News from the City of Angels...

So, i'm in LA.

So, I finally got my computer unpacked and up and running.

So, I've got a job, at least for the week or so.

This is awesome.

I left Austin early Sunday morning. (Actually, not as early as Jordan and I had hoped, as we didn't actually hit the highway until about 9 or so in the morning)

We traveled down 290 until we hit I-10. From there, it was on to Fort Stockton and El Paso. We hit El Paso around 8pm. We stopped there to get gas and a car charger for my iPod which has just run out of juice.

Then, we were off again. We went through Los Cruces, NM and then into Deming, where we stopped for the night at a Days Inn.

New Mexico was strange. The freeway was full signs noting that "Dust Storms May Exist". Jordan and I had quite a discussion (once we reached the hotel) on whether this sign was playing non-commital about niether confirming or denying the existence of these so called "dust storms" or whether the state of New Mexico has recently granted "dust storms" the right to be and storm in our reality. We never reached a final conclusion.

The next morning, we set off around 9 or 10am. We drove from Deming to Tuscon, and from there into Phoenix. Just before Tuscon, however, we decided to make a stop and check out "The Thing" museum. We had been notcing signs for "The Thing" as far back as El Paso. Now, two states later, there we were. Parked at a little shop, ready to embark on a mini-journey of discovery inside of our journey of discovery. That's right, plays within plays are for pussies.

We paid for our tickets ($1 a piece) and walked through the back door that lead out behind the gas station/souvenir shop. We followed a marked path leading to a small collection of warehouses. Being the John Carpenter fan that I am, I couldn't help but run through flashing images of Kurt Russel and Keith David fighting for their lives in a desolate arctic station, and I hoped, that should Jordan and I find ourselves in a desert variation of their situation, that our deaths would be quick and painless.

Long story short(er), "the Thing" was a mummy. Actually, it appeared to be a mummified Native American girl, buried either with a doll, or her newborn child. It was hard to tell.

Phoenix pissed me off. It hot. Hot, hot, hot. I'm from Texas and I thought I knew hot. But this was unreal. It was, according to Phoenix's all knowing Bank signs, 116 degrees when we pulled into town. On top of that, the people seemed rude, pretentious, and dumb. And nothing pisses me off like unintelligent, mean, pretention. Also, it took us nearly two hours to get through Phoenix. I've now been in LA for the better part of a week, and none of the traffic here is half as bad as what Jordan and I experienced in the city that should have remained a pile of its own ashes.

I'm tired now, and this story is going to get much longer. So, just like Pirates of the Carribean II, here's all the boring stuff. The story's just getting interesting and...

To be Continued...

So long and mahalo.