So long Richmond.

I woke up this morning at about 7am. I made a cup of coffee. I put two of my bags in my car. I got a "Good Morning" greeting from my friend "G" en route to the car. "G" wanders our street all day and night asking people for change and especially likes to solicit in front of my apartment.

I drove around the city.

This morning was especially overcast, about 42°F, bare trees, foliage in the streets, trash on the sidewalks. There were a few of G's friends puttering around the sidewalks, aimlessly wandering to who-knows-where.

For the first time, in my eyes, Richmond was ugly.

When I first came here 5 years ago, I wanted to own this city. I wanted to know everyone that was important and every person that could make a difference at the university. I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to save lives. I wanted nothing but to make a difference in someone's life by bettering their health. I can't do that here. I hate this city.

My dad, who has his own small business, wants me to get a job. "Keep going to school if you want, but don't keep thinking that medical school is a possibility for you" he said, a nice way of saying that I'm too dumb to get in (or that I won't make a good doctor, I couldn't tell). He only wants me to be happy, and thinks that when I have an income I'll be happy, just like him. Except he's not happy, and he has an almost-six-figure income. Up until this year, he was as supportive as he's capable of me chasing my dream, but there was something about me graduating that made him all of a sudden want me to get a job immediately.

Fine Dad, you win. No more "chasing of dreams". But I'm done here. And now I'm leaving.

This begins the struggle to move across the country, where I've always imagined myself, in California.