D111

so a brief LA update. everything is just buzzing out here. just living. don't know how to explain it. school is fun, respectively, compared to typical boring class. it's boring sometimes, but it's for a greater purpose and it's in an office building with movie posters everywhere. let's see; the good:
<-------Vaugniston/Vaughnnifer/Jennivaughn/Vinceifer/Jennifer Aniston + Vince Vaughn @ Dragonfly, Spazmatics playing.
-D111 is THE place to be. we seem to host the UTLA parties; (see Facebook for proof). The kids out here from Austin are cool as hell, and we all seem to enjoy each others' company.
-Bret...two weeks...mmmmmm
-melrose, view from mulholland, seeing sarah bareilles sing live, being around steph, saint monica's church, racker (rachel+acker), layering, andrea cutting people, allison rapping, food, kombucha, EDGE, music video shoots...many more visceral things. oh, and fred segal sweatshirts.
the bad:
-BATS on the ground
-traffic/parking
-cost of living
-blake mcgrath not calling me back.
-being broke.
-waiting for two weeks.
the ugly:
my housecleaning skills. the air. my camry. prices of clothes. the third right lane.

i miss everybody, but this is where i need to be. even though i can't back it up with a plan whatsoever?

there's a mountain outside my door

and i'm here. odd. the drive was so nice from angelfire, or maybe i was just ready to leave b/c i got my ass kicked. *thanks bret and everyone. i know you liked seeing me fall every three feet in the snow* yeah so skiing was fun and completely foreign to me but i had great teachers.

we stayed overnight in flagstaff, AZ, which was pretty much just like a tinier austin with choo-choo trains everywhere. it's a city of motels, and we had some soup and wine and leftover sandwiches for dinner. so visit flagstaff if you ever plan on hitch-hiking, which you should. it's funny how in austin, people wear north face and columbia gear--frat-tastic!!--but then in reality, people wear jackets because they're actually in sub-freezing weather.

the drive from flagstaff to LA was a great big morph from one topography to another: mountainlakedesertmountain. but really humbling to feel so small.

settling in was really no big deal whatsoever--we drove past sunset blvd, melrose, through and over hollywood, but i flipped my sh** when i saw the columbia records building. misinterpreted significance of popular iconography, but whatever. the apt is smaller than what i'm so used to, but that was to be expected. the roomate situation is great, and hopefully we can fumble around this town together. my first drive, in fact, is today taking bret to LAX. absolutely scary but will be so helpful in the long run. so now i'm just sitting here with coffee (NOT my own so i'm a little disappointed) and kicking back after my encounter with what can only be awarded the title of "pedestrian aerobics hallway" rather than "fitness center." i mean i guess you could get fit there, due to the kinesiological struggles with the rusty decades-old elliptical machine--and by machine i mean singular! you KNOW how i needs my elliptical fix. but WHAT am i COMPLAINING about??? i'm here.

pictures to come. i miss you.

stabbing westward

here we are, done with leg I of the trip (ATX-SAT) and ready to move on to legs II, III, and IV (SAT-LBK, LBK to Angelfire, NM; and NM-LA, respectively). can't say i didn't cry a little from Austin to home, but it's weird--i'm getting better at holding back every time. not sure if that's good.

said goodbye to my dad already, after he all but drowned me in maps, flares, emergency kits, and money and there ain't NOTHIN wrong with that. i am so lucky! i love that man and the family he watches over. unbelieveably lucky.

getting ready to say bye to adare and mom, probably will be the hardest cause adare's been telling me that she isn't thinking or talking about it. then it's off to palapas--so perfect--for breakfast with Kat and then heading west to Lubbock. gonna catch the game (i've been wearing nonstop orange!) and chillax for a while, then we caravan to NM.

random--a guy from lancaster, england, came across my thesis site and asked me for paper references! neat-o and small-world and so forth. i hope i can be halfway useful to someone other than myself, and that is TRULY the understated sentiment of the hour, despite any obvious contradictions. hope to talk to anyone and everyone soon as i'm near a computer! ciao my loves.