Super Major Service

So I took the Corolla (the one I bought from some dude on craigslist) in for some diagnostics this morning. I’m taking its failure to start on Thanksgiving as a bad sign and figured I better get it checked out before I end up getting stranded somewhere. Running into issues with this car is really no surprise – after all, you really do “get what you pay for” and $750 is pretty cheap for a car. It’s got over 160k miles on it and that is, by far, more miles than I have ever put on a car. Heck, I’ll bet that if I added up all the miles I’ve put on all the cars I’ve owned that I would still total less than 160k. Hmm, I guess those Toyotas really do run forever…

So I basically got ripped off – but I really don’t care. They charged me a bit over $200 to replace the battery (which it most definitely needed) and fuel filter. I probably didn’t need to replace the fuel filter, but Chris (my new roommate) seemed to be rather adamant about it being a possible issue and I was informed that the fuel filter on the car appeared to be the original. I guess switching it out after 160k miles couldn’t hurt … oh well, Chris’ll be happy…

The mechanic working on the car did actually do a thorough inspection and came up with a “laundry list” of things that should be done. It was rather comical … the guy was telling me that I needed what they referred to as their “Super Major Service” which included a full tune-up changing the wires and plugs; a new timing belt and water pump (the current one is apparently leaking); a new radiator, thermostat and hoses including a coolant flush as well as replacing the transmission pan gasket and filter; etcetera, etcetera…. The funny part was that he quickly realized (probably from the look on my face) that I wasn’t going to be purchasing his “Super Major Service” and opted out of even attempting to make the sale. It was then that he mentioned overhearing me say I picked up the car for a few hundred bucks. I’m pretty sure he realized that all I was trying to do was keep the car running for a bit longer and had no intention of throwing any more money than I needed to at it. He suggested I keep an eye on the coolant and I might be able to get another year out of her…

One thing I did notice is the car seems to be producing far less clanking noises from the rear now. Perhaps, during the detailed inspection, something loose got tightened a bit…? Whatever the case, it seems quite a bit more solid now – I guess that’s good…

Of course the main repair work that needs to be done on this car is the removal of that “I ♥ LA DERBY DOLLS” bumper sticker and scraping off the butterfly over the rear window brake-light. I think I’ll get started on that after work today… I mean sure, I have nothing against the L.A. Derby Dolls (hell, I didn’t even know who they were until checking the Internet) however stating to the world that I “♥” them is a bit misleading. As for the butterfly – now that’s just gay…

I do need to name the Corolla; however the right name just hasn’t come to me yet. If you’ve read my earlier posts, I’m sure you remember me talking about my former cars – Shannon and Christine – as well as my two current automobiles in Colorado – Precious and Betsy… I need a name that fits for the Corolla – something old, a bit beat-up, well traveled, used and tiny that hints at her awe-inspiring power (try not to miss the sarcasm there…). Something like Esther, Gertrude or Blanche, perhaps … they just don’t seem to pull off the tininess aspect well enough… Feel free to toss me some suggestions…

The good news is that I now officially own the aforementioned, yet-unnamed vehicle. I finally received some mail yesterday. I had to pick it up at my old apartment since the US Postal Service seems to be having rather pronounced difficulty with the forwarding of already-forwarded mail situation that I now find myself having to deal with (this is now “supposed” to have been fixed – I guess we’ll see…) and included in the bundle was the title with my name printed as the owner. Strangely enough, it’s a California title. I was thinking that I would be receiving a title from the state of Colorado (as that’s what I was told at the DMV here in California) although the document received is most definitely a California Title of Ownership – a California Title of Ownership that has a Longmont, Colorado address for the primary owner – go figure… That just seems strange to me…

I suppose that means if I were to sell the car prior to its current registration expiring that I wouldn’t even have to go through the hassle of registering it under my name in Colorado (something I am planning on doing during my Christmas trip back home); although that seems unlikely. The current registration is valid through February of next year. My initial contract out here should be completed sometime in the second half of January and I am currently scheduled to be flying home on February 1st but, from the way things currently appear, there is a high probability that the contract will be extended and I may be flying back out to California as quickly as the 3rd or 4th of February. If the contract is extended, I’m going to need the car. Of course, being that I was able to obtain a California title with my Colorado address, I am now beginning to think that I might just be able to renew the registration for the vehicle here in California. Is anyone out there familiar with vehicle registration and primary residence laws? Don’t you need to be living in the state that you register your vehicle in…?

Something tells me that you might be hearing more about this car in the future … probably not in a “good” way… Or is my pessimism getting the better of me once again? You never know … perhaps that new fuel filter was just what the doctor ordered…

bis später,

Coriolis

The Long Walk to Nowhere

I read this article “How Your Creepy Ex-Co-Workers Will Kill Facebook” by Cory Doctorow on Yahoo! News yesterday and it got me thinking…

Mr. Doctorow presents an interesting study on the social aspects of the Internet and the various “walled gardens” that keep popping up (Facebook, SixDegrees, Friendster, MySpace, etc…) providing pretty solid arguments as to why these social networks are really nothing more than ways for big businesses to squeeze more money out of the public (be it through membership fees or the less direct – however highly trafficable – pushed advertisement) as well as detriments to the open Internet that everyone should be pushing for. He also demonstrates the dangers that these social networking services present which was what got me to thinking…

The conclusion that I came to is that social ability is a set of skills. Unfortunately, for most in today’s society, the importance of teaching these skills has been minimized. Everybody is apprised of the importance in acquiring academic aptitude; however the need for social savvy seems to have been mitigated to skills one either acquires naturally else is condemned to trudge throughout life in absence of.

How I came to this conclusion might not be very obvious to many – or perhaps it’s blatantly obvious to most but just not evident to me. You see a while back, prior to flying out to California, I was checking out my MySpace page when Todd started asking me who my “friends” were. I have a whopping total of 34 “friends” on MySpace and, interestingly enough, I was only actually able to identify 10 of them as people that I would even consider “known” outside of MySpace and fewer still that I would consider friends. Todd was amused by this. He has 31 MySpace “friends” and, except for Tom (the default sysop “friend” that everyone gets by default) and Tool (the band), the remainder actually are Todd’s friends.

He then asked me why I would want to have people I don’t even know as “friends” on MySpace and I basically told him that I didn’t care. The way I figure it is that, if somebody stumbles onto my MySpace page and decides they wanted to be my friend, who am I to say “no”? Sure, you need to at least attempt to verify that the new request is coming from an actual person (this is usually easily accomplished by checking out their page) and you’re going to get some people that may become nuisances in the future; however there’s nothing stopping you from removing them from your “friends” if this happens. I’ve noticed quite a few people on MySpace with literally thousands of friends which leads me to believe that I’m not the only one that thinks this way…

But I’m starting to stray from my original point… You see Todd is somebody that understands what is necessary for a person to be socially adept. He’s learned the importance of this well enough to not even have to think about it – it’s become second nature. I, on the other hand, have somehow missed out on this education. The whole issue of us comparing our “friends” lists on MySpace was just one more of many instances where my lack of ability in the social arts has become painfully obvious. And it’s not just that he has somewhere on the order of ten times more actual friends than I have on MySpace; it’s more about my having friends that I don’t even know seems comical to him. After all, it is pretty silly…

So what am I getting at here? I don’t really know… I guess it has to do with the realization I recently came to that “what” you have in this life is far less important than “who” you have. When the shit hits the fan, you can always count on your friends – assuming, of course, that they are true friends. And don’t get me wrong here – I am extremely thankful for the few friends that I do have; I’m just wondering why, when I am in a situation that separates me from my friends for any length of time (and it seems to be happening quite often…), I seem to be completely incapable of making new friends. Is it a learning disability?

Oh well … fuck it. It’s not like I’m going to suddenly come to any realization that’s going to change anything. Besides, the grass is always greener … right? I really need to stop over analyzing everything. Bottom line here is that shit happens because shit happens. Now where was I going with this post…? Oh yeah, nowhere…

bis später,

Coriolis

A California Hike

Well, I hate to admit it, but one major problem that I am now facing since moving down to California is lack of sufficient exercise. Okay, so there’s really nobody to blame but myself here – I could very easily force myself to get up a bit earlier and complete my standard (yet admittedly lacking) morning workout routine; however I must admit that I seem to have lost a bit of the will power…

I think the boredom and lack of results with my current social endeavors is slowly, but surely, turning me back into my old, boring, somewhat reclusive self. This is not good as I do remember that my old self had issues – not only social issues with low self esteem, but health issues as well. At one time I was a full 225 pounds of heart attack waiting to happen and I’m starting to think if things don’t start improving soon that I’m pretty much heading down a fast path back to that wreck. But I am aware of this and I am also not going to let this happen without a fight.

Oh it’s not going to be easy – I can guarantee that. I had a very hard time prying my ass out of bed this morning. I did, however, complete a minimized version of my workout. Unfortunately I’ve not been able to do that much as of late due to tweaking my back a few weeks ago; however the back seems to be much better and I need to get back on track. I’m hoping to get back to my full morning workout soon although I am being a bit cautious – I don’t want to screw up my back again…

Now my patented (okay, so it’s not patented) morning workout used to consist of the following, in the following order: 50 of those silly extended arm rotations (both forward and back for a total of 100) that we used to do in gym back in the day, several iterations of side stretches (whatever it’s called when you raise one arm and stretch it toward the ceiling while bending your body sideways), a few body rotation stretches, 50 toe touches (I think this might have been where I screwed up my back when I increased this to 100 a few weeks ago…), 25 push-ups, 20 crunches, 20 leg lifts (while lying flat on the floor – another candidate for the back issue…), 50 jumping jacks, 20 more push-ups and finish it all off with another 20 crunches. I’m actually not too sure about how healthy a routine this is, but it seemed to be working decently for me – I am down to a 32” waist. Oh yeah, and when I was living in the apartment, I would replace the second set of push-ups and crunches with a round of weight training (2 sets on three machines) every other day. I’ve lost the use of the weights and been forced to return to my weightless routine since moving; although it’s been quite some time since I’ve completed the whole routine…

Right now the jumping jacks are gone, the toe touches are down to 20, the leg lifts are down to 10, the crunches have been cut to one set and the second set of push-ups was a measly 5 this morning. I’m hoping to return to the entire routine soon enough; however I’m going to need a bit of a boost in my will power… Wish me luck…

Apart from the minimized (often excluded) morning workout, my life here in California has also become much more sedentary. When I was living back in Colorado, Todd and I would often partake in physical activities – hiking, disc golf and even ping-pong at times – however, now that I have purchased a car and actually drive to work each morning, the physical activities have dwindled quite a bit. Last Friday I decided to do something about that…


Now that I’m living on the CSUCI campus, I’m basically surrounded by mountains. The negative aspect of this is that my cell phone has a hard time getting service. The somewhat positive part is that I can actually do a bit of hiking. I believe that there is a total of one trail up the mountains around the campus and I decided to take a walk up this trail last Friday – soon discovering that my gazelle-like prowess is a bit questionable when it comes to this trail. I was thinking that it would be much easier than hiking in the Rockies (heck, you start off more than a mile below the Rockies’ trailheads) but quickly discovered that there was more to it than just elevation…

For starters, I was wearing my New Balance cross trainers (basically tennis shoes…) – most definitely not the foot apparel of choice for this trail. Turns out this trail is quite steep in several areas with the added advantage of being comprised of mainly loose stones and pebbles. It wasn’t at all like the much more refined trails that I have hiked in the Rockies. Worse yet was the discovery that I’m not good at walking (well, mainly sliding as I remember it…) down these steep trails. When I informed Chris of my difficulties on descending the trail I was informed that he basically just runs down – yeah, that would be the end of me if I tried that … I ended up on my ass a couple times just attempting to walk it…


I am, however, proud to say that I was able to make it to the summit and back without killing myself. It was pretty good exercise and the views were spectacular. I asked Jessica if she wanted to join me prior to heading out but she opted not to – leaving me to go it alone. Nothing new there, but it was probably a good thing in hind sight – I think anyone that was with me would have been a bit dismayed at the extremely slow rate of my descent – Hell, Chris runs down when he goes…

I was able to get some decent photos on my hike – took a few videos as well but doubt I’ll be doing anything with those. As is always the case, the photos are poor substitutes on actually being there but I figured I could post a few to show my blog readers where I am currently living. It should most definitely highlight the point I was trying to make earlier about being in the middle of nowhere… I am miles away from pretty much any “life” – which I guess makes sense when you consider that this used to be a mental hospital. You will notice, however, that construction is currently underway and the area is currently expanding. Who knows … perhaps this will turn into a “happening” campus sometime in the future…? For now it’s basically regarded as a commuter college…

And that’s about all I have to report today. I realize that this is a boring post and seriously doubt that many (if any) will even be reading these words; however this did give me something to do as I was running through various experiments with the clock tree synthesis for this chip I am working on. Anything to make time pass a bit quicker…

bis später,

Coriolis

Out With a Bang

So I told you about Summer (my first trip into the world of craigslist’s “services – erotic”) a couple posts ago and mentioned that I would most likely be posting the other story a bit later. Well, since I really have nothing to do – boredom has become a constant companion as of late – and since there’s nothing much else to write about; I figured I’d waste some time by typing up my second story of Internet purchased debauchery. Let me now introduce you to Reagan – don’t know her “real” name, but Reagan was the name she was going by…

It was the last Thursday at my over-priced apartment and I was actually planning to move to my new residence on the CSUCI campus that evening. Since I was moving out of the apartment and since I was going to be moving into Chris’ house, I figured this would be the perfect time to utilize one of the “outcall” escorts. Giving my address to the girl wouldn’t be an issue as I wasn’t even going to be living there anymore and there is no way in Hell that I would be inviting a prostitute (or sorry, an “escort”) to Chris’ house; so I gave Reagan a call somewhere around noon.

She looked pretty hot from the pictures posted and was claiming to be the “Ultimate GFE” (another one of those codes that you need to know … GFE is GirlFriend Experience – you can find the definition online if you’re interested…) so I figured I’d give her a call and depart my apartment “with a bang”. When I spoke with her I discovered that she would be coming from Santa Barbara – about an hour’s drive from Thousand Oaks; but as long as I agreed to an hour minimum purchase, she seemed to be fine with it. I suggested that she head down around 6:00pm and was instructed to call her back at 4:00 to get the final arrangements set. That was cool … I figured I could head over to CSUCI afterward or just put off the move until Friday – I was already contracted to pay for another week at the apartment and had no actual “need” to be leaving that night anyway…

So I called Reagan back just prior to leaving work for the day and gave her the address. We actually got along rather well on the phone although I suppose that just might have been part of the “Ultimate GFE” advertised. We arranged it where she should be arriving at the apartment somewhere around 6:30 that evening. I left work, stopped by the ATM for a bit of a withdrawal, headed to a liquor store to pick up a bottle of Patron and returned to the apartment. It was then that it occurred to me that I had eaten nothing that day – I was pretty hungry…

When Reagan arrived, I inquired if she might be interested in getting a bite to eat prior to starting the clock on the “escort” service and she was cool with the idea. I ended up taking her out to TGI Friday’s and buying her a steak dinner. So not only was she getting the service fee for her “services”, she also got a free dinner out of me. But that’s cool … I was hungry and I really did need to eat…

After dinner we headed back to the apartment and had some fun. It was pretty much the standard routine. She didn’t allow any kissing on the mouth (I believe she said something like “not on the first date”) although I was able to “convince” her into letting me get away with some cunnilingus. I don’t know … it was a decent time. Never worth what you end up paying, but that can be said about most women, I guess… At least with these you’re guaranteed to score.

So that was that – my final night at the over-priced apartment. I put off the moving until Friday but that was no big deal – it just meant that I would be moving into the house alone for the weekend. But I was able to get some sex – it’s looking like that’s not going to be happening again anytime soon…

bis später,

Coriolis

craigslist

So I purchased my vacation flights for Christmas. Well, “vacation” seems like a strange word to use here as I will be flying home for Christmas – I guess you could call it a reverse-vacation… The bad part is that I am not going to be able to get back to Detroit (well, Allen Park, but the Detroit area…) this year. I believe that this will be the first time I won’t be spending Christmas with my family. Unfortunately circumstances – as the currently are – are making the trip undoable. That’s okay though … at least I’ll be getting out of California for a bit.

The “home” that I mentioned flying to is actually my house in Colorado. Granted it’s not what is usually meant by “home for the holidays”, but a more literal translation of the phrase. It’s cool though, I can spend some time with my new family (Todd) and complete a few tasks that I need to do – fun stuff like gathering documents needed for taxes and registering this car that I bought prior to the California registration expiring. It’ll also give me a chance to hit the slopes, which is cool. I haven’t gone skiing in years…

Of course going skiing might not be such a great idea for me. I’m still chugging along with absolutely no health insurance. Knowing my luck, I’ll end up breaking a vital bone or two and spend the rest of my life paying the outrageous costs of emergency medical coverage that we lowly un-insured are charged. I don’t know … I used to be rather skilled in the Alpine arts. I’m hoping that it’s like riding a bike and the techniques will quickly come back to me prior to my slamming full-speed into a tree or something. Wouldn’t want to pull the ole “Sonny Bono”…

So I went back and read some of the earlier posts on this blog – you know, back when this blog actually had a few readers – and can’t help but feel as though I have let those few readers down. It’s rather apparent to me now what used to make this blog interesting – basically sex and drugs. Well, I am sorry to inform you that the “drugs” aspect will not be returning. I quit all that since returning to the States… Don’t get me wrong here – it’s not like I am trying to say that, in the words of Mr. Garrison, “Drugs are bad…”; however, with me, I came to the conclusion that I needed to stop. My brain needed the rest…

As for the “sex” aspect, the game’s changed a bit since leaving Europe. You see, I’ve basically attempted to go straight with the romantic (well, sexual…) aspects of my life and yes, a driving force behind this decision is the fact that “sex for hire” is a bit of a more complicated task here in America. Not only that, but it is also illegal in 98% of our states. That being said, it is still obtainable…

Now anybody that knows me is well aware that my legitimate dating skills are at best sub-par. “Nonexistent” is probably a better diagnosis … although I have actually been attempting to work on them lately. Unfortunately I find myself on yet another extended business trip alone and hitting the “hot spots” as a lone individual can be difficult for even the ordinary people … suffice it to say that it’s much harder for me… Oh I have tried – lord help me, I’ve tried – and have thus far, apart from a few interesting interactions that I would never have had previous, succeeded in very little.

Once again I feel that I need to clarify my position prior to informing you exactly what I did about it – I am a guy. Also, as I have made perfectly clear in my postings from Europe, I am rather fond of sex. Not that I’m any good at obtaining it, but I sure as hell am fond of it… What does one, such as myself, do when confronted with a conundrum such as this? One word – “craigslist”.

I believe that I have already mentioned that you can find anything on craigslist – and I do mean “anything”… As a case in point, there are “escorts” listed on craigslist that, for a price, will gladly spend some time with a guy as a companion. Do I recommend utilizing these services? Hell no, but I seem to have a hard time when it comes to following my own recommendations. I have, since heading out to California, purchased these “escort” services – twice in fact… Am I proud of this? Nope … but it’s been a while for me and, being that I don’t have much else to do in my free-time out here, I figured I’d give it a try… I met up with Summer at a La Quinta hotel…

There are several codes that you need to be aware of whilst browsing the escorts listed. The main one (apart from making sure that it is a w4m – woman for man – as opposed to something that you might not want … beware of the Crying Game…) is whether the escort is offering incall or outcall services. An incall is a service where the customer needs to meet the escort somewhere (it was a hotel room with Summer) and an outcall is where the escort will travel to the customer’s location. It seems that a majority of the women offer either and just put a bit of a premium on the cost of outcall service. Some, however, don’t – as I found with Summer – she only offered incall service…

When I headed out to the address that Summer gave me on the phone, I actually wasn’t aware that I was heading to a hotel room. Seems like it would have simplified things a bit if she had told me, but maybe she just assumed I would have known. But I didn’t know and was actually assuming that I was heading to her house (or apartment) and drove directly past the La Quinta. Ends up I had to call her for clarification before she told me that it was a hotel room. We finally got the directions figured out and I headed into the La Quinta parking lot and drove around to the back. She said that she would come out and meet me…

I was a bit shocked when I saw her. She was young (her posting was claiming 19) but that was expected. The unexpected aspect was that she was pregnant. And I’m not just talking a “little” pregnant … I found out upon speaking with her that she was 7 months pregnant! Oh well, that was an interesting twist. I can now add “pregnant” to the varieties of women that I’ve had sex with…

I’m not going to get into the details of our encounter as I have in the past. There’s really nothing new here anyway (except for the bun in the oven aspect…). She had her rules – no mouth kissing and no cunnilingus – and protection was mandatory (and I had no problem with that…). I suppose the good news for me was that my ED is gone. All in all it was an interesting way to pass some time (about an hour, but I wasn’t keeping track…) and that’s really all I have to say about that.

In fact, that’s basically all I have to say for today. I’ll probably get around to posting the story about my other venture into the craigslist’s “services –erotic” realm although I doubt that there will be any more. It’s much more expensive here in the States and not really worth the risk… I think I’m better off sticking to my plan of going legit, right…?

bis später,

Coriolis

What's the point?

Did ya ever have one of those lives? You know … one of those lives where, no matter what you do to change things, the pointlessness of it keeps slapping you in the face? As much as I hate to admit it, that’s pretty much the definition of my life – absolutely pointless… It’s actually rather funny (not so much funny, “ ha ha,” as funny, “interesting…”) in a way. I mean I’m trying – oh my god how I’m trying – to find some point to my existence but all I seem to be able to find is more and more pointlessness.

Now don’t get me wrong here … it’s not like I’m giving up all hope or anything. I’m just curious as to when the hell it’s going to be “my” time? Or perhaps I’m mistaken in thinking that others in this world have somehow discovered reasons for their existence. Is it possible that all of us are walking around feeling as useless as me? I doubt that… It seems to me that most people have something (a family, a job, friends, a bloated sense of self importance, etc…) that keeps them chugging along. What, exactly, is it that keeps me going? Is it the challenge of making the best out of the endless bad circumstances that I, myself, seem to be getting in to? No – there’s no fun in that … take my word for it… What is the “light at the end of the tunnel” that I am trying to get to? Is there even an end to this tunnel…?

Let me back up a bit and explain how I got to contemplating my existence. I’m not going to reiterate everything from my past (unless you are new to reading this blog, you already know that most of that was covered on here about a year ago…) however I feel that I need to update you a bit on my present. Here’s a brief (well, how “brief” it will end up being is currently unknown … I’ve been known to ramble at times…) synopsis of my California trip…

I came to California in mid October for money – nothing else, just money. You see, if you’re going to live in a capitalistic society, you need to be making capital. Unfortunately for me, I have been unable to find work in Colorado for the last couple of years and have therefore been forced to take contract jobs abroad in order to earn enough money to support my extravagant lifestyle. And by “extravagant lifestyle” I’m referring to plain old survival… I’ve acquired a few “things” in my life thus far (a house, a few cars, a few computer systems, home theater equipment, etc…) and I’m in the standard position of supporting these purchases now. This, of course, makes it necessary for me to make money and my latest quest for this needed money has landed me in California – not by choice, mind you, but by pure need…

The job I landed is in Thousand Oaks. I therefore found my initial housing at a furnished apartment in Thousand Oaks. My idea was to pull this contract job off “European Style” and try to accomplish what I did in Germany – no car … transportation by foot (and possibly public transport) alone. I figured I’d save some money and hassle by not needing to rent a car and get some good exercise as well. My plan lasted about a week and a half. Survival in southern California is far different than Europe – a car is mandatory. I ended up purchasing a rather run-down 1990 Toyota Corolla from some guy on craigslist for $750…

So I bought the car which made my next move finding more reasonable housing. The furnished apartment that I was in was not cheap. In fact the phrase that best describes it would be “outrageously overpriced”! They were charging me $89 (I actually talked them down from the $110 they wanted to charge) a day!! This, of course, comes out to about $2700 a month!!! Now, for a guy that is out here for nothing more than the money, paying $2700 a month for lodging is not going to work. That cuts into my profits enough to make this trip damn near pointless. Once I bought the car and was able to find housing a bit further from the office, I began my search for more reasonable accommodations. I headed back to craigslist to see who was looking for a roommate…

That’s the great thing about craigslist – you can find anything on it, and I do mean anything. For this task, I was looking for reasonably priced temporary housing in Ventura County and quite a few prospects were available. There were listings for furnished and unfurnished apartments, condos, town houses and guest houses; however I quickly realized that finding a place of my own wasn’t going to be cheap so I chose to look for shared housing instead. I responded to many postings where people were looking to rent a room with mixed results. I am, after all, a male that smokes and you’re far better off being a female non-smoker if you’re planning on moving in with others. I had a close call with one lady in the city of Ventura but missed out on that when she cancelled our initial meeting a mere few hours before I headed up there – I guess she decided against having a guy move in at the last minute. There was also a room in Moorpark (another female looking to rent out a spare bedroom) that fell through at the last minute – she decided to rent it out to a non-smoking female instead… It wasn’t looking good for me. Luckily, I was able to find a guy living on the CSUCI campus that didn’t let the fact that I am a male that smokes sour the deal. I moved out of the overpriced apartment and onto the CSUCI campus last Friday…

So I’ve found myself temporary housing that will be saving me a couple grand per month. This is good. It goes a long way in helping me out with why I’m here – the money – and the dude I moved in with seems to be cool enough. Of course I haven’t actually “lived” with him yet as he was gone for the entire weekend. I basically spent the weekend in his house by myself which, I must admit, felt a bit strange… It did, however, give me an opportunity to explore my new surroundings alone and pretty much got me to questioning my life a bit…

You see, I am now living on the CSUCI (as some call, the “C-Sucky”) campus about a mile and a half outside of Camarillo, CA. It’s about a 20 minute drive from here to my job in Thousand Oaks. Unfortunately that’s pretty much the only good thing I can say about my new location. CSUCI (California State University Channel Islands) is a rather new campus – about 5 years old from what I’ve been able to gather. Before that, it used to be the Camarillo State Hospital – the home for some of California’s most mentally insane. From 1936 until 1997 – when the hospital’s doors were closed for good – this place was home to thousands and thousands of alcoholics, pedophiles, and people with mental illness and retardation. Apparently the place is said to be haunted and the back entrance to the campus seems to be quite the magnet for unexplained phenomena as it has hosted numerous unexplained car accidents – one that apparently claimed the life of one individual whose autopsy showed an otherwise healthy woman who just happened to suffer a freak brain embolism.

So that’s where I’m living now and the “haunted” aspect isn’t even the worst part about it. This campus and the nearest city (Camarillo) are best described as “dead”. I moved in on a Friday evening and decided to scope the place out a bit. Nothing was happening on the actual campus. I think I noticed a total of something like five students walking around but there appears to be absolutely no place to “hang out” on the campus. And all this time I thought Wayne State was bad … I’d take it over CSUCI any day of the week now… Well, the lack of anything happening on campus lead me to drive into Camarillo to see what was happening there. I ended up stopping at this sport’s bar for a beer however didn’t stay long. There was a decent live band; however the 5 to 1 ratio of guys to gals didn’t really make the place all that inviting to me. I actually ended up heading back over to the TGI Friday’s in Thousand Oaks. At least I kind of “know” a few of the bartenders there…

This brings me to the “social” aspects of my California life – or, more to the point, the lack there of… You see when I was living in Thousand Oaks the social events were a bit of a roller coaster ride. I came out here hoping to experiment a bit with breaking out of my shell – I’ve never been a very socially proficient dude and it’s always been a problem that I’ve been hoping to solve – and I think I was able to make a little progress. I think… Of course I suppose when looking at the events on more of the macro scale, no progress was actually made. I got a fake email address from one girl, crashed a costume party in Santa Monica with these guys I met, got an actual number from this really cute 21-year old who has since apparently decided that I was no longer worth communicating with and became pretty much a regular at the TGI Friday’s in Thousand Oaks. There is more to most of those stories, but that pretty much sums up the big picture. Bottom line is that I’m living out here as a friendless dude that hangs out at the TGI Friday’s bar quite a bit and getting to that outcome didn’t require any progress.

So … I’ve been wondering just exactly what all this is about… What am I trying to do? Where am I trying to get? Anywhere…? I mean what the heck is the purpose of all this? It’s not like I’m out here panning for more golden life stories to astound others with … nobody’s interested in hearing them anyway… No … I’m just, as always, alone on yet another journey. Heck, if I’m lucky, I’ll even be able to make enough money to pay my taxes…

bis später,

Coriolis