What a Suck Hole

This blog is beginning to be less about my adventures in Los Angeles and more about my annoyances with this damn city. I think this place is providing a perfect storm of things that drive me insane and compacted them into my first couple months of living here. All the things that should be really cool about Los Angeles aren't and I feel like I'm at war at home and in the office. With the help of a lawyer friend (you know who you are) I'm currently trying to get out of my lease/ out of my apartment.

But what are the highlights of my life here?

Well Chris is the biggest and best one. When he is home he's the official bug killer and he can make me laugh even when I'm feeling like my brain is going to leak out of it's ears. You know you're with someone good when they watch fall completely apart and all they want to do is put you back together again. It's nice to have him by my side while I'm trying to figure this "life" out. I know that if we're together (yeah it's about to be a lame but completely true sentiment) I'll be alright.

My coworker Joey is another. My job consists of dealing with a broken down system that has people either unable to do their job or are unwilling to. The clients I serve can be amazing but can also be rude and lazy and all I want to do is scream at them "if you won't help yourself why should I help you?" I think AmeriCorps is supposed to be about working for nothing and loving it anyway. At least at City Year there were some amazing people and some awesome kids. Here it's just adults grasping at last straws. I was lucky enough to get paired with a random Midwesterner who shares my views on this job as well as being RIDICULOUS when we can be. We're surrounded by the crazy LAers and we have to be fight the sucking void by making fun of our lives.

The mountains. Really they are pretty amazing. From my strange half cubicle I can see them outside my coworkers office and they remind me of the good stuff California has to offer that Illinois doesn't. There are palm trees and I haven't had to worry about a winter jacket yet. And I think it's funny that all of Los Angeles' decorations have a semblance of snow or winter. I think it's ridiculous.

I know that I should have moved out here and forced myself from the wonderful womb of Chicago. I just wish that I wasn't battling everything on top of being homesick.

Really Los Angeles? Really?

So I've been trying to make friends with Los Angeles. Really, I have. I am terribly homesick, I miss my real friends, and all I want to do is pack up my crap and move home. However I haven't thrown in the towel yet. This is the first time I've moved away from home and I get to live with my boyfriend. And screw you Los Angeles I'm no quitter damn it. Talk to my pelvis and your understand. I've even had some fun here to be honest. We went to the Los Angeles Zoo yesterday (doesn't hold a candle to Brookfield or Lincoln Park... The animals all looked sad... like the people) but we frolicked and looked at the crazy animals. It was a good day and it was a pleasant 75 degrees outside in November.

Then Los Angeles kicked me in the non-existent balls this morning. I called in sick because the food we ate last night punched me in the stomach and I was still feeling awful. After I made the call and got ready to have a sleep in Chris and I heard a huge gurgling sound from our sink. Then we heard a splashing noises and ran into our kitchen to find the sink overflowing with gray water. WHAT THE FUCK. As Chris was standing in utter shock I grabbed all of our towels and tried to staunch the flow away from our wood floors. As Chris ran upstairs to try and find our new landlady (the other got fired) I tried to call the numbers we had for our management. I'm pretty sure I scared alot of people because I was really pissed and still am. I think this might get us out of our lease and I'm going to try my damnedest to leave. UGH. I don't understand why Los Angeles has to suck this much.

Is every "official" moving away experience supposed to be like this? Full of shitty apartments with roaches and overflowing sinks? Are you supposed to miss your friends this much? BLARGH.

Updates... Sort of?

Let's see... what has changed? What have I done...

Well I went "nazi" on the roaches. They need to be exterminated because they are disgusting and I don't feel bad about saying it. I take my domain as human to kill anything pissing me off in my apartment (alright fine not people or domesticated animals). There have been two more sightings (one dead, one running... although Chris says it wasn't one) not counting the two I've seen in the hallway. They sprayed on the 7th and it is obviously a useless treatment especially with all the crap we had to go through to prepare. You have to have all of your furniture 2 feet from the wall and take everything out of cabinets and closets so they can spray all along the walls and cabinets. This would be easier if our apartment wasn't freaking tiny and we didn't have so much shit... It all had to be done the night before since putting all of your stuff in the middle of a room makes everything much more difficult. As Chris and I sniped at each other we boxed and moved all of our shit into strategic piles while covering things up so they didn't get sprayed. It's like moving out of your apartment but without the new awesome apartment. After hours we moved the bed in the middle and crashed at 3am. Then we had to get up at 7:30am to put all of the shit on  top of our bed and get out of the apartment by 8am and off to work. I think this experience could be a litmus test for any relationship. If you kill each other during the process than you know you're not meant to be. Especially because one of you is dead. Anyway Chris and I survived and are pretty awesome. I even made him watch all of Friends. Hehehe.

But what else have I done you say other than attack roaches? Well....
I've been trying to see the cool things in the Los Angeles area. It's so spread out though that seeing something usually takes all day and I have to research parking and other crap like that.

I ate some very very delicious In N Out. It's a California favorite and I can see why. Chris and I devoured this before heading off to a party. Nom nom nom.

Also Chris and I had a good date night where we went to the Grove mall which is a unnecessarily fancy.  We saw the Social Network (for a whopping 25 dollars). Along with the fancy stores this mall has a gorgeous pond and fountain as well as a trolley. It's ridiculously expense too so it's more of a walk around mall than a buy things mall...

 But they do have a pretty awesome year round farmer's market (don't have to shut down when there is no winter weather) and it was pretty sweet. It has a bunch of different food stands and 2 bars. It makes me want to eat my way through it. We stopped at the New Orleans food stand and I got some drunken shrimp with sweet potato chips and corn bread. It was so tasty. I earmarked like six different places I want to eat at there including a crepe place and bakery. It's like fatty paradise.

 We also visited Randy's Donuts in Inglewood (not as scary as it seems) and got some famous fritters. They were tasty that's for sure.

 FRITTER!

 I love these little signs because there is no way our drains in Illinois lead to the ocean. The only problem is that Los Angeles people don't care and they are usually clogged with trash.

This was near the Santa Monica Pier. It was part of "glow" a festival and this was supposedly an art instillation. However Chris, Omar, and Tom and I thought it was like a game where you pull on the strings to get the balloons to fall. But if you did that you got scolded... like I did...

On the Santa Monica 3rd street promenade where there is no car traffic. This man, who smelled like sweat and beer, danced to the guys playing guitar on the street. I don't know what the taxi hat means but he was entertaining nonetheless.