finally in LA

We finally arrived in Los Angeles in one piece. We took 10 through downtown LA to 405 took it north to Wilshire Blvd and arrived at UCLA. We're staying in the UCLA Guest House which is pretty neat. And, it's a lot better than our stays at the Marriott hotels already.. free wi-fi access (I'm actually logged in with my own username and password, but Patrick's using the info provided by the school), free breakfast in the morning, and very friendly greeters.

The first strange yet awesome thing about this place which Patrick noticed was that the road signs on the highways have BARBED WIRE on them.. which presumably are intended to prevent gang members from tagging the signs with spray paint. Haha, here's a pic:

There is also an aburdly high amount of traffic in Los Angeles. Here's another pic:

After eating at a Baja Fresh in Westwood (lame, I know, but we were just trying to find some food), we went to Ikea to buy a mattress and box spring to move into my apartment tomorrow. The dusk/night-time drive to and back from the Ikea in the San Fernando Valley was pretty exciting. We spotted fires in the mountains towards the east, a strong indication that the wildfires dangerously close to LA are far from quelled. Anyway, driving on the curvy roads through the hills was almost as exhilirating as driving in the desert at night in Arizona.

Move-in to me 385 sq ft apartment is tomorrow.

tucson after dallas

Writing from Tucson, Arizona at a Marriott where hotel wi-fi service costs $9.99 a day, but I can still connect to the University of Arizona's open wifi network. For free. Anyway, the drive here was alright. We went through El Paso, passing dangerously close to the Mexican border. We could see the Rio Grande and an enormous Mexican flag flying across it. The highlight of the day occured shortly thereafter. When we got into New Mexico, we were actually caught in a U.S. Border Patrol's dragnet. The patrolwoman asked me and Patrick individually if we were U.S. citizens. Haha, it was pretty intense for me at least. Here's a picture of the Border Patrol checkpoint:

After eating dinner at KFC because McDonald's was overpriced, we hit the road again, going west on Interstate 10 after the sun set and the moon shone brightly. Let me tell you.. driving in the desert at night feels so unreal.. in a good way. I10 has two lanes in each direction and in Arizona on a Sunday night, there aren't many cars on the road. It felt great to essentially have the road to myself and the slight fear of the unknown and of possible perils made it even more exhilirating. Here's a picture from during the drive, which I'd like to think is blurry because I was driving that fast.

So, since the last post on this blog we spent Saturday and Saturday night in Dallas with Mischa. We went to Dealey Plaza, the place where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated allegedly by a lone gunman named Lee Harvey Oswald. We went to the Sixth Floor museum about the assassination where I stood from the window from which Oswald allegedly fired his shots at the President. It was overwhelming to see Dealey Plaza, Elm St, and the Grassy Knoll from the 6th floor window. My knowledge of the tragedy comes only from Wikipedia and the Oliver Stone movie "JFK" but I was still in awe of the fact that I was actually standing at the historic scene.

Anyway here's a picture of two tourists standing on Elm Street on an "x" which, I'm guessing, marks the spot where Kennedy received the fatal headshot. The picture was taken from the fence on the Grassy Knoll, from which the most popular conspiracy theory claims at a (at least) second gunman stood and delivered the fatal shot. They and other tourists who also thought it would be cool to stand there were almost hit by cars (cause Elm St is actually a road.. on which cars drive..) and proved to be one of the most entertaining moments of our stay in Dallas.

Later that evening we got some steak fajitas at a TexMex place, which were delicious. Anyway, we need to move the car by 8 a.m. tomorrow to have free parking, so I'm going to sleep soon. Bonne nuit!

Dallas

I am now sitting in the living room of my dear friend Mischa Jampolsky in Richardson, a suburb of the great city of Dallas in the great state of Texas. We just had dinner at a BBQ place which was basically Hooters but with 100x hotter waitresses. I think I like Texas already. When they say everything is bigger in Texas.. it's absolutely true. Except for the lanes on the highway, which were felt kinda narrow. And they use physical bumps as lane dividers instead of painted lines:

The drive here from Nashville was really tiring and boring. Interstate 40 and 30 just straight shots from Nashville to Memphis to Little Rock to Texarkana to Dallas. Here is a picture of road signs pointing the way to the state capital of Arkansas:

I will probably upload all the pictures on Facebook sometime after Patrick and I accumulate more interesting images. Most of them are blurred images of grass and trees.. so yeah. I'm also exhausted from driving and honestly I want to save the more interesting images for when I'm not tired and can write coherently and Facebook. Yeah.

Nashville

We safely arrived in Nashville and just had some White Castle. What a great way to end the day. The drive itself was alright. US Interstate 81 really deserves its fame for its scenic route. Patrick took a bunch of pictures while I was driving on it.. will post them sometime.

leaving tomorrow

Tomorrow (well... at 9 a.m. today), I leave for Los Angeles. My route has changed from the last post to this blog. Instead of driving to Ann Arbor to pick up my cousin Patrick, he has flown down to Maryland so that we can begin the journey in Bethesda. We're going to stop in Nashville, Dallas (for two nights), Tucson, and finally LA.

Saying goodbye to friends has been difficult, but bearable. Instead of descending into despair or sadness, I am overwhelmed with a feeling of a great void. People who I have befriended and grown to trust and love for many years of my life will suddenly no longer be relevant in my daily life. I won't be able to call the same old friends to grab a bubble tea, to play tennis, to play poker, to hit the bars, to play ps3, or to play counter-strike. I supposed I could still play video games with friends, but the ping would be too damn high.

For the first time in my life, I will be completely alone. I'll know one person (sorta) in Los Angeles and one more in the SoCal area. Parents won't be 15 miles away like they used to when I was at the University of Maryland. This is definitely a great opportunity for me to finally mature (albeit steadily since I'll still be in an academic setting), but I fear that I may become lonely. I'll surely meet people through my classes and campus activities, but the familiarity of setting and deep connections with many people that I've enjoyed in the 22 years of my life will be lost. I will still have the memories and hopefully they'll comfort me as I embark on my journey across the country and as I settle in to a brave new world (for me). Oh, and MSN and AIM will comfort me as well.

Farewell Maryland. I owe you and your flagship university an immense debt. Thank you friends for your support, patience, understanding and the memories throughout the years. And thank you ma and pa for being not-so-Asian and supportive of my decision to move 2700 miles away. I'm not sure when, but I hope to return in even happier times.