we were going to go to the storage facility and unload the truck but things didn't go so well so we decided to just go to the facility and check-in. we got there about 2 hours before they were to close. i had made a reservation online at a very good rate but they never actually reserved a space for me. the lady at the office didn't have the power to override the computer and give me the rate i got online, which was $30 less than the rate she could give me. she left a message with the corporate hotline and started making calls and leaving messages all over the place every 5-10 minutes. no one was calling her back. i really needed to have this sorted out today because everyone who was going to help unloaded the truck was going to be ready tomorrow at 6am. we waited 1 hour and finally someone called her back. they said tomorrow they would override the price so to go ahead and give me a space, thank god! so we looked it over and i was very impressed with the security of the place.

for dinner, we went to eat at a vegetarian place in cerritos called the vegi wokery with my mom and her boyfriend. they don't use eggs, dairy, or msg in their cooking and damn, their food is good! my mom's boyfriend loves meat and sweet things so he was very skeptical of eating there. he didn't try the fake meats in our appetizers, which were very good by the way. when he got his plate, a chicken curry concoction, he was raving at how good the fake meat was. after the delicious food, i think everyone was open to trying their homemade soy yogurt. that was one of the best soy desserts ever! i easily see myself becoming a regular customer. the lady who was serving us was so happy that we enjoyed it. she must be the owner or co-owner. she said they have been in business for 10 years so i told her that's exactly how long i've been away from cerritos, which is why i didn't know about their restaurant.

on the way home, we stopped by home depot to pick up a few things. it's the home depot i've always gone to growing up, but someone it seemed huge. twiddle thumbs and i were just in awe at how huge the place was. we definitely were in santa cruz too long!

once we were home, we realized we needed a few groceries. we drove to the ralph's right by my mom's house but they were already closed. so we went back home and searched on the internet for a health food store that was still open. luckily, there is a wild oats in long beach that's open every night until 11pm so we headed there. on the way, there was a freeway detour so all the traffic halted. i noticed that at least the lanes around me would creep a centimeter or two, but my lane never moved. after much waiting, i was able to move and realize that a car had completely stopped ahead of me in my lane. thanks! once we were on the streets, a bus passed me by. that's right, in LA everyone drives so fast that even a bus driver thought i was going too slow!

the wild oats in long beach was huge. again, culture shock coming out of hippie land. our eyes were wide open once we saw the huge row of bulk food bins! we bought some hummus and i think that was the best store bought hummus i have ever had.