August 2008 - communication breakdown

August was my second month in SLO, trying to live he writerly lifestyle I had so long dreamt about.  In the end, that's exactly what I was living, without the writing.  It started with increasingly decadent and time-consuming meals.  Then I stagnated altogether, and thought I had to read more to become more inspired.  Then I realized I had never seen the Mad Max movies, and hadn't been eating enough pizza, or experimenting with enough ice cream and espresso combinations.  It was a slippery slope from there.

I spent more time hanging out with Jeremy and Erica and company, trying to not feel so isolated.  I suppose I have to admit the loneliness was getting to me.  There were parties, bike rides, wine tastings, nights out - all the usual items of a social life, restricted basically to two people.  We celebrated the End of the World on the evening CERN's new Large Hadron Collidor was turned on for the first time.  I went back to LA to bid farewell to Tara, as she left for San Diego to start a grad program.  Before I knew it, my SLO time was quickly running out, and I was due to be back in LA at the end of the month.  Jenny needed her apartment back and I had to move on to the next great experiment...the same one I had left 2 months prior.  Nothing.

But my last night in town was a fantastic one.  Jeremy and I rode the 10 miles to the beach and back, and then drank tawny port and ate bleu cheese while watching the Animation Show for the rest of the night.  I got very little sleep, woke up early to a real thunderstorm, threw my packed bags and boxes in the car, and made my last drive home.  Until the next time I had to run away from Los Angeles.  It happens frequently.