Very Special Entry

Those of you that have been following along will notice that I've just posted several entries at once, in an attempt to fill in the gaps in my adventures over the past few weeks. One thing that's difficult about maintaining a blog about one's daily adventures is that the adventures themselves sometimes interfere with allocating time for the blog. Anyway, we're mostly caught up, except that I've been adventuring in Japan for a week now (which is mostly the point of the blog), but we'll get to that soon enough. Before I proceed however, there is something else I want to share - the embarkation into my greatest adventure of all.

First, let me acknowledge that although my life has been full of adventures, I've heretofore not been a particularly adventurous fellow. That is to say that I've spent most of my time busily planning and organizing. But, if you know anything about ducks, you know that it's pretty much impossible to get very many of them in a row for very long. The point is, I've come to believe that nothing ever gets done if you always wait for the conditions to be "just right". If you really want to do something, just do it. Some of you may be skeptical, but let me tell you - it really is as simple as that.

Anyway, this story is the fruit of that realization. For years I've been wanting to move forward, but always waiting patiently for the conditions to be "just right". Even in the past few weeks I had a vision of "slightly compromised" conditions that I decided would be "good enough". As life would have it, even these "compromised" conditions failed to materialize. Enough.

We were cutting it so close to missing my flight from Orlando to Detroit (from which I flew to Japan). Susan suggested that she should just drop me off at the curb, but I insisted that she park. We checked my bag. From there I walked directly to the most serendipitously placed jewelery store, bought the only ring that fit her, and proposed. She accepted. We bid farewell, and I raced through security.

To you readers, I'm sorry to say that I don't expect to have any adventures that top that. Luckily, it's just the beginning...

On the Road Again, Just Can't Wait...

Wednesday, Jan 7 we finally managed to get on the road (more than a week later than I intended). I stopped for gas about 50 miles into the trip, and discovered a fuel leak (there goes that travel curse again). Luckily we were at a full service gas station, and the fix was fairly simple and inexpensive. Unfortunately, it required a part that we couldn’t get until the next day! So, we got a hotel room there in Riverside and got our first good night’s sleep in weeks. Special thanks to Brian at that Shell station off I10 in Riverside. He really went out of his way to expedite the repair (originally it looked like we wouldn’t get the part for three days)! Also, he was just a warm and considerate guy, which hasn’t always been my experience with mechanics (and I used to work with them).

Anywho, we were off again on Thursday morning, but we didn’t even get through Arizona before we ran into another snag. I stopped for gas, only to discover that I’d made a miscalculation and let the balance of our checking account get down to $0 (-$227 actually)! We had only $6 cash, no credit card, no gas, no food, and no place to stay! What I did have was a few checks in my pocket that clearly should have been deposited sooner. It was now the middle of the night, and there was seemingly no way to straighten this out. As it happens our bank will credit the first $100 of an ATM deposit immediately. Of course, making three separate deposits with my three checks would only get us into the positive by $73, which could buy us gas OR a hotel room, but not both. Luckily for us, I have an elaborate budgeting system that involves having three checking accounts and three separate debit cards. I was able to deposit the money into the other accounts, and we were on our way!

We trucked on until 6am - clearing El Paso - before we stopped to rest in the car for a couple hours. Back on the road by 8am, we didn’t stop again until Shreveport, LA! We got a room for the night, then on the last leg of the drive we went from Shreveport all the way to Ormond Beach, FL - arriving at about 8am on Sunday, Jan 11. Whew!

The rest of the week we just relaxed at my Pap’s place, and visited some good old friends.

Packing Parties

We slept in pretty late on that Monday, but once we got going we were full steam ahead on the packing. This kept up for all of two days, until New Year’s Eve, at which time we collaborated with our neighbors (friends) to throw a New Year’s Eve party. There was little planning, and we offered next to zero notice to everyone. Naturally, nobody in L.A. has no plans on this day. Well, nobody except my buddy James - thanks for coming over homie!

Although small in terms of attendance, this was a HUGE party in terms of the self inflicted damage from alcohol consumption. It wasn’t that I drank a lot, just that I drank a lot of different things. Everybody knows this to be a mistake, but somehow at the end of the night I found myself having consumed about 10 different kinds of alcohol! After the stroke of midnight, our party somehow migrated to our friend’s cousin’s place down the street. They were having a real shindig over there, and it turned out to be a great time - especially when me and the Kap’n destroyed Gizmo at some weird version of beer pong.

On the 1st we were back to packing for real. This proved to be the longest, most tedious packing experience of my illustrious career of moving. We loaded everything into a shipping container that is 6’x7’x8’. To give you some perspective, our sofa set filled exactly half of the space. So we had to be very meticulous in our sorting and packing in order fit every other of our combined worldly possessions into the remaining space that was equal in volume only to a sofa set!

We celebrated the shipping off of our things with a happy hour get together at McCabe’s - my favorite pub in Santa Monica. There was a great turnout of our L.A. friends, and it was really gratifying to see that we’ve been blessed with so many great relationships in just the few years that we’ve lived there... we're really going to miss you guys!!!

MMArry Christmas Maniacs

The first full day that we were back in L.A. was Christmas Eve. I think we were both a little cranky from all the traveling, and not at all in the mood to begin packing. I won’t go into details, but suffice it to say that there wasn’t much Christmas spirit happening in our home. However, on Christmas day we rallied. Susan made an enormous and delicious holiday feast, and we enjoyed that along with wine and classic holiday films. We didn’t have a tree, or decorations, or even presents, but I think we had a merry Christmas just the same.

On the 26th we finally got around to packing, but that didn’t last long. The 27th was the night of the UFC fight card of the year! Wanderlei Silva and ‘Rampage’ Jackson proved that one or both of them is not the same fighter they were the last two times they stepped into the ring together, ending with ‘Rampage’s’ brutal knockout of Silva. Frank Mir delivered a major upset by not only out boxing Nogueira, but also serving ‘Nog’ the first knockout of his career. Lastly, the main card of the night was a bit of a disappointment to me. Forrest Griffin failed in his first title defense against Rashad Evans. Not only was I cheering for Forrest, but I feel like he got robbed. He clearly won the first two rounds in terms of landing strikes and controlling the fight. Although looking a little more winded than his opponent going into the third round, he was still leading until he accidentally slipped while throwing a kick, at which point Evans pounced on him and quickly finished him. Evans is clearly a really dangerous fighter, but I’ll need to see him pass at least one more serious test before I’m convinced that he’s great.

A few of my good friends managed to come over to watch the fights. After they finished at about 11pm, in his typical fashion, Flo came up with the crazy idea to go to Vegas. Susan had never been, and I’ve got a blog of adventures to maintain, so I said “what the heck, let’s go”!

The four of us (me, Susan, Flo, and Flo’s roommate, Yotam) embarked on the four hour drive at about 11:30pm. We hit the strip about 3:30am, and by about 4:15am Susan and I were each down about $100. Being fairly experienced blackjack players, we quickly decided to move away from that table. Flo suggested we try craps. I’d never played before, and didn’t even know how. I figured it was a good time to learn, because beginner’s luck is common in gambling. Man, was that the right choice. I still don’t really know how to play, but I just copied everything Flo did. It helped that we were at the hottest table in Vegas history! It took me all of a couple hours to win $1200.

Experience has taught me to quit while you’re ahead, which can be difficult with all the temptation in Vegas. Luckily, as Susan had never been there, we were able to have a pretty fun time just walking around the strip and checking out all the cool casino attractions. We ended up checking into a hotel room at about 11am, and getting a few hours rest. Unfortunately, we rested in shifts, so once Susan and I got up again, we had to wait for those other two drunk maniacs to sleep it off. We got back on the road to L.A. at about 11pm - 24 hours older and $1000 richer than when we left. It was a loooooooong drive back, but quite worth it.

P.S. thanks to Flo for the clever title of this entry.

Susan Sings Songs and Sabotage in the City

Trip to NY:

It’s been a few weeks since I experienced these adventures, so now I guess it just makes sense to breeze through a few highlights. After my hassle ridden flying experience was over, the rest of the stay in NYC was fine. There were a few inconveniences with difficulties catching cabs, etc., but nothing worth writing about at this point.

As for the highlights, I got to hear Susan sing twice: once with her Baroque chamber ensemble, and the second time performing opera scenes. Both performances were excellent all the way around. Of course, I expect an enjoyable performance from her, but you never know what to expect from the rest of the performers. In this case I’d say that she seems to be immersed in a great pool of talent.

Aside from Susan’s performances, I also got to hang out with my old friend Gumby (yes, that’s a nickname). He came to the second of Susan’s performances, and afterward we had dinner at a GREAT Asian themed noodle restaurant in the Time Square neighborhood. Then after that we managed to hit a really cool neighborhood bar - the kind only NYC has to offer. It goes without saying that a LOT of drinking ensued, and a great time was had by all.

Returning to LA:

Once again the Arian travel curse struck. We had major transportation problems getting to the airport, and caught our plane by the skin of our teeth. From there it was just one delay and/or inconvenience after another. It was a great relief to finally be back home.

Needs

Nothing inspires more than moving when it comes to reflecting on the relationship between one and one's possessions. Which is really the owner and which is really owned?

I've just finished packing my possessions more than a week behind my intended schedule. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that this project consumed more than 300 man hours! I'm sure most of you have had this experience. Packing is an almost supernatural phenomenon of perpetually diminishing progress. That is, on day one half of your things will be packed. On day two, half of the remaining things will be packed. On day three, half of the remaining things will be packed. And so on, ad infinitum. The whole time you're thinking "where the heck is this stuff coming from? How did I ever come to own so many things"?!

Now that I'm finished, I'm really puzzling over a better solution. Seriously, I'm looking for some help here. Is there an ideal quantity of possessions? I've gone through purging phases in the past, in which I've discarded nearly everything, only to discover that sleeping naked on the floor of caves became unfashionable for a reason.

As soon as I realized that I was finished with the packing project, I started trying to imagine the least amount of possessions that could fulfill basic human needs practically. I found the path of my own thoughts to be interesting, and so now I'll share them with you.

Using Maslow's hierarchy of needs as a model, I'm interested in considering only some of the most fundamental necessities (in order of urgency): air, water, homeostasis, food. Before we even discuss material possessions, we have to assume some sort of shelter (although toting them around in a shopping cart is also common in L.A.) - in this case an apartment. Well, this conveniently fulfills the first three needs. As you'll see, food becomes the rub.

While food does technically 'grow on trees', they are no longer the most practical access point. Nowadays we have to buy it at a store. Right off the bat I need a vehicle (bicycle in my case) for transporting my food, and thanks to modern social conventions I need some clothing to wear when I'm buying the food as well ("no shoes no shirt no service" as they say). Once I get it home, I'm going to need some pots & pans and minor appliances to prepare it in, AND a spice rack to help me make it delicious. After cooking it we're going to need some dishes and utensils with which to eat it. Although I did spend a couple years in college eating all my meals on the floor, it sucked, so now I realize that a table and some chairs are really the way to go when it comes to dining. Well, now we've already transcended the most primitive eating experience, and it's time to actually enjoy it. This means: with company, add music (ambience); without company, add television (surrogate company). Okay, so add an entertainment center and some CDs and DVDs to the list. It goes without saying that after the dining experience, we're going to need a variety of cleaning supplies for washing dishes, etc. I don't mean to be vulgar, but after the digestion experience, some books and/or magazines might be nice. Then there's the toothbrush and complimentary hygienic supplies that maintain my eating equipment. Last, but not least, I've now got to burn off the calories I just ate, which means a myriad of skateboards and soccer balls to get some exercise with.

There you have it. 300 hours and thousands of dollars later, I've managed to package nothing more than and elaborate food management system.

P.S. I know I promised to start filling you in on the missing Christmas week, only to follow with another undocumented week of adventures. I'll pick up filling in those gaps next time. What can I say... moving across the country while preparing to spend a season on the other side of the world is time consuming!