1/5/00
Ten years ago today, I moved from San Diego to Los Angeles. While my moves from Minnesota to Arizona and Arizona to California were farther, moving to LA was, in retrospect, the most significant move I've made yet. I consider myself an Angeleno. Not because I've been here for ten years (save a brief return to Minnesota), but because this is the first place I've lived where I have truly felt at home.
I love LA. The bad things about living here - traffic, crowding, cost of living - don't really bother me very much. The good things about living here - the weather, the location, the activities - make me happy on an almost daily basis. Do I wish it were not so damn expensive to buy a home here? Sure. But every morning when I step out the front door of my apartment and the sun shines warmly on my face (~320 days per year), I am happy to be here. Every time I hop on my motorcycle and find a gloriously twisty two lane road that lets me dance through a canyon or mountain pass or even a national park, I am happy to be here. Happy to be in California.
That said, I feel like I can't stay here indefinitely. Someday, I do want to own my own home, have a yard I can mow, a garage where I can work on cars and motorcycles. Unless my income magically doubles or triples, there's just no way I'll be able to buy a home like that in any decent part of LA.
So where do I go? I know myself well enough to know that I need to see the sun on a regular basis. That rules out the Pacific Northwest. I prefer to be warm enough to ride a motorcycle at least most of the year, preferably year-round. That rules out the midwest and most of the northeast. I'm not a fan of ridiculous humidity, so that rules out the Gulf Coast and Florida. I've done my time in the desert, so that rules out most of the Southwest. What does that leave me? A small slice of Colorado and maybe a tiny part of Texas? Maybe even a little bit of South Carolina if I were to be flexible on the humidity? I don't know.
My only real new years resolution is to make a significant change in my life this year. I can't stay at my job forever, and I'll never get ahead working for someone else. I'd like to try working for myself, either as a consultant or running my own business. It might even mean leaving LA to make it happen - I don't know.
Those last two paragraphs feel like a whole lot of "don't know". I do know that I'll miss LA. I love this city.
I love LA. The bad things about living here - traffic, crowding, cost of living - don't really bother me very much. The good things about living here - the weather, the location, the activities - make me happy on an almost daily basis. Do I wish it were not so damn expensive to buy a home here? Sure. But every morning when I step out the front door of my apartment and the sun shines warmly on my face (~320 days per year), I am happy to be here. Every time I hop on my motorcycle and find a gloriously twisty two lane road that lets me dance through a canyon or mountain pass or even a national park, I am happy to be here. Happy to be in California.
That said, I feel like I can't stay here indefinitely. Someday, I do want to own my own home, have a yard I can mow, a garage where I can work on cars and motorcycles. Unless my income magically doubles or triples, there's just no way I'll be able to buy a home like that in any decent part of LA.
So where do I go? I know myself well enough to know that I need to see the sun on a regular basis. That rules out the Pacific Northwest. I prefer to be warm enough to ride a motorcycle at least most of the year, preferably year-round. That rules out the midwest and most of the northeast. I'm not a fan of ridiculous humidity, so that rules out the Gulf Coast and Florida. I've done my time in the desert, so that rules out most of the Southwest. What does that leave me? A small slice of Colorado and maybe a tiny part of Texas? Maybe even a little bit of South Carolina if I were to be flexible on the humidity? I don't know.
My only real new years resolution is to make a significant change in my life this year. I can't stay at my job forever, and I'll never get ahead working for someone else. I'd like to try working for myself, either as a consultant or running my own business. It might even mean leaving LA to make it happen - I don't know.
Those last two paragraphs feel like a whole lot of "don't know". I do know that I'll miss LA. I love this city.
Labels: love
posted by steve at 11:02 PM
5 Comments:
I've thought of that, but then I've always heard that the job markets in those areas are tough. I should investigate it, though - I like the central coast.
How could you live without the California incline or the snooty snoots in Brentwood or walks on the bluffs or hiking at Will Rogers or looking one way and seeing the mountains and looking the other and seeing the ocean or the freaks on the Promenade? I'd be lost not in LA.
I'd miss all those things (esp. snooty snoots), and yeah, I'd be lost too.
Since I posted this, I've been thinking more and more that maybe I just need to rent a house instead of obsessing about owning one.
Where can I rent a nice, small house with a yard and a big 'ol garage for cheap?
I stopped by to say thank you for offering to fix my offspring's mac and I lingered to read your intriguing post. Now, I don't know you all that well...yet, but as a fellow seeker I can tell you that you have much to explore and discover in your quest for new domicile and vocation. Stay open and enjoy the twisted path. Don't worry about taking a wrong turn or making a mistake. You have nothing to lose and all to gain. Live loudly and deeply. Most of all, take pleasure in the odyssey.
I speak from a place of reminisce, a life lived full of mistakes and few, if any, regrets...
Oh, and don't worry about my mac. I think I've got the problem solved. Thank you though!
~ Regina
Thank you for the kind words and advice. While I used to think I had a few regrets, I later realized that those mistakes are what make me the freak that I am, and have brought me to this place in time, bulging with opportunity.
I'ma gonna get me some adventure.
Post a Comment
<< Home