Staying up Late in a Van

Normally when I can’t sleep it’s no problem to stay up & surf around Wikipedia or the BBC. Now, it’s a blessing.

We’re currently taking advantage of the cheapest way to live in LA: park your camper on the side of the street. It seems that we’re not the only ones either, there’s tons of RVs & vans all over the place, more than anywhere else. There’s also a lot of $1M houses and I suspect a correlation. But I digress.

Living in a van is a truly unique experience. For one, when people walk through a parking lot back to their car, they probably don’t expect anyone to be having dinner near by. Little do they know of the society of folks who are cooking pasta just a thin sheet of aluminum away!

Similarly, an oft overlooked necessity of life is… how can I put it gently… relieving ones self? Not having a toilet on hand dictates that you either consume & locate yourself strategically or get creative with containers. Let me say that crawling out of the van, groggy and hungover, at 7:00am in an otherwise peaceful & orderly neighborhood, looking for a bathroom, makes you question your life choices.

So, what I’m saying here, is that there’s a lot more to consider than not having a lot of closet space. Living in a van requires that you develop new abilities to transcended comfort and societal norms, and it’s not for the faint of heart. But it will help you realize what you need and what you can live without.

Lately we’ve had to question the “luxuries” of trying to: get online, go to the bathroom, get a shower, exercise, eat well (or at least decently), and get a good’s night sleep. Hopefully you’re not taking all these things for granted.

;-)

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5 Comments in 2 threads.»

Comment by Kosti Kostibas
2007-11-04 13:27:58

Is there a river somewhere you could park next to? Perhaps acquire some government cheese. This whole post reminds me of a Chris Farley sketch from SNL.

Comment by Kosti Kostibas
2007-11-04 13:35:04

I think this pretty much sums it up…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV7j5ZqWgYg

Comment by Alexi
2007-11-04 14:03:56

Hey it’s all fun & games until you’re Matt Foley :-) Maybe I should get in to motivational speaking.

 
 
 
Comment by dan
2007-11-04 07:28:48

Having went to 7th and 8th grade north of LA…i am very familiar with the homeless population.

i went to school in one of the old missons in Ventura. Across the street was a small park with a nice fountain. The homeless people (men/women) would sleep in the bushes and bathe in the fountain. we’d have PE out on the grass. one day while we were going over to play football, we had to do laps. Well, this one homeless dude was passed out along the “sidelines” and we started jumping over the guy. The best part was when steve scezzi went to jump over the guy and he put his leg up to trip him.

I think the best part of my athletic career was not scoring the game winner in OT while playing college hockey, but returning an INT for a TD while 7 drunken homeless people cheered me on.

Comment by Alexi
2007-11-04 13:05:55

Awesome story, I just want to make the distinction that we’re not homeless… we live in a van! :-)

 
 
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