there lies the anomaly to the Australian system . They chase , they catch and they kill to keep every one in line . It works for me . I won’t be doing any car jacking any time soon . Send the Apex kids over here and see how they go .

Kids dropped off tick . Check the waves ,hmmm . Fuck it’s a fraction small . Options ? Get in the car and head north but oh no I realised the reason I had checked the waves at the previous location was there were restrooms nearby . Now that I’m in the car driving I realise there are frequent bowel movements and emissions  . Shit ! ‘Go home and give it a miss I say to my self . There’s plenty of house work to do anyway ‘.Back home I’m all depressed as the forecast on the surf front . It looks bleak for the next week .So I say to myself ‘Howie grow some balls and head  back towards Elporto ,what could go wrong?Now this bit of coast is densely populated ,hardly any parking and roads that are a real head fuck I find the one car park that I know that is in the area after trying to find somewhere,anywhere else .This  place makes me paranoid as it feels local .Abit of grime mixed with a bit of crime.I decide yep I’m parked in the corner with a wall shielding most of the car to prying eyes so i’l hide the keys today .The normal spot under the tailgate on top of the spare tyre is where I go but I push them over a bit deeper.Clunck ! Oh no what the fuck they’ve dropped into the spare tyre hubcap which of course is fastened hard to the under carriage. Holy shit it’s panic stations now . I can’t reach the c…t s. I try to squeeze my hand through the hubcap holes but can only just touch the fuckers with my fingertip .This is fuckn embarrassing ,the cars locked i’m in my wetsuit with my board and I’m in the surfn version of the fuckn hood .I decide the only thing I can do is walk or run to Emma’s work which must be 10 ks away . Now I’m going to look like a fuckn complete tool walking through heavy traffic in my surf getup and then explaining to security at my wife’s work who i am. They’re likely to think I’m some fuckn mado Nooooo!!! I scream to myself ‘Get those keys you dumb fuck ! So I jam my arm in there to the point of dislocation and after a couple of minutes I push the key across to the edge of the hubcap hole and pinch them out with my other hand . But as I drop with exhaustion my arm is trapped . Can you fuckn believe it !I try to move it but my shoulder goes into spasm. I’m about to yell for help but I know I’m totally defenceless .Visions of being in the news with cops and fierys trying to get me out flood over me . Holey shit  Howie  you’ve done it this time . Now I really am about to cry  but i know I’ve just gotta get low and contort myself and rip it out . Done it . Get the surf in and realise . ‘Hey there is something to write today .’ Yep that’s how it’s done folks,trust in me to be practical and measured the offending arm pays the price 

The farking jungle! Ran into a school mum at the supermarket .Told Jan of our plans to head down to San Diego . She looked at me like I was stupid ,laughed and said no. Enough said but I couldn’t go back home and rain on the parade .After all it was Leroys birthday and EJ put in a heap of effort. Now I’m glass half empty at my best but this day was a fuckn script that just said don’t . A long day already but the drive back ……………FARK! Hideous . 120 miles of freeway on a Saturday afternoon should be a cruise . Fucking wrong in a big way . Bumper to bumper on 4 to 6 lanes ,sun directly in the eyes and lines fading into the concrete. Demoralising . This joint is truly a concrete jungle with extreme traffic and I can’t complain enough about it . The positive ;we turned off and took the pacific coast highway where the traffic was still fucked up  but we went through Orange County. Leguna Beach , heard of it?Now this  joint is very cool and über hip .A cross between Byron Bay and Lorne but on steroids (sorry , you’ll here that a lot ). Just wanted to pull over sit down in one of the many beer gardens and restaurants and pull on the boat shoes ,drink shit loads of pims and cocktails and beer and wine and spirits and fuckn anything .Yep the sun setting ,the beautiful people, the buzz . Awesome joint .Now I understand why the house wife’s from Orange County think there important . Cause I’d love to be there ‘pool boy ‘  Anyway you can tell I’m drinking right now so I better stop rambling . Love you’s all