rich's uninteresting

today is my last day of unemployment. =) =( it’s going to be a fun weekend, though. PVD @ the Roxy tonight. recover tomorrow, then there’s a ton of parties tomorrow night, starting with Rob’s open bar party. Sunday i get the keys to my new apartment and start moving in. and Monday, it’s off to work!

most of my stuff has been in boxes since i packed up and left SF last June. over the following months, i slowly migrated everything that i didn’t sell off down to my dad’s apartment in LA. and i left all THAT stuff behind the past two months while i was in NYC.

i came back to LA this week to ship everything over to NYC. but to tell the truth, before i got here i could hardly remember what shit i had left and wouldn’t have minded too much if i just tossed it all and started anew. yet somehow when i got here and saw my stuff again, i realized they were things i wanted and managed to ship 16 boxes of shit over. it kinda reminds me of the George Carlin bit about life being a mission to find bigger and better places to put your shit.

it also makes me realize how inefficiently i’ve lived my life. i’ve had 15 different addresses since i moved to California 10 years ago. all that rent down the drain. with each move, tossing the old and starting anew. the SOMA loft in SF last year was the most settled in and furnished place i’d ever lived – and now that’s been whittled down to just 16 boxes.

inefficient, yeah, but the tradeoff for that inefficiency is freedom. each new home was a little “mini-life” in itself…settling in, making the place home, learning the area, getting to know a roommate…i was happy to do it. but i tell ya, after the past year of ambiguity and moving around all over the place, i’m ready to sit my ass down for a good long time…

this shit pisses me off to no end. the religious right is freaking out because of janet jackson’s boob, and the degree to which they affect the Bush administration is just scary. it’s like we’re in a communist country. Howard played part of the congressional hearings where the president of CBS had to listen to this crazy congresswoman from NM rant about JJ’s boob. rather than make a cogent, logical argument, she spent about 10 minutes relating her OWN personal story (and almost broke into tears) about how her son saw the boob and was offended. this same women voted to shorten the gun waiting period from 3 days to 1 day.

and why the hell is there a CONGRESSIONAL HEARING about something this stupid?! when there’s no hearing about Dick Cheney going on a hunting trip with a supreme court judge who’s about to rule on a Haliburton case that directly affects Mr. Cheney? what the fuck is going on?!

by the way, Howard used to be a big Bush fan solely because he agrees with his strongarm approach to dealing with terrorism (i don’t agree). Howard likes the bomb-the-hell-outta-em approach. but H also sees the country going the way of the religious right with Bush: censorship, no stem cell research, no gay marriages, anti-abortion…in a way, i’m glad to see that pulling H off the air is making him really anti-Bush.

i’m in LA for a whirlwind 2 day visit to pack up all my crap and get my car ready to sell. as an unemployed bum, i’d become accustomed to doing maybe 1-2 things a day (one of them being “working out”). checkout everything i did today:

- jump started my car (battery was dead after leaving it sitting for 2 months)
- drove to a mechanic to charge up the battery for an hour. he said my battery needed to be replaced soon.
- went back to my dad’s, packed a bunch of boxes and loaded the truck
- drove to UPS and shipped the boxes
- went back and packed & loaded another truckload of boxes
- shipped from UPS again
- bought a new car battery from auto parts store
- had the battery installed at the mechanic
- went back to my dad’s and packed & loaded more boxes
- shipped these boxes at the post office
- went back to auto parts store to dropoff my old battery & get my deposit back
- went to another mechanic to smog check my car
- went to ATM
- back to dad’s, took a bunch of digital pics of my car. cleaned up and packed my bags to come back to NYC tomorrow
- at starbucks now: creating a website for selling my car; posting the car for sale on craigslist and putting it for auction on ebaymotors.

total shipping costs: $580 / 16 boxes ~ $36/box

not bad, eh?

ah, 14.5 months of wandering around is drawing to an end. =( i laughed, i cried (often, huddled alone in a dark corner). i partied, but mostly i chilled…i travelled, but mostly i vegged. did i do anything significantly productive? not really. lots of starts and stops, trying this and that to see what sticks and what doesn’t. lemme try and recall the main parts of the trip:

• mid-Dec, 2002: the unfortunate shutdown of our division at DIRECTV. a great experience and bunch of folks, but i was happy as hell at the generous severance and opportunity to take a nice long break (didn’t think it’d be this long, though).
• snowboarding ’02-’03: the combination of being laid off, a season pass at kirkwood, access to a friend’s cabin, and my new snowboard led to a great, great season of boarding.
• partyin in SF til June ’03: the year in my SOMA loft was a blast! endless nights of partying: EndUp, 1015, Butter, Wish…and the karaoke machine…ah, the karaoke machine.
• travelling: miami/winter music conference, two great trips to hawaii, rio/carnaval, aruba, vegas.
• summer in LA: ah, summer in redondo beach. a great, mellow time. less partying, but i got into great shape @ the torrance 24hr fitness (love that gym!). discovered yoga. =)
• burning man 2003: after years of putting it off, i finally got to go. absolutely the most amazing experience, ever.
• NYC, winter ’03-’04: moving back in 2000 didn’t work out, and i was turned off to the whole overhyped, blowing back into town for the big job thing. the sudden contrast to life in Cali was a bit much then, too. this time, it’s a slow and steady, tentative approach. but the roots are taking hold…a great job with a truly good company, and potentially “the perfect apartment”. more about that soon, i hope…