So I arrived back in the States. We arrived late because the plane left from Fiji on Fiji time, which was 2 hours late. No worries man, it's Fiji time. Well the world doesn't run on Fiji time and there were several people on the flight that were not pleased about missing a flight transfer because of that. Back to reality. Trent and I weren't ecstatic about it either because it meant that we missed out on having a few more kava bowls before we left. We snagged 2 beers right before we left with the rest of our Fijian money. The flight was decent. I sat next an old Indian couple that kept getting up while I was trying to sleep on the aisle seat and that was annoying. But I felt pretty ok to be back in the States. My Aunt Laurie picked me up and that was pretty awesome. Also awesome how we were able to coordinate it with me not having a cell phone working. But I jumped right into doing stuff. I went over to my Aunt's house and very quickly my sister and my two cousins were there. We then went to Trader Joe's, got a bunch of food and went to a new brewery to hear some live music and an interview from a guy that used to tour with AC/DC, drink incredible beer and eat awesome food. And I just kept doing cool stuff in LA. I was there for 3 nights. I was hoping it'd be two but I couldn't set up a rideshare in time. It worked out fine though. Friday my sister and I hung out around UCLA. She took me out to lunch and I got my cell phone sorted out. Then we met up with my Aunt and cousins again and went to a sort of promotion for my cousins play. Very family/community oriented. I got to see my Uncle who I hadn't seen in a long time which was nice. After, my sister and I went out with all of her friends at the UCLA scen and it was a pretty wild night. I was definitely sleeping in after that. The next day we just took it easy but we did go see Dazed and Confused at an outdoor park and got some food at a food truck right there in downtown LA. It was pretty cool.
So coming back up to the bay nice too. The guy I rideshared with turned out to have been in the same dorms as my brother at Stanford, which was pretty cool. He was a chill and very easygoing guy. And it was a quick ride up which, included a stop off at In-N-Out! Yes! I got dropped off in Lake Merritt right off the freeway and coincidentally ran into my friend Paul and he was walking to do his grocery shopping. So I walked with him for a bit but then turned back because my Step Dad was coming to pick me up. Turned out Paul was coming up on a weed brownie high so he was pretty tripped out by randomly seeing me. Anyways same stuff in the bay. I had a nice dinner with my step-dad, step-brother, step-sister and Mom that night and then my Mom headed out that next morning. I kinda chilled out too. The next day I slept in and just took it easy. I came down to my Dad and Step-Mom's and had a nice dinner with them and caught up on everything. Later that night I went over to my friend Ryan's down the street and had a couple of drinks with him and his roommate. We just goofed around for a bit and then he had to go to bed. During this time I was just doing some laundry and getting some things prepped for the rest of my journey through the States. I helped my friend Farhad move into his place and then we went over to my friend Yo's place for dinner with their girlfriend's. Great to see some good friends again and great to report to them that I was for sure moving back to California. It was nice to see them be as excited as I was. So after that I just did family stuff and set up my rideshare to get up to Oregon for my friend's wedding...one of the main reasons I decided to come back. I was only in California for a week and the bay for 4 days but I knew it'd be cool since I was moving back.
So this rideshare was alright but man it took a while to get going. The guy left from his job later than he wanted and got caught in some serious traffic. I ended up leaving later and waiting for an hour and a half even after that. He was in his early fifties and we didn't exactly click, but he was sociable and we were able to power through the drive up. He also complimented the way I was driving his stick shift car so he wasn't uptight or anything. So we rolled into Eugene at midnight and just went off the highway to a gas station in the boondocks. Who was waiting to to pick me up but Patrick Newson! With a rolled cigarette and some beers in his car ready to go! Set! So we cruised back to Pat's and just thought we'd stay up for a little bit and chill seeing as he had work and I was a bit tired. Well several beers, cigarettes and spliffs later when the sun was rising we realized we hadn't done what we set out to do. Bedtime indeed and a good start to my time in Oregon. So getting ready for wedding stuff basically. The next day was a Friday and a day before the wedding. I mostly just hung out in Eugene a bit. I cruised down to Pat's wine shop and kicked it. John came by and I saw him. But Pat and I went to a concert in newly remodeled basement in the Whittiker for a pretty impromptu concert. Claire and Jason showed up and of course we went out and had a wild ass night. Lots of late night drinking and I was pretty ridiculous myself. The next day was the wedding and man it was great. I'm really glad I came back from Australia for that and was just excited to be back in the States. The wedding was on Bailey's parent's plot and it was fantastic. Perfect weather, green pasture with the right amount of shade provided by the trees on the property. Great catering, it was really great to see everyone and it was really just a great wedding. There were a lot of college friends there but there were also some people from Pleasant Hill there that I had gotten to know well through Pat and living in Eugene for 4 years. That night though, man it was a wild one. I think the part that sums it all up is when we were driving from the wedding at the Pope's to one of the PHill girls after party everyone slowed down on this country road. John and I were thinking wtf!? Well Mike goes into the other lane and it turns out Kenyon is driving the golf cart with his friend Cora to the party with a bottle of wine. I will never forget that image. I, again, got a little too wasted and had to go home. Nothing horribly atrocious but it was time for me to leave and crash out. Fortunately Johnny S was there to take care of me, Kenyon and all the other hooligans.
The next day and week was just pretty mellow. Typical Oregon style. Those of us in town for the wedding met up at a couple points during the day. We threw the football around on campus and just went wherever. Throughout the week I was just kicking it with Pat and John and others. I got lunch with Shelly at Cornucopia! Awesome dude. I hadn't been there in a couple years. Jason and Claire were nice enough to cook Pat and I a dinner. We met up with them again for a dinner at Pat's parents which is always on the agenda. Great to see them as usual. Went to Bingo at Sam Bond's, had loads of amazing beer. When I was in Portland I had some fun times as well. Went on a nice bike ride with John, went out with Spencer and Kenyon pretty late, had a nice goss session with Whitney Winsor. I got to see Bailey and Khoa after the wedding as well so it was nice to spend time with them because you usually only get to see people at a wedding real briefly if it's their wedding. I had a blast and I partied a bunch. Tons of partying with Pat and his crew as well. Man those guys smoke some spliffs. Dude it was a great Oregon trip but most importantly I got to all of my friends and spend some time with them. It's really great to see everyone. One thing I noticed when I saw Margaret and Sarah is that we don't keep in contact a whole lot but when we do see each other it's like no time has past. That's what I finally got comfortable with right before I left Chicago and then for sure solidified it when I was back in Oregon. A lot of my college friends have moved on and we're doing different things but whenever we get together it's like no time has past. We got to spend so much time together through such a formative period of our lives and it's great to see that, that bond hasn't left and will probably be there for a while if not the rest of our lives. It makes me emotional and I also love Oregon because of it. I also love Oregon because of all the other stuff there too but it always holds a special place for me. I could move back there for sure. But after a successful trip back it was time to move on and I was ready. I hadn't been in Chicago since I had left and I was missing a lot of people there. I was excited to go there and be there for a long period of time too. So I took off to Chicago not knowing how long I'd be there but glad to be there for a while. After getting to spend quality time with people in Oregon I wanted to do that in Chicago before I came back to the bay.
Man Chicago was cool. So this whole time I was wondering if I should've left because of how some things had come together. Money was tough, the weather over the winter was unbelievable, I could've lived with these awesome girls, dating scene was going well. I could've easily waited another year and left at the very least. Well for the most part I had these questions answered. After a week of being in Chicago I was loving it. I was having a blast and honestly felt like I could move back. After 3 weeks I recognized that I was ready to go. So I got there and I stayed with Ben right away. I made sure to show up with some whiskey and a bottle of Diet Coke. We had a late night of course but we had a lot of fun. It was mostly just hanging out with him, Vanessa some, Kirsten some and his neighbor Tim who's a pretty wild guy. I would go explore and kick it in different parts of Chicago. Sam was in town just for the beginning of my time there at least so I met up with her on my second day actually and went to my old job at Lakeshore. That was a blast! There was an ice-cream social going on and I did a lot of socializing but not much ice-creaming. There were a lot of people working that day and it was great to see so many people. Even people I didn't know all that well but had come to recognize over my time there. They had done a bunch of work on the hospital and I was just in my social zone. It was also cool to spend a lot of one on one time with Sammy Dammy. Her and I were real close and we just weren't able to talk much while I was gone. My phone in Australia for some reason would not connect to hers so I could only leave messages. Sam is a really great friend of mine. I can honestly see us being close for a long time whether we live in the same area or not. So that weekend I also went camping in Wisconsin with Sam, her best friend Shari and a whole group of us. I met Shari's new boyfriend Marshall. By the end of it I needed a break from him but he's a good guy and overall I liked spending time with him for sure. That was a cool thing to do right off the bat. Before that I also went out with some co-workers the night off the ice cream social. I hooked up with my friend Izzy who I had been keeping in touch with while I was gone. I spent another couple times with her during my three weeks and it was a lot of fun. She's a great person, totally down to earth and very sweet. But alas, I was not going to be staying and quite frankly wasn't in the mood for dating anyone at that time. I'm still trying to get my life in order and I wasn't about to move to Chicago just for her. But I really did enjoy my time with her. She's a very cool person. I also spent a couple of nights with my friends Amy and Steve. First night I stayed with them was just the 3 of us. Steve got a little bit too drunky but we've all been there and I didn't think any less of him. He was a hassle to deal with though. It was cool to catch up with them. They helped me move last minute and took me to the Michigan game. The second night I stayed with them, which was much later, it was more of a big dinner party. Amy invited her friend and her boyfriend over for watching Breaking Bad and also this couple Scott and Melissa (good friends of theirs from Michigan) came over and we just ate good food, played some bags and explored a Rogers Park bar for a bit while the girls watched some Breaking Bad. They're doing excellent and it was a super nice place they were in. Nice to know I'll probably be able to keep in touch with them over time. I additionally stayed with my friend Casey for 2 nights that I used to work with at the hospital. She's great, and super friendly. It was basically a couple of easy going nights with her though. I cooked her a zucchini pasta dinner one night and she cooked me a BOMB lasagne the other night. It was definitely a good time staying with her and catching up about a lot. I also stayed 2 nights with my buddy Allen. He's been pretty busy with his job, kids and an MBA program but he was just finishing it. I got to hang with his kids during the day some and we helped his wife get set up in her classroom. Dude he really is a great friend of mine. I know we'll be close for a very long time. He took me out to get some Peruvian drink which was pretty rough dude. Then we went out to deep west side where I made a total ass out of myself. I don't want to get into the details but man I was embarrassed for about 2 weeks after. All those people I stayed with though were awesome. It was a good way to spend some quality time with a lot of people. The other 10 nights I stayed at Ben's. That was really cool too. It was a bit much but it was good to spend that kinda quality time with him. Dave was in town too for about 7 days so we had some quality time with the 3 old roomies together again. We played Carly Rae's Call Me Maybe over and over again while Dave tried to learn the chords. There was a lot of drinking overall with Ben as well, and just in general. I went out with old co-workers from both places in Chicago and spent a lot of time with Ben and some of our mutual friends. I went to some of the old hot spots like Art of Pizza, Hop Leaf, Bar on Buena, etc. I explored all the old neighborhoods again, dropped by both old work places a couple times and saw loads of people.
It was a great trip. It gave me a great chance to reflect on my experience in Chicago. I felt like I was jumping right back in and really hadn't missed much time. I would've been able to get set right back up there. But in being back and talking with a lot of people everyone was moving on. Things at the hospital had been pretty bad because of a reconstruction that went on. A lot of people were unhappy and some of my friends had left or at the very least moved to another department. I barely knew anyone or any of the kids at Rice, Ben had bought a condo and was really getting set up with his life with his fiancee. I came back to get a sense of how things were in Chicago but really to get some closure for my time there as well and I felt like I did. I felt like it would be a place I'd like to keep visiting and seeing people at. I also felt like I could possibly live there but really it made me sure that I was ready to come back to the west coast. Going back to Chicago would've been a step back. It was time for me to move on and I was ready to do that. I was tired of traveling and excited to start my life in the bay area. Oregon would've been great but with people leaving, the economy doing poorly in Portland and the prospect of my family and others moving back to the bay things just lined up right. And I was getting excited about all the positive things of being back in the bay. Close to the sports teams, exploring Oakland and San Fran again, being around and running into high school people again. I felt like I didn't need to do any of that anymore in Chicago. I had done it and got what I needed. At that point I really felt like I had gotten what I needed to get that weight off my shoulders and feel more comfortable getting settled. I knew I had a little more exploring to do which was gonna work because it meant I had completed everything I had set out to do on this trip. I took a lot of satisfaction in that but I was ready for it to be done. Leaving on the overnight bus felt good but a little sad too. Chicago was and is a special place for me. Like Oregon I feel that it played a big formative role for me. Perhaps all places and experiences I have I'll feel the same way about but it may not be as formative anymore. I still miss it.
But alas, it was time to go. It was kind of cool to be on the road again for the last time. My friend Ben put it perfectly when he said I really like to do the overlanders. Taking that train across Australia and road tripping to Seattle when I left Chicago. Well he's right. I like to see the landscape change and take my time with it like that. So I was on an overnight bus to Kansas City. I had been to Saint Louis before and I just happened to wake up just in time for when we were driving through and stopping, getting to see the arch again. The rest of the way to KC was in and out of sleep but when I got there it was early morning. I had another overnight bus so I gave myself a full day to just explore. I was not enthralled. I had a read some about it and was expecting more and it was disappointing to be honest. Now I didn't get to see every area and that's not to knock the city but it kind of reminded me of Cleveland. More going on than you'd think with some pretty cool neighborhoods but just not a lot of action and not a whole lot of culture. I doubled down on the BBQ during the day because it rocked. I bought some sauce called Sweet Heat which described it perfectly. This was in the historic black neighborhood and that had some culture and history for sure. I went to the Negro Baseball Museum and the KC Music Museum. I explored downtown, walked over to the Kansas part of KC and just explored. It was alright. Cool to check out and I have a feeling there's probably more than I got to see but I have no desire to rush back or spend a lot of time there. So I cruised over to the Greyhound station for my overnight bus to Denver. 2 things. Greyhound is extremely sketchy and I was reminded of this. The people there were just seedy as hell. I took Megabus the night before and that was fine. Friendly people. Not so here and I was freshly reminded of that. Second is what horrible service they give. With Megabus I'll at least say you get what you pay for if you get bad service. But Greyhound has no reason to be treating customers the way they do with what they charge. So here's where it takes off. My bus was supposed to be leaving at 12:30am but instead the bastards overbooked and knew that they did, but didn't decide to handle it until it was far too late. So what they did was they put the majority of us on a bus to Omaha leaving at 1:30am and giving us a 3 hour layover there until we caught a bus to Denver from there getting me in 6 hours later. They were so fucking rude about it too. But I made lemonade. I had never been to Nebraska and I figured I might as well explore some while I'm there. It wasn't the best time to explore (5:30-8:30am) but I still got a quick glimpse of downtown Omaha. There's a lot more going on there. Some big businesses, a pretty sizable bar area, a couple colleges and a nice river separating Nebraska from Iowa. Not a bad place considering it's reputation.
So on to Denver. Nebraska is flat. Thank God I was tired cause I was able to get some sleep on that part. At this point the people on the bus were all pretty recognizable because most of us had been on this trek since KC. It was cool how it just goes from being flat for so long to all the sudden these massive mountains. That's one thing about Denver that most people don't know. It's huge mountains one one side but the flattest plains on the other side. Finally though, cruising into Denver was great. Man I was amazed with this city and Boulder for that matter. At this point in my travels I did not think I could really be amazed by a place but I sure was by these two. And I felt like it would've been more if I wasn't so burned out with travel at this point. I took a bus up to Boulder and met my brother Arran for a fat burger dinner and a couple beers which was desperately needed after my adventure from KC. The next couple days I got to hang with friends and family. I came down to Denver the next day and hung out with Lauren, her brother, sister in-law and a friend. I hung with Arran in Boulder some and we also went down to Denver on my last day to meet up with Spencer and Julie who were in town for a wedding. We went to a Rockies game with them and I was so impressed with that field. It looks weird on camera because of the forest in the outfield but man it's cool. It's high up on a hill and overlooks the Rocky mountains in a breathtaking way. So Denver is much bigger than I thought. The downtown is packed with people, restaurants, bars and things to do. Huge skyscrapers everywhere. I also explored the neighborhoods a little bit and there's some developing going on but it's not very condense. It's lots of cool neighborhood stuff but a little spread out. Plenty of parks and official buildings and the gorgeous Rockies in the background. Boulder was great too. It had that college town charm to it but it was definitely its own city. The downtown walkway area was right next to the campus but it was people of all walks of life going through there. There was constant action and energy to it. The campus was extremely nice and there was an off campus strip with some other places to hang. Another thing that draws people to the area is easy access to the mountains from there. And Boulder is the perfect example. I rode his roommates bike up to the Flat Irons. These mountains protruding out at the foothills of the Rockies. Literally 10 blocks from the campus. Great hiking and unbelievable rock climbing. Honestly, it's one of the few places I could maybe move to someday. Colorado and the Denver area is awesome. And it was great to see Arran too. I felt like him and I really clicked way more than we have in the past. he was a great host and it was fun to hang with him.
Again though, ready to move on. So the last night I stayed with Spencer and Julie in their hotel room. It was a big Brown reunion. But we got up early the next day and took off. We took our time a little bit. Taking the southern route and stopping off at a lot of places. We even cut down to Moab, Utah to see Arches National Park. I could've enjoyed that so much more but man it was not in cards. It was cool to see these sights that I had seen a lot of but I couldn't see them all. I remember understanding that what I was seeing was significant but not being able to feel it. Usually I feel when I'm in significant places but this time I couldn't. I think that speaks to how truly burnt out I was with traveling and going on adventures. I will still remember it for sure though. The great part about that was getting to spend so much time with Spencer and Julie. I personally felt like their relationship was stronger than I've ever seen. It seemed like they really enjoyed each others company. With their up and down relationship over time I was really happy to see them being happy together. I got to have some one on one time with each of them too. Julie is working hard and seems to like what she's doing. Her and I met Spence for lunch and then we were going to go explore the Mormon center of the town. One of the first places we went ended up being a center for looking up your family tree. The Mormons keep impeccable records. We ended up spending 2 1/2 hours there and had to leave because we had dinner plans. I found a lot of really interesting stuff about my family on my Grandma's side. I think it'll be the beginning of me doing some thorough research on the topic. And it was cool to find out about Julie's British Isle roots, which kinda makes sense if you know her. Spence I just wish would take charge of things more. He's so intelligent, great with people and he's got a good work ethic. I just wish he had a little more confidence and realize he's a great guy with a lot to offer. We had a couple drinks and I told him about this in not so subtle terms. I hope he didn't take it too harshly. I love the guy. Another day I had to myself and I just walked around. They live in the hipster area of Salt Lake which is really not too crazy. I did walk around on the University of Utah campus and man it was nice. It was huge too. But I liked it a lot. Overall I had liked Salt Lake more than I thought I would or remembered. I didn't think I would go back there until I found out Julie and Spencer were moving there. But there is kind of a counter culture scene there against all the Mormon principles and histories which leads to the hipsters and such. It's beautiful too. I also enjoyed it because I was reading Under The Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer which is a fantastic book about the Mormon history and a vicious murder that took place in the area by Mormon Fundamentalists. It was cool to be driving through this area and recognizing certain things while I was reading about it. But it was time for my last transit route! I had an overnight train from Salt Lake to Richmond, CA...direct! It left at 11:30pm and I had two seats to myself.
I liked taking the train. I slept through most of the Nevada desert but I woke up in time to see enough of it. We stopped in Reno and me being an idiot completely ignored the advice to not leave the train station to get coffee and damn near missed the train completely. I felt like a fucking fool and rightfully so. But back on the train it was cool to come into the Sierra Nevada's. These mountains that I grew up with and spent so much time in were a welcoming treat on my way back to being settled. Then of course stopping in Sacramento, coming across the bridge into the bay and going along the water until we got to Richmond. I was finally home and for good. I just sat at the Richmond BART parking lot waiting for my Dad to pick me up. It was a lot colder than I thought it would be. Very chilly really. I was tired from poor sleep and felt kinda gross from no shower. But I felt good and energized. Really ready to start doing what I needed to do to get set up. I went to my Dad's court house and said hi to some people. I also had a nice dinner with my Dad and Step Mom that night. The very next day I got to work on writing cover letters for jobs I had researched a little while I was in Salt Lake. I was ready to hit the ground running and that's just what I've done so far.
Now I'm back. It's been a little over 3 weeks and things seem to be going well so far It already feels like I've been here for a long time but that's just from bouncing around so much I'd say. Just over 2 months ago I was in Fiji. That's usually a big trip for people and when it's recent like that it supposed to feel recent. But it doesn't feel that recent. It feels like it was ages ago. I've had 2 interviews with the Seneca Center and at this point I'm just waiting to hear back from them. That's why the first thing I did was apply to jobs. I can get other things done while the bureaucratic process is taking its course. I also recently realized that I am a ways from where I want to be. I'm in poor financial standing because of all this traveling. But I can say it was worth it because I finally have that monkey off my back. That's been a fantastic feeling. I'm not quite ready to be settled because of how jarring my life has been the last nine months. But what I am doing is getting set up to be settled. I want to take care of my finances. I want to get into better shape. Working on my upper body again and eating better. I want to do more active things too, not just working out but hiking and living an active lifestyle. I want to get my career going with some more focus. I want to be in a leadership role at whatever job I land in. I want to be focused on what grad school I want to go to which also means getting taking the GRE's. That's intertwined with career stuff though. I want to make sure I live in and really find the right place to be in. I'll take my time finding that. Socially I want to re-establish the connections with my good friends and family here but I also want to make some new friends and develop my own network here beyond what I grew up with. Honestly I give myself a year. I think that's good reasonable timing and it'll keep me focused. So far I'd say I'm on my way to that but the job stuff will really help. I have all my other little projects that mostly involve getting organized but they'll all take a while. Organizing the stuff in my Dad's basement, setting up the family tree, workout routine/development, my music, my pictures and learning about my car just off the top off my head. Then grad school/career stuff. This is all going to take time. Not to mention dating and getting to the point where I feel ready to date seriously again. I feel optimistic overall though. I feel blessed to be where I'm at and I feel like some big stuff is coming up. Some really big stuff. This is where I wanted to be after all my college and Chicago stuff. It was especially on my mind in Chicago. But it's kind of funny. When I left the bay area I remember very seriously thinking that one day I will move back. That opinion has changed at times. For a while I thought it would definitely be Oregon that I moved back to. There were times where I considered staying in the Midwest but never too seriously. But now I'm back after having seen the world and experienced a lot and I'm ready to build something serious now. I'm more focused but yet I'm also ready to experience the next things in life. It'll just take some time to build. But I'm extremely glad to be back.
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