california, week one

now i am in california. it was sad to see charlie leave, i didnt even realize
at the time that i was saying goodbye for multiple months, it just felt
like "see ya tomorrow"

before he left we went to paramount pictures and got an awesome tour
with his buddy mike and watched a movie were spielberg edits his movies.
then i purchased south park for 12 bucks at the gift shop! he also was able to experience
bsf night (breakfast sandwich friday) in all its glory and splendor. oh yeah, and on night
one, zack took us on a walk of downtown glendale and we had in and out!

since then, we have had a dress up bday party for some girls they know.
i was hancock. zack also made some toasted ravs that were, dare i say, better than
the hill.

me and zack cleaned his room, the porch, and the rest of the house. i set up my
computer, got internet and set up my new webcam so i can visit face to face
with people (kelly, kevin, mom so far). a year old bag of bottles and stuff
from a party broke at the very top of zacks stairs and made the loudest cacaphony
of all time. it startled me worse than the earthquake, honestly. glass everywhere.
stains splattered on the walls and carpeted stairs! zacks priceless face like someone just
broke up with him. oh man, i took a pic.

also, i experienced a 5.8 earthquake yesterday! that is alot of fun. i enjoy natural
phenoms.today i begin looking on craiglist for job options!

we also went to a church tuesday night. everyone there was a singer (it felt like) so
worship was amazing. it did make me feel like a small fish in a big pond.
for some reason, this was more comforting than intimidating. knowing i am
not that special is kind of a nice thing to remember. there are thousands of other gregs.

oh yeah, and i love the roommates. this guy kyle, who i am replacing is pretty cool.
your basic blond haired guitar playing californian. then bryson, a way cool
philosophical brotha. and dan, a very big bouncer/teddy bear. scary, yet sings
like kyle from tenacious d.
i had a chance to go play frisbee golf with 3 of them (minus bryson) and it was
better than t.v. although, i loathe...loathe frisbee golf. i suck. who combines two
recreational sports anyways, how lame. id rather play soccer.

cliff notes on the rest of the trip

well, i got lazy. so here is the rest of the trip as i remember it.
the next day we went to the roswell alien museum. it was disappointing.
we expected more aliens and less newspaper articles about aliens.
so we drove to albuquerque and showered and went out.
we went to red lobster.
i dont feel like typing it, but ask me about the kid in red lobster and
the blue puke.
then we went to see dark night again because we had nothing better to do.
so we went through most of our fun funds that night. worth it.

the next day, day 5?, we went to the grand canyon. we actually just camped
outside of the canyon at kaibab national state park. charlie had a tough time
because he wanted to rough it and didnt bring a sleeping bag. he ended up
wearing my winter coat and it was funny. oh yeah, and on the way we stopped
at the meteor crater! that was awesome. $15 well worth it. plus while we were there
a huge storm came through, just look at the pics.

day 6ish, we break camp and go set up camp inside the grand canyon park.
then we go on the most intense hike of our lives...sort of.
with only a water bottle we trekked down 3 miles into the canyon. it was about
9 miles to reach the river. going down was easy (thats what she said) but hiking back
up was pretty harsh with no food. we were incredibly tired afterward and had the
greatest pb and h sandwich ever. then we showered and went back to camp.

day 7 we went to the canyon again to take pics with the gnome and head to california!
on the way we experienced alot of weird gas station attendants. one such encounter
happened while still in new meheco. i just wanted a candy bar and i waited in line
behind one person for about 3-4 minutes while they talked in spanish. then the
girl in front of me just moves over and watches me while i hand the attendant
lady my whatchamacallit. she says it's a $1.09 mixed in with some mumbly spanish
and i say jeeeeeez. and give her a buck and a quarter. outraged at the price and her
weirdness i decide to wait for my 16 cents. she just stands there staring at the floor
for a good 25 seconds and me and char share looks of confusion.
i say "oh i dont need a receipt, ill just get my change." and she mumbles something in
spanglish that we didnt understand and continued to stare at the floor with an open
register, mind you. after another 20 seconds or so i say in a jerry seinfeldish
smartguy voice (we had been listening to him in the car) "you know what,
why dont you just keep the change." and we left the two ladies just standing there
like a couple of dazed aliens (pun intended).

we also stopped at the very worst excuse for a ghost town in the history of ghost towns.
i pictured dust roads and saloons. what we got was paved streets, 6 flags music, and crappy leather shops. no saloon! luckily, the lady at the gate didnt charge us the $12 to get in.
and the lady at the "ole mine" didnt charge us the $2 to get in. apparently we just looked
very friendly that day.

arrival in alien country

day 3. yet another goodbye to dan and brie.
gone by 8 15.
long trek thru the top part of texas. nothing crazy happened.
arrived safely in roswell and set up camp at bottomless lake state park.
actually just sinkholes up to 90 feet deep. we walked around one or two and climbed up some rocks
even tho the lady said not to bc of rattle snakes.
now we are starbuckin and getting supplies and headin back to camp to play guitar and balance our mulah. we will probably look at the stars and just cry with joy.
tomorrow we seek alien friends.

Tulsa, is more than OK.

okay, now day 2. today. it is 2 am and we awake in 5 hours to drive for 9. ill make this brief.
we awoke at 10 and 1030 to dan playing jamariqui on the piano and giving me empty threats of airsoft guns and water buckets.
we go to the farmers market downtown and me and char split a cinn. roll.
we ride bikes along the river with sean.
we swim at seans apt. complex and get burnt.
we go to oru to reminisce about the time we broke curfew and skinny dipped in the prayer pool.
the four boys attempt to jam. jamming is not so successful.
we eat at an irish pub and it is gu lore e us.
we go to the horse races. it is depressing and fun all at once. children are asleep next to their toys on the floor next to their addicted parents...but the actual horse races are pretty friggin sweet.
i am sad that i dont have more time with dan. it is weird that my college roommate is pretty much a fully functioning adult already.
how does everyone else make the college to work transition so well?! i feel reta'did.

beginning with a map and no direction

man oh man oh man. it feels great to have a blog again.
i once had a xanga site back in the good ole college days before this stuff was everywhere.
maybe it wasnt before, but kind of right b4 it got huge.
anyways, if you want to read about my college days i think my name was AGregSea.

this is my new blog in honor of deck, for fam and friends to know whats going on.
this is what happened on day one.

saying goodbye is the least fun part of life aside from sickness, which can sometimes lead to a goodbye.
i had to say goodbye to all of the people i love in st. louis. jess, rach, kevin, holly, deck, nik and carrie and evan, dads and moms, uncles who arent technically uncles ( okay, just harvey), nana and joan, and various others. the hardest, however, was my girlfriend kelly. it felt like i was ripping my heart out of my heart socket and playing hacky sack with it. ugh. distance better make the heart grow fonder or i will be pissed at distance! i cant believe i miss my mom and dad so much already also, for the record.
of course, i cant help but question why i am moving to california now that its actually occurring. why am i doing this?! i love this place. i love these people. i love my life. but.
i dont love myself. that might not make sense. but it does. i dont love what i spend my time doing. and this makes me feel extremely discontent.
we were playing a game the other night and someone attempting to describe my life in two words wrote only "pleasure" and "music." this was embarrassing because it was true. i am a selfish mother. and yes, to the birdseye observer, me leaving for the sunshine state (i think) in order to pursue musical ambitions would not really seem like the unselfish direction to take to become a content person, but i feel like it is step one in an odd way.

an attempt to do something with my talents. which i believe is crafting songs. if i dont give it at least one honest try ill always have to imagine it. this way, if i suck and i fail, i will have contentment in at least that area of knowing. hopefully after this i will have some insight to myself and will be able to become a bonifide adult man. at the moment, i am really just a balding bearded boy.

wow! deviation much? back on course. day one. i have to fight tears when saying bye to mom and kelly.
i arrive late to my dads house to pick up charlie. this is to be expected, so naturally he isnt angry.
we leave town an hour late with our big map and even dads gps, and are beginning to get excited as i begin my california playlist.
charlie drives a stick shift on the highway for the first time. what a studly muffin.
we arrive in tulsa, ok at about 8.
me char (aka chuck) dan and his new bride brie run up and down the street making a parade for passerbys. i toot a trumpet, dan bangs a gong, and char and brie do the pot and pan thing.
the matlach residence is beautiful. dans art rules each room with an iron fist (art idea dan). i am amazed once again at his talents.
brie makes us dinner. i am amazed once again at her talents.
we go to a rooftop mexican place and have a beer. the outside looks like the wall from the movie cleanslate (carrie).


okay. thats pretty much it for day one.

Prelude to an adventure

i just wanted to set this blog up tonight so i can have one less thing to think about tonight while trying to sleep. i dont have the energy, but i plan on telling you all (ya'll if erika is reading) about my transition from st. louis to cali. soon, friends, soon.