Mapping a Life in LA

It's a vastly different life, this one, and I've lived a lot of them.  Possessing, as I do, a devotion to creativity, as well as a pre-occupation with steady paychecks, I've traversed a lot of ground, mapped many routes.

My legs are sore from all the walking, both literally and figuratively speaking.  I'd like to think that the miles I've walked in life, observing cities from the inside out, have helped form my physical and mental shape. I'm not speaking about fitness, but about being, about the shape I embody in actual space.  So, there are the aggregate miles.  But there's also now.  In the last three days, I've shed the cocoon of my car, and have put my feet to pavement.  See, the thing is, I've gone back to school.  I'm getting a master's degree in writing at USC, and, conveniently enough, the Expo Line has been up and running since spring.  When I was acting in USC student films a few years ago, the Expo line did not yet exist, and getting down there was a pain. Now, it's a real breeze, filtering between buildings, through tunnels, down avenues.

Hence, the new map of my existence: walk 1.7 miles to work, walk 0.7 miles to the train, commute to school, commute back to Hollywood, walk 0.5 miles home.

There are auditions and things that will break up this experience a bit, and require me to, once again, shut myself in a car, but, for the time being, I'm feeling the soreness in my legs as proof of my dedication to this city.