Meanderings: January 23, 2000

Sunday,
January 23, 2000

Ow ow ow ow ow. Once again, I started with the aerobics. And once again, my legs feel like that chick from MISERY has been working them over with her sledgehammer (I've never seen that movie all the way through -- the idea of an obsessed fan kidnapping a writer and forcing them to write under threat of extreme pain just squicks me to the bone. It's bad enough to have a muse who's a master at guilt-trips). And yes, I know -- it's good for me. But why does it have to hurt so fricking much?

It doesn't help that it's still miserably cold out there -- I'll be damned if I'm going out to shovel the snow. It can wait until the temperature improves a little. In the meantime, I can obsess about moving to California. See, the boy and I talked about it, and we realized that to achieve our plans the way they were originally laid, we'd have to leave pretty much all of our stuff behind, since we just wouldn't have the money to move it to the States. And yes, TBS pays for shipping, but only to the next contract destination or to the home country -- England, in this case. Which is hardly useful if you're intending to go to San Diego.

So we decided that the only plausible way to do this (and to avoid spending 3+ months apart, which was really bumming me), is to do one more contract, in the States. That way, TBS moves our stuff, and we're on site when it comes time to fly the coop. And since we both now work for the Sign of the Three Blue Sausages, either one of us could get a contract -- Lyndon is amused at the idea of being the "trailing spouse" (the official TBS term for partners who come along on a contract) for once.

So, like a good girl, I've been looking. There's something moderately applicable to my skills in SD, so I put in a bid on that, and there are some more positions in Dallas (which isn't San Diego, true, but we can put up with Texas for a year if it gets our shit to the States. I now eagerly await all the death threats from affronted Texans and the whoops of joy from Julia). And now that it actually looks like we'll be back in the States within six months or so, I'm wondering if I really want to live in California.

Pros:

It's warm and sunny -- no Snow Belt.
Tons of neat shit to do.
I have lots of friends up and down the coast, including Janis right in town.
It's Telecoms Central for California -- Lyndon and I can both get jobs.
I'm relatively close to Stacy and Michael.
I get good vibes whenever I'm there.
San Diego is an hour away from Los Angeles, should I completely lose my rag and decide to have a crack at screenwriting.
Lyndon can go to film school at night.
The Pacific Ocean.

Cons:

Climate rather than seasons.
Hellmouth of Managed Care.
The American school system seems to be going straight to hell.
San Diego is expensive.
California landlords are picky about credit ratings.
High crime rate.
Body-obsessed people everywhere.
The San Andreas fault.
Another reason that I don't want to mention here, but involves proximity to another state.

I just don't know -- maybe I've just been away from the States for too long, and I'm freaking about going back. I mean, I want to come back, don't get me wrong. But it's kind of scaring me at the same time. If you're a California resident, please write me and tell me if I'm being a big doofus -- I could use some positive vibes right now.

One definitely good thing about Cali -- at least we wouldn't have to deal with any of this fricking snow. . .

TOP