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If You Don’t Have a Reason to Be in LA…

Tuesday, March 14th, 2006

I can’t believe I’m actually leaving LA in less than a week. I’m in that mode of recognizing the last of everything: Last Sunday night, last yoga class, last Tuesday… I remember the same countdown before I left for my RTW trip and it feels similar–some pangs of things that I’ll miss, some moments of “I can’t believe I’m really doing this,” and many other fleeting feelings I don’t have time to really address right now!

Last night I told my yoga teacher that I’m moving, and she was envious. If it weren’t for her husband being a filmmaker, she said, she’d love to live somewhere else. After I briefly explained my situation, one of my classmates summed it up perfectly: If you don’t have a reason to be in LA, there’s no reason to be in LA. My thoughts exactly.

I also spent almost two hours at AAA (or rather, Auto Club of Southern California) yesterday, plotting my route with one of their fabulous employees–trying to hit some scenic drives rather than just take the interstate the entire way–and getting a TripTik and TourBooks and Campbooks for practically every state I’ll be crossing. I remember Mom and Dad getting TripTiks for some of our long road trips when I was a kid, and now I have one of my very own! Very exciting. I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth on this year’s membership!

The End of an Era

Sunday, March 12th, 2006

I’m feeling good about the progress I’ve made with packing and such. But I’m also realizing how little cargo room I really have in my car, and am still trying to figure out how to maximize that space and what I need to ship that I had been planning to take in the car. Over the weekend I packed up my dear old stereo that I’ve had since junior year of high school, and it became readily apparent that it wasn’t worth paying $90+ to ship it to NJ and that I also can’t afford to have half my cargo space taken up by four boxes of stereo components, so I posted it on craigslist and sold it to a guy named Lew. I’ve been pretty enthusiastic about getting rid of stuff, but this was a little more poignant. It feels weird to have gotten rid of it, but I know it was the right decision. A nomadic lifestyle doesn’t really fit with a massive stereo. I know it doesn’t fit with 13+ boxes of books, either, but that’s another story.

Going Postal

Tuesday, March 7th, 2006
I'm enjoying the freelance lifestyle of not needing to set an alarm to wake up in the morning, and I usually get up by 7:30 or so. Last night I checked the hours for the nearest post office and was ... [Continue reading this entry]

About Me and This Trip

Monday, March 6th, 2006
After finishing college in Washington, D.C., I packed up two suitcases of stuff and flew across the country to Sacramento, California. What I thought would be a summer-long adventure turned into a full-fledged life in California for the next nearly ... [Continue reading this entry]

Countdown Begins…

Monday, March 6th, 2006
I've made plans in San Francisco for Sunday, March 19, so that's the day I have to be moved out of my apartment and drive north. I have less than two weeks to finish packing up my stuff (two suitcases, ... [Continue reading this entry]