So we were down in L.A. this weekend and ended up checking out a few colleges. That was not the original purpose of the trip; John got tickets for a taping of Battle Bots so we thought we'd swing by UCLA and UC-Irvine while we were down there. Those are Tom and Sam's first choice schools, respectively. At least for now. FYI, the acceptance rate for UCLA is 17% and UCI is 40%. Best of luck to ya. Anyway.
I am not a fan of UCLA because I hate LA. For several reasons. Mainly, 1. The traffic fucking sucks. and 2. the closest airport is LAX. LAX is The Worst Airport On The Planet. Nuh-uh-uh-uh, don't argue with me. It's the worst because it sucks and it's in LA which if full of crack houses, rent boys and broken dreams. Or maybe I've read too much Harry Bosch. I've have connections through LAX that required me to leave not only security but the actual building to get to the other gate. WTF? After arriving, we followed the signs to baggage claim and ended up on a 12 ft sq. mezzanine with a escalator to the arrivals curb on one side and a pedestrian bridge to a parking garage on the other. Where the fuck is baggage claim? I already want to go home.
Every single part of that airport seems like an afterthought. Meeting a driver? They'll be standing in a 6x6 entry area at the bottom of an escalator. Looking for the security area? It's directly at the top of a flight of stairs Need a bathroom? It's at the very end of the terminal up two flights of stairs (no escalator). And what's with all the fucking stairs? No other airport requires you to change floors as often as LAX. And it's all corners, you have to turn 7 corners before getting anyway you need to be and half the time you end up in a hallway. Think about those two things; hallways and corners. Anytime you end up in a hallway, in an airport, it's feels very wrong. And how many corners are there between your airport's security and the gate? Maybe 1. Probably 0. I fucking hate that airport. All that bullshit before you've even merged onto the freeway and, boom, UCLA is one of my least favorite colleges in the state. That and it's really big and really far away from home....
Side note, the couple seated in front of me had clearly never been to LAX because they kept looking out the little window and smiling. They were blown away by the big A380 that seats more than 500 passengers! Wow! No, not wow. Over 500 passengers? Just look at the slice of Americana we're currently surrounded by and times it by 6. That plane is nothing short of hell on earth. That aircraft should be a flying penitentiary. White collar crime would disappear overnight. Sure you could defraud your investors but if you're caught you could end up flying to New Zealand on an A380, with tourists, with a mother of 'very special' children who have never heard the term 'inside voice', with 97 people who've never used an overhead bin in their entire fucking lives. I'd rather been shot.
Anyway, turns out UCLA is a really nice college.
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