Saturday December 29, 2007
Journey to Los Angeles, California-Day 1
I woke up at 3:00 am to the sound of a harsh scolding alarm clock and snow falling. The previous night, my Aunt called to warn me about a snow storm coming into Colorado the day I would be flying (perfect
)My lovely (I keep saying that word these days...very wierd) Mom drove me to the RTD park-ride for the 4:36 AM AB bus to DIA, dont' worry she gets up this early for work (sadly) and luckily it was on the way. At the time, there was one guy waiting at the station and was afraid that I would be there alone with another strange guy waiting for the bus though it was okay. After my mom left, I was standing there in the freezing cold along with the stranger....a few minutes a conversation started and I soon found out that he was a Fairview alum.....small world. Soon more people came and the bus arrived though the driver didn't turn soon enough to get into our stop, it went past the stop so it had to reverse. When it stopped we headed towards the bus but then the driver told us to wait because she had to let the "B" bus pick up their passengers..or something like that.
moving on as we were loading luggage into the bus there was a lady who was asking for money to get on the bus, I soon found out that she was also a CU student but she didn't have the "RTD" plastic slip ..she had her card, but the lady wouldn't let her on (the bitch) so i decided to help her, though I only had a $20 ...nothing smaller. We got on, apparently we were running late...okay it was by 5 minutes and the lady (Amy) handed me back my $20 because the driver couldn't break it. I had the same problem when i was trying to get back home from Washington D.C, I was $4 short. Fucking eh.
When we were at the US 36/McCaslin bus stop a guy had change, so we managed to give the bus driver the money (rolls eyes/side note: You know I would definitely just let the lady get on the damn bus, seriously be nice) The journey to the airport continued, snow kept falling, more people kept getting on and because of that, I had to move my stuff and let someone sit next to me, when I was trying to shift into the window seat, my foot slipped and it hit the metal bar under the seat...now that hurt like a bitch and I have a slight bruise at the moment.
-DIA-
Amy paid me back, and we parted separate ways, she was heading to Central America and I was heading to Los Angeles. I felt nervous and that was because I haven't seen my friends from NYLC in 10 months..nearly a year since one of the most amazing weeks of my life. ...The fear that i had was awkwardness..what if hanging out with was awkward...or what if they were reluctant...but no I was having stupid, irrational fears..so scratch that.
-Gate A24 then Airplane-
I kept checking in with my Mom and my Aunt, ate a rather unhealthy breakfast from McDonalds. (side note: Where the hell was the fruit cups or vitamin water...WHERE???!!) My flight got delayed by 15 minutes, and then another 30 minutes, and finally when I got aboard the plane we were delayed AGAIN by one hour. I don't blame the weather at all, it was only by an hour, not like the nightmare '4' hours that some travelers had to experience...or like those poor guys who were stuck on that jetblue flight at JFK international ...last year I think? What's terrible is that I didn't realize I sacraficed my window seat....damn it.
This lady asked me if I could swtich seats so that her children could sit by her, and once again I was being nice so I said "yeah sure no problem"
...You know I really shouldn't have said that because I got her original seat, which was 2 seats back...and it turned out to be the LAST ROW on the plane...well fuck. Then I found out that she needed another person to switch a seat bc she had two kids at her possesion, the guy said "sure I'll give up my seat bc it's in the aisle w/e" ..and then he realised that he was stuck in the back with me too...he wasn't too happy about that either. Bc of that event, we started talking about it, and he found that I gave up my window seat, and he was in disbelief about that and told me that I was too nice and I should have been more agressive about the situation.
"I wouldn't have given up the window seat..unlike SOME people"
I really wanted to say "hey, fuck you man hahhaha"
So we kept talking, and we ended up getting free tv from Frontier bc of switching into shit hole seats. During the course of the flight, both of us tried to get sleep, there was nothing really good on TV; Bhutto just got assassinated when we were on the plane. ...This world is full of shit (According to the guy next to me)
I was intrigued by him after the fact that he mentioned travelling times and travelling to Colombia, and the fact that he was handsome (kidding)...I love my luck with meeting guys...and we kept talking...and I found out the follwoing from chatting with him
1) He's from Colombia
2) He's an art major..graphic design
Both of us kept channel surfing, when he hit CNN (I was also on CNN) they were talking about the Bhutto assasination and then transitioned to other major headlines including : 6 people dead in Seattle, mudlslides leaving 160 homeless in Colombia--and then it got interrupted by the intercom "this is your captain speaking"
Then when that was over I asked him "did you hear about..something ..160 homeless after mudslides-"
him: yea did they say Colombia?
me: yeah ..they did...
him: it's everywhere...shit is going down, global warming
me: definitely
him: and yet people in this world deny (said in unison: that it's global warming)
so we kept talking about global warming, Americans wasting everything until the Captain went on the PA system again, we talked about South America, Bhutto, CNN and how much it sucks and what they cover as "important news" for example: When Anna Nicole Smith died...they wouldn't shut up about it for days..., Food stereotypes, food, and travelling. When he talked about food, the old man sitting in the window joined in the conversation as well.
This was on and off during the flight and I didn't want to disturb him by talking him too much during the flight so I was off in my own little world from time to time.
The old man in the window seat noticed a big lake and asked us if we knew which one it was, the guy sitting next to me didn't know, and I guess it was Lake Powell...though I checked the flight path map and it definitely wasn't Lake Powell, we went past it ages ago.
The Colombian guy had no idea cuz he's not aware of American geography, he then said "ask me about my country..then I know what to say"
The old guy needed to use the restroom, so we moved out, and JUST as he was in the restroom the pilot decided to turn on the "seatbelt sign", but both of us were still standing up because we were waiting for the guy to come back. The flight attendant told us to sit down but we were waiting for the old guy to get his ass back from the restroom, then she told us a second time firmly to sit down.
"(Towards Javier) Sir it is dangerous to be standing up, please sit back down"
so we sat back down again, and he whispered to me "like this is going to help us"
Finally I eased my way in to find out his name,
"I didn't get your name"
him: oh my name is Javier (says name with Spanish accent) and yours?
me: I'm Susan (and we shake hands)
Javier: nice to meet you
me: you too
We continued to talk, and I found out the following
1) He's going to LA because he's going to visit his brother
-his brother is a film director
2) he has a big family
3) He believes that the world is overpopulated and Latin American women should stop being baby machines..and then he said basically everyone should stop having children (THAT'S MY BELIEF TOO!)
4) Natural disasters is mother natures way of saying " i can't handle this" ..and that's EXACTLY WHAT I
THINK TOO
5) Mexican food sucks compared to South American food...okay so remember Javier..your living in Denver, your pretty much eating Americanized Mexican food...and what you said that Mexican food is better in Mexico..is probably true.
and then he found out the following about me
1) I'm 18
He asked me "how old are you?"
me: 18
Javier: ...wow...you're so young
me: okay....so how old are you? (I was guessing 23...24)
Javier: i'm 33
me: ....really? I had you down at ..24 at least
(This is what happened in my brain: WHAT?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your're probably married...wait no no he said he has no kids because he doesn't want kids..and no girlfriend it seems...he's single BUT DAMN IT WHY IS HE 33?? and why DOES LOOK LIKE HE'S 22..23...24 ...DAMN IT I wish he could make love to me...oh boy why do I love Latin guys)
moving on...the plane was landing in Los Angeles, and the flight attendants announced that the people heading to Cabos and Hawaii should raise their hands so they can get out of the plane first. Javier said, "that's us, let's raise our hands...yes we are the 4 people heading to Cabo...and not Los Angeles"
me: ...there's only 3 of us
javier; ...yes it's us 4
me: ...oh yes including this (imaginary) person here
Finally were in LA, we had to sit for a while for the docking of the plane and such, so we kept talking about what he does,
I found out
1) His brother is starting a project
2) He did special effects for endlandmines.org (i saw the video)
....I gave him my contact info, he gave me his e-mail (that's how I start out...with e-mail addresses)
We get off the plane, I see him again because we both have luggage waiting for us in baggage claim, and we walked towards BC and continued to talk. Then he asked me why i was in Los Angeles, and I said it was becuase of friends
then he said; "oh so your going to be partying huh?"
me: yeah..but i'm not like the 'getting shit faced/coked up" type of party girl
Javier: oh yeah I know what you mean..i didn't mean it that way, but your still going to party..Americans are crazy sometimes..just getting really drunk and doing drugs...which is really fucked up
me: yep that's basically college ur describing...
*kept walking
me: I'm glad I met you, I guess shitty seats weren't so bad
Javier: *laughs, yeah you too, and I'll e-mail you if i need some talent (for projects) and..we can be friends..I mean I don't understand people who are like "oh you can't be friends you guys are 5-20 years apart or something like that...cuz that's complete bullshit...I mean I'm a good person, I'm not trying to be wierd...and people can have friends..can make friends even if your not the same age..you can have friends in all ranges
me: yeah I know what you mean by that
when we were heading up the elevator to go to baggage claim, he noticed that this was a ghetto airport, and then he said "well i've seen worse"
me: same here..
Javier: the airport in Caracas is terrible
me: hawaii international is a shit hole
javier: really?? I wouldn't think so..
getting into baggage claim, i was still talking to him until Julie stood up and I saw her...and then it was a moment of freaking out and running up to her and screaming...and full of rejoice and surrealism...
and then I looked at Javier..who was kinda laughing at him and I said "hey! I'm still the same girl you met on that plane"
Julie and Javier were introduced, i got my suitcase which was one of the first to come out out the wheel of luggage...I said bye to him, but then he said something in Spanish (god damn it)....AUGH ...
conclusion: Javier is gorgeous, and why do I keep meeting beautiful Latin American guys???
MOVING ON
-I'm still freaking out that I'm seeing Julie face to face ...cuz usually i would call her or IM her...
-we drive in a circle around the airport...but finally found the way to the freeway
so we started talking about Javier...and both of us were like "he is so not 33"
and Julie is so sweet; she pointed out the cool points of LA, intentionally drove past some beautiful surfer boys, and ran down to the beach and felt the waves crashing against our feet. It felt so refreshing after 20 degree weather, and always wearing a bloody snowjacket and pants
What's so cool about where Julie lives is the fact that it's RIGHT BY THE PACIFIC OCEAN!~!! She's right by Ocean Avenue (yes just like the yellow card song!)
Also her house is a castle, I love the kitchen, the colors are warm and mellow,
basically the house itself, also her family is amazing (just like her).
I notice that her family is closer than mine, and I'm not envious or anything in that matter, I'm just observing the culture (my god sociology class is really hitting home).
So then we called Jonny right away, and apparently he was at "Pink's hot dogs" ..yeah I have no idea what that is, so I handed the phone to Julie, and she knew what was up. So we headed down to Pink's hot dogs but made a pit stop to pick up her friend Sara Jaffe (she's really cool too)
on the way there, i noticed..or no no Sara noticed some emo Asian kids waiting at the bus stop, and I quickly reached for my camera and got a picture of them before the light turned green, and I said "okay look beautiful"
we get to Pink's hot dog stands...and apparently they are famous for their hot dogs..and celebs go there to eat and what not. We find parking, there's a line, but it wasn't too big (according to Julie, it has gone down several blocks...okay people are crazy lol..but I've this kind of insanity in shanghai) Then we were looking for Jonny bc we told him to get in line and we found him! Yay..hugs..massive amounts of hugs ensued, Jonny first hugged julie and then julie was like "oh and not susan first?" (kidding it's okay lol)
so I got a loving hug from jonny twice, and was in a surrealistic moment for about 10 minutes.
and so....we ate hot dogs..they were intense, I had an ozzy spicy dog, and julie was like "what's in it..bat heads?"
me: hahah very funny Julie
...I met Jonny's family,
we were planning on going clubbing, but stupid me I whispered "it's a gay-club" right in Jonny's ear and his dad WAS RIGHT BY HIM *note to self: STOP BEING STUPID
-crap it's like almost 1 am
but I'll write more /upload photos!!!!
Posted 12/29/2007 at 2:8 AM
