I don't really feel like I have much worth saying at this point, but I sort of feel like I should be writing something for some reason. Not that I necessarily have an audience that demands it. I'm wondering how many people actually read this, but I have no way of determining it, since only a select few of you leave comments. I guess I could just assume that only those who leave comments are reading, but I know that there are others who do read and, for whatever reason, don't feel compelled to comment on the banal.

Well...there's only 5 more days of housesitting for me and then I get to go home...which isn't necessarily all that much more exciting, but at least it's home and there aren't two cats. Of course, there's my roommate...but he's harmless.

My mother has decided to tempt fate once again tomorrow and fly from Hilo, Hawaii, to California. I think she's flying into Orange County's John Wayne Airport, but I don't know. I talked to her the other day, and she was trying to convince me to either go meet her in Temecula where she'll be staying with friends this weekend or to go up to Fresno next weekend. Fresno during the summer sucks. Don't get me wrong- it sucks pretty much all year round, but the summers are particularly dreadful, with temperatures sometimes reaching the 110s.

Last night, I decided to go for a walk, instead of staying up in this cramped little apartment. I was on a mission to find something to eat...some sort of sustenance that wasn't from a corporate franchise. That's one of the problems with this town, I think. Indeed, even all of So. Cal. The "mom and pop" type of restaurants simply don't exist. Every restaurant is owned by some corporation that is in turn somehow owned by Disney. I'm not saying that there aren't any independent restaurants around here- I just couldn't find one that was appealing to me last night, within my price range. I was looking to spend about $5-6. I strolled down to Westwood Blvd. and headed north. I passed a Quiznos, Boston Market, and about 12 Starbucks. I'm not sure exactly what I was looking for, though. To be honest, I wasn't all that hungry- I think I just needed to clear my head.

It's funny...I spent a lot of time rehearsing what I would say to certain people when they return from certain far off places. Surprisingly, I haven't paid much mind to the whole matter as of late. But yesterday, it was pretty prominent in my thoughts. I guess it doesn't matter. It's a simple fact that, regardless of how much I rehearse, when the time comes to bare my soul I'll no doubt end up stammering like an idiot for ten minutes before weakly muttering, "I like you..." so inaudibly that she'll have to ask me to repeat it. Then, at that point, I'll probably chicken out and say something like "I said 'I like the Jews!'" It'd be a whole lot easier if she just accidentally stumbled across my blog, and then it'd be just like that one time. (That was for Shane and Erika's benefit)

As I've said, though...I haven't really focused to much on that problem- preferring to seek to improve other aspects of my life such as the job situation, living situation, and figuring out exactly where my life is leading...whether it's being led by fate or God or Bog or whatever. There's this guy at work named Michael Lee, who has been working at the ALC for about 5 years now. And the thing is, he hates it, and they pay him less than they pay me. That bothers me that I make more than he does, but at the same time it's sort of his fault. If he were to leave, I think that the ALC would literally be screwed. Yet, he doesn't demand to be paid what he's worth.

There's a certain reluctance on my part to leave before I've fulfilled the two year commitment that I made to them. But, at the same time, in two years I'll be 30 and I simply can't imagine staying there until I'm 30. One thing I particularly despise is this lack of time off during the summer. I had to miss out on the Kosovo trip this year and, if I keep my two year commitment, then I'll have to miss out on it next year as well.

It's hard to believe that I've lived in Los Angeles for three years now (come this October, anyway). Three years. When I moved up here, I was 25 years old. I'm 28 now (for my friends who can't do math, like Shane Ross), but I don't really feel all that different. It took me a long time to get acclimated up here...probably about a year and a half before I would say I had anything that remotely resembled a social life. But now, I think I'm doing fairly well in that department.

At any rate, I think that's all for now. I'm still trying to force myself to get into The Tin Drum. It's a good book- it's just a little thick at times. Well...thanks for noticing me.