2 Weeks: I thought I would be spending more time at the beach

I am enjoying LA. I love the sunshine. I love being outside. I love that 99% of the people I have met have been positive and supportive. I love that I have stayed in two different neighborhoods where I can walk around with in them. I love that I have been introduced to some really awesome restaurants. I love the farmer's markets and the AMAZING produce. 

However, I don't do busy work or bored very well. Job hunting, while necessary, is busy work. And it's discouraging. Yes! I know! It's only two weeks, it's not that discouraging. But I need a project. A focus. I really want to pull out my sewing machine (which is in the car) and sew something (all materials and patterns are not in the car. They are still in Chicago) because after so many resumes and emails I start doubting myself and I need to create something to remind myself that I can do it.  So I am knitting. Mittens. In LA. Granted they are fingerless mitts so maybe I can get some use out them in the winter. After sundown. Also after long days of staring at the computer hustling my sorry calloused fingers I miss having someone to just rant and have a drink with. I miss knowing where to go and what to do.  I realized that I am staying walking distance from a bar that has good live music every night but I lack courage to actually sit at a bar by myself at night as a means in and of itself. 

Any way here is a rundown of things learned in the past two weeks:

-It will take at least a year to really settle in.

-It will take three to four years to start figuring out your tribe.

-That means year two will suck because will have gained and idea of the lay of the land but have no friends.

-The streets are really narrow.

-It is often really difficult to discern appropriate parking spots because there are 3 different signs posted and that requires math. 

-It's not that no one eats carbs here, it's that no one eats because they have no money. 

-They drink instead.

-Retail is for suckers. Hit warehouse and sample sales instead. 

-North Hollywood cops eat at Magnolia Grille. (They also have $2 mimosas on the weekend.)

-Currently there is casting for cats with bipolar disorder.

Recently heard in the Bullshit Angel Times:

-Change your number immediately because no one will take you seriously with out a local number. Ummm...maybe in the time of landlines. But no one is a local and everyone has a cell phone. 

-Actors are useless. 

Yea. Ok. Some of them are. But LA is a city of multi-taskers and I'm not just talking about the server/actor ratio. Most actors are also writers, directors, producers, photographers and a million other legitimate and impressive occupations. And they are good at it. And they are working. Maybe not making their first million, yet, but they are creating the work they want to create. And that is way more honest and admirable than someone who can't spell a celebrity's name correctly on their resume. 

-You will get pulled over just fro having out of state plates on your car. 

I just really can't see the logic in this one. And it hasn't happened yet. 

That would be a kitten in her bag.

A taste of home: Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House

Spaceshuttle Endeavor's final flight

You can just barely make out the Hollywood sign...

Many Different Cities

On the road: Day 6 & 7

Vacation day in Mesa, AZ
Final destination Laguna Beach, CA

I can't believe it's over. I made it. I can't lie. I cried a little when I crossed the California state line. I never in my life thought I would do this. And after a delayed start to the trip I had a difficult time imagining actually arriving. And while having to park uphill in the Midwest is a bit of a joke it is actually really scary. I checked this morning and my car has not rolled away! First California win! And for a first California funny story, I got stuck at a toll plaza on the 133 with zero movement for about 20 minutes because the Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Club came through. The machines apparently do not understand motorcycles very well. They can handle one or two but fifty confuses the hell out of them. I started and ended this trip driving into and out of and into and out of rain which I find only fitting. Now onto becoming a professional wardrobe maven!

On the road: day 5

Destination: Mesa, AZ
Detour: The Petrified Forest and The Painted Desert National Park


Today was the day of beautiful landscapes and skies. Holee Cow, as Harry Carray would say. I wish it was easier to take pictures because I really wish I could share the views. Coming down from the mountains out of Payson, AZ there were old pine trees that I think were part of a national forest and the views off the steep twisty turny road were amazing. The mountains looked deep blue against the sky and the cacti looked like lanky cowboys against the setting sun. There were even horses along Bush highway, not fenced in! So so different to be under open sky for the last two days. I can't believe most of my trip is over and my new life will be beginning in just a few days. I'll have to start going to bed at a reasonable hour, like midnight (instead of 9) and getting up at a reasonable hour, like 8 (instead of 5).

Ps. I knew that I would acquire an uneven tan from this trip, favoring my left arm but I didn't think I would have a serious shorts farmer tan and I REALLY didn't think about the fact that I would have a seatbelt tan. Classy.