When I was leaving LA I realized the reason everyone drives so recklessly insane is because 1) the road system is confusing and changes are sudden and 2) everyone else drives so recklessly insane. It's no big thing to pull an illegal move that in another town might get you jail time, or at least a ticket. So when my exit was suddenly three lanes over I understood that it would not work to sit there with my turn signal on-- "hi there will someone please be kind enough to let me in?" I cut in front of a pickup and swerved onto the exit ramp at the last minute, a triumph.

I stopped at a farmers' market and bought 3 fuji apples (to replace those taken by the fuzz), a bag of snap peas for $1, and two cactus pads, de-prickled. The woman told me to grill them and eat them with cheese and cilantro. Yes! I love any combination of cheese and cilantro, even if they involve a cactus.

I stopped and got In-n-Out again, because I was afraid it would be my last time. Always so crowded there.

Then, my belly full of animal-style burger, I went to the beach. There are many beaches in California and so they aren't crowded. I walked out and fell asleep on the sand. I took a picture, probably, and that will go here.



I took the Pacific Coast Highway down to San Diego.



The car felt funny, still, especially at high speeds. I drove through Laguna Beach and remembered the times in 2005-2006 when my roommates and I watched it, against our wills. We could not stop. For those who don't know what it is, Laguna Beach was a fakeish reality show about rich high schoolers living in paradise, sitting on their daddies' back patios talking about boys. They always started conversations like, "So now that it's the morning after the beach party and we just saw LC at the surfing boutique, what do you think about how she was flirting all over with Jason?" This is exposition through dialogue, and it is one of those most awkward techniques in modern storytelling. Later when they graduated some of them moved to Beverly Hills and MTV aired their trials and tribulations as "The Hills" and I showed this new show to Wylie who thought it was an ironic statement on society.



Anyway, it's nice in southern California, so nice you don't have to worry about weather or other external factors so you are free all day to obsess about your toenails.


By the way, I usually add photos after I write these entries so if you prefer to look at photos, or you are illiterate, check back later.

I enjoyed the night I spent in San Diego. Downtown has tall buildings, looks like New York, but emptier, and not everyone hates you. The Hostel where I stayed was awesome, three floors, huge lounge areas. I met a girl from the British Isles who was traveling alone through the US and then going to Peru. We talked while I looked on the internet for a nearby Honda dealership. It was time to have the car looked at.

boring backstory

I started this so I wouldn't have to write separate emails to separate people, and so I could update it as I pleased.

I left Maryland at noon on Monday the 16th. I felt sort of shitty, like I was getting a cold. I was also underprepared. Both these were my fault. Instead of laundering and packing clothes I took naps and wasted time playing Ken-ken online. At about 5 am on Monday I finalizing the first day of my route on a map. The United States is huge and terrifying, especially for people from little states. Most of the time the US is just a jigsaw to me, different themed states like subdivisions of a theme park. Theme parks are so tiring. Imagine camping for three nights a week.

For people who don't know me, the setup is this: I don't have a job, but I do have an unusually large tax return and two returned security deposits. I also have some money saved from the five months I worked as an editorial assistant in Florida and during which my only luxury was my shelter cat.

No one would believe me, but I'm not doing this to delay looking for work, as if I expect the recession to clear up. Actually I got this idea at the exact same time I understood what kind of job I wanted. It was like I had a nebulous cloud of confusion and it split in two.

I would get a job (education, ish). Before that I would do something crazy. I wanted it to be enjoyable and memorable, not just crazy for crazy's sake. But it had to be off The Track, because I had begun to resent The Track. I wanted to know I could do something else, out of order. I wanted to measure myself against another standard of success.

I wanted the power that comes from being on the fringe. And even then I'm not really on the fringe, really, I am by suburban standards.

This is all a long way of saying
I decided to go on a roadtrip before I get a job.
I chose the South and the Southwest because I haven't explored either much, and because they are warm in March.

I bought a camp stove, repaired the zipper on the Coffin (childhood sleeping bag), talked to some friends, checked some books out of the library, bought an Atlas and a bag of apples.