***disclaimer*** i'm writing the next couple out of order. the past few days have been so busy (with me driving up the west coast and all), that i haven't been able to write. i'm gonna start with the most recent, just so i don't lose it, but don't worry, it'll all get here eventually. ***end disclaimer*** brianne drove kelly and i to what must have been the only coffee shop in bakersfield, ca. walking in was like entering emo heaven. joan of arc was playing on the house speakers and the barista looked like he'd never left 1996. ah, small towns. how i miss their stagnent nature. sitting at a table, patiently waiting on brianne and kelly and reading a copy of wizard magazine, i finally got the call i'd been waiting for. my car was fixed and it was only gonna cost $400. our 24 hour stint of being stranded in bakersfield was finally over. kelly and i gave each other a high five and brianne drove us over to oscar's repair. he'd come in on his day off, just to fix our car. he gave us a great deal and saved our trip and probably our lives. as of right now, there is no one in this world that sits on a higher pedistal in my mind. oscar the hero. we said our goodbyes, got directions to the 99 and headed back out on our journey. it was 1pm, the same time we'd broken down the day previous. we decided to get food before getting on the freeway and stopped at a buffet style chucky cheese-ish pizza place. we pay'd the $9 and got two to go baskets each. we loaded so much fucking food into those things, that i think i have enough to get me back to seattle. kelly and i took turns on the drive up. i started, she finished, but there were a few more switch offs inbetween. we drove from bakersfield to seattle straight, about 16 hours (which is good time). we sang along to the violent femmes and had a impromptu justin timberlake/michael jackson dance party. i practiced my air drumming skills and kelly sighed and tried to ignore me. i spent hours on the phone calling everyfriend in seattle and building the anticipation for my arrival. i still wasn't sure if i was excited or not to be going back, but it was happening and this final piece had to be finished to make my move to los angeles complete. somewhere in northern california, we reached the perfect middle point. after the cd player overheated, we surfed the radio dial while waiting for it to cool down. we tried the AM and listened and laughed as we came across religeous fanatic after political conservatist after another. the ideas spread across middle are so extreme and yet so uninformed that it makes me wonder how we all aren't already dead. we began to realize that we were hearing stations both from l.a. and seattle and wondered in amazement as each town tried to pull us into thier grip. kelly and i are both l.a. transplants from seattle. we moved at around the same time and this was each of ours first time back. i think we're both happier in l.a. as those AM stations took one last grasp at us, teasing us with the sunny weather we were missing, we almost turned around, but decided to face the music instead. shortly after (or maybe in the middle of) the AM radio debacle, kate gave me a call. it was the second time we'd talked that day, and there'd be another conversation after (she gave me a freebie late night 'road dial', which is like drunk dialing, but you call out of sheer boredom instead of calling to admit things you never would if you were sober). our conversations weren't too long or detailed. i told her about the most exciting parts of the trip i could come up with and she told me about her drunken party escapades and all i could think about was how much i'd rather be there joining her. kate does have a problem with playing the pronoun game though (chasing amy shout out! whoop!). sometimes when telling me stories of what she's doing she'll use the ambigous term 'friend' instead of a name. usually the girls get called by their proper and if a guy shows up, he's the ambiguous. i don't really understand this philosophy. why would you omit someone's gender or happenings with that person unless you were trying to spare someone's feelings (especially if that person is not interested in you the same way you are them. seems like you'd only want to rub it in to prove your point)? or maybe that person is just really private, but regardless, it always sounds suspicious. the truth, although harder to say, is usually easier to digest. now, i'm not usually a jealous person (and not that i have any right to be over this girl anyway. she's not my girlfriend, nor do i have any right to dictate what she does and does not do), but if my mind is lead to wander, it tends to assume the worst. i'm sitting here thinking "that's not happening", but my imagination is like "oh yeah it is. she's having and orgy with 50 dudes right now, suckin dicks, making them cum on a picture of you and laughing the entire time!," and i'm like "nooooo!" it's a fucked up game. in reality, nothing's probably happening, or maybe, if something, it's nothing more than a drunken night of messing around. usually that person is not falling in love and yeah, usually not having an orgy either. still, as much as i have no claim to it, i can still be somewhat jealous or hurt by the unknown. even something as simple as a unrequented crush, yet burgeoning friendship has it's difficulties. at around 3am, i began to get tired of driving and gave kelly the reigns for the final leg. she'd been sleeping and i'd been up all night. we stopped at a gas station and found a sudden burst of energy. it was picture share time. i bombarded friends across the country with moments from my gas station bathroom adventure. the exchanges lasted well through the night, until i finally passed out about 90min outside of seattle. at 5am i was woken up by my friend natalie calling. i opened my eyes and there was the seattle skyline. it was dawn and we were surrouned by gray sky and pine trees. we'd officailly entered the pacific northwest. natalie screamed, "where are you? it's so late!" and i was like, "we'll be there in 15 min." after i got off the phone, i took a minute to take it all in. as death cab for cutie's new album blazed through our stereo, i finally got excited to be back in my old town, to walk down the same streets, to embrace the friends i hadn't had a chance to in so many months. we pulled up to natalie's house. we grabbed our stuff and wandered through her yard. two other kids showed up i didn't know. they whispered, "is that him?". i looked over and they asked if i was frankie chan. "yes," i said. "THE franki chan." "yeah." 'oh, we've heard so mauch about you, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." after making introductions and reconfirming my celebrity status in seattle, we made our way inside. i wasn't really in the mood to meet new people at 5:30 in the morning, but natalie hadn't shown up yet. about 15 min later an entire posse stumbles through the door. they'd all waited up to give me a warm welcome and i can't tell you how awesome that made me feel. i have some really good friends in this town, and as much as i try to deny the past, i really do miss them. we sat on the couches, passed around a bottle of wine and shared cigarettes. we shared stories of recent exploits until, finally, it was time for bed. we folded out the sofa bed and kelly and i curled up. this morning i woke up and wandered out of the house at around 11am. kelly took the trek with me. in my normal tradition when returning to a town, i like to take a walk around and refamiliarize myself with the surroundings. we walked down to broadway, made a left, a right on pine and got coffee at bauhaus. we walked over to glo's to take a look at my art show (which looks good by the way). after that, the interent cafe was in order. all the while i ran into old friends. i have 24 hours here. who knows what could happen.