Finding "To Be Named Later"

It was a long weekend. Each day I started hopeful and each day I ended disappointed, but never defeated. After searching again all day Saturday to no avail, I ended up crashing at my Dublin roommate's place so she wouldn't have to drive me all the way home yet again.

The next morning we broken the unsuccessful monotony of car shopping by heading up to Oxnard for the California Strawberry Festival. It was the most delicious festival on Earth. They had Strawberry everything. I didn't know where to start. Following the suggestion of another girl that joined us, I went with the strawberry pizza.

She did not lead me astray. It had a sweet shortbread crust with a layer of a cream cheese/fluff mixture my mom makes for fruit dip. They piled on tons of fresh, chopped strawberries, a dash of whipped cream, and topped it with a whole strawberry.

Besides strawberries, the festival featured rows of tents where artists from all over showcased their works. I picked out many gifts for my mother and myself. Unfortunately, until I have a disposable income, they had to remain at the booths.

Before leaving, we snagged some strawberry smoothies which may have been the best decision of the morning. They were tart and refreshing with just the right amount of thick creaminess.

After the festival, we went back to work. We decided to stop at a used car tent sale we visited on Friday with the hope that they would be more willing to stay within my budget since it was the last day of the sale, and they needed to move those cars. The dealers recognized me as soon as I walked in. One called me over to show me a new used car he had just brought over, a black '09 Pontiac G6. I was looking it over when a Toyota dealer went up to my Dublin roommate. He knew what I wanted, because he had worked with me for a long time on Friday, and he knew the Pontiac wasn't it. He had my friend call me over while he pulled around the car he had in mind for me. It was another car they had just brought over today. I fell in love with it the moment I laid eyes on it. There sat my soon to be baby in all it's blue glory. It was small. It had low mileage. It was relatively new. It was a Toyota. I knew it had to be mine, but I was skeptical. This guy had already gotten my hopes up on Friday with a little silver Mazda, only to be dashed when he couldn't get the price low enough after all. I didn't want to get attached only to be let down again. I voiced this concern, but he promised this time it would be different. Okay.

I gave it a test drive, and it drove like a dream. It had it all, cruise control, power locks, power windows, air conditioning, heating, auxiliary port, cigarette lighter to charge things, and conveniently placed cup holders. When we arrived back he took me into the tent. They knew my price, they knew there was no wiggle room, so there was less song and dance and more talking behind the make-shift walls. They sent a manager over to me, to feel me out I'm assuming. I gave him my story; poor college student, trying to survive in L.A. and land an internship that will take her places. Lucky for me, he also had a daughter in film whom he was using his connections to help, so he sympathized. He went back behind the curtain and after what seemed like years, he returned with a smile on his face, and I became a the owner of a 2007 Toyota Yaris, to be named later.

        

The Many Lessons of L.A.

There are many things I have learned in the short time I have spent in L.A. The first, L.A. is huge and terrifying. Getting lost seems like an inevitable occurrence. The second, the more time you spend in a place, the more if begins to feel like a home. When my friend picked me up from the airport and drove me back to her apartment where I am living until August, I began to wonder what I had gotten myself into. There was so much to get accustomed to, so many new streets and highways to learn. However, after spending the next day around East Hollywood, places started to look familiar. Certain street names were starting to stick out to me. Certain businesses were becoming landmarks.

While I am learning more about my surroundings, I am also worried I may never get to put my new found knowledge to the test. I teamed up with my roommate from Dublin last summer, and together we did some serious car hunting from noon until 9 pm. After being led from one shady, back alley dealer to another from the cars we found on cars.com, only to discover them dented and stained, we started stopping in at dealerships. We stopped at one after another, each sucking you in with cars that seem too good to be true. Turns out, it's because they are too good to be true. They say they can get you a deal, however the deal isn't up to them, it is up to their boss. When you add on taxes, document fees, and licensing fees, a car that started in my price range quickly leaves it. After 9 hours, I headed home empty handed and heavy hearted with only one source of enjoyment, my fourth lesson.

At one of our last stops I met a salesman who taught me how to drive using a manual transmission. I only stalled out once when I didn't realize I needed to step on the clutch before the brake. It was exhilarating, like learning to drive all over again! He volunteered to teach me because the only car he had in my budget was a stick shift. It was tempting to get the car so I could continue to practice, and if I was in Athens this summer I probably would have gotten it. But I'm not in Athens. I'm in a very large city that I am very slowly getting familiar with, which has a lot of stop-and-go traffic. The last thing I need is the added pressure of perfecting my manual transmission driving.

One less pressure I have is what to eat for breakfast. My final lesson has been the growth of my taste buds. I have actively avoided oatmeal for as long as I can remember, but finally decided to give it a try. To my surprise, it wasn't half bad. Inspired by my broadened breakfast pallet, I decided to leave the tomatoes on my In-N-Out Burger at lunch, and you know what? It was tasty.