The Phoenix and the Ouroboros: The four right chords could make me cry; when I'm with you I feel like I could die

No joke, it's been one of those weeks.

Third Eye Blind does make it better when the right part of the song comes on the radio at the right time, as it did before I arrived at this restaurant about a half hour ago.

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Left Woodland late last night after unsuccessfully trying to chase down an escaped cat from my hostess's home. After wondering what the hell to to do next when the cat apparently vacated the property and was nowhere I could see, I proceeded to circle the house several times, wondering what the neighbor across the street was thinking about this stranger repeatedly wondering the property looking for something not visible.

It was quite a relief when i received a text message no to worry about the cat; next time I stay somewhere with animals I am asking about whether they are allowed outside first.

I got a gigantic animal style double double from In n Out as well as Animal style fries; was unable to finish the fries although I tried pretty hard (looks like I am a carnivore again for awhile; I will go back to the vegetarian thing when i can afford it better).

Sound on the seven hour drive to Valencia was provided by NOFX's greatest hits according to me disc two, a mix I made when I decided that their greatest hits collection sucked. Here is a link to the track listing in my very first blog.

2003 single "Franco UNAmerican":

After NOFX, I surfed the radio for awhile, landed briefly on a love jams show and felt very cliched in my emotional identification with the lyrics, then ended up turning down radio in favor of phone calls.

After thanking Craigh for his service in Vietnam (it was veterans day) I talked to Jana, and she looked up the am frequency for Coast to Coast AM with George Noory. I spent the next four hours listening to George talk to his guest Andrew D. Basiago about Project Pegasus, a secret government space-time travel program.

Interesting stuff. I doubt nine out of ten people would believe the guy, and I lean towards the nine, but hey I am always open to weird ideas. What is the most fucked up isn't whether or not the man is telling the truth; hell, he could be--what is the most fucked up in my estimation is that I wouldn't be surprised if it was true.

What is cool about Basiago is he speaks of the future as a beautiful place, so he isn't giving us doomsday predictions; he is just trying to expose a secret government time-traveling program!

So not a doomsday fringe figure, a benevolent one.

In any event, he has some interesting things to say, whether you believe it or not.

After driving awhile I decided to take the Pyramid Lake Exit for no certain reason, and drove to the nearly deserted campground. There were plenty of places right off the freeway for free camping, as a couple semi-trucks with their lights off demonstrates, but the campground down the road actually had the nerve to as for 16 bucks per vehicle!

Why pay to sleep when you can do it for free elsewhere?

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I ended up getting gas at the flying J truck stop, which my GPS told me was the cheapest option (I am relying way to much on my phone and GPS). After filling my tank, I decided to see about the wireless internet advertised on the window. While I didn't find free wireless, what I did find was a truck stop well equipped enough to make me think that maybe truck driving wouldn't be such a bad career. Hell, I can drive six hours plus no problem, why not long haul?

Yeah, I know it is easier said then done, and I have a huge amount of respect for the sleep-lacking asshole-dodging truck drivers who have to do what they do every day; it can't be easy.

I drove to Valencia, and after driving around Six Flags: Magic Mountain's parking lot in the dark, I decided to find a Wal-mart and crash for the night. After reading Robert Jordan (with Brandon Sanderson)'s The Gathering Storm for awhile, I finally went to sleep at about 5 a.m. and woke up around 10 a.m. feeling uncomfortably warm. Temperature woke me up in my last Wal-mart too (Medford); except it was because I was cold. Staying warm got easier in a matter of days.

So here are some photos, and the Third Eye Blind song the title lyrics is taken from...great pop song still; I don't think I will ever get sick of it.