Memories from Yester-Year

COVID19 - School Closure - Day 157 School Reopens - Day 205

It's been 20 years.  And yet.. here we are again - San Luis Obispo.  The place I called home for almost 5 years of my life.  The place where I met the love of my life... found my two best friends.... and long to retire at.  Every time I come back, I pick up a different piece of me and learn more about myself.

Our first stop on this trip after checking in was going to campus. I thought that since we've done so much hiking recently, we can climb the infamous Cal Poly P.  Might as well claim this on our hiking passport.  The hike took all but 30 minutes… aye… and it costed me $5 for parking!!!  (I made it up by parking miles away and walking for the rest of this trip... #BOOM).  If not for SW needing to go poop… and we headed back to the hotel… I would’ve milked that $5 for the rest of the day and take the kids on self-guided tours.  But standing on top of the mount – the Cal Poly P… looking at the campus… the different buildings… man… Cal Poly is a really ugly campus.  No soul.  No character.  Just years and years of different things being added on at different eras.  Yuck.  Why did I ever choose to come here????  

That first night… we were all a little tired.  So no one wanted to head out to dinner.  Ended up getting Thai food to go.  And as luck would have it… this placed wasn’t situated in downtown SLO… but all the way out in the boonies.  The path that google map took me… amazingly had me drive past Leff Street – my very first apartment.  I couldn’t help but think back of those days there.  And how amazingly situated it was…within 5 minutes waking to downtown.  And how stoopid I was… when they raised the rent on from $650 to $670. I said we’re moving!!! So stoopid!! Why didn’t anyone talk any sense into me???

 Yes… we found another place for $650.  But sheesh… the amount of time and energy needed to clean and move and to resituate was idiotic!!!  The Thai Restaurant, as it turns out, was just 2 minutes away from Bullock Lane, my 2nd apartment.  Why the heck did we move out here??? It was far, inconvenient, loud.  Sigh…. More memories came rushing back.  This was where I lived when I started dating Joyce.  The place where I invited my buds to come over for the Niners/Falcons NFC Championship game… but because Joyce and I got into a fight… I wasn’t even home to host it.  It was the place where I punched a hole in the wall.  It was the place where I got my first used PC… bought my first monitor… and spent 3 hours installing Netscape 4.32 and had my own internet.  I spent an entire summer here cuz my roommate didn’t want to stay.  That summer... changed my life. 

Then I started to head back to the hotel. Down Orcutt Drive, left on Laurel Lane and onto Johnson Ave.  I still remember driving up and down Johnson Ave that one time we got into a fight. I missed her so much but I knew she was at church on Sunday. And I wanted to find her. Not knowing which church she was at… I drove up and down Johnson Ave, trying to look for the distinguished blue Corolla.  Ha…. so stupid.  Never found her that morning.  Turns out her church wasn’t on Johnson Ave anyways.

It was amazing how Google Maps took me on those routes.  I don’t think I would’ve found those streets if not for that Thai Resturant, if not for Google Maps. Too serendipitous that it took me exactly to to the very streets where I lived.  

I can't help but re-think... what life would've been like had I gone to Cal... or more curiously... gone to UC Davis??  You can't live life like this.  But only through long drives, by yourself, with nothing... but your memories from yesteryear.  

Haiku
Didn't LOVE Cal Poly
Those years made me who I am
The place I call home