Jason's Daily Notes

My GRE went well! Considering I only really studied for 2 days. The testing center wasn't too strict; well, they had strict regulations but everyone was chill and friendly.
Now that I'm done with it (and I know my score) I can't help smiling widely. It's like erectile dysfunction of the mouth.
Drove back to East LA to pick up mom (drove slowly, even slower than traffic, bc I was early). Back home, watched some TV (Entourage!) then drove back to my apt to meet Sean (tonight's couchsurfer, from Ireland). He's cool, not the most extroverted risk-taking type but cool nonetheless. I let him borrow my bike to go to the beach.
Brendan is moving out. He's in Vegas this weekend. I am now officially looking for his August replacement.

Saturday
Drove back home, because today is THE day to go CAR SHOPPING. Some online researching first. Then, off to used car lots! First, a car auction in Burbank - they didn't have anything I like, and everything cost way more than I was prepared to pay. Next, a couple more cheap car lots in the Valley. The cars there from 2002-05 are within my price range but are much cheaper (i.e. lower quality) than I had anticipated - they were either stinky, or the dashboard paint was disintegrating, or the mirror wasn't attached properly, or the under-elbow storage compartment felt unstable. My mom and I shopped all the way to Van Nuys, then back to Glendale/Glassell. We ended up at the Kia dealership and test drove two cars - a Mitsubishi and a new Kia. I was really hesitant because they were several thousand dollars above what I had originally planned to buy and not the kind of car I had envisioned for myself. We left as the salesperson was trying to get my contact info for a credit check. He seemed frustrated.
A short break, ate some Salvadorean food (where they didn't even speak English!) in Glassell Park. Then I sucked it up and decided to go to a real, established dealership. To the Brand Blvd of Cars in Glendale!

And it didn't take long to see there what I had been looking for all day: A nice, well made used car. It cost more, but I didn't mind because in my online research I had read that this car keeps its value well. So here it is:


MY NEW CAR. She's a beauty, and as of now still unnamed. It took a while, with all the negotiating and finance finagling. But I didn't mind. It's my car. The first car that's fully mine. Which means I've got a mountain of car payments stretching out for 5 years now. Ay.

That evening, we broke the car in by driving to Pasadena and South Pas looking for a Whole Foods. No luck.

I was gonna go back to West LA when I remembered that Michelle lives in Pasadena now. So I texted her and eventually came over. As I was texting, a police car lit up its lights and siren behind me. I pulled over to the next lane. The cop drove on past me. MLIA

I ended up sleeping at my mom's.


Sunday:
Church. Bleh. Then Chipotle and Whole Foods with mom. We're trying to avoid factory-farmed beef (which is basically everywhere), so we're going out of our way to find free-range or organic food when possible.
Spent the afternoon in Eagle Rock with Michelle and Ben. Drove them in my new ride to Oinkster (which is good, my anti-hipster prejudices aside), Dicks in Pasadena, back to the ER Plaza, Brownstone Pizzeria, Michelle's apt, and a nearby park. Then picked up Brian and drove to Covina for dinner. We met MM there. It was my "birthday" so we got a brownie sundae and got Adrian to sing for us.

I played a somewhat cruel game on each person I introduced to my new car: I made them guess which car parked on the street (or parking lot) was mine. No one guessed right. Apparently a mazda signals that I'm a grown up.

After hanging out for a little bit at Brian's, I picked up my groceries from home, then drove back to West LA around 12:30am. Sean had already moved on to Orange County. Oops.

But yeah, what a life-changing weekend it was!