The Hills of Beverly

The apartment I was viewing was marvelous! I looked like it was double the size of the apartment I didn't get. The kitchen had gazillion cupboards, there were drawers and doors everywhere. And it had what seems to me to be a closet, it has the part where you hang clothes, a shelf above that for suitcases, I guess, and more shelves on the side for folded clothes but to sound proper, we'll call it a pantry cos it's in the kitchen. Don't judge me, I'm just a girl from a small town called Uitenhage in Africa.

The Kitchen.

There are two closets in the hallway, a linen closet and a spare full closet.

Look at all those cupboards! 

 The bathroom is blue, I took a picture of it myself just so  I can have a look at it when I got home to see if it really was that blue. I posted a picture on the previous blog entry. What I liked about the bathroom was the fact that it had a tub/shower, two medicine cabinets, you can never have too much storage, this place wasn't lacking on that at all! I also liked that the shower has glass doors as opposed to shower curtains that stick to you when you take a shower. Big deal! So big that I have the doors on the list of things I want in my new apartment.

This is how excited I was! Photo taken in the bathroom

Now to the bedroom. I walked into the bedroom and started laughing out loud, I loved it so much! I literally, stretched my arms out and spun around until I got dizzy, then I lay down until I almost fell asleep. That's when I knew I had to have the place. I was so comfortable just lying on the floor that I was like, gotta have it! I got up from my almost nap and went back to laughing, hoping no one would hear me. There's a big closet in the bedroom too. Of course! It's the main closet! I walked back to the living room and heard a knock on the door. I opened as if I already own the place. It was the guy who helped direct me earlier. He had changed into his house clothes and brought his pregnant wife. He walked around, then told me my apartment is bigger than his and  that I was lucky to be downstairs in the shade because these apartments get really hot in the summer. I was like, I like how you refer to it as my apartment. As he was leaving, he congratulated me. I was like, uhm, from your mouth to God's ears. He told me that as far as he was concerned, the apartment was mine already. I thanked him and stopped the tears from falling down as I was touched by what he said. 

The Living Room aka sitting Room

I locked the door and headed back downtown. I didn't say anything to Carly. I wasn't ready. I mean, I hadn't even filled out the application yet! That night, I completed the application on line. Application was $30. This is when it was clear to me that there was a reason I forgot to give the previous realtor my money order. That was so that I could use it in the next apartment where I had a fighting chance. When came time to make application fee payment, I realised I couldn't use money order online. They wanted banking details. I entered mine. For the life of me, they wouldn't go through. I had to tell Carly what was going on. I needed to vent. She offered me her credit card. I thought that was sweet, but I politely declined. I told myself that I would just tell them I could pop into their office and give them the money order in person. There's a part where you write a note in the application, that's where I wrote about the credit card situation. I submitted all the necessary paperwork and went to bed.

The following morning, I called the office to discuss the situation. They told me that they were actually working on my application, if I got the place, they would ask for the money order, if not, they wouldn't. Apparently, unlike all the other companies, their application fees are refundable. I be damned! This is the best company ever! They called me again, I was so nervous. It turned out I wrote my number as a reference for one of the previous apartments I had lived in. I was like my bad and gave them the correct number. Who knew that they actually do call references? The also called my previous landlord from Vegas, they called me back and told me that she has nothing but good things to say about me. I was touched. It's good not to burn bridges, you never know when you might need someone again.

There's a door from Living room to bedroom/bathroom/hallway which I love. It's one of the two brown doors you're looking at

I spend that entire morning sitting on the couch waiting for the call because they called me so many times. I tried not to get nervous but how can you not? By noon or so, I got THE CALL! I GOT THE PLACE! YYYyiipppppppeeeeeeeee! Oh my goodness, I could die! I was so thrilled you guys! I kept thinking about how amazing that apartment was and to think that my dream of living in Beverly Hills had just come through was absolutely insane! They told me how much I had to pay initially, which was double one month's rent. I was prepared for that, so it was no surprise. I told the lady that I was ready to drive to her office and pay there and then. She was like, well, ok then, see you soon! I went to the bank, got a cashier's check, I think that's what it's called of two month's rent at my new place and headed to Culver city. That's where their offices are based. 

Linen Closet

There was more paperwork to be filled out in the office, I took care of all that. The lady was so cool, we chatted about random stuff while I was there. She gave me a set of keys and told me to get myself spares if I wanted but then she was like, you know what? It's your lucky day, I have an entire other set of keys for you! That way, I got my spares as well, which was amaze! I asked if I could give the lady who was helping me a hug, she was like, of course, I'd live to get a hug from you!  I told her she had no idea how she had made my entire life. I called Carly on my way out and asked where she was. She had just got off work in Beverly Hills, just five minutes from my new place actually! My place and her job are off the same streets but on two different ones, if you know what I mean. I told her that I was in the neighborhood to wait for me. She waited at the bust stop which, now that I am familiar with the are, is a block away from my place. She was already on the bus but she got off. She hates buses lol. 

Spare Closet in the hallway

I picked Carly up and asked if she would mind if I quickly checked out an apartment in the neighborhood. Of course she didn't mind. We went to my place, found a nice free parking spot right across from it and headed inside. I was like, omg it's so clean, let's take off our shoes. I didn't want her messing up my new place :). She was like, wow, it's so big! That's what she said haha! 

I gave her a tour of the apartment, when we got to the bathroom, she was like, wait...! I said, oh yeah, I forgot you know about this place. She told me the bathroom doesn't look that bad in person. I didn't think so either, that's why I took the place. She told me she has a good feeling about the place. I was like me too girl, as I said that, I took out my lease and told her I got the place! She was so happy for me, she screamed and jumped up and down. I did too, we both went berserk!  She teared up and told me how happy she was for me. I believed her. Sht, I was happy for me too, child!

Bedroom Closet

My official first day at the apartment was the following day but I had keys so I did what any self respecting human being would and moved out of Carly's that very night! We headed back to Carly's, my stuff was already in suitcases, so I just loaded the Rover. It all happened so fast! I was at her place for two months and all of a sudden, I viewed a place and moved in within 24 hours. Crazy, right? She helped me load my car and even lent me her sleeping bag and a few bags, very sweet of her. I thanked her from the bottom of my heart, vacuumed her floor for the last time, you know after you take big things like suitcases how it can look. She walked me to the car, we said out last goodbyes, I found someone in the parking lot and gifted them the rest of my parking for the next 24 hours and drove off to the Hills of Beverly!

More of the living room/dining area facing the front door

And now, ladies and gents, it's your turn to send me pictures of your homes  :)

Free Stuff!

I decided against calling the real estate after finding out that I forgot to give her the application fee money order. I still called daily to check on the status of my application. Luckily, she was taking my calls. I tried to stay positive and happy at all times, Lord knows part of that was really hard considering who I was living with! Day 3 or so, I called the lady to ask about my application, she told me that the other tenant was approved. I was relieved to finally know what was going on. At the same time, I was let down that I had to go back to the drawing board.

I went back on line with gusto to look for a new apartment all over again. I had to find it asap, come rain or high water. My birthday was coming up. I wanted to celebrate my birthday in my new apartment. Please! I needed that so badly!

I was still gigging on tv, singing or dancing for free t-shirts in between takes, no shame in my game! I was having a good time being back in LA. I made sure not to book the few hour shows, I was determined to work for real money or nothing at all. I would have rather stay at home and invest that time on booking myself on other shows or commercials or whatever than drive all the way to Hollywood for a few hour show. I was determined!

Carly told me about this movie she did background in, I could tell she didn't really want to tell me about it but she was really frustrated that it had been four months and she still hadn't received her check for that job. Apparently, there's this guy who books her for background work, I think that's the part she didn't want to tell me about. She didn't want me asking for the guy's number and getting jobs through her connection, even though all her other tv work was through my connections. She told me that she had been calling that guy endlessly for months and he would always tell her he was going to follow up and call her back, which he never did. One day, I sucked it up and asked her who the guy is, she just told me that it's some guy, but she no longer  was a fan of is all things considered. She didn't want to give me any info on him. I dropped it.

One day she called his office in front of me, I heard his name. I had never heard of him before, it wasn't going to be easy to find out more about him. I had a great mind to track him down, get him to book me and tell her about it, out of spite. I couldn't though because I had never heard of him. One day, she had the never to ask me about one of my connections. I told her that I didn't want to talk about the connection. I shut her down just like she did me when I asked for her connection. Fair, no?

One day, I was at home, minding my own business, doing my nails on the futon when Carly got a call from a friend of hers asking if she was available to work on a show. She wasn't. She had a 'date' with a guy I am convinced she has a crush on and is gay. She says they're really good friends. They met on Tinder though, so. She didn't want to cancel the meeting with her 'friend' for work which is so unlike her. As they were talking, I was thinking to myself, but I'm here! Just as  I did, her friend asked if she knew of anyone who was available because it was a rush call and they needed lots of people. Rush call = last minute call. She had the phone on speaker, so she was fcked. I heard the entire conversation. That'll teach her not to put her calls on speaker. Nobody wants to hear her conversations. Being in a tight corner, she asked if I wanted to work that gig. I didn't feel like it but I took it because she never hooks me up. I wasn't going to turn down the only time she ever hooked me up. Plus, the guy had mentioned that the gig was through the guy she had been trying not to give me his contacts. I thought that was a great chance for me to get them.

Her friend told her I can just show up on set. I told her that I wasn't comfortable showing up somewhere I had never been to work for someone I had never worked for, I would rather confirm with the person who was doing the booking, that's when she gave me the number of the casting guy. I was so happy. It was a good day! I made it to set on time, found the last parking spot on the lot and had a great time working. I sat next to a semi-crazy girl who had vacationed in South Africa, when I told her that's where I was from, she greeted me in Zulu. Which was endearing. We became text buddies sorta.

On the set of the court show wearing my trusted old Woolworths dress.

I got to meet the casting guy, he gave me his business card. It was a good day!

As I was stepping out that day to the car from Carly's, I saw a bunch of stuff in the hallway. It looked like someone was either getting rid of them or they were moving out. I sniffed around and saw a brand new blender amongst those things. I didn't want to grab it in case someone was moving out. I called and asked Carly to keep an eye, if the stuff was still there after an hour or so, could she get the blender for me. She sounded nervous as if I was making her steal for me. She then went outside to have a look at the stuff and called me back ever so excited! She told me that she met the owner of the things, it's actually a lady who lived two doors from her apartment. The lady was moving to Paris that night and was getting read of everything in her apartment. Carly took the blender for me and asked when I thought I was going to move  out. He thought of getting me the bed but he didn't have room to hold it for me until forever, he needed a definitive date when I was going to move out. I thought that was interesting considering she knew I didn't know for sure when I was moving out. I also thought that that was her chance of telling me she wanted me out.

The blender after I washed it a gazillion times, even though it was brand new

I told her that I would definitely be out by my birthday, April 10th, if you want to sing for me on my birthday :) Carly got me a queen size bed, I asked her to leave it in the hallway, I would check it out when I got home, she told me she also saw a pretty couch which she was going to keep for herself, she got a gigantic mirror too and a bunch of other things. I don't know where she was going to put the couch, personally, I think she was being her greedy self. I saw a lot of things that I could have taken for myself but I didn't want to end up with a bunch of things that were not going to go with my furniture. I didn't have furniture yet, I decided to let the stuff go but Carly just wanted to keep everything for herself.

When I got home that evening, Carly had put the bed in her apartment, which was sweet but I wish she had left it in the hallway because it had bedbugs! I saw about three and blood stains from them on the mattress, one was crawling as I inspected the mattress. Yuck! Carly was out with her friend, the bed was near my clothes. I was freaking out. I couldn't help  but think, this girl! The one time she does something nice, it backfired! That probably wasn't fair because how could she have known that the bed had bedbugs that were clearly crawling all over it #sarcasm

I pushed the bed back to the hallway and vacuumed the floor like a million times. I moved my luggage to the other end of the apartment. I wasn't about to move bedbugs to my new Beverly Hills apartment. Hell No! Carly felt bad when I told her about the bed bugs. She freaked out too and was like, 'OMG, are the clothes I had on safe? I don't know about things like bed bugs, what should I do, Brook!' That's kinda like a dig because it says I know about gross things like bed bugs and you don't. Why? I advised her to wash her clothes separately from the rest of her clothes or just throw them away. She has lots of clothes anyways. She did neither.

The same afternoon as when the lady told me I didn't get the old apartment, I was perusing through Craig's list. I saw an apartment in Beverly Hills, it fit everything I desired but had a blue bath tub. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Oh and a blue sink. I went on this other site that has rentals for the west side, that's Westwood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, etc. The best side haha. I saw that same apartment advertised on there as well but one would have to pay to get contact details on that site as opposed to Craig's list. I bookmarked the apartment and kept looking. I was going to call them the following morning during office hours. I showed it to Carly. She told me that the blue bathroom could be worked on. I didn't make a big deal about whether or not I was interested in the apartment. I like to tell people after I achieve something not while I am still working at getting it, I believe that their opinions and energies can ruin my vibe. That may be a weird way to go about things, but it's my way. What do you think?

The Blye bathroom. 

The following morning, Carly went to school. I called the apartment people, they told me that the apartment was still available, I could view it whenever I wished. They had a lock on the door and a code to access the keys to the doors. I was then to fill out the application on line if I were interested. I took the bus to view the apartment. I tried to clear my head of any negative thought even though my spirit was kind of hurt because I didn't get the first apartment. I took my headphones with me and listened to music on my iPod. It was good times! The bus turned out not to go all the way to the street  I was going to even though that's what it said on Maps. Oh well. I walked the rest of the blocks. It must have been a ten minute walk.

That's the face of someone chasing after a dream

I loved the neighborhood. It had a lot of apartments, some of them had the to let sign. I didn't want to confuse myself by taking those phone numbers but then again  you never know! I got to the street I was headed to, walked towards what I was hoping was going to be my new apartment. It was a small building with +-10 units. I walked around looking for the unit I was going to view. Luckily, a man asked if I was looking for the empty unit. I told him I was, he directed me and told me what the code was. I made my way towards the apartment, opened the door and took of my shoes. It was too clean for me to walk with my dirty shoes on the rug. The entire place is carpeted except for the bathroom and the kitchen.

The apartment is gigantic! As soon as I walked in, I had this huge smile in my face, I locked the door behind me for privacy and just walked around smiling...

Open House

So! Time went on, one morning, I was sitting on the couch, doing my morning ritual; drinking green tea and updating my gratitude journal, Carly came in and was so frustrated. She told me that she really needs a car and wanted me to give her a ride to a few dealerships to view cars she had been looking at online. I didn't see that coming. I asked her what kind of car she was looking for. This is how she described it, "I want a white car! I really love white.  It my favorite color. Is that weird?" I was like, what's weird is that since your friend's birthday, yellow was your favorite color. Anyway, she went on to describe the car she wants as one with leather seats. She was describing my car but what are you gonna do? I told her to go ahead and get the car she wants. The fck do I care?


She wanted a smaller car with four doors so she could use It for Uber. I was like, you should get the car of your dreams, you already have a job and you have school, you won't have time to uber anyway, why do you care? She was looking at a few mini coopers. She wanted something really cute. I was like, do what you have to, girl! I for one am not crazy about really tall people squeezing themselves in Mini Coopers and Beetles but that's just me. There were also a few Beetles she was looking at. All the cars she was looking at had salvaged engines. I noticed that but didn't say anything because she talks to both her parents everyday, I'm sure she discussed her car shopping with them. If she likes Salvaged cars, then I love them for her! She showed me the cars, they were really cute but the salvage was a red flag for me. I told her to go and test drive them if she wanted to. I didn't know she was that serious about looking for  a car. As we were looking at cars, I noticed that amongst the cars she had bookmarked there were lots of apartments in the Beverly Hills adjacent neighborhoods. I found that rather interesting. There I was struggling to find a place to stay and she was secretly looking for a place as well on the side. Can you say sneaky?


When I saw the apartments, I said something along the lines of, oh so you're looking for an apartment too? She told me that she really didn't like living where she does. She wanted to move closer to her job. Her job is in Beverly Hills, meaning, she was looking for an apartment in Beverly Hills. How is that for interesting? At one point, she suggested I find a two bedroom and share with her. I told her thanks, but no thanks! She asked me for some car buying tips. I asked her why she didn't ask her father considering he is a man and had also just bought a car recently? Plus, he's her father, it's his job. She told me she didn't think her parents would be ok with her buying a used car. I was like, in that case, let them buy you a brand new car!


She talked to a friend of hers that night who warned her against buying salvaged cars. The following day, she brought that dog on computer to me in the living room and invaded my personal space again asked for advice again, The list had gone to zero as all the cars she was looking at had salvaged engines. She had a lot of Toyota Camrys and Nissans on her list. I was like, I thought you were looking for small cars? She told me she really loves Camry's. That's her first preference. Wow! You could've fooled me. I don't know if at 22 I would want to drive that car, again, that's just me. Also, I didn't even have a car at 22, so.


I saw an apartment that I was really interested in in Beverly Hills. The one thing I wasn't crazy about about the place was the fact that it was right by Beverly Hills High school. I wasn't trying to live by a school. Also, they only had street parking. I wanted to have my own spot. I didn't want no first come, first served type parking, where I would have to remember to move my car when there's street sweeping. I had to pursue it though, time was running out. I got the address. Even though they told me that the tenant hadn't moved out yet, I went for a spin in the neighborhood,  I parked outside the apartment, imagined myself living there, walked towards it. The gate was closed, I saw a nice lady parking in front of the apartment in a nice BMW X6.  I approached her and asked her about the apartment advertised, she gave me a phone number. I already had the lady's number, I had talked to her, she told me that she was going to let me know when the tenant moved out so I could go view the place. The agent had actually told me that she would see if I could go view the place when she does her final walk through, that way I was going to see it before everyone else. I thought that was really sweet of her. Maybe that was the place for me after all!


I didn't tell anyone about that place. I didn't want any weird vibes around my dream apartment. One evening, I got an email from the agent, she told me that she was going to be doing the final walk through the following morning between 9:00 and noon. The following morning, I woke up, meditated on the whole idea of getting the place, took a shower and headed to Beverly Hills with all my paperwork and some cash. You never know when you might need cash. Cash is King ;)


I arrived at the place around 10:00. I wasn't under pressure because I knew that I was the only one who was going to view in that time slot. I then called the lady, she wouldn't pick up the phone for sht! I noticed a lot of traffic in and out the gate. There was also very limited street parking that day, which made me suspicious. I walked towards the gate and came across a gentleman who asked if I was also going to view the apartment upstairs. I told him, I was. He told me he couldn't get hold of the lady. Turned out, it was open house! She lied to me! She probably told everyone that they were going to be the only ones there that day. That left a weird taste in my mouth! I am not a big fan of open houses. They don't make me feel good about my chances of getting a place. I felt like I was tricked into an open house situation.


The lady arrived, she called me by name, which was interesting. Maybe she had googled me. Who knows? We went upstairs, the apartment was very small. It was a 500 square foot one bedroom with an interesting setup living room/kitchen room. It had blinds running from either side of the counter. so the stove, fridge and sink are in a straight line and the blinds were against them. I guess when you're done in the kitchen, you close blinds and voila! You have a living room. Basically, it's a kitchen that had blinds making it turn into a living room. It was a very clever way of not making people feel like they are hanging out in the kitchen. The apartment was on the level above street level, some people call that first floor or whatever you call it. In my head, I had always been envisioning my apartment to be on the street level. That wasn't going to be a deal breaker though, the apartment had lots of lighting, which I loved and an ok view.


Thee bedroom was very small, so small, the closet was just outside the bedroom, then bathroom and that was it!  It was really condensed but It would do for a single person. I didn't have intentions to stay single for a long time but I was hoping to meet someone who had his own place, so, we could make the apartment work. Besides the school situation, it was in a pretty cool area, it had all these big streets around it; Santa Monica Blvd, Pico, Olympic and Wilshire. It's like, it's where all those streets meet. I could use the bus if I wanted to, and go wherever I wanted from that was kind of a plus if I intended not to use my amazing car that I loved. Which would defeat the whole purpose of getting a car, right?


I told the lady that I was interested in the apartment. She gave me application forms. I filled them out (or in, depending which English you speak lol). She wanted $30 application fee. Non refundable. I had to hope that I was going to get the place, that way, I wouldn't have to worry about giving away more application fees. I made copies of all my paperwork and already had bank statement print outs. She wanted the application fee in money order form. Great! I drove around trying to get a money order. Finally, I got it. By then, the lady had gone back to the office. She did agree to meet me back at the apartment.


I headed back to the apartment. As she was taking all my paperwork, the agent, informed me that someone else had already put in an application before me. I don't know when because I was one of the first people to get there that day, clearly, that person got there day before everyone else. Bad taste in mouth anybody? She told me that they were reviewing that person's application and if they were not approved, I was going to be considered. I wanted to die. After everything I went through, I wasn't even first in line! Kill me!


I drove back downtown. Halfway there, I remembered, sht! The money order! I didn't take it out of my wallet! Oh Lord! What do I do now? Traffic was starting to get crazy! Do I drive back to Beverly Hills and risk getting stuck in traffic on my way back? There's nothing I hate more than being stuck in traffic when I didn't have to be, like if I was at home all day, then decide to go to the mall in the evening, then get stuck in traffic. It's like are you kidding me? I could have done this three hours ago! Should I head back or call the lady and ask her to still consider me, I would pay her back later? Should I not say anything and wait for her to ask for the money order in case the first person was going to take the apartment after all?

Thot

By the way, after I locked myself out the second time, I had to do damage control that very night before anyone got back home. Fortunately. I got back home before anyone else, so I went to a few stores to buy stuff to patch what the guy and I did to the door. I found material that was exactly the same color as the door paint color. I didn't even have to paint it afterwards. I just patched it and voila! I was so happy. The thing was only a dollar too!

While Carly was stuck outside, she decided to go to Subway, she bought herself a Sub for dinner over there, went back to the apt to eat. She also checked her mail, it was March, her birth month, her best friend mailed her a gift. I got a text from Carly with a picture, it was a picture of a wrapping of her birthday from her friend. Carly wrote: After so many years of friendship, my best friend still doesn't know how to spell my last name; sad! I replied, oh cool! She sent you something? What did you get? She told me she sent her a handbag, she was like, 'I don't know why everyone bought me a handbag this year. I don't even need handbags. My mom bought me a handbag in her style, it's too grown up for me, my best friend, who I expected more from her just sent me a handbag and my friend here, sent me a bandbag as well! This is the worst birthday!' I replied, you're lucky so many people bought your gifts for your birthday! I wasn't feeding into her sht at all. Someone buys you a gift and ships it all the way to you and you wanna complain about how they spelt your last name, are you shitting me? She knows her last name is difficult to spell! So ungrateful! Why not ship the gift back and tell them wrong person?

She sent another text, 'Is it weird that I like the birthday card more than the gift itself?' I replied 'lol'. Didn't I tell this btch I was busy? Why is she blowing up my phone? I thought she didn't like it when people do that to her. Hypocrite much?

She finally went back to school for the rest of her classes that night. That's when I got home. I had gotten into the habit of pretending to be asleep when she got home. I just didn't want to be bothered. She always had some crisis she needed me to solve for her.

In the weeks, I had taken a break from looking for an apartment, I felt like going away for a day trip or the weekend. I had always wanted to go to Malibu, Santa Barbara and Laguna Beach. I wanted to go on a day trip to one of those places. I told Carly that I felt like going away. She told me to totally do it. Next thing I knew, she was on a websites she saw me logged on, she was looking for tickets to go on a day trip. Uhm, Double You Tee Eff? She told me that she had this sudden urge to want to go on a day trip somewhere, she didn't know why. Just like she did me, I told her to totally do it! Either way, I was going to get a break from her, I didn't care if she copied my idea that one time!

She wanted to go hiking for her birthday. Her friend in San Francisco wanted her to visit for her birthday. I had mentioned once that her friendship with that girl was very one sided, it was basically like mine with Carly but I didn't add that part. That girl was doing to Carly what Carly does to me. She always calls with problems. Carly will be on the phone for hours solving that girl's problems. When Carly calls with a situation, that girl is always busy or they will end up talking about that girl. Carly asked the girl to come to LA for Carly's birthday, the girl was like, nah, I'm busy. Next thing, the girl was on vacation in Vegas. When Carly told me that, I was like, didn't she say she was busy with work in San Fran? Now she's in Vegas for an entire week? Anyway, I didn't want to immerse myself in other people's problems. They had been friends, Carly knows what that friendship serves in her life. When Carly asked the girl to come to LA for the birthday, the girl told her that she was over LA, how about Carly go to San Francisco? Carly was like but it's MY birthday, people should come to me not the other way round! I thought to myself, finally, your eyes are opening up, you mole you!

San Francisco was one of the places I wanted to visit. It was in my vision board. I didn't get to go in December, 2014, I definitely had to do it this year. I was in no hurry though. One morning, I got up early,showered and left for union station. I wanted to go to Santa Barbara. Someone had misinformed me regarding ticket prices. It was five times what I thought the fare was going to be. I wasn't willing to part with that much money out of the blue. I decided to go back to Malibu for the day instead. It's much closer. I looked up bus schedule on my phone. The bus left every hour from where I was. I waited on the bus and soon saw it pass on the opposite side. I was waiting on the wrong side. I just took it as that was not the day for me to go to those places. The weather was crazy but I needed to get the heck out of there.

I headed back to the apartment. Carly was up when I got back. Girl, I had left around 7am! I didn't even want to see her face that day! Alas, that wasn't meant to be! She asked where I went looking so dressed up? I told her I was headed out of town for a day trip.

She had planned to go n a hiking trip with her friends on her birthday. Because, that's a thing people want to drive all the way from San Francisco to do in LA, smdh. I was like, your friends must really love you if they are going to go hiking with your on your birthday!She looked at me like I was crazy, I looked at her like she was a model! Not long after that, she started making plans to go out of town. She got tickets, took a few days off and went to her hometown for her birthday. She literally dropped plans she made forever ago of going hiking with her friends for her birthday to go on a trip because I was so serious on going for one. She ended up going on a trip before me.

She left mountain of dishes in the sink. I had stopped cleaning up after her once I started paying. It was the best week without her, I didn't even go away anymore while she was gone! What for? I had the peace of mind I needed.

When she was leaving, she asked me to drop her off at the bus station. I told her I had work, I wasn't going to have time. What? I remember telling her one day that we could have an arrangement where instead of taking Uber, she takes Uber all the time, she doesn't like the bus, she could gas up my car and I could take her where she needed to go, whenever I was around. I wasn't going to make any profit from the whole deal. Quite honestly, I was avoiding being her unpaid chauffeur because some people have a tendency of thinking people's cars run on friendship. I didn't want to have yet another elephant in the room. She couldn't maintain eye contact with me when I came up with that idea. I could tell she wasn't buying it. She wanted free rides or she would rather pay more on Uber, so call Uber then! Right?

She asked me to help carry her luggage downstairs, I was so fed up with all the requests, I wanted to cry. How can one person be such a pain in the ass though? Damn it, man! I couldn't be happier when the Uber driver drove off with her. She was blowing me kisses, I was blowing her away! As far away as possible.

While texting back and forth, on her way, I was like, girl, you're 22 years old and single, you better have a fling while you're in Seattle! She was like, you're right, girl! Let's do it! I'll find someone in Seattle, you find someone in LA, we can exchange stories when I get back! I replied, 'Nah, I'm good, I'll wait till I fall in love'. She texted back that I was right, it's good to first fall in love. I thought to myself, whatever! I've had my fair share of flings.

Halfway in her trip, I got a text from Carly, she was sitting next to the hottest guy on the bus, omg, what should I do, Brook? WHATEVER YOU WANNA DO, CARLY! The fck do I care? You're gone, let me enjoy your absence, don't still be texting me for advice!

They stopped somewhere for refreshments, she told me she wanted to kiss the guy so bad, and asked if that was bad. I told her it was up to her. I was so over it. The guy was sitting on the isle seat opposite Carly, they were both sitting on isle seats. She told me that they had been drinking the guys' alcohol when they were on a layover. She asked me if it would be bad if she asked the guy to sit next to her. She wanted to make out with him. He looked like he wanted to make out with her too. Apparently, she knew him that well. I told her to go ahead if she wanted to be that girl on the bus who is so thirsty she's asking strangers to come closer. Thot anybody?

Apparently, she went ahead and asked the guy, the guy was like, no! They did exchange numbers when she got off. They had a date set for when she was on her way back to LA. She told me that the guy wasn't even her type, he was black and he smoked but there's something about him that she couldn't resist. I thought to myself, how soon she fell in love!

When she got home, she sent me a long ass text about how her life sucks, she went all the way to Seattle for nothing. I mean, the bus ride was 24 hours or something like that. It was long! She told me that her brother wouldn't even give her a hug. She was so excited to see him, she ran towards him with her arms open and he just walked right past her rotfl! They were in public! At the bus station. She told me she was so hurt. I thought to myself, if this girl really texting me this right now? She's with her parents for goodness sakes, fix it amongst family. I don't care! I replied, 'Wow! That sucks!' and went on with my life.

I am going to assume she could see that I wasn't interested in chatting anymore, because the texts slowed down tremendously after that.

On her way back, I got a text that she was looking forward to seeing her new boyfriend from the bus. He had lent her his jacket that smelled like cigarettes on their first trip, so, of course I called him Jacket, sometimes I'd call him Suede. It was a suede jacket ;)

They had been texting the entire time she was in Seattle, aaahhh, that's why she wasn't texting me any more! Thank goodness for small miracles! She told him how far she was. He was going to take a break from work and drive to the station to meet her. They had a long layover, so it was going to be enough time to go on a date. Or to make out, I don't know what they had in mind.

I got a long ass text about how she hated men, that guy led her on, why is it that it's always the ones you love that will let you down blah blah blah, she was done! Apparently, the guy told her that he was on his way. He told her where he was that moment. She looked up ETA (estimated time of arrival) on google maps and saw that he should be with her in ten minutes. 10...20...30...nothing! She called, he didn't pick up. She waited and waited and waited and then started texting me. I wasn't of much help because I didn't care.

The finally arrived back in LA the following day. She texted me that morning and asked what my plans were, I told her I wasn't sure. I knew she wanted to ask me to pick her up and I wasn't going to do it no matter what. Luckily, I was booked that afternoon. I left early, so that I wasn't there when she got home. I didn't feel like hauling suitcases up five flights of stairs like 12 years a slave. she got home to an empty house. Just what she deserved, She didn't get love from her brother in Seattle and she got nothing but a kitchen full of smelly dishes in her own home. What a life!

I saw her the following day, she told me all about what I had missed out on her life on. She asked what I thought she should do about the guy. I told her she could ask him what happened. I mean what did she stand to lose? There was clearly nothing going on between the two of them. She texted him, he apologised and told her that he got stuck in traffic. She told me that she felt awkward telling him that she had checked traffic in his route and it should've only taken him ten minutes to get to the station. She told me she felt used and violated. I was like, uhm, what?

Turns out they had had phone sex and all while she was in Seattle. Maybe he had promised her things on her way back, that's why she was so ocd, checking him on google etc. I was like, do you really want to be in a relationship with a guy you met on the bus, who you tried to have come sit next with you and refused and then went on to have phone sex with without even knowing him? Clearly  the guy didn't think that much of you! Well, after the apology, they picked up from where they left off. I don't care, good for her, at least she was getting something, no matter what that thing was.

The following guy, the guy told her he was going to be in LA, but ended up standing her up again. Long story short, he asked her to go meet up with him in San Diego; 3 hours or so away by public transport. She asked what I thought of that. I told her to go if she wanted to have sex with him. She was like, no he just wants to see me. I was like, girl, you're so cute!

Anyway, she ended up cutting all ties with him. Life went back to normal. I was back to looking for a place to stay.

I started thinking about that man, Spotty from forever ago, remember him? I told Carly how I was thinking him a lot for some reason. I woke up one morning to a voicemail on my phone. It was him! He told me that he had been thinking about me, he wanted to know what I was doing that weekend. Maybe we could go out some time. I mean, I had relocated to so many states since he and I hooked up. I called him back, we talked for about an hour. It was nice to talk but I wasn't trying to be friends or anything. That ship had sailed. He told me that he had been doing a lot of soul searching and had been making amends with people he had wronged in the past blah. I guess that's where I came in. Nice for him!

It was season for Last Comic standing. I went to a lot of those tapings. So much fun! I got to see Roseanne, the comedian? She looks amazing, she lost a ton of weight. I actually complimented her, she was like, awww, thank you sweetheart! You're so sweet! With that accent of hers. The oldest Wayan Brother is one of the hosts and producers, so hot. 0% body fat and so smart! Wanda Sykes is the executive producer, so she came out and we got to see her in person too. They also have one of the older SNL (Saturday Night Live) guys as hosts. That guy has a lot of fans. I didn't even know who he was until my first day there. His name is Norm Macdonald, you can look him up if you wish.

I got a couple of shirts from Last comic, one was my first night there. They asked who was with their significant other. I pointed at a guy who was sitting next to me. They asked who his spouse was, I pointed at a lady who was sitting on my other side. The audience warm up lady was like, so why are you sitting in between a couple. I told her, that's what I do, split up couples. She asked him to dance for a t shirt for his wife. The guy is as gay as can be. He got up danced so well, and got a t shirt. They asked him what his wife's name was. He told the lady he never met that woman,the woman is Brook's friend, so was the guy. Haha! He chose to give me the t shirt. When he got back, I introduced him to the lady, I was like, meet your wife!

It was a good day, the comediennes who competed were really good. A few weeks or so, I was sitting near the door and they were giving away t shirts. They asked for singers in between scenes or whatever. I told a girl who was sitting next to me that I was going to get one. So many people wanted t shirts, that it became a competition as to who was a better singer. This is Hollywood, people are a really good in arts here. And I'm just a girl from Africa trying to make it in America. I told that girl I was going to get a t-shirt. I had a secret weapon. My Africanness! People were belting out songs better than the likes of Alicia Keys and I wasn't intimidated at all. When it was my turn, I sang the Click song, aka Igqirha lendlela nguqongqothwane. Miriam Makeba's hit. I won the first shirt. It was my size. I put it on immediately and told the girl who was sitting next to me, I TOLD YA SO!

Doing last comic was fun because we always wrapped really late, no traffic at all, it took me 12 minutes flat to get downtown from Universal Studios. The down side was that I used to get home around the same time as Carly. Whenever I got home before her, I would go straight to bed and pretend to be asleep when she got home. She be like, Brook! Brook! BRook! Awww, sleeping? Mhh k!

Believe!

Still stranded outside Carly's, I couldn't even go out the building because I had a night gown on, no shoes, no bra, no nothing! You know how it is! I went to one of the windows on the hallway, sat there and regrouped while I enjoyed the sunrise. I found a nice, pink rubber bracelet written BELIEVE!  I took that as a sign that things would work out in the end as they always do.

I went back to the door with new gusto. I knocked and knocked and knocked, NOTHING! BELIEVE it or not! There was nobody in the hallway, it was so early, I felt so bad that I wasn't even an official resident and I was waking the neighbors up but who wants to sit in the hallway not knowing their future. The longer I was stuck out there, the more I needed to pee. I had to distract myself and not thing about that because there was nowhere I could go pee.

Eventually, I thought to go downstairs just to see if someone could come up with a better idea than  just knocking on the door. I found a kind gentleman about to head out on his bicycle. I asked if he knew the manager's number.I was going to ask for Carly's phone number, then call her and ask her to open. That's hoping her phone wasn't on silent. Also, she screens her calls, there was a high chance she wasn't going to pick up when I called but I had to have faith, and BELIEVE! The kind man called the manager and asked for Carly's number. The manager asked who I was. I told him I was Bee, I didn't want to complicate things more than they already were. Apparently, Carly tried not to disclose that she had a roommate when Bee moved in, management went for inspection and found an entire bed and stuff showing that there was a roommate, they started charging Carly $100 extra per month for having an extra person in her apartment. I didn't want them charging her another additional $100 because of me.

I should've told them, that would teach her not to leave people soaking in their own urine outside when it would only take her a minute to get up and open the door. Come to think of it, Maybe she used that time to go through my stuff while I was out there, because I left everything carelessly on the coffee table, thinking I would be right back. That was the only chance she had with my journal and stuff, she must have been having withdrawal symptoms since  I started hiding my stuff from her.

The manager texted the man Carly's number. We called Carly. She didn't pick up. I left her a voicemail. Nothing! I wasn't going to make the poor man wait there for a diva that was probably never going to get out of bed for a peasant like me. I then asked the Good Samaritan if I could send Carly a text telling her that I was locked out to please let me in. She called as soon as she got the text. I told her I was on my way up. She opened for me. I didn't even want to get to it and be all confrontational and sht. That was just another sign that that was not my home. It was another reminder that I shouldn't relax there. I had to find my own place fast and GTFO (get the fck out).

When she opened, she was like, hey girl, how are you? I  was just like, I was like, I wold be so much better if you didn't ignore me for two hours outside your apartment like some second hand citizen. She was like, 'What do you mean?' I told her I was locked out, I had been knocking for hours! She replied, 'Awwwwww, I didn't hear it! I'm making breakfast, would you like some?' I was like, wow, that's how we're going to end the conversation? I didn't say that but I thought it. Stuff like that causes resentment. It makes you crave an opportunity to get back at a bitch. Doesn't it?

We had to act like there wasn't an elephant in the room. At least I had to act, I think Carly was doing just fine!

One afternoon, I got a missed calls from Bee while in Hollywood, she had locked herself out. It was very easy to get out of Carly's apartment. I was too far and on set, so I couldn't help. For whatever reason, Carly couldn't help either. In fact, I think Bee had forgotten her key at school. She had to drive all the way back, she wanted to get ready for work. She ended up being late.

By the way, the key that I had left inside the apartment, I had cut for myself with my own money. When I first moved in, I had to work with Carly's schedule, which I totally respected. I usually work in Hollywood, she works in Beverly hills and the apartment is downtown. I wouldn't always get hold of her on the phone because she doesn't like it when people blow up her phone, so, sometimes she just ignores everybody's calls. I personally haven't seen her ignore calls when she's around me, but I have had my calls be ignored. Just saying. People forget that when you're around them a lot, you know what their MO (modus operandi or method of operation) is.

One day, she left the key with me. I was going to go to the store while she went to school but I was going to get back before her and had no plans to go anywhere else that day. First thing I did was go to a locksmith and get myself spare keys. What she would do was, she would live her life like she didn't have someone extra in her house who is paying and just go all the way to Beverly Hills without telling me anything and then when  I get out of a show, Carly is at work and can't get to the phone. Or she would send me a text telling me that if I needed the key, she was at work. Meaning, btch, feel free to come get the key all the way in Beverly hills. Good like driving 45 minutes in traffic to come pick up a $1.50 key from me that I could have just cut you a spare of forever ago!  I would then have to drive an hour to her apartment from her job.

Is it me, or is that whole arrangement mean? I did that twice and thought to myself, I can't be doing this. My car is a V8, it's a gas guzzler, I didn't want to find myself resenting my amazing car because I was dealing with a very mean, selfish, diva! So I did what any self respecting human being would do and got myself spare keys. I even got the main door key cut. That took me a while because not all people will do that for you because it's written DO NOT COPY on it. But I found someone. That cost me $5 but it was worth it! I thought to myself that when I move out, I would throw away the keys as far as possible. I was not going to give that girl keys I had worked so hard to get for free. Fck that!

The day I was locked out, when we called the manager, he told me that they don't have spares for Carly's apartment because she locked herself out once, they gave her those keys and told her to return them and she never did. Turns out Carly gave those keys to Bee because she was too cheap to spend $6.50. She works in a restaurant, that's tips to her. Come on!

Anyway, she soon found out that I had my keys because I was no longer blowing up her phone trying to find out where she was when I wanted to go home. She gets home at midnight or sometimes 1 am from work, so there was no way of waiting for her in the car after work. That's why  I had to drive all the way to her job.

One day, it was at noon. I wanted to get my mail, I took the mailbox key, that too was another mission. Carly only had one, she never even made spare for Bee. Bee had been living there for half a year when I got there. I had to have my mail forwarded from my old Vegas address, so I used Carly's address, with her permission. We all had to wait for her to check the mail. So controlling! I asked her to leave the key somewhere in the house in case someone needed something urgently and she wasn't home. She did. I tried to get a spare cut, the guy didn't have the material they use to make that particular key. Bummer!

This one afternoon, I took the mailbox key and then locked the door behind me. I forgot the dog on apartment key! My mind was so focusing on the Mailbox key! Fck! The elevator wasn't working. I didn't want to walk all the way down five flights of stairs and back to get the mailbox key, so I ended up forgetting the door key. Fck it! The thing I wanted had arrived in the mail but how was I going to get back inside? I had to go through the same process again, getting Carly's key. Luckily, this time, I saw a lady in the hallway, she seemed nice. I greeted her, introduced myself and told her what I had just done. She invited me over to her apartment, which was just next door. She offered me something to drink and some pumpkin pie! I know! Talk about hospitality! We called the manager, got Carly's number, texted her and asked for Bee's number. They were both at school, so no hope there. I had a show in an hour and a half and hadn't showered yet.

I had to think fast. The lady let me use her internet. I went on Youtube and searched for ways to break in. None worked. The neighbor was so sweet, she was breaking in with me. Eventually, I was like, let me go downstairs. I didn't have a key, so I couldn't get out of the apartment block, or else I would be locked out of that too. I had my night gown on, a blazer and shoes, go figure. It was quicker to put that on than a bra. I opened the main door and saw a guy leaning by the wall waiting for the bus. I was peeping out just with my head because I didn't want to risk getting locked out. I asked the guy if he could do me a favor. He said yes without even asking me what it was. What an angel! I told him what my situation was, he came all the way up with me, used a knife to chip off part of the door that was in line with the lock. He noticed that that part was not wood, apparently someone had already broken in before and used some other material to patch the thing which made it that much easier for us to re-break in. What a silly system!

The guy let me in in less than ten minutes. I was so happy, I literally jumped up and down for joy. I grabbed my wallet and tried to pay him but he blatantly refused my money. He told me to take that money and fix the door, lmao. I gave him a hug and asked for his number, I wanted to take him out some time. He didn't have a phone. He told me I didn't owe me anything and left. Thank you guy, you saved my life! The lady from next door told me to buy her sweet potato pie as a thank you, so that was our deal.

I took a quick shower and headed for Hollywood. I didn't even tell Carly what happened. Why bother. Bee's response to my text about being locked out was: I'm at school! So clearly I was alone on that one. I still think she thought I was around when she was locked out, maybe she thought I could've done more. Oh well!

The following week, I was booked at Warner Brothers. That didn't last long, so I headed back home. There was so much traffic, I found a 99 cents store in Studio City and went in there to kill time. Best 99 cents store ever! While wandering about their isles, I got a call from Carly. She locked herself out! Buuaaahhhahahahah! Evil laugh - in my head. She was so stressed out, she had two hours to kill, needed to pee and wanted to eat. I told her that I was in Studio City, I didn't even feel bad or try to rush downtown ASAP. If she couldn't get out of bed to open the door, why should I drive in traffic and waste gas to save her ass? She tried to keep me on the phone to kill time, I was like, listen, I'm kind of in the middle of something, can we talk later? I wanted her to feel every minute of being locked out!

Where's Waldo?

By the second week, still staying at  Carly's, I was getting fed up of apartment searching. I had mentioned that if I had financial difficulties, in my new apartment in Beverly Hills, I would use airbnb to find people to stay there temporarily to help me with rent. She asked more about airbnb. Next thing, I knew, she told me she was going to use the couch to airbnb once I moved out. I think she started getting greedy, thinking, why do I have you here staying for free when I could be making money through airbnb that I didn't know about until you mentioned it. 

She told me that, within my first week of moving in, her roommate, Bee, told here that she liked me and I could stay there as long as I wanted to, she had no problem with that. I thought that was sweet. That certainly took the weight off my shoulders. Carly told me that. I thanked her for it and bought them both matching new dresses. Carly wore hers the very next day, she looked so cute in it. I would show you a picture but I don't like to use people's pictures. Anyway, I came up with an idea; because I was tired of apartment hunting, I asked Carly if I could be her first airbnb guest and start paying. She told me she liked the idea, she could use the money to buy new clothes. I had taken her to my favorite spot from Vegas. It turned out there was a branch just down the road from her apartment. She loved it. She bought so much stuff there, they had a gigantic sale. 75% off. I looked for the rest of February but took a break in March. I only looked in the beginning and took a break midway. I reckoned people move out end of beginning of the month anyways. I needed to recharge my batteries. I must say  I never foresaw staying that long at Carly's. I'm grateful for the roof over my head during that time.

I asked her how much she would charge me. She was like, how about $20 per night? I was like, you're gonna charge me a daily rate? I told her I was going to stay the rest of February. I wanted a monthly rate, then we would split it into half. She was like $500. I was like, I can afford any amount you want but can I just say this; Be very careful how you handle this because money is another issue. We think we don't need it but when an opportunity is presented before us where we could make money we didn't even expect, people can get greedy and want to make as much money out of that one opportunity as possible, which can in turn turn things around for them and they can end up losing that entire opportunity. Don't allow yourself to get greedy. Remember that you guys offered for me to stay free of charge as long as I needed. Now you want me to pay $500 per month.

Here's the thing; Rent in that apartment is $950 all inclusive. There are three of us, one of which has the entire bedroom to themselves, the other one has an enclosed space and a full closet, then there's me, a random person, sleeping near the kitchen that smells because the one who locks herself up in the privacy of her room is a slob and I have to pay the most? Why am I paying more than half the entire rent? Her roommate was paying $450, meaning, Carly was going to stay for free and I was taking over her share of the rent. Preposterous! Greed is a dangerous thing my friends! I told her $500 is far less than what I will be paying in BH, I could pay it without contesting it but that would ruin things between us. It would be the elephant in the room. She agreed and ended up charging me $300. Mind you, I still had to pay $100 for parking per month. That would have been $700, If I had agreed to pay the initial $20 per night. She should be grateful I have a conscience because if roles were reversed, she never would've offered to pay. She told me that she was going to take the money and go shopping. I was like, uhm, so you're not going to tel Bee that I'm paying? That's awkward! I will be walking around with a sense of entitlement knowing that I pay rent and she will be looking at me like, check you out walking around here like you're paying but you're not! Carly was like, well, I wasn't going to tell her, she doesn't care, she makes a lot of money. Again, Greed! I told Carly, an extra $300 wasn't going to change her life but it will do wonders for her and her relationship with her roommate, Bee if she split it up with her. It would make Bee see her differently. Considering they didn't even have a relationship. Bee probably can see right through Carly, that's why she's not feeling her very much. In the end, Carly put half of my share into an envelope and gave it to Bee. 

One morning, I woke up in a great mood (as usual!) and went to the hallway to check out the temperature outside the hallway windows. I had my night gown on. As the door slammed behind me I remembered, OH SNAP, I DON'T HAVE THE KEY WITH ME!  I got locked out! Story of my life! Why? Why? Why? I ask with tears in my big blue eyes, why? I continued to check the weather and went back to the door because, I was in a great mood, what could go wrong? Plus, Carly was still home. I didn't have my cell with me, but it's a one bedroom, I'll just knock.

I knocked.... and knocked....... and knocked...... nothing! I grabbed an empty beer bottle I saw in the hallway, I used that to knock. Nothing! I found a pain can lid, I used that to bang on the door. Nada! What? Is this chick still alive?  I didn't get it because I have a very sharp hearing. Not a sense of smell, but hearing. I'm that person who always tells people in the grocery store that their cellphones are ringing in their handbags, when they themselves can't hear them. I couldn't fathom someone banging on the door so loud with all kinds of stuff and still not hearing them. Granted, her bedroom door was closed but still! It probably is really hard to hear someone with the bedroom door closed but when you're the one stuck outside feeling ignored, it's hard to wrap your head around that.

I stood there wondering how long before she woke up or needed to use the restroom or something. Usually, she would get up early and come sit on the couch with me and spy on me. Sometimes, I would get up early, and update my gratitude journal. She would come stand right above me, all 5'10 of her and make small talk while reading what I'm writing. I was not grateful for that! One afternoon, we were walking on Broadway Street, downtown LA; she told me that she decided to do what I told her to; she was going to make some kind of a gratitude journal. I had never told he to do that. She told me that I told her to start all her lines with I'm grateful for.... Only, I never told her that! I have pretty decent memory, I never told that girl that! She told me that she was going to buy a box, write the things she's grateful for in a piece of paper and lock them up in a box because she feels weird just writing them in a book. What if someone finds it and reads them? 

Where is Carly now that I needed her to open the door?

I had been leaving my journal carelessly, amongst my stuff. I thought it was safe there but I noticed that I would find it on top of my stuff, knowing fully well that I had covered it up with either the laptop bag or some items of clothing. That left a bad taste in my mouth. I think that's where she got 'my advice' from. Snooping into my private stuff. That's why she felt paranoid that someone might find hers and read it because she found someone else's and read it. What a damn shame! 

After noticing that someone had been going through my stuff, I started making a concerted effort to hide my journal. Really sad when you live with people you're supposed to trust. I know it wasn't Bee because she is hardly there and she is too busy living her life. She didn't have the time. I spend a lot of time on my computer. Carly started sitting next to me in the morning, when I was so busy applying for jobs or looking for apartments. She would bring her own computer. I really wish she had let me stay in the bedroom where I was going to have privacy, she could then use the living room, because she seemed to like it to much. She didn't seem to need the privacy. I noticed that as we were talking and working on our computers, she wouldn't even hear what I was saying, she was so focused on the websites I was on. Next thing, I knew, she was on the websites I was on. So there we were, sitting next to each other, logged onto the same websites. It was rather psychopathic if you ask me. 

I started logging off other sites when she was around and just staying on Craig's list. I also had a password on my cell, tablet and laptop and I hid my journal. 

One evening, I went to the toilet and left Carly working on her PC on the couch. I didn't close mine because I knew I wold be right back. I was in there for a minute and when I came out, she was engrossed on my computer screen, she didn't even hear me coming out of the bathroom! ...

Apartment Hunting

It was a nice first night in LA at Carly's.

First morning, I had to start strategising, I told her what my plans were, that I was going to re-register with the casting networks/agencies I was with before moving to Vegas and tell everybody I'm back, book me! Which I did. And the did! I spend the first day back online in my car by some free parking lot in Hollywood. I had a few things I needed to take care of in Hollywood, so I decided to stick around. 

That night, I paid for overnight parking again, Carly didn't have a car, so she didn't quite know what the deal was with parking. I wasn't crazy about paying $15 for parking daily. Too much! But then, I didn't plan on sticking around that long for me to pay for the entire month. 

Carly had a roommate, she was sleeping in the living room but her part was partitioned out with those Chinese room divider thingies. She was also never home, she went to school and worked nights and was in a brand new relationship, so she was always out. Which worked best, otherwise, there would've been too many people in a one bedroom apartment. I did get to meet the roommate on my second day there or so. Nice girl, she and Carly were born two days apart, same year and everything! #twinning!

Carly had had a roommate before, a Korean girl who was here for a month or so, they got along fine,l according to Carly, she told me she still misses her. She wished she were still rooming with her and not the current roommate. Not that there was anything wrong with current roommate, it's just that, Carly didn't think she and the current roommate had anything in common, she was hoping for someone she could hang out with and have laughs like we used to in Hollywood or go out like with the Korean girl. She told me that the current roommate keeps to herself when she was around. 

When the girl and I met, we got along like a house on fire. She literally told me her entire life story that very day. She seemed like a nice young girl who had been seen it all. She has a big heart, supporting her family at her age of 21. 

I remember after meeting her, she and I continued to chat and Carly went to work. When Carly came home, she and I were hanging out. I would mention something about Bee, the roommate, and Carly wouldn't know that about Bee. I  noticed that they didn't know anything about each other. Which was very interesting and totally none of my business. I think that made Carly feel weird because she thought that Bee was one way and I saw a different side to Bee. That made her wonder if Bee just didn't like her (Carly's) company. That's the thing with having more than one other person in the house. Two will get along and one will feel weird. Good thing I wasn't there temporarily. Also as a side note, I always bring out the side to people, people who have always known them have never seen. I guess that's my specialty. 

Within 24 hours of my arrival, Carly had signed up with casting agencies, she was getting booked on shows on days she had school and work, I was just like, wtf? She would get booked on shows I had applied to and didn't get booked and walk out like, hey, gurl, heeeeyyy! I'm on my way to Hollywood, I got booked on this show by so and so. I'm thinking to myself, uhm, I thought you were not doing any acting work, what happened? But I had to save my energy, first because I didn't want to create tension in someone's home, secondly, because I needed my energy for house hunting. I had to focus, she was being herself again, copying everything  I did. So early! 

She would book herself for something and have to leave early because she had to get to work, she would then have to forfeit her pay because she didn't stay until the end. Where's the logic? If you hadn't gotten greedy and tried to steal my only bread and butter, I maybe would've been booked for the spot you took and gotten paid but you had to be a bitch! Like who works for no pay? 

I got some jobs too, I was working, fortunately, we never got booked in the same show ever! That would've been really awkward cos btch, I ain't tryna give you a ride! I know I stay in your house for free but you don't have to be an asshole about it! 

I was busy every morning and night, looking for accommodation. I would have appointment and stuff, I was already getting fed up of being around Carly, I was considering settling and just moving to Hollywood. I will see Beverly hills later, I gotta get the fck outta here! On our days off, we would go for a walk downtown. I saw a different side to downtown LA. When I lived there before with Daddy, I was locked up in that hellhole, I never really got to explore Downtown. One day, I went to the 99 cents store, OMG! That was the 99 cents store up the road from Daddy's. Fck me! That brought back all the memories! I never thought I'd see myself back there. I was caught off guard. Imagine if I bumped into him? I wonder if he would recognise me? Wow! 

I decided to drive down the street towards his house. I remembered the route because we went there all the time and he once let me drive there and back, which was nice of him. I parked in front of his place and just thought about living there. Where I was in my head when I did. It was quite something being there again, I tell ya! One day, I took Carly there because that was the only 99 cents store with parking in the neighborhood, not that close to her house, maybe 10 minutes drive, but it was close. I think she was zoned out when I told her that's where daddy used to take me, I didn't even bother showing her where I used to live with him. Why bother, if she doesn't give a sht?

There's a market, diagonally across the street from Carly's. OMG! She took me to this taco place, Christ! Best tacos ever!  So cheap, too. $3 each and they put so much meat on it, nomness! My favorite is Pork, of course! Sometimes, I would have half Beef and half pork or half chicken and pork. They're all good. Carly's favorite is pig snout. Meaning, as you may have guessed, the nose of a pig, gurl, I can't! I just thing about all the snort!

One of the weekends, we went to Little Tokyo. Carly's place is down the street from Chinatown, Little Tokyo is also close by. Walking distance. We had a nice time there, taking pictures. I have been looking for those pictures the past two days, otherwise I was almost done with the blog already. I tried sorting my picture folder out but it was too much of a mission, I decided, I will do a picture blog when  I am done sorting them all out. So far, I did about two hours of sorting and stopped. So please bear with a sista.

Carly took me to a Japanese supermarket in Little Tokyo where she usually gets some of her groceries. It's a pretty neat spot, affordable too. We walked home. I tried to boycott but she was like, let's walk a bit, you'll see, it's close. I'm not a big walker, big, yes, walker, not so much. But  I did it. It took us less than twenty minutes to get back to the apartment.

Not too long since I moved in with Carly, it was her friend's birthday, she asked me to tag along as she went to shop for a gift. She bought her friend a Victoria's Secret perfume. She bought herself one as well. That's the Carly  I know. She always gets herself something when she buys gifts for her friends. I ain't mad at that! We were there forever, while she was not able to make up her mind. She can never make up her mind, even though she knows exactly what she wants. When you get to the store, she confuses her self and then spends hours trying to decide between what she wants and what she doesn't. I was like, listen, you're paying for parking if we're gonna be here any longer. I can't do this anymore. Let's go!

Eventually we left. After she got what she originally went there for. Then we went to the 99 cents store to buy wrapping paper. We spent forever there while she couldn't decide what color wrapping paper she should get. She was confused between her friend's favorite color and hers. I was like, this is a no brainer, get your friend's favorite color, this is not your gift! She was like, but I really, really, really love this color!Christ! Eventually she bought yellow, her friend's favorite color. From then on, everything she bought herself was yellow. I was like, are you still shopping for your friend? Why's everything yellow around here? She told me that yellow has always been her favorite color, hadn't I noticed. I brought up the friend's birthday, that I was there when she told me yellow was her friend't favorite color, she denied the whole thing and tried to pretend like I was the delusional one. I just agreed with her, she needed that more than me.

My first day there, I did some cleaning, the dishes were piling in the kitchen sink, the floor looked like it had never been vacuumed since she moved ink and there was something rotting in the trash can. I had to clean because I was sleeping closer to the kitchen and the smell was killing me. Carly came home that night and gave me a hug, she told me that those are the things she misses about me. How I always keep a clean house. Her roommate wasn't that way, she never helps her out. I just said, you're welcome. I didn't want to get into it because clearly the roommate was never there and all the sht that was all over the place was Carly's. I don't know why the poor girl would have to 'help her out' with all that when it's her house and the girl was paying rent.

Carly may have taken me out to dinner that night as a thank you. She is generous when it comes to things like that, I'll give her that. She is not the worst person in the world, obviously! Who is?

I had been seriously looking for a place, calling, emailing and all that. A lot of places require application fee, somewhere between $30 and $50. How many of those can one folk out while looking for a place? It's non-refundable, mind you? Some of them want you to bring your own credit record, that you have to pay for too sometimes, or always? I don't know. It wasn't such a fun experience looking for a place this time around. It took way longer than it usually does. Normally within a week of looking, I find a place. Usually, the first place I view, I like and I take. This time, things were different. Carly was very good, she told me not to settle. She would always encourage me when I'm just like fck it, I'll just move to Hollywood. She would tell me that's not my plan, I need to stick to my plan. I can't thank her enough for all those words of encouragement.

I did go to view some places in Hollywood, some places in Beverly Hills, like two servants quarters, I was interested in, the guys wanted to see pictures of me. I wasn't ok with that. One of them seemed really real. We emailed back and forth, he answered all my questions until we got to the point of me going to see the place. He asked to see a picture because there are lots of scammers out there. I don't know how a picture was going to prove I wasn't one. I reluctantly gave in and sent one. Never heard from him again. Oh well!

I bet you that guy is still advertising his space. I used to see it religiously every week I checked the classifieds.

I viewed another servants quarters 'Beverly Hills Adjacent'. It was going for $1200 all inclusive. Unfurnished. Decent price, I just didn't know how adjacent we were talking, so I went to see it for myself. It was in a nice neighborhood, close to a very dodgy neighborhood, so that was a no no for me plus it looked more like a jail cell than a $1200 space. I would've had my own entrance, which would have been a plus, I didn't have to bump into anyone. They had kids and everything. I don't know how all that would have panned out at the end of the day. I am not big on overcrowdedness, especially for that much money.

I told them I would get back to them, they were so nice, I couldn't get myself to call back and say, meh, nah thanks!

Catch That Shade!

After driving around West Hollywood, I spotted a Walgreens Pharmacy. I turned around and went there, hoping they would have free parking. Just as I approached parking, I saw a thing stating that one needs Walgreens verifies otherwise you have to pay for parking. I drove in, I was already right there, I had to, it's off a busy street; Sunset Blvd, I think. I asked the guy at the gate how much parking is per hour, he told me it's free, to disregard the thing at the gate. Hallelujah! Thank you stars. I went inside to use the restroom and maybe buy something to drink. all my Water in the car was lukewarm.

That's the prettiest Walgreens I've been to! It's new and big and the AC was on blast! It was just what I needed. And, guess what? They were having a reopening thing going on, a lady came and asked me if I wanted someone to do my makeup for free. I am never that girl for free make up. but I needed the breather so I said yes, plus she did tell me that I was going to get a bag full of goodies. They only did my eyes and put gloss on my lips, nothing major. Then I got a tote full of stuff, two mascaras, nail polish, top coat, deodorant and other stuff. It was so nice to get all that stuff when I was having such a crazy day. I owe them! 

I bought something to drink and went to the car to make some phone calls. I called Carly, remember her? My old roommate from Hollywood? She picked up, she was like, 'Hey, gurl heeeeeyyyyy!' I asked what she was up to. She told me she was in West Hollywood, she had just got out of an interview. She's always looking for a better job. I was like, omg, let's do lunch! She asked where I was. I told her I had just arrived from Vegas. She seemed so excited to hear that. It was her day off, so she had nothing but time. She was about to take the bus home, so she told me she could take it to where I was. I told her I could just pick her up somewhere. I picked her up from campus. I drove in, turns out, she was outside by some bus stop. One of my pet peeves, someone who sucks at giving directions, like where do you want me to go? Where exactly? Grrrr! Calm down, Brook! 

I told her to come inside and meet me in campus, she did. We then looked all over for the parking ticket,for the life of me, I couldn't find that thing anywhere. My car was full of sht, so it was very interesting to say the least. I didn't even need to be there to begin with, so it was a real challenge to not be pissed at the whole situation. Eventually, I pushed the help button, the guy told me to pay minimum of $12. Really? So much money? Welcome to LA, Brook. If someone had told me they were at the bus stop outside campus instead of telling me to pick them up from the college, I wouldn't be paying random $12. Anyway, We talked and laughed, she was like, OMG, Brooooookkk! Why did you buy such a big car? BECAUSE I'M A BIG GIRL! haha

Carly asked me what my plans for the rest of the day were. I told her that I was looking at air bnb-ing a room for the week or so until  I found an apartment. She offered to have me stay at her house for the night because I had just driven all the way from Vegas, and just paid so much on parking that I didn't even need to, haha, she literally said that. She and I have the cheapskate thing in common! I guess I was tired too, so I took her up on her offer. 

She doesn't have parking in her apartment. She lives downtown LA. She told me that I could pay to use parking right next to her apartment. She said parking was like $5 overnight. Right up my alley. We headed straight for downtown before traffic got crazy. We beat it! Thank goodness! The parking she was referring to must have initially been meant for her building because it's right beside her building. We Parked there, sat in the car and chatted, trying to kill time because parking was $5 from like 5pm and we got there after four, being the cheapskates that we are, we were not going to pay an additional $9 for less than an hour. 

We talked a bit, she told me that I could actually stay there until I found an apartment. That was such a nice offer from her of all people. That girl used to drive me nuts but when someone come through for you at a time like that, it changes how you see them. I thanked her and promise I wouldn't take any of that for granted. I would try and find a place as soon as possible. We took out some of my valuables from the truck, I hid the rest in the trunk and as we were doing that, a dude drove in in a truck that looked just like mine, same color and everything! Carly and I were outside mine, giggling like high school kids the whole time. That's what we tend to do when we're together. It's the best thing about being around each other,if not the only good thing, catch that shade, child! I greeted the guy and said, nice ride! He was like, yours looks even better! He was right! Mine has a sun roof and a moon roof, caaatttcchhh! He introduced himself, we chatted for a bit. apparently, he had had an incident with Carly where she wouldn't let her into the main door of her building when the guy didn't have a key.

We eventually went upstairs. I was looking forward to putting my feet up. It had been a long day. I was also looking forward to seeing Carly's place for the first time. I never really go to people's homes, so I'm always curious to see how other people live. Her apartment was pretty! It's gigantic with high ceilings! I was like, girl, check you out! Having lived with her before and picked up after her the entire duration, I was curious to see how she kept her own place. Well...Side look

She had told me when I was in Vegas that she just bought a sleeper couch/futon. She told me how everything happens for a reason. She bought the couch the previous week, and there I was a week later. I felt bad that her new couch had to endure this heavy weight woman.

I found a spot out of the way for my luggage, put my feet up and we talked the night away. 

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.

Trouble at Walmart

I started looking for apartments on line before I even moved to LA. I wanted to see what I was in for. I set a budget in my mind.

I saw a one bedroom, well, two, in the same building; one had parking for extra $100 per month, just imagine! and the other didn't have parking. Apparently there's no street parking in the area.It would have been a hell of a hassle trying to find parking every single day for my entire time there. I called the guy, he told me that the one with parking was still available. I had a nice feeling about the apartment. I asked him to send me pictures and the contract. I was going to take it. He wouldn't let me take it without viewing it. I was like come on! I'm the one who's committing. He told me I would have to have viewed it for him to let me sign the contract. Ugh! I didn't feel like making a drive to LA. I did think about it for a hot second but then was like, meh cos he also told me that he was still showing it, it would depend when I got there if it were still available. I was like, bye!

I knew that I was getting that much closer to finding the apartment of my dreams. I kept looking. Whenever I felt like it wasn't happening, I stopped looking. I wanted to do it only when it didn't feel like a chore to do it, you know what I mean? I didn't have furniture, nothing! I was going to start from scratch and I was excited. I wanted a king size bed and leather bedroom furniture and suede or beige/white furniture in the living room. I could already see what the entire apartment was going to look like.

My plan was that I was going to stay in a hostel in West Hollywood, which is pretty close to Beverly Hills, looking for an apartment for a week or two and boom, move in!

I took my car for oil change before my drive back to LA. I decided to take it to Walmart because it's Walmart, right? They didn't have much of a line, I paid what I had to and went inside to kill time. Before I knew it, my name was announced on the intercom. I rushed to the back, paid and they gave me my car keys. I got to the car, stuck the key in, (I know, I still have to buy a remote), turn it and it turned 360 degrees. I knew there and then something was wrong. I went around the car and noticed that the passenger's door wasn't properly closed. Everyone in the Auto dept was packing up, getting ready to leave. I had to get hold of someone before they disappeared. "excuse me! My car won't open" They told me it was fine when they had it. I was like, that's exactly my point. It was ok when I handed it to you. Now I can't get in. I have so many things I gotta do, please fix this, quick! they tried to brush me off, I was like, please call me the person in charge, I don't have all day.

It's been such a long time since I used that side of my personality, usually, I'm sweet-ish. I used to be much harsher. It was kinda nice to tap into that ;)
They called the supervisor, then the manager, everyone tried to shift the blame. They were saying things like, 'well, if you had a remote, you wouldn't be having this problem!' I was like, uhm, don't break my car and then tell me what I should've done with it! The bottom line is, you broke my car and now I can't drive home. That's the bottom line. I need it fixed because I'm relocating to another state in 2days, I don't have time set aside to fix a car that was broke by someone who was supposed to fix it. I didn't' pay you guys to create problems for me. It was late, seven-ish. I was there until 8pm, and beyond. I was tired. It was my bedtime and I was sitting at Walmart, not knowing if I was coming or going.

The manager told me to ask my insurance to send a locksmith for me. I told them that this was their problem to fix. My concern was, what if the problem was deeper than we all thought? Then they were going to tell me that the people I got to open it messed the car up. I didn't even want to try. Why should I anyway? They called locksmith, they told us they don't work on those cars. They referred us to someone else, who was there in no time. Long story short, he got me into the car. The car didn't even look like it was going to start at that point. Nobody knew what the heck was wrong. We were all staring at each other. I told them I wanted to go to sleep. I didn't have any more energy in me to try anymore. They were kind enough to call me a cab and give me fare.

It was still cold,it was January. I got home, went online, tried to find out on the Land Rover forums what the matter could have been. First thing the following morning, I went to Walmart with a list of solutions. Nobody even came close to my car that day. Well, one guy did. The cashier, she was so sweet! He told me he thought about me the previous night and hoped that they had solved my problem. We both tried to fix the problem, nothing happened. He and another guy from auto, who may or may not have been on drugs, thought it was an alarm issue. I called a couple of people to find out how to reset the alarm. When you turn the key on the driver's door, it disarms the alarm. The door lock was broken, so we were not able to disarm it, so that I could start the car. That's what we all thought was logically the problem. Because I had worked for Netstar, the #1 car tracking/alarm company in South Africa, I called my former supervisor. She asked what the matter was, she told me, sorry, can't help. Didn't even try! Ok, good night! I didn't have time to wallow, time was money, LA Awaited! I messaged an old colleague, he asked what car it was, I told him, he told me to burn it. I replied, ok. Again, no time to wallow, Neeeexxtttt!

The above are some of the reasons I don't generally tell people when I have a problem. Who tells you to burn your car when you are merely trying to get it started? How does that get the car started? Anyway! Before I knew it, it was late! I had to get the car fixed, no matter what. Time was running out! I went home, this was night 2. I told myself that I was not going to be desperate. I was just going to believe that things would work out. I had put in my notice at my place, If I couldn't get the car going when it was time to move out, I was going to have to figure out where I was going to stay while waiting for the car to work.

I didn't even want to deal with all that. I just needed the car to work so I could get going. I scoured through the internet, only I wasn't quite sure what the problem was other than the fact that I was able to get inside and couldn't get it started. I didn't know if it was the battery, because that had also died over the three days of trying to do all kinds of things to the car... or had it? Oi!

Day 3:- I woke up in a great mood! I had a feeling that was the last day my car was going to be parked at Walmart. I arrived at Walmart, went straight to the car, I had my tools with me. I removed the door panels and voila! something fell out! It was some part of the door lock that was broken. I googled the numbers on the part. I then took the name of the part and googled a broken one in a Land Rover, that's when I found out that that was the reason the car wasn't starting. That was somehow connected to the alarm. I rushed to the manager. They told me they had a new manager that day, he seemed nice. He had been told about me. I told them that their guys broke that and I wanted it fixed asap. They quickly called Walmart insurance, I had already called Land Rover, the guy I talked to told me to refer the tow guy to him. Walmart called a tow truck, nice guy. He asked if I wanted a ride. Land Rover dealership was off my street but like a few miles away. I thought I would take the ride and just take one bus home from there.

Our way from Walmart to Dealership went past my house actually but there was nowhere for a gigantic tow truck with a car on top of it to stop. We arrived at Land Rover and I was like a kid in a candy shop. Range Rovers everywhere! I was like, this is gonna be my next ride! They were so nice, they told me to get in, asked if I wanted to test drive it. That would've been nice but I was there for another reason. They let me charge my cellphone in one of the Manager's offices. They offered me water, soda or coffee. I had to take some of that Land Rover bottled water which I reused and reused and reused.

I had to leave the car, it was next in line. The guy was doing everything in his power to take care of me and let me relocate on schedule. I really appreciated their service.


They  called me when I got home and told me that they would have to order the car from Britain as Land Rovers are British cars. I told them I didn't have time, I had to move the following day. Walmart was paying, I didn't care how much the part cost but  time was of the essence. Luckily, they had an old Landy in their lot that they could take the part from and just replace that with a new one. I was like, I'm down, let's go. Turns out, because the part is shaped very much like a large nail, some people just use a nail, $1 for a set of about 8 nails from Home Depot, Bob's your uncle! That was the least of my concerns!

Land Rover told me that my car would be ready the following morning. In all honesty, I had three or so more days before my move. I just wanted to make sure I had the car by then. And I did. I still had an entire day to go shopping before I moved. The car came back in mint condition, it was clean and they replaced the panel perfectly, you wouldn't even suspect that they were removed by an amateur aka ME! lol. I got a number of calls from Walmart confirming that they took care of everything, they apologised. Everyone worked so well together after I found out what the problem was. I must say, I am very proud of myself that I single-handedly diagnosed the problem!

Now that I was feeling better about everything, I had the energy to pack my bags. Good thing I only had clothes to worry about, no furniture or kitchenware etc.