I spent 4 days last week in California. Origin of Juliet, residence of Moira, Julia and Alison and, at one point, of Kristina also. As well as a lot of migrant farm workers, movie stars, gay men, tree huggers, plastic surgeons, mountains, ocean, hitchhikers and oranges. My feelings about California, in principle, are mixed. Basically, it seems to me a little overblown. I mean, there are lots of places to live but to listen to some CA-dwellers, why would you? Obviously this is also the case with a lot of New Yorkers and you'd probably even be able to find people who would think you were mad to move away from Dubuque, El Paso or Mobile... but I digress. This is a not an outline of the reasoning behind my pledge to never live in California, but rather a meditation on some differences I observed while visiting the homestate of Juliet, the very same weekend she was visiting mine.
1. California is a big state. San Francisco and Santa Barbara have nothing to do with one another. SoCal and NoCal are very different. A lot of people live in California.
2. The weather. I remember folks who went to college in Southern CA saying over Thanksgiving freshman year back in Mpls that no one even spoke about the weather. It was just always nice. Northern California is another story and I really think it's time to stop using the weather as a reason for living in the bay area... come on, folks. We can talk bubble tea, streetcars, charming streets or the possibility you'll find gold whilst panning... on the other hand, maybe this is actually an advantage-- at least folks in San Francisco have something to awkwardly talk about in elevators. Additionally, California couldeb improved by having water warm enough to swim in at all/more of the year.
3. I saw Avocados for sale for $.79. This alone is a reason to live somewhere.
4. I didn't have a bagel, but I bet it wouldn't have been so great. I did also notice that every bagel store I saw was called something having to do with Brooklyn or New York. So I decided I may as well wait until I got home where we have the geography built-in and bagels stores can just be named for bagels ie, Bageltique. Mmmm... Bageltique.
5. California is really pretty. Even with smog in L.A., in suburbia, in more industrial parts.
6. California loves the Evite. At least thats what Alison and Julia said. They estimate nearly all events they attend are advertised via Evite. I find thi bizarre. Not because there is anything wrong with the Evite but because it seems so foreign. I wonder why this is?
All in all, a great trip. In a lot of ways, seeing where someone came from is a good way to understand more about them... I mean, we are all products of or reactions to what we've experienced. Then again, we've all been seperated by miles and/or years from that upbringing... all in all, I am impressed that Juliet didn't turn out to be an Asian man with bleached blonde hair. And that Moira, Alison and Julia haven't copped that steez. Maybe Kristina did a little, but she's been cosmo-checked back to reality by two years back in 'Soter.
Cal-eh-fourn-ya, Cal-eh-fourn-ya, CAL-EH-FOURN-YA... here we coooome...
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Also, people in California are really nice in a totally uncalled for way. I happen to think that most New Yorkers are really kind and generous people, but only when they need to be. It's pretty common to see strangers helping strangers on the subway, for example. But in California it's different. I was in LA in December and then in the Bay Area last week, and my impression was the same--people apologized to me for the weather, approached me on the street to say nice things about my hair, and simply said hello to me before I had even made eye contact. I don't think I'll ever live there, but I hope I'll always have loved ones who do.
You don't "think" you'll live in CA?
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