Origin Story Vol 2.

2.
The process of gearing up towards the move to Los Angeles was an interesting mix of taxing and exciting. I made the decision early on to get rid of all my furniture, most of my DVDs and the majority of my material possessions. Now I'm not advocating that you should go out and ditch all of the stuff you have and/or love and move into a monastery (although being a Shaolin monk might be pretty cool), I am simply stating that I found a sort of pleasure out of getting rid of said possessions and adopting a more utilitarian/Spartan lifestyle. I gave many of my clothes to charity and many more of my worldly possessions to my closest friends. They seemed appreciative, and I in return felt as though I was being generous (for a change). It was a different sort of sensation than I was used to.

Years earlier, I had tried to comprehend this association in my philosophy class. There was this philosopher a couple hundred years ago by the name of John Stuart Mill and he was regarded as the father of an ethical doctrine called Utilitarianism. One of the basic principles of this was the differential of pleasure. In his book (the colorfully titled: Utilitarianism) he goes into detail:
"Human beings have faculties more elevated than the animal appetites, and when once made conscious of them, do not regard anything as happiness which does not include their gratification…" (Ch. 2, Par. 4)

It's been four years and I still don't entirely understand what that dead fucker is talking about. But, from my understanding, his deal breaks down to this: by doing stuff other than physical pleasure (e.g. sex, eating, drugs & alcohol) that might benefit others, we will feel a different yet still as enjoyable form of pleasure. That's not to say I'm giving up any of the physical pleasures all together. Please! Have you met me? I'm just saying it's a new and interesting concept to me.

The process of getting ready for the trek financially was not as enjoyable. But it's odd how practices from video games still apply to my and, by extension, your life. I remember playing Breath of Fire years earlier and learning the process by which to upgrade your possessions. You sell your old one, save up some extra cash and then buy the newer/better version. To this end I sold my TV, DVD player, stereo and a few appliances in hopes of buying better versions in Los Angeles. God, I'm retarded.

After my lease was up in Austin, I moved in with my parents for a few weeks to get my shit together for Los Angeles. There I sold even more of my shit in a garage sale and cleared up my credit. A few years back I had moved into this apartment complex in Austin called Indian Creek (now called Westdale Creek). That was the second worst apartment I have ever lived in. It sucked in every aspect. But the coup de grace came a few months after I had moved out. According to them I never gave notification that I was leaving, despite the fact that I did, and they charged me $600+ and threatened to fuck up my credit. After contesting for months, they ushered an ultimatum and I was forced to pay. Even after paying, they still marred my credit. I will personally pay $50 to anyone who makes their lives hell.

So, after that little party, getting health insurance, new tires, a tune up, PC upgrade and couple of other expenses I had blown about $2500 of the $5000 I had saved up living in Austin. With what I had left, I booked two hotel rooms for the road trip in Las Cruces, NM and El Cajon, CA. By doing this I had cut my trip into three legs: Texas would be day one, Arizona and New Mexico day two and California day three. All in all I would be adding about 1500 miles onto my car's odometer. By the week before my scheduled departure I was losing sleep because I was losing faith that this was the right thing to do. I had no job, no apartment and no friends in LA. What the fuck was I thinking? Still, that little voice that had inspired me a few months earlier was still there, just a little quieter: "Dude, it'll work out. It's the right thing to do. You need this right now. Fuckin' Road to El Dorado, dude." Still scared shitless, I loaded up my car for the trip through the American Southwest on the night before the 28th of August.