a taste

A lot has happened, and there is a lot to tell. So you can think of this as a taste of things to come, while I will think of it as a reminder/list of things to write about.

In order, I hope: Leaving California, Leg One of the trip out to Michigan-Jonar's surprise call to his lady, the night we stopped at a super 8 motel and I smuggled my rats in, Leg Two of the trip-writing my name in the snow and the train, going to Detroit for the Flogging Molly concert with Loo, the Flogging Molly concert itself, driving in Michigan, Going to Indiana to meet Joey-loo's gay friend, going to the gay clubs with Loo and...work, which I start tomorrow. Yay.

Hopefully I'll get a moment to write this all down because I want to, but I am tired now.

The trip; Prolog

"Yeah, but why Michigan?" my brother asked.

"The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is tied for first place on my list of grad schools with Iowa because it fully funds its students; if you teach the undergads they waive tuition, pay you 8-12k dollars a year with discounts on campus living, and Loo is there. The only cost would be non-resident out of state fees. If I become a resident and get in I could get my MFA with a positive money situation rather than a mountain of debt."

"Wow. Makes sense. As much as I hate to see you go, logically it seems like a solid choice. What if you don't get in?"

"The other schools out of state fees aren't very substantial, or are waived if you teach. If I get accepted back in Cali than I'll reclaim my residency--its apparently easy to do if you were born here, and your family lives here and stuff."

"Makes sense," he said. I could tell he didn't like the idea of me going, but knew it to be the right thing to do, the logical thing, regardless of how unintuitive it seemed. He is like that. In a few months he would move out himself to go to CSUN for mechanical engineering, so either way we would be moving away from one another.

That was my brother's reaction. My best friend's reaction was more of a

"No!"

"Yeah."

"Crap. Who will run with me everyday now?"

"Dunno," I said, than I explained it to him [see above]

"Well. Horse shit. Makes sense, and I cannot deny your logic, just hate to see you go. But wait! My AK-47 shows up Monday, when do you leave?"

"Wednesday-ish?"

"Damn bud! That's quick! You can't see my AK. I wanted you to shoot it. We can still play 360 over the interwebs though, right?"

"Hell yeah, bud. And we can shoot your AK monday night at the range."

"And sight your rifle."

"Yeah, that too."

"Sweet," he said. And we did. The AK was pretty flippin sweet I have to say. His first shot went right through Osama's face, between his eyes. I think I could write a post about the shooting experience, but it has nothing to do with the trip, so I wont.

My parents were both sad, my mother fell apart. It made it difficult to leave. I cried. She cried. 5 minutes went by before she said, "Go."

And I went.

changes

I moved from California to Michigan by car.

I arrived yesterday around 1pm michigan time, which I think is 'eastern time' though I am not certain.

I have a lot to say about the trip, however I am tired. Too tired to write about it I am afraid.

I drove the last 1600 miles in one fell swoop, unpacked, than slept for 18 hours uninterrupted. It was glorious.

I woke up this morning to Loo's sister shaking me. She was excited to see me. They all were. Loo's Mom, brother Chris and sister Shannon. But where is Loo? You might wonder.

New York.

yeah, she was in New York when I arrived at her house in Kalamazoo. She went to see her cousins in Pennsylvania. I knew that much. Then she decided to go further on to New York to visit friends. It's only 5 hrs from Pennsylvania.

What had had happened was she called me after day one to ask where I was.

"Colorado."
"Oh, Cool. When will you be in Kzoo?"
"Probably Saturday morning."
"Okay. See ya then."

She thought I would be there Saturday morning so she went to New York to visit friends she hadn't seen in awhile. I didn't know that. I drove the last leg of my trip nonstop, all 1600 miles, and arrived Friday 1pm. I really wanted to see her. But she planned to be there at my arrival Saturday. So when I called to tell her about the surprise of me arriving a day ahead of when I said, well, it did not go like I expected. So I just went to sleep in my new room for 18 hours.

Now, the next day, I am sad and disappointed, maybe even depressed a little. The trip--leaving my home in Cali, my family, all of it--has made me very emotional, and I was looking forward to seeing Loo to ... do what? In some way alleviate it maybe? I'm not sure. I guess I expected something and when it didn't happen the way I expected I got sad. We planned to go to the flogging molly concert in Detroit Saturday evening, so that's where I will meet her.

It is also why I must leave now to prepare.

I have never driven to Detroit before.