Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Leaving Las Vegas


After finally being done packing, I loaded the Landy. I called the landlord to collect my deposit. She was surprised that I was leaving the very next day. Which was the very day I was meant to vacate the apartment. She told me she wasn't prepared for that, to let her mail my deposit check to me. I told her that I needed the money to buy gas. Like WTF? I gave you a month's notice! What are you trying to do?

She told me that at 8pm, it was too late for her to do a walk through to ensure that nothing was broken. What? She had been to my apartment numerous times, she knew nothing was broken there. It was a studio type setup, so it was small, it's not like  I expected her to walk through an entire mansion in the middle of the night. I told her that I was leaving the following morning at 5am, I didn't think she would want to be woken up at 4am for a walk through. She kept coming up with all kinds of excuses. I think she just didn't want to pay me back my deposit. She finally gave in and checked the apartment, I had all the lights on, it was nice and bright, and clean and empty because all the stuff was in the car. I had washed her linen and had been using mine, so everything was nice and clean and smelled fresh. Plus, I left the place cleaner than I found it. It was ok when I moved in, just dusty. I must say, she was so pleasantly surprised when she came in. She told me herself that never in the years she has been a landlord has someone ever left the place as clean as it was. I was happy to hear that she wasn't too proud to admit that. She asked if I wanted to go along to the ATM to withdraw the deposit.

She's an old lady,  72, she told me she has never used an ATM, I told her how to but she just wasn't sure what her pin code was and which card it was for. She actually let me try myself but no luck. She had $100 in cash and wrote me a check for the balance. I was happy with that. I just didn't want to wait for a check in the mail. Where? I didn't have a definite address yet. We hugged and said our goodbyes, it was a nice moment. We parted on good terms. I never had problems with that lady in the entire time I lived there, and I'm sure vice versa. She told me to call her if I'm ever in town again. When I arrived in LA, I made sure to deposit the check into my account as soon as possible. Just in case!

I went to bed one last time in Vegas. It was crazy that it was time to move on again. After everything I had gone through in Vegas, it was time to hit the road, Jack! I set the alarm and woke up nice and early, loaded the last few pieces that I didn't feel safe leaving them in the car overnight, took a shower and left. My landlord was up already when I left, she came out. I gave her one last hug and drove off. I started off at the gas station to fill up. They were doing a shift change, so they closed the pumps. Great! I had to find another gas station. the car wouldn't start! I'm like, the fck! I was in too high spirits for something to go wrong. I knew there wasn't a serous problem, but I needed to figure out what the matter was. I had to get going, boo! I went on good ole google and searched randomly, someone went through the stages of starting a car. Rocket Science, right? I went through them with them and voila! The car was still in gear! Ugh! And Thank God! At the same time haha. I started it and drove off so fast, you would swear  I just stole the car!


I filled up at the next gas station, then as I was about to drive off, my alarm clock went off! I have to tell you, I've never used that alarm for as long as I've had that clock. I've had it since I lived in Salt Lake City... then I moved to LA, then to Vegas, now I was moving back to LA and this thing decided to go off? Where was it? I had no idea! It's a truck full of stuff, I'm relocating, this is not the time! fortunately, I had an idea where everything was and I went straight where it was and just took the battery out. I wasn't in the mood for more surprises. My car was driving smoother than before after having taken it for service, I had a few parts replaced and sht after the whole oil change debacle. I didn't want to have to worry about the car when I was back in LA trying to get settled.

I had some snacks in the car for the road, it's good to be prepared right? It felt like I was driving an even newer car after the service, I was feeling my car even more, if that's possible. I really had to watch the speedometer. I was headed for West Hollywood hostel. I was looking forward to that. I had never lived in that area. Before I knew it, I was in LA, nice, uneventful drive across states. Thank You! I knew I was in LA when I started to get stuck in traffic. Welcome to LA, Ms Brook! I embraced all that because your attitude towards something really matters. I was looking at it this way, here's a girl who grew up in the farm in a very small town in South Africa, Uitenhage, driving a Land Rover in the Streets of Los Angeles. That's a big deal! At least for me! I was excited, I didn't want traffic to take that away from that. I blinked and boom, there was the sign, BEVERLY HILLS sign. Man, that automatically elevated my mood to the umpteenth degree! I'm here, bitches! I may have taken a picture! I stopped at the light, took a moment to look around and take it all in and what did I see? PUMP! Lisa Vanderpump's gay bar, you may know her from housewives of Beverly Hills, Dancing with the Stars or Vanderpump rules. I was like a kid in a candy store, smiling from ear to ear!

I drove off and made my way to the hostel, they have parking, thank goodness, it's in the basement. I drove down and uh oh! It looked like my car was too tall for their height limit. I had to stop in their steep ass entrance and double check. I got out the car and realised that the car indeed was too tall. Great, now where the heck will I park! There was a car behind me. A bunch of Dutch or German girls on vacation. They were losing their patience. Unfortunately for them they still had to back out of the driveway and let me get out. I actually went to them and asked if they thought my car could fit. They told me they wouldn't take a chance. They were right!

I got out, it was like a skill test, the whole thing, backing out  of a steep without the car rolling forward. If it had, I would have crashed, I was too close to the entrance. That didn't happen, thank goodness. I stopped on the side of the road and called the hostel. I asked about extra parking and stuff. They told me that they only hosted people who had some kind of a travel ticket out of LA coming up. In other words because I wasn't intending to leave LA, I didn't qualify. Thank goodness I didn't force my car into that silly parking. But now, where am I going to stay? I called a few other hostels, including one where I stayed before. They told me that I was welcome but they didn't have parking. The one where I could stay is right on Hollywood boulevard. No parking. I just didn't feel like spending half my days looking for parking plus all my stuff was in the car, they didn't have room for all that stuff. I needed somewhere with safe parking.

Calm down, Brook, it will all work out! It was around noon, I had ample time to look for a temp place. I could do airbnb (it's private people who host for pay, like a bread and breakfast), or something. I had to be positive, I was in LA, it wasn't a matter of oh, if I can't find a place, I will stay in Vegas until I find it.













10 comments:

  1. You are girl with big dreams. That's why where you come from doesn't determine where you come from. Respect to you.

    OMG I hope you didn't have to drive back to Vegas.

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  2. Lol I meant to say "where you come from doesn't determine where you're going". Hope you got me;).

    Waiting :))

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  3. Sometimes I struggle so much because the comments just don't go through and I have to type it over and over again. Hence the mistake on the comments lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should get into the habit of copying before you post so that if it doesn't post, you can just past, instead of typing all over again

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    2. Thank you, I appreciate that!

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  4. Sometimes I struggle so much because the comments just don't go through and I have to type it over and over again. Hence the mistake on the comments lol

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    Replies
    1. Type, then copy onto clipboard, ma! for in case

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  5. I'm proud of you hun.i like this blog, lemme read more

    ReplyDelete