OUT SAVING THE WORLD

Closing time. Time for you to go out to the places you will be from.
Closing time. This room won't be open 'till your brothers or your sisters come.
So gather up your jackets, move it to the exits, I hope you have found a friend.
Closing time. Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.--Semisonic

I have said far too many goodbyes since last week Friday. Most of the goodbyes will be temporary, after all, I am coming back to Columbia for Homecoming weekend. Some of these people I know I may never see again, at least for quite some time. Really, I hope I don't see some of you people in October--for you're May grads and I want you to get good jobs and be successful and happy and all that swell, sweet-smelling stuff.

Still, I'm going to miss each and every one of you more than I can ever express with my piddly little words. To those KOMU-ers reading this, I hope you've seen DP's goodbye letter on the newsroom bulletin board. I, too, will soon have the blinking lights of the tower only in my rear view mirror, and "I'm going to miss it. All of it. All of you."

This will be OSTW's last post as a Missouri resident. In fact, the OSTW chief office (my computer) is temporarily out of service--this post comes to you courtesy of the Irfan bureau upstairs. OSTW will, therefore, be on hiatus until at least Tuesday, August 5th.

Random OSTW Fare
I was awakened at 8:30 a.m. yesterday by a Boone County sheriff's deputy at the door. She was trying to serve a subpoena/summons on someone who definitely does not live here. (Further investigation shows this mystery man is being sued by the good people at Discover Card for not being so "timely" with his "payments.") The doorbell further tolled when Patricia's "No, We are NOT Nowell's" IGA came to deliver a birthday cake to the not-home next door neighbors. Of course, 3500 was happy to provide said cake temporary refrigeration and all other means of due care.

Do You Wanna Drive, Or Do You Wanna Drive?
Don't you wish-y you had a Mitsubishi?

Dude, Dude, Check One Dude
The Road to Malibu, Twenty-oh-Three:
THURSDAY, July 31: Columbia, Mo. to Amarillo, Tex.
FRIDAY, August 1: Amarillo, Tex. to Kingman, Ariz.
SATURDAY: August 2: Kingman, Ariz. to Malibu, Calif.

California....knows how to party. Catch you from tha 3-1-0.

I'm J-Dub and I approve this message at 3:31 AM |

"Then, one night, after they set up camp, Blaine Fabin pointed to the horizon and said, 'Can you smell that? That's the smell of salt in the air! The Pacific Ocean! We have reached California!' Of course, they never did actually find the ocean, because they were in Missouri."--Don Lake as Phil Burgess, "Waiting for Guffman"

This ain't no disco. It ain't no country club either. This is L.A.
Dang. I'm really moving to Malibu. Los Angeles County, California.

I'm going to be living in the guest room of a very nice couple, about a block away from the Pacific Ocean. Standing out there at night is sort of like standing on the edge of the world, and makes a nice personal parallel. My road of higher education has ended. Pretty soon, I'm either going to have to turn left (journalism) turn right (law) or say "screw it," turn around, and be a school bus driver in Raytown, Mo.

But, the room is nice, it's a little bigger than my room on Delmar, as is the closet. Bathroom is tiny, but my own. There's a private side entrance, and it comes with a mini fridge and microwave. No real kitchen access, but I do get to use the family washer and dryer. Basically, it's like a big dorm room without the annoying neighbors, dumb rules, and with private beach access. Oh, and my sources tell me a certain actor known as the most recent 007 lives around the corner...

Seriously. If you had told me last year at this time that I would be living in Malibu, California in August, 2003, I would have smacked you and called you crazy. But, it's where the Big Plan has put me, so off I go.

So, here are some notes from the trip:

*Malibu is isolated. Seriously. It's basically 27 miles of coastline, a handful of gas stations and banks (seriously--no more than 7 of each along the 27 mile stretch,) 3 grocery stores, a Sav-On drug store, 3 fast food outlets, and a bunch of mom-and-pop ish little restaurants and cantinas. It's beautiful and relaxing, but lacking in goods and services. The summary:

Distance to closest:
Staples 16 miles
Target 22 miles
Wal-Mart 24 miles
Cousin's Subs 38 miles
Sonic (America's Drive-In) 64 miles
Panera Bread 254 miles
Culver's 1329 miles
Brookfield, Wis. 2441 miles

Also note that when I say, for example "22 miles to Target," this is not 22 Missouri-miles, where you can zip down US 63 at a nice clip of about 79 miles an hour and cover 22 miles in about 15 minutes. No, all of the closest outlets of civilization to my house--or any of Malibu for that matter--are either through the canyon and the mountains in the San Fernando Valley (usually Thousand Oaks is the closest to Malibu) on winding, slow mountain roads, or, in Santa Monica or West L.A., which is about a 40 minute to 1 hour drive down the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu's main road) and then another 10 to 30 minute drive to the actual location.

In short, if I can't get it at the grocery store, the drug store, or one of the campus bookstores (either at the law school or the undergraduate union,) it'll have to wait. Still, driving 2 hours round trip for a fresh printer cartridge does not sound appealing. I'm going to miss the Nifong Wal-Mart.

*Everything you've heard, seen or read about L.A. traffic really is true. It sucks. But, drivers there really aren't any more rude than Missouri drivers, on the whole. They just do more illegal things--and, of course, there's more sitting around doing nothing. It's characterized by the SigAlert, which is basically the local lingo for major traffic snafus. But--my future home is just 10 miles down the PCH from campus, and that particular stretch of road is fairly isolated and speedy.

*The campus is gorgeous. Not six-freestanding-Ionic-columns-gorgeous, but more Pacific-Ocean-and-mountains gorgeous. Pretty in its own right. Obviously, it has more of the small Christian school atmosphere than the big state school atmosphere, but I think that'll work out ok for law school. Fewer distractions, I suppose.

What about your new address, phone number, the good stuff?
Patience, my faithful. Watch your e-mail inbox. Time will bring the good news.

It's going to be an adventure. Hang on.

I'm J-Dub and I approve this message at 1:35 AM |

Update For Update's Sake
In the past week, I have:
*Driven to Green Bay/Fox Valley area, and back to Brookfield
*Driven to Eau Claire, and back to Brookfield (With stop in Osseo for pie!)
*Driven back to Columbia, Mo.

In the next 72 hours, I will:
*Drive to Kansas City
*Fly to Los Angeles
*Find a place to live, drop a chunk of money on security deposit/1st month's rent
*Visit my new law school home
*Fly back to Kansas City
*Drive back to Columbia

Life ain't never boring.

Oh, By The Way
Now that I'm back at the speedy computer, expect an update to the photo album.

It might even be updated now, as you read this. Depends on how quickly I get some work done before I have to leave for KCI. If it's not updated now, check back Thursday.

I'm J-Dub and I approve this message at 3:13 AM |

Clark's In The Sky Tonight
Would everyone join me for a moment in wishing Clark a happy 21st birthday??

Have a good one, Little Black Duck. Long live the Club!

Watching The Wide World Riot, And Hiding Out
Ahhh, California. It was kind of weird to drive along the Pacific Ocean and realizing that I'll be living/working/eating/sleeping/getting my ass kicked by law school there in less than a month. But, it's all good.

Thanks to Mark Scrap-O (and Kansan roommate Mike "Schweet!") for their thorough hospitality. And, thanks to Steph for putting up with me when the last thing she needed was me hanging around. (Good luck with moving, kiddo.)

I'll Be Coming Home Next Year
Upcoming schedule (half for your information, half to keep my own brain together):
Wisconsin tour: Through July 9th-ish
Return to BoCoMo: July 9th-ish
To L.A. to find a place to live: July 14th-16th
Kansas City jaunt to see Clark/Chrissy/Colleen/Kristin/Caleb/Blythe (and Royer and Adrian in the Lawrence bureau): Either immediately before or after aforementioned L.A. trip
Leave BoCoMo for good: July 30th or 31st
Arrive Malibu, Calif.: August 2nd
Next scheduled trip to Wisconsin: November 7th (Kelly's wedding)

I'm J-Dub and I approve this message at 2:43 PM |