awesome...

This blog entry will include the last three days (27, 28, 29th) so bear with me.  My car was pretty well packed when I got up in the morning but personal stuff that I needed for the trip had yet to be packed.  Drinks, food, etc.  I didn’t get out of the house until about 9:30 and that was after I stood in my home and just soaked everything in, that includes my room.  The last thing I took from the house was a picture of me and my parents.  I really wanted at least one photo to have in my room.  On my way out of WNY I stopped at the church to grab something and ended up staying longer than I thought.  We all prayed in the office (the NFBC team I guess you would call us), and while I was there I burned some sermon CDs for the trip.  I got out of there about 10:30am, a lot later than I would’ve wanted but that’s ok.

The drive was a little tough the first day because I was still a little sick and my head had a lot of pressure going on.  NY, PA, OH, etc. all look a like so the drive was boring, but I knew I had prettier states to look forward to.  I stopped at a rest stop to eat a salad (no it wasn’t a BIG salad) <–Seinfield reference.  On my way out of there it was pouring really bad.  I haven’t seen rain that hard in a while.  Of course I had flip flops on and got my jeans all wet on my way to the car…Oi.  It was raining so hard that on my way out of the rest stop on the highway people pulled over and had their four-ways on.  I was fine driving in it so I kept going and in no time at all I was out of the rain.  I drove about 850 miles that day and stopped outside of Iowa City in Iowa (duh).  The in I was at was a Days Inn and was in a really weird spot off the road, the kind of environment you expect to be attacked in, lol.  I fell asleep almost immediately after about 13 hours of driving.

The next morning I got on the road early and felt great.  The sickness had worn off pretty well and I had a clear head.  I try and keep my mind occupied when I drive like that, almost zoning out to keep your mind from moving too fast.  Mine goes a million miles an hour so to make time fly I need to be still.  I drove a long time that day, at least 1100 miles or so.  It was a 16 hour drive day, and I pushed it a bit far.  I could barely stay awake at the wheel but it was at a point in the drive where rest stops weren’t anywhere and neither were hotels/motels.  I made it to one though so that’s good.  On the way there though I saw some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip.  Denver is absolutely gorgeous, and the rocky’s are incredible to look at.  All the little towns in there have so much history just by the buildings, and the small is like a really rich pine smell, much more potent than where I live (which is covered in pines).  The drive itself was fun too.  Lots of windy roads and fast speeds.  It kept me interested as every turn revealed a more incredible display of nature.  I loved it.  I eventually stopped at a rest stop and slept on and off for 3 hours very uncomfortable.  My car is far too packed to put my seat back so it was really hard to feel good, although I was so out of it at that point I could still fall asleep.  Just not long obviously…and I decided to drive a bit more after that 3 hours to find a motel/hotel.  I eventually found one but not without some really windy roads, really late at night, at very high speeds, with little or no sleep.  16 hours and 1100 miles later, I rested.  It wasn’t another small Inn and the price was kinda high, but I was so tired I didn’t care what it cost.

The next morning I got on the road earlier than the previous day, and I was ready to finally make it to CA.  Utah was absolutely gorgeous, the most beautiful state by far.  The rock formations and mountain towns were breathtaking, and they were SO BIG.  I couldn’t help but be distracted quite a bit while driving, and stopping to take photos whenever I saw something amazing.  This drive was getting more and more beautiful as time went on.  I eventually hit the desert which actually wasn’t as boring as I thought…because it wasn’t flat.  There was tons of hills and awesome red rock formations out there to keep me interested, and man were they cool.  I hit Vegas after a while and that was interesting.  On the way into the city it was hitting 98 degrees or so and it felt wonderful having the windows down.  Everyone really started to pick up speed around there too, with everyone over 15 miles the speed limit and even the slowest person at 10 over.  We were flying around those hills leading into the city.  Once I got there the traffic was pretty heavy, even heavier than when I got to CA, or pretty close.  Their was tons of roadwork.  The hardest part about driving through there was the temptation surrounding the place.  There were dirty billboards all over the place for lots of things.  It was tough to keep my attention on the road.  Luckily I got through ok and started heading towards CA.  I got there in good time and the last 200 miles felt really long.  I think my back was hurting the most then and I hadn’t taken a rest since a gas stop in Denver.  I had to stop for gas eventually though as my needle was hitting the E.  Still I was really uncomfortable in my seat.  When I got to LA finally I hit work traffic.  It really wasn’t as bad as people make it out to be.  Even at a dead stop sometimes it was fine.  After waiting for many hours to make it across the US, waiting for people to merge and such was a cake walk.  I was happy to be at my new home, no matter what.

When I got to the apartment, I was a bit jarred.  I couldn’t find any parking, and couldn’t find the apartment either.  Thanks to a friend that used to live there, I eventually found it.  Turns out most of the time I’ll be parking on the side of the road, something I haven’t done in the past.  I’m always nervous some drunk retard is gonna take my rearview mirror off.  I was really tired when I got all my stuff in the house, and sweaty.  It was time for a shower, one problem, no shower curtain in my bathroom.  There was some things about my room I wasn’t a fan of.  It wasn’t very clean, at least not as much as I thought.  I made sure I cleaned the bathroom as best I could in a short amount of time, at least enough to make me feel comfortable using it.  When I took my shower, the water got all over the floor.  Luckily I put a towel down before I got in to clean it up.  I’ll have to go buy a shower curtain tomorrow so I can get rid of that problem.  I only unpacked a little after the shower and decided I wanted to go do something.  I wasn’t tired anymore and didn’t know what to do.  It was a bit odd going through my contact list with only 2 people I could call.  Wonders never cease, I ended up going to a screening for No Greater Love that Brandon Rice had told me about earlier in the day.  I didn’t think I would make it and actually did miss the actual screening but met up with Brandon and folks afterwards as they left.  I have talked to Brandon for 3 years online buy never met him, so that was great.  I also got to meet his brother and Brad Silverman, who is the Director of No Greater Love.  We have messaged a bit and talked on occasion so it was neat.  Oddly enough, people recognize my name and my face.  It was odd to see Brad’s wife say “O your Kyle!?  Kyle Prohaska!?” and know who I was, what film I was doing, and be excited to meet me.  That was an odd thrill I must say.  A lot of my existence is online and in the digital realm, so I guess finally seeing me in the flesh was an interesting experience.  Afterwards we went to go eat and had a fun time.  I honestly found LA traffic at night to be easy, much better than I would’ve thought.  With a GPS too it’s really easy, and the speeds are so fast there that you can get anywhere fast.  I’m used to driving 30 minutes or more to get to where I need to go so it’s nothing to be in traffic for a little bit.  I’m sure that’ll change when I’m in it for more than an hour, but so far things don’t seem that bad, even after hitting 5pm traffic.  I got home and unpacked more stuff and stopped at Wall-greens on my way home.  It’s open 24/7 which is AWESOME, and I picked up some personals that I needed.  Chris Jones and his girlfriend showed up soon after I got home so that was cool.  Chris is one of my roommates who has been here since 2006.  We had a nice chat as I unpacked and they did things around the house.  They seem like really great people, I look forward to doing more with them in the future.  Same goes for Brandon and his brother and girlfriend Kristen.  I already have friends on the first day, not bad for someone who has been labeled “antisocial” in the past.

Now it’s time for bed, after a really long day.  I’m now a resident of Los Angeles, CA…who knew?

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