What Doesn't Kill You...

... will probably come back and get you next time.  Granny, who was rushed to the hospital on Christmas Day was diagnosed with lung cancer this morning.  One of her lungs collapsed during the biopsy.  Sounds like things are a big mess.  Please don't send your sympathies to me.  I appreciate it, but keep it to yourself.  I'm not a very emotional being, and it makes things awkward.  I'll just assume that you all send well wishes.

I'm far from macho, but I rarely show any emotion other than happiness.  I cried when I was 16 while being a pall bearer for a close friend.  I don't think I've cried since then, and it'll take something at least as bad as that to get a big stir out of me.  I don't ask for help.  Annie hates that I hide all emotion with humor.  It's the most guy thing I do.  Maybe one day I'll be mature enough to sob like Urban Meyer or John Boehner, since they are such respectable people...

I filled out the paperwork to take a Leave of Absence from UCLA today.  That was a hassle (still not done).  I have absolutely no intention of ever returning to L.A., but Annie demanded I have a backup plan.  I have no clue how much $$ I'm going to have to pay UCLA, but it doesn't sound like they'll let me off easy.  Let's make sure that those grad students don't leave without overwhelming debt, after all!  I also spent 59 infuriating minutes on hold trying to change my jury duty.

I packed up my office at school.  It's sad that roughly 1/6 of my possessions are text-/notebooks for college classes.  Today was the first big wave of "what the fuck am I doing?"  My whole life has been pretty easy.  Big decisions have usually been between two things I'm good at, and most big moves were lined up so that I could dance through life without much stress.  Considering where I've come from, I've been more than successful.  However, in just a week or two, my credit cards will be maxed out, my checking/savings accounts will be zero, and I will not have a job.  That's really scary.  It also makes me fear that my ever-interesting life is going to become mundane and boring like everyone else's.  I know having an interesting life (like I feel I have had for years) is mostly what you make of it, but I have had a lot of experiences to work-with/choose-from throughout the past decade.

I decided to watch True Grit in Westwood Village to kill time until my office would be empty.  I really enjoy good Westerns!  I invited some friends.  When I showed up, the theater was a TV show set.  Oh L.A., you never fail me when I'm worried about being boring.  I was disappointed that I couldn't see the movie, until I asked the theater across the street (where The Tourist is playing) what was being filmed, and they slipped in that they took True Grit for the day.  I went to the 5:10 show and was the only one in there, cuz everyone was too busy gawking outside to find the movie.  Tourists.

The TV Set, an abstraction from my crappy iPhone camera

Working with AAA insurance to replace some of my damaged stuff, and I'm loading my car up again for another trip to the Bay.  My next departure depends entirely on other people doing their jobs quickly.  I sliced my finger on the sharp edge on the box for cutting reynolds wrap.  Apparently, I shouldn't scoff at all the ridiculously stupid labels that dumb people require on everything.

No job offers yet,
~RoB