day 3: first day in los angeles

the night was terrible. the seats were very difficult to sleep in and they make it very cold so you have to wear sleep under some kind of blanket. i woke up many times in the night. i finally decided to stay awake around 4:30. i fell asleep around 8 and then the gay porter woke me up gruffly telling me we were close to LA. i watched all the factories come up. it was depressing. all the cars and the smog and the aluminum buildings. we didn't say anything until we got off the train pulling all the bags and carrying an impossible load of things. we finally picked up my guitar and took a cab to danielle's friend's house. the house was very 'posh' with little 'modernist' details here and there. it was very pretty. i took a shower. i sat outside for an hour in the sun near the trees trying to feel good about nature and 'the progress of man'. there was a constant hum of traffic. somewhere past the trees there was a school having relay races. i knew they were relay races because a teacher-sounding person kept yelling 'on your mark, get set, go' and then children would scream. we walked down to a cafe and had breakfast. the coffee shop was full. i wondered if people actually work in los angeles. then we played 'who would you fuck?' danielle and i both picked this girl who was sitting by me. then danielle's friend justin came and we went to eat lunch at the los angeles police academy which apparently has a cafeteria open to the public with really good food. we ate there and then we went to watch people shoot guns in the shooting ranges. justin kept saying very funny things and i kept laughing quietly to myself. he turned out to be a very funny person. after the cafe justin took us back to the house. we watched muriel's wedding. this movie made me cry. i felt so terrible. i felt very sad for myself. i felt sad for everyone. the movie 'blended comedy and humor' very well. we drew and burned more CDs. we basically did this for a long time. then we went to have beer and pizza at someone's house and watched the vice presidential debates. sarah palin was on a roll. she kept saying 'tap into' and one drunk guy would yell 'tap that!' loudly and i don't know why, but it was funny every time. then we left and got picked up to go practice with the girls from voices voices. they came to pick us up from north hollywood or something. we were exhausted. we rehearsed and it was fun. i was too tired to know if it was good or not. danielle and i went to get starbucks. a girl there gave me a funny look. i gave her the funny look back. we went home and turned in.