Man, the strangest things happened to me today after I wrote my earlier journal entry.

I have been really stressed out about a ton of things, and since Lynchburg has a ton of green space I thought I'd find a place to just be by myself, maybe meditate in my own amateur way, maybe pray a little.

On the way back to the hotel, I drove by a sign that said, "Don't give up - Moses was once a basket case!" Just now, I found a chain with a cross attached to it on my bed.

Considering the circumstances, this is incredible. The sign thing is easy to understand but that AND the cross... I'm telling you all, I've got somebody looking out for me.

At least I've been relaxed more tonight.

I'm distraught about not being able to watch the Sabres play - none of these hotels spring for OLN. I think I'll have to find a sports bar or something. The other night I was truly without an option, so I sat in the hotel room and listened to Jeanneret and Lorentz do the call through WGR550's streaming audio. We're lucky to have such an electrifying and unique play-by-play guy. I don't give a damn what ANYBODY says... Rick is the best in the biz in any sport.

Now I'm in Lynchburg, VA - home of Jerry Fallwell and Liberty University. I didn't expect so many restaurants and what not.

Cheapest gas I've seen so far - $2.55 Roanoke, VA.

Um not much else. I'm just tired.

Yo guys - my co-worker and his buddies are looking to move to the general strip area. What is the best method to search for a place, and is there a place online that commonly lists pads near or on Elmwood? They are looking for a 3-4 bedroom pad, and the only thing I can think of thus far is the Artvoice classifieds.

I wish I knew more about this apartment search thing - we were lucky and didn't have to really do a search to get the place we live in so I don't really know a lot of this info.

Any help is appreciated guys - and if anybody knows of a 3-4 bedroom, decent spot for rent gimme a heads up... I may have a tennant ready to go for someone out there.

A couple anecdotes for you all -

1) Elizabeth Smart and her father Ed sat 2 rows in front of me on my first flight from LAX. At first I saw this gorgeous blonde girl that was dressed very well, and I was thinking the usual extremely dirty thoughts that guys think when they see a pretty girl. I didn't think much of it. Once we got on the flight I heard Ed speak when someone was in his seat, and I thought "AHA! Thats the Smarts!" Then I immediately felt filthy and extremely guilty over what I was thinking about Elizabeth. For those of you who either don't remember or don't pay much attention, Elizabeth Smart was the Mormon girl who was kidnapped in Utah 3 yeras ago by a couple who had done some handiwork around her father's multimillion dollar suburban Salt Lake City home. Yo Ed - you are a millionaire, you don't need to be flying America West with your daughter. At least she is 18 so I don't feel REALLY dirty.

2) After I returned from California, my co-worker and his friends went to IHOP in Williamsville for breakfast. Ralph Wilson, the venerable Buffalo Bills owner, was sitting by himself eating breakfast there - amazing! They went up to him and chatted him up - apparently he is a really, really nice old fella and even signed some Bills stuff for my co-worker and his friends. Its just kind of strange seeing a damn-near-billionaire octogenarian who practically has deity status here in Buffalo eating at an IHOP by himself.

You know, the interesting thing about hair is what to do with it when you are in a "tweener" awkward stage. I thought about just getting my hair thinned out, trimmed slightly and letting it grow, or just doing the usual and getting it cut so that I can style it with my trademark frontal swoop. I've never really had longer hair before so I don't know what to do. (e:jason) says that I'm developing a little mullettude.

Other than that, I've generally been enjoying my time while not travelling. I've been busy at the office, watching the Sabres, enjoying illicit yet delicious contraband and getting a ton of new music. My most recent acquisitions have been too numerous to list, but the one I'm most proud of is the hard to find Analord 1-11 12" vinyl only singles that Aphex Twin released last year. I've got all 11 in MP3 format, WITH the LP label graphics so that I can continue having all of the album graphics on my iPod. I'm truly obsessive/compulsive with my music. I've also gotten the most recent Broken Social Scene (which I've liked but not owned until recently), Built to Spill, a few Flaming Lips albums, a few Talking Heads albums, Madlib's Blue Note album, Taking Back Sunday's newest and some retro new wave/80's music thats been floating out there. If you like Duran Duran, and you know you do, then check out VHS or Beta. They do some really great instrumentals on their albums, which I think is so cool for a rock band to mix in.

Actually I'm kind of mixed on a lot of the retro 80's stuff coming out recently. I say to myself that I like it, but then I also say to myself that if I wanted to listen to Duran Duran or Talking Heads that I could do just that and stow away the designer imposters.

It seems like every time I visit Los Angeles my feelings about this place grow stronger. It has a lot to do with economic prosperity, attitudes, what you make of places, what you might leave behind, what you might gain. I've decided that one day soon I'm going to shed my skin and migrate west. I haven't been this certain about something in a long time.

Today it hit me that leaving Buffalo is and should be a real prospect for me. I've always said that if I can stay in Buffalo I will, but my perspective is changing. I love Buffalo, even with all of its problems - don't get me wrong. Moving onward and upward is the only thing on my mind lately, and I've grown to adore many places in the USA. California is #1 by a long shot, and it seems like choosing somewhere else to make my next step in would be nothing but a compromise.

I absolutely love this place - maybe I won't end up in LA, maybe somewhere else in this state. I travel enough to know that just getting a new perspective someone else is intoxicating, but I've already been through this before. I haven't wanted something badly enough to fight for it for a long, long time - its a strange feeling. Whatever it takes, I'm coming here for good.

I wish I could share how I feel right now.

(e:jason) - Do not fret I am sending your charger overnight from California. Check your e-mail and look for details- I didn't put that thing in my bag this time, I swear!! I didn't even realize I had it.

Anyhow, I arrived in Los Angeles late Friday night local time, and had MAJOR drama getting a rental. Finally that stuff got fixed, and it was midnight by the time I was on the freeway heading to my buddy's place.

I had the best weekend I've had in a looong time. My buddy is "sympathetic to the cause" and knows a guy with a prescription card, so we were treated to a sack of the finest medicinal grade shit out there - it was a cross between Wreck and J-27. You just can't find that kind of thing on the east coast - it was amazing. The pot had a very sweet and clean taste - it has a linen cinnamon flavor, completely clean and extremely tastey. My bud had some Sour Diesel this week before I came... which if you are a serious stoner you may recognize that strand as some of the most potent, most popular and most expensive strains of chronic out there. I also smoked out of a vaporizer for the first time, and I have to say that I can't wait until I get one of my own.

We basically drove around L.A. Saturday running errands, which was great because I got to drive around the area and get a feel for how to get around L.A. proper. Traffic here is bad but its not completely unmanageable if you have a little local knowledge and have a reasonable understanding of where you are.

We went to Venice Beach, where I scored some beautiful pics and a new hippie-esque ashtray for my room. Venice Beach is interesting - its basically a gigantic boardwalk filled with restaurants, knick knack shops and about 10 head shops. Theres a large green area where you can sit under a palm tree and just enjoy the sun and the breeze. It was completely relaxing; I could have taken a 3-hour nap out there.

From there we went to Malibu - I have to say that I've never seen such a concentration of over the top wealth in my entire life. If there was a hillside or mountainside with ocean views, you'd see it completely peppered with $15-$25 million homes. The level of wealth was obscene. The views however were amazing - there is a public yet private beach out there that you can access off of PCH by walking down a path, so we went down. I got some of the most jaw droppingly amazing pictures I've ever taken. I got some absolutely gorgeous shots of the Malibu area - beach, water, some super fancy homes - once I have the proper cable for the camera I will share with you all.

Today we went to Amoeba Music - some of the San Fran contingent may have been to the one in Berkeley or San Fran proper. Freaking amazing music store - I picked up a new DJ Shadow mix and a compliation of 60's and 70's soul and jazz from the 60's and 70's era.

Anyhow thats about it! I got to watch the Sabres game live here on the west coast too - which I have to say was amazing to be able to see the Sabres play while I was here. I'll be going to watch the game on Tuesday, enjoy some more friendly company and eventually I'll be heading home Thursday night. I'll update if anything interesting comes up.