LA, Vegas, Utah, and Denver

Just for the few of you who may not know - I am in Denver for the time being, staying with my friends Lil and Dave.
This is because...

Well, I really don't know. It was just the thing to do after I spent two days driving around various parts of LA and making myself a nuisance at the free wi-fi spots I could find. Being homeless was a DRAG, man. You do NOT want to be that.

SO I first drove to Vegas (sadly, no Carson on THIS leg of the trip) and I stayed in a very adequate Motel 6 across from the Luxor. I brought my car stereo and computer inside with me, locked my door, and instead of getting dressed up to go gambling and get some free drinks - I watched "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" as I fell asleep around 8 pm. Sorry to disappoint - hell, I disappoint myself on that one.

The next day I drove through some pretty staggering landscape - through Utah, in particular - if I were not in such a damn hurry to get to Denver before nightfall, I might have stopped for some pictures. But alas, maybe on my trip back out to LA? Yes, that sounds like a good plan.

I had a birthday in the first couple days here - I had birthday Starbucks with Lil in the morning, and then birthday Fat Tires with Maggie, Todd, and Jay in the evening. A good day, overall.

Oh, funny sidenote: the morning after I arrived here, I went outside to start unloading the shiite from my car (loose clothing - clean, mind you - stashed randomly in every available nook and cranny) to find a FLAT TIRE. Wow. Talk about feeling lucky. So, come to find out, the tire had a nail in it, so I got it blown up enough to go to the tire store. This was on my birthday.

At the tire store: "The tires you have on here are $160 each." - Clearly, the original tires - we all know I would not buy those. - "The cheapest we got for a Beetle run about 100 each."

Me: "Oh, goodness. (I didn't really say "goodness.") I'm not trying to be a smart-aleck here, but I got that back tire from Wal-Mart for 60 bucks. Do y'all have anything more reasonable? See - (and here's where I kicked into Southern-girl-telling-a-story mode) I just drove three thousand miles in the last couple weeks, and I arrived here two nights ago, and I'm staying with friends and don't even have a job yet, and IT'S MY BIRTHDAY,today, by the way (laugh)and I KNOW my car needs new tires, but what can you do for me?"

Long story short - they GAVE me a second-hand tire - should've cost 30-40 bucks, but when I went to pay for it, they just said, "We got it. Happy Birthday." So I'm safe, for now, which is nice. Need two new tires on the front, at some point, but HEY! That can wait, for now. Those guys at Big O Tires just restored my faith in humanity. Not that I'd really LOST it. Mostly.

This week I visited my old school, filled out a bunch of job applications (Barnes and Noble and Borders, as well as subbing forms), and in a way it feels like I never left, and in another way I'm panicking about investing time here, at all. Like two months is too long, or maybe just through Christmas,... what I've learned, I guess, is that I need a PLACE to live FIRST, and then the job stuff will happen soon enough. This school I applied to in LA called me TODAY (yes, today) and she told me to call when I was on my way out in a couple months. So THAT was encouraging. It would be good subbing money. :) And maybe I'll get trained to work at Borders (I have an interview Saturday morning) and then transfer to a store in LA! Ah, who knows. I'm taking suggestions.

Cheers to you, dear friends.