On May 26, 2000, my brother and I loaded up our cars with all the belongings we cared to keep and headed west on a two-day journey to our new home: Los Angeles, CA.
I could never have imagined then what adventures the next twenty years would hold. The high and lows with the various bands I've been in, my rewarding work (really) behind the scenes in Hollywood, all the great friends I've made, and meeting and marrying the lover of my life, Dylan. I do often think about what that Devin, the one who arrived in LA with a bunch of dreams and not a whole lot of plans on how I would make those dreams come true, would think of the man I've become. Back then, I figured the California way was just to trust the universe and let things happen. It wasn't until later that I realized how truly hard you have to push to make things happen, and I'd like to think I've found a balance now between my artistic and creative expression and my work ethic and lifestyle I've striven to achieve. I don't know what words of advice I would have for that young, extremely-innocent, wide-eyed version of Devin. I don't think I would change a thing.
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| Myself and my brother Brandon, holding our cousin Tana in our front yard in Hays, Kansas, the day we left for Los Angeles. |
It's kind of a wonder things have turned out the way they did. My dreams of superstardom and riches have not materialized in quite the way I had hoped at the time - and back then, I had told myself I needed to be rich and famous by the time I was 27 or I'd give up and go back to Kansas. But I am so happy here and the only downside is still being so far away from my family and friends back home. But looking back on the day I arrived in Los Angeles, let's just say it's a good thing I ignored the signs and fought it out long enough to make a home here.
From my Diary of the Year 2000, here was my day on May 27, 2000.
I got up around 10:00, took a shower, got ready, and we left Holbrook (Arizona). We got to Flagstaff around 3:00 or so and filled up with gas (Brandon did, not me). We got right out of Seligman, Arizona, when Brandon got a flat tire. I followed him into town and we stopped at this gas station, which was insane. People were running all over the place like it was a mad house. No one there had a clue as to what was going on. So it ended up taking 2 hours to fix, and $79.
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| Posing for a picture in Seligman, Arizona, while waiting for Brandon's tire to be repaired. |
Finally we were back on our way. We stopped for gas again in Grants, then we had to fill up again in Victorville, California. Finally we got to Colton to the hotel around 8:30 p.m. First I had to call mom, who of course was going nuts wondering if we were ok. After that I had to call Andrea, then I left a message for Courtney. We unpacked my car so we could go to the grocery store. Later I went to the Wal-Mart in Redlands. I got flipped off on the way for changing lanes in front of someone. Then at Wal-Mart, I set the alarm off because they didn't demagnetize "the club" which Brandon gave me money to get for his car. As I was getting ready to go to sleep, the fire alarm went off. At first we didn't know what to do. It didn't take long before we found out that there was smoked on the fourth floor, and then the firetrucks came. We had to get everything back out of our room, which was a pain in the ass. As I was sitting there waiting, I wondered what would happen if the hotel burned down. Where would we stay? I started wondering if moving here was such a great idea. After about an hour, the hotel manager said everything was OK and we could go back in. I moved all my stuff back in and went to sleep.
After a couple weeks of driving all over the southland, scouring for an apartment and jobs, we landed in Winnetka, out in the west San Fernando Valley.
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| Our first apartment in LA, a studio condominium in Winnetka that we rented from an old religious man and his wife. I stayed here for almost a year, but Brandon left after six months. |
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| Brandon and I settled in to our little studio apartment in Winnetka. I built a divider so that he had half of the room and I had the other half. Notice our classy furniture: futon, inflatable, and plastic chair! But I do miss my gold clock... |
It has definitely been a long, strange trip. I can only imagine where I'll be in another 20 years.
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