beyond 5 is another 5

Ah - thirteen - my favorite number.  Hence the reason I've chosen today as my departure date for Los Angeles.

I've just realized that the word Angeles contains the name "Ang Lee."

But I digress.  Ahead of me is the seemingly unending and desolate stretch of Interstate 5 which, by the time I reach my destination, will have covered my car with dust and remnants of insects that fly too slowly to avoid impact with my 75 mph (plus or minus 5 mph, okay, maybe 10) vehicle.  I must focus on traversing this lonely journey accompanied only by the humming of the California wind and the sappy lyrics of Taiwanese and Japanese pop songs from the 90s.

In between the too frequent glances at the distance to destination indicator on the dashboard, my mind wanders.  It recalls the last time I trekked away from home to the prospect of a new career, arriving in Pittsburgh to begin medical school in 1995.  I was nervous, and I wanted to turn back.  Eighteen years later, abandoning medicine and embracing the new role of film director, I am nervous, but I don't want to turn back.

Back then, I felt compelled to study medicine; it was an external force that originated from my brain and not my family, as many might guess.  Now, I am once compelled.  Only this time it is an internal drive emanating from my heart to propel me toward filmmaking.

I steal another look at the dashboard:  yet another 5 miles closer to the X that sometimes clearly marks the spot but other times only seems to suggest it.  A deep breath.  5 miles at a time, and after an X number of times, I will be there.

And there will be here.