"You're really experiencing life!" "Yeah, life and strange middle America"

Sorry for the hiatus folks, but in addition to being busy as hell in the past 2 weeks, I’ve also lacked motivation to even type anything up. But I’m back. And I owe it to you all, I know people have checked my blog out a lot in the past week.

But seriously, so much has happened since I (didn’t) celebrate 42o (no really, I didn’t. I lacked the desire to as well as the means). After making my first foray back home since I moved out here (and pulling off one hell of a surprise…one that’s definitely going in my top 5 successful surprises), I found my way around the whole state of California, and later in Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, and eventually Chicago again, all within a matter of 5 days. In a matter of 6 days, I woke up in 6 different beds, 2 of them at motels and one of them being a floor. I managed to get two parking tickets within less than 24 hours in LA, and a speeding ticket in Nevada. And it was all for the sake of fetching my car from home?

Well that. And of course to see the world I left behind since I left on that midnight train to Chicago (woo woo!) And though I will admit I’ve had my mild freakouts here involving issues of jobs, money, friends, and reasons to even stay here (or really, a lack thereof of all of the above), and I will also admit I’ve had my regrets about this whole relocating thing to begin with…I’d have to say that I think I understand more about what drove me to do it all in the first place and why it’s a good thing I’m on this spiritual journey of some sort.

I told my aunt one night that I was questioning why it was that I left California in the first place. I had a good job, my own apartment, good friends…I was admitting I was getting homesick (and watching a special on HBO about Manny Pacquiao that showed him wearing a UCLA beanie, running up the hill to the Griffifth Observatory with the Hollywood Sign behind him didn’t help). And it wasn’t until I came back last week, saw all my family and friends and my old apartment and my nephew, Julian (the cat) and my old hood, the wood in the west, paying $12 to play pool and eating pho at 3am did I realize something. Although I could’ve easily continued my daily 8-5 grind no struggles to pay the bills or rent lifestyle, by voluntarily pulling myself out (t.w.s.s.) of that routine, I gained something a stable paycheck could never give me: perspective.

It’s true when they say you never know what you had till you’ve lost it. And no, I’m not going to turn this into some preachy post about how we have to appreciate what we have, but it’s different to have something or someone forced away from you versus forcing yourself away from what you have. There’s a certain sense of appreciation you learn when you’re away from the life you’ve built yourself around, so there’s no sense in being afraid of changing (but time makes you bolder, children get older…)

Yes, I am going to say it. I miss home. I miss LA (you happy @letiziat? I admitted it). And I miss a hell of a lot of people. But it’s all a part of the inevitable change we will have to make eventually, constantly throughout our whole lives. We are all constantly building lives and starting over, only to build another life that will eventually have to change anyway. And who knows when or where you’ll be starting over next? I knew it was going to happen to me sooner or later (but to be perfectly honest, I still have my nights when I think I rushed myself into starting over). But such things can’t be dwelled upon. Otherwise I’ll freak out again.

I suppose now would be a good time to start the standard not so serious half of the post. So as I mentioned before, I traveled across the country again, this time by car as opposed to train. Which, by the way, is infinitely more irritating. On the bright side, I was able to see more of strange middle America, and even got to add another state to my ever-growing list of states I’ve seen but will never return to (Wyoming sucks, FYI!).

Let me put this into perspective: the state of Wyoming has a population of around 509,000. The city of San Jose, CA has a population of about 940,000. Needless to say, the drive through did not elicit any exciting responses from me or my cousin:

Story of our trip

Yah, that picture pretty much sums up everything we saw. And I guess a few more won’t hurt though

Why else Wyoming sucks

Who or what is Weird Wally?

We fly high, no lie, you know this...

This is where you go to fill up. You sure you got this thing right, Iowa?

Glad we finally made it back to civilization, I figured I should take my cousins out to discover the beauty that is Chicago Style Pizza. And so we visited one of the “Big Three” pizzerias, Giordano’s (the other two are Pizzeria Uno and Lou Malnati’s. All 3 claim to be best pizza in town, but the debates will never end).



What was best about this pizza was not just the fact that it’s a huge deep dish stuffed pizza, or the fact that nontraditional pizza sauce being the only topping (the actual ‘toppings’ are what’s being stuffed. In this case, sausage, mushroom, and garlic), or the fact that it’s overrun with cheese…it was that it all worked together. Definitely decent by my taste.


You want some of this? You've gotta visit me first.

"where's your hubcaps? you must not be into cars"
-the guy at Arco