Roommates on a roadtrip at an interesting time in life
THE 405 SOUTH
Too much noise
Far too loud
Need to step away from it
With the boys
Headed south
Let’s see how far we can get
Tell me everything
You’re thinking
All those stupid thoughts
That keep you up at night
I’ve written out
An agenda
That’ll tire you out
So you sleep far too tight
We’ll be on the road
For hours
All over the map
To get a little
Repose
Everyone, sticking out
Life in their own place
Different stories, different chapters
Living in the same grace
Painted, modern art
Tell me what you think of it
What it means, what it says
What we’re seeing really is
You and your gold heart
Look at what you’re looking at
Think you’re looking right at art
But I think it’s looking back
Don’t you know
You’re that masterpiece
And I want to find you
In a frame made up of peace
I don’t know
If you’ll ever be finished
But right now
You’re fine
Just before leaving, we stopped at 7 Eleven so Derek could grab a drink for the road.
While we were there, he held the door open for someone to enter. An older, rugged, scraggly looking guy with a big beard, who went straight for the newspapers.
As he walked past me, he said, in an abnormally quiet voice that I could barely hear, “How’s it going bro?”
I was for whatever reason really caught off guard by this and out of it since it was early, and Party Rock Anthem was playing, and all I could respond with was
“Do-do-do-do-Dooo-do-do.” (The synth from Party Rock Anthem)
I left the store and got back in the car.
As we got on the freeway, I started to look up on my phone where all the Borders were that were going out of business. I hoped to pillage them for their closeout deals on books.
We soon found one in Costa Mesa to raid. After leaving with a huge stack of books in my arms, we immediately discovered that we were pretty hungry. Ariel threw out the random suggestion to go to Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles, so we did a quick phone check to see if any were remotely along our way.
To our luck, there was one practically right by LACMA.
We went there, and immediately dubbed it Derek’s old stomping grounds, even though he’d never been before. Ariel was the only one who had and that was when he was five or something.
There was a bit of a wait outside, and the most random mix of people ever. If you ever want a great snapshot of diversity, it’s out front of Roscoe’s. Every walk of life you could imagine was there.
After a few minutes of waiting, the guy I dubbed the “Roscoe’s Bouncer” let us in. We all placed the same order, some chicken in gravy, with an order of waffles. Derek also got an iced tea mixed with lemonade and OJ.
When the food came, the chicken was doused in gravy. It was pretty amazing. We were also really hungry, but that doesn’t take anything away from the chicken. The waffles were pretty good. The waffles themselves were just average. The trick was their syrup. It was definitely apple cinnamon syrup. And the butter. They gave us mountains of it. It was really good butter, but definitely more than anyone needs for anything. I didn’t even eat half of the butter they gave me. Chase did, though, even though he knows he shouldn’t have.
Afterwards, we had a lot of gravy left over, so we ordered a round of biscuits to finish it off. The waitress asked if we wanted extra butter with those biscuits.
All in all, we were incredibly satisfied with what may have been a 7000 calorie meal, or something like that. On that sentiment, we made our way to LACMA.
I don’t know what it is about the end of summers, but I always seem to learn best at this time of year. This time last year, I was coming out of my last relationship, and I was kind of surprised at how quickly it took me to move past that, in comparison to my history of moping. Instead I could look back, see why things didn’t work, and learn from that. Two years ago, I entered what I still consider my life’s most insane season of growth. It felt like my faith was in an incubator, and I learned a lot about letting go of things, embracing new things, and celebrating it all. In the process, I gained friends, a community, a church, and a family.
So, this year, you’d figure I’d be learning a lot too. It’s true. Although the truth is, the whole summer’s been great- especially learning a lot about leadership on the fly. But now at mid-August, it’s becoming clear to me that I’m hitting another one of those periods where everything just seems like another lesson to be learned.
Proverbs 13:12 has been popping up for me a lot lately. It’s about deferred hope. Not necessarily dashed hope, but deferred hope. I’ve been encountering steady reminders that keep telling me that hope is a choice. Hopelessness does have it’s benefits, actually, but those are usually short lived and fleeting. I’m learning a lot about these things in the context of disappointment. I’m starting to understand that hope has a lot of power.
I’m learning a lot of family history. In particular, a lot from my dad’s side- although all of my family all around.
I’m learning that it’s really good to have solid girl friends to get advice from. Guys and girls have pretty different ways of thinking, and I have plenty of great male sources of advice- it’s good to mix it up a little.
I’m learning that I have a lot to learn, and I’m excited to do it.
THE 101 NORTH
We’re headed back
And we’re moving at a steady pace
Waiting to arrive
And throw your stuff down at your place
But what is home
Just a glorified storage space
I’m sure that what I’ve found
Is so much more than just a base
Home is on the road
If you take them with you
So take them with you
Cities can be home
It’s up to what you do
Up to what you doWe are headed home
Look at what I found
Just a few miles up the road
From what I wanted to escape
Since I was fourteen years old
And look at where it is
Transient and unknown
But stop once you find
The place where you’re not alon