Go!
The last 24 hours have been a whirlwind journey to get to San Jose!
At 10:45 last night my roommate dropped me off at the bus station (thanks, Kaitlyn!). A sweet Latino couple came and waited with me so I wouldn’t be alone. By the time our bus arrived, the husband had impressed on me that all actions have consequences. It was a good reminder to consider the end results before making a decision.
The Flixbus situation was a bit disorganized. The Flixbus app said we would need to show our ticket and ID, but I didn’t have to show either. I had a seat reservation, but when I went to look for my seat, it was already taken and someone in the back spoke up saying that there were no reserved seats after all.
I ended up with a great seatmate. Kylian is a college student in Arizona, originally from Vietnam, with experience living in New York State. Our conversation ranged from travel to photography to ghosts.
In the morning I arrived in Los Angeles having achieved a whopping 4.5 hours of sleep on the bus - amazing considering it was a travel night! It was not a great part of town. I probably broke the “no loitering” rule by eating my homemade chia pudding on a bench.
Going in search of coffee, I found a Denny’s, but dine-in didn’t open until 7:30 a.m. I moved on to what I thought was a deli on Google maps but which turned out to be a huge cannabis dispensary. Slightly disappointing.
Circled back to Denny’s and waited with a German couple for it to open, but it was late. An employee finally unlocked the door, but didn’t even bother to open it for us. After tasting the burned coffee, I resigned myself to a metaphorical “diner from hell” experience (described by Jordan Peterson in his Biblical lecture on Cain and Abel), but that’s when things turned up.
The food came out quickly and was quite good. I did some measure numbering in my music before my friend Katie arrived.
I met with Katie over more Denny’s coffee for a few hours before my second bus. It was great to catch up about career and family, goals and faith.
Meeting up with Katie in LA!
The rest of the bus ride up to San Jose was uneventful. There were times when the golden-grassed hills inspired an almost irresistible urge to run my hands through their blonde baby-hair.
After settling into my Airbnb, I went for groceries which required walking across the beautiful SJSU campus. In the long evening twilight it was especially beautiful and relaxing.
Tomorrow is my first day of archival/library work. Time to rest up!