What I'm about to write is a little personal, a little strange if you don't know me and who I am and probably a little long. There are two locations in Los Angeles that mean a lot to me. And the odd thing is that I've been to each place only once, yet I drive past both of them often, seeing them always makes me crash to reality, and thinking about them always makes me somber. 1. The Blockbuster Video store at 14th and Wilshire in Santa Monica. Before I moved to Los Angeles, I had traveled out to the city several times for interviews for jobs other than the one I really wanted -- the one I have now. I had made up my mind that I wanted that job, and I would move out to L.A. and support myself in any way possible until something opened up for me. So on my last visit, I was driving around the Westside and I spotted that Blockbuster Video. I put in an application there to be a manager -- something that I could do that would pay the bills and rent until I could get a job where I'm working now. As luck would have it, I had planned on moving out to Los Angeles at the end of February 2002, and a position opened up at the company I really wanted to work for in mid-February and I never had to work at Blockbuster. But sometimes I wonder how long I would've waited and how much I would've put up with and how lean I would've lived to get what I really wanted. I got lucky and I didn't have to sacrifice. But that's all it boiled down to -- luck. 2. Trader Vic's, a bar in the Beverly Hilton at the corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica in Beverly Hills. There's a song that means a lot to me -- it has for many, many years, even long before I'd ever thought about leaving the Northeast and even longer before I'd ever thought about living in Los Angeles. It's called "Drinking in L.A." and it's by a band called Bran Van 3000. It was featured briefly in a movie I really like called Playing by Heart. The chorus begins, So I ask you, what the hell am I doing/Drinking in L.A. at 26, and the last verse begins with the lead singer commenting One more time at Trader Vic's. Well, I'm 26 now. I'm in L.A. I've drank in L.A. I've even had drinks at Trader Vic's, though it was a long time ago. And I've been to the Beverly Hilton several times, especially considering my company had our annual convention there these past two years. Though I've never had drinks at Trader Vic's when I'm 26. I know it sounds cheesy and trite and all that, but I have promised myself that before this year is out -- and I only have 3 months and 8 days until my next birthday -- I will have drinks at Trader Vic's.