Moving :(

I'm sure this might come as a shock to some, but I'm about to actually use my blog in the way that Blogger intended: as a blog! This might set the world on the way to destruction, I know, but it needs to be done. Here's why:

1. I have a job.
2. I have to move out west in order to do said job.
3. My only internal reference point for moving out to the west is The Oregon Trail.

The first two points are fine. It's the third that has me tossing and turning in my sleep and generally wondering how in the world I'm going to handle this. I'm sure someone managed to do a solo run of the Oregon Trail game, but I'm also quite as certain that anyone who tried it back when people actually used the Oregon Trail either went mad or stiff, likely the latter. Heck, even the Lewis and Clark expedition, despite it's two-person naming convention, had 33 people to its name. All I've got is a father who will go with me on the condition that we stop in Arizona to see the Meteor Crater as featured in Starman and a car my mother not-so-lovingly refers to as "the garbage scow." Needless to say, the journey will be long and perilous...

According to the Internet's calculations, the journey would take about 36 hours total if I went straight from Pittsburgh to Lomita. Adding in the requisite trips to St. Louis and the Meteor Crater increases that number to about 45. Thus, it would be possible, though unwise, to make the trip in three 15 hour days. While this would likely give me a good inkling of what work will be like, considering the possibilities of madness, sleepiness at the wheel, and death by dysentery associated with driving for a lot longer than one should in a given day, the driving is a lot more likely to be split into 4 days of 12, 12, 12, and 9 hours.

Frankly, I'm not looking forward to it. The employment is great. The not living at home and finding my own place in California near friends is great. The 45 hours in the car is not so great, and if it wasn't the best, cheapest option available to me for moving there's probably no way on earth I'd consider it. There's every chance that all my portable entertainment electronics will burn out trying to keep us sane, including my computer, which has a go at itself every time I watch any sort of video. I can't even find out why Billy Mays is hitting himself with a hammer without the computer trying to melt into slag, and frankly, it worries me. Alas, the die is cast and my fate is sealed. Starting this Wen... Wedsne... that day in the middle the week that no one likes, I'll be on the road. Any ideas for how to make the time pass more quickly are more than appreciated, as are visitors once I get my own place!