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Just submitted an app for an internship that I’m probably not gonna get. Just as I clicked submit, the intro by the xx came up. FREAK

12/16/12- Being Stranded with Jimmy in Huron, CA

Around 10:30AM, Jimmy arrived at Princeton to take me along with all my luggage back to Norcal. We made sure to stop by a gas station and 85 for some bread before taking off. Once we got on the freeway, we began to catch up- talking about small groups, our cores, our babysitting experience, and bunch of other random stuff. Though it was a smooth ride throughout, we encountered a bit of traffic near the Cerritos area, but it passed by in about 15 miles. After that segment, we were traveling at a steady 70ish mph until we started feeling hungry. We accidentally passed by a McDonalds so we told ourselves that we’d get off at the next MickeyDs. At this point, however, we still had not passed the grapevine and despite talking the entire time, it felt like we were traveling pretty slowly. We thought about it for maybe….2 minutes, brushed it off and got off the freeway to grab some McDonalds to-go. We ate in the car and about 2.5 hours on the 5 highway, we started hearing a weird clack-clack noise. Jimmy momentarily lost control of the car, but we were able to pull over safely. Jimmy started calling Allstate for some help while I ran, along the freeway, to find out what the nearest exit was so the mechanic would know our location. It was about 75 yards away until I could finally read the sign, only to find out it wasn’t one that told me the exits, but rather the one that tells me how many miles I’m away from the nearest city (I forget), SF, and Sacramento. I wrote it down, ran back with the news, and realized it wouldn’t help us at all. Why? Because the Allstate agent Jimmy was talking to was from another state and still had no idea where we were. Luckily, a policeman pulls over behind us to help us out by calling a tow truck for us and surprisingly, waits with us until the mechanic arrived! It was pretty sweet because we just asked him a bunch of questions like, “Have you ever seen End of Watch? Would you ever want like the cops in that movie? What’s the best way to get out of a ticket?” Once the mechanic arrived, he put the car on his truck and drove us to a city called Huron. To get to Huron, we had to pass by Coalinga and holy crap that city has so much open space. Jimmy was saying it’s pretty like Turkey and I didn’t doubt him. We made small talk with the mechanic until we got to his autoshop.

There, he unloaded the car, inspected it, and informed us that Jimmy’s engine is completely dead. At that point we were like fuuuudge what’s gonna happen to us? Our first option was to wait for mechanic to order another engine and at that point, it would take 4-5 days for it to arrive and be assembled. There was no way we were going to waste 1/3 of our vacation in Huron. At this point, I was already starting to think about what we’re gonna do that night. Staying in a nearby hotel sounded like a pretty good option, but when I mentioned it to the mechanic, he kept pushing for us to stay in Motel6, about 10 miles away. I asked why we shouldn’t stay at a local hotel and without giving any specific reason, he was adamant about Motel6. I didn’t argue, but was still slightly confused. Anyway, we decided to grab some food. We took a left towards a market with a food court, but to our dismay, the employees there were already starting to clean up. We backtracked in hopes of finding another restaurant and as we were walking, we stumbled upon a police car with two cops inside. The first thing they ask us is who we are and what our reason for being here is. I’ve never been asked questions so direct, in that particular manner from a cop so I was slightly taken aback. Jimmy answered for me and informed them that we were stranded college students studying at UCI. The cops then proceeded to warn us that we were in a gang-infested city with a population that’s 99.9% Hispanic. Honestly, I was more surprised than any other emotion at this point because I had literally no idea the demographics of our area. I don’t wanna die tonight! He also warned Jimmy to hide the iPad that he was holding in his hand and bid us farewell while letting us know that they’re just one call away. After we walked off, Jimmy and I found a Chinese restaurant called Oriental Express (2 stars on Yelp with 13 reviews lol) and ordered their dinner special. While we were waiting, all we could talk about was what the cops informed us. I mean, we were in a random city, but body language and tone of the cop that warned us just made this city seem so much more dangerous than we initially thought. What have we gotten ourselves into? Anyway, our soup came first and I guarantee it came out of a can haha..not too bad though. Our main course came after and it was a mix of pork fried rice, pork chow mein, a piece of fried shrimp, and orange chicken. The best way to compare it, quality-wise, would be a Panda and Sam Woo’s fusion. Jimmy really enjoyed it because it reminded him of the type of Chinese food he ate while growing up in Miami, which is also Hispanic-dominated. I thought it was aiite. While we were eating, we both started feeling warm and I was telling Jimmy, “Dude what if we’re being poisoned right now..what’s going on?!” But then when we got up to pay and I realized the heater was on right above us haha. Jimmy dropped the bill (Thanks Jimmy) and we headed back to his car. On our way back, we stopped by a small shop to use the bathroom. I really had to go #1 since I drank a bunch of water earlier, but as I was lifting up my sweater, my glasses, in its case, fell into the toilet! Worst part is, the previous person didn’t flush so I had some man’s piss all over my glasses. I was so pissed. I immediately fished it out with my hands and proceeded to wash it. Omg…I couldn’t believe I did that, but I am really glad it was my glasses and not Korey’s Android which happened to be in the other pocket in my sweater. Phew, PTL. Jimmy was laughing the whole time  -___- After that, we went back to the auto shop. Oh yeah, I forget to mention that the mechanic offered us his trailer to stay in while we waited for Jimmy’s parents to get us. I was surprised at how well furnished it was inside. I would have actually been down to spend the night there, but going home was our #1 option for sure. Inside, we played random iPad games and just hung around for about 3 hours. Jimmy KOed for a bit and I just messed around with his camera until finally, his mom called! By then, it’s around 10:30 PM and we left around 10:45, after unloading everything in his car. It was one heck of a night and definitely a night of firsts with Jimmy. Though the circumstances sucked, it was still a pretty fun night of being in a random Central-Cal city and eating at a janky (no offense) Chinese restaurant. I was so glad we were finally Huron (Huron…here on…YEAHHHH) out!