What a long, strange trip it's been. And that was only to Ralph's the other day, in which I was accosted by a homeless, drug-addled man who couldn't seem to understand why I didn't want to go behind the nearby Wendy's and hook up with him. Nothing like living the dream in Hollywood. Although on the way there I did see this particularly awkward sight, so I suppose there was some good out of that trip:
Gross. Why do people let themselves go outside like this?
It's no secret that, for the vast majority of my life, I've been an habitual nomad. Even when I'm happy somewhere, I still have this unsatiable desire to travel and leave home/dorm/school and wander places unknown (or at least recently untraveled.) But for the first time in my life, I'm having this bizarre, rather unsettling desire to go home.
No, not to Hull, because I'm a complete city girl, and the idea of moving back to a place that essentially shuts down after Labor Day makes me nearly hyperventilate. But I mean back to the East Coast, back to New England, and, most importantly (most oddly?) back to Boston. Now don't get me wrong, I've never not liked Boston. Sure, the cold nearly killed me several times (I'm very delicate, in case you were wondering - also very prone to bitching) and I knew I had to get away for at least a few years, but Boston has always held a special place in my heart, and I always liked the idea of going back at some point; maybe a few years after college, maybe twenty years after college, maybe after I'd spawned several children and a huge horde of grandchildren and had my own army - whenever.
And Boston... well, Boston is Boston. After living chunks of my life in DC, Philly, New York, and now LA, I've seen a lot of major cities, and had the chance to experience them first hand. And I've seen Miami and San Diego and Raleigh and Richmond and Trenton and Honolulu and here and there and a little bit of everywhere, so by this point I've gotten a fairly good grasp on what the major metropolitan areas in the States have to offer, and how I feel on them. Sure, I haven't seen every major city (I still very much want to go to Chicago, for instance, and I'd like to see Austin and Dallas) but realistically, I've been to the places where I would consider living, and I think maybe it's time to actually get my shit together and make a decision one way or the other.
Oh, Boston, you're my... home?
Boston is in a unique position, too, in that it offers so many other major metropolitan areas all within a short driving distance. Sure, LA has San Diego two hours away, Las Vegas four, and San Francisco seven, but Boston has New York, Philly, DC, all the amazingness that Maine and New Hampshire have to offer, Canada, etc etc. And it's not so much the number of cities close to Boston vs. the number of cities close to LA, but the fact that Boston has so many bustling East Coast cities so close to it. LA is nothing even remotely like any of the cities I'm used to, and while it certainly has its charms and it has a hell of a lot to offer, I miss the crazed, type-A, caffeine-riddled maniacs that storm the cities back East.
But I like LA a lot, and in just four months, I've managed to do a fairly impressive amount of crap with my life, if I do say so myself. I mean, I've shot a movie, found a job, made some amazing friends, traveled all over the place, started a new life, threw caution to the wind and embraced the West Coast mentality, etc etc. But now that the proverbial dust has settled, what do I really want?
Well, since I'm a paradigm of maturity, I've decided to go with the good old "List of Pros and Cons!" that's helped me with such epic decisions as whether or not to be a waitress or a veterinarian when I was in elementary school, whether or not to date a boy in the fourth grade, and whether or not to give back the $20 back I received when I gave a cashier at H&M $50 for a $48 purchase. I figured it was okay in the end not to give it back, because 2 is almost 20, just with an extra zero thrown back in there. Close enough, and I don't want to dash anyone's dreams of someday becoming a mathematician.
LA PROS:
- warm weather all year round
- bustling entertainment industry
- young, hip, full of interesting people
- there's like 40 amazing beaches all within an hour's travel
- it's a huge change from what I'm used to
- complete independence, given I'm 3 freaking timezones away
- made amazing friends
- have a job that, while not the bastion of wealth and prestige, I really like
- might actually be able to wrangle a career out here
- still has higher education and publishing options, should I decide to go back to academia
LA CONS:
- warm weather all the goddamn time/no seasons
- entertainment industry people tend to be vapid or stupid, or an unholy combination of the two
- all of the amazing beaches are at least an hour away, and I am without a car
- it's like someone took New York, ripped all the neighborhoods/buroughs out, and scattered them in the wind: meaning it takes fuck all long to get anywhere, and there's no sense of a real city here
- it's hella far away from my friends from school and the east coast, and my family
- it can feel very disconnected and almost lonely out here, at times
- the smog and pollution and filth in some areas are really fucking gross
- homeless people die in front of you (go read Jim's blog, eurgh)
- as awesome (seriously, I'm not being sarcastic) as filming the movie was, now that it's out of my system, I'm not entirely sure I actually want to fight to become famous and 100% committ myself to the industry
- i miss a smaller, or at least more compact, city feel
- it's not home.
Okay, so now let's follow this up with Boston's cons and see how they stack up, and then hit up the pros side:
BOSTON Cons:
- a smaller city, not a Global Power city (such as NYC or London)
- um, winter weather
- doesn't have the same entertainment industry opportunities
- very close to my family and could infringe on my independence/freedom
- I don't have a job or anything set up there, and no immediate housing options until my friends' leases run up closer to the summer
- might feel like I'm giving up and going home?
BOSTON Pros:
- still actually a Global City, along with NYC and LA, just on a smaller scale
- seasons, which shockingly I miss
- has some entertainment industry opportunities, especially with the tax breaks and the production companies they're setting up there, in order to entice filmmakers to film there
- massive educational and academic communities, if I decide to go back to school or get back into publishing
- close to my college and home friends, and close to my family
- won't have to FLY to visit home (!!!!!!!!!)
- definitely has that city feel to it
- everything is super close and there's a REAL subway/T system to travel! yay!
- also, per above, don't need a car
- close to the East Coast cities I miss so much
- is a city that feels much more like home
...so, what do you all think? Realistically, I mean. Should I consider relocating in a year? Should I stay put in LA? Should I say fuck both ya'll and travel Europe? Can I afford to travel Europe without having to moonlight as a lady of the night? Might it be intriguing to be a lady of the night?
3 comments:
I think you need to visit Australia first, before you think about settling somewhere. ;) Seriously.
I don't find it shocking that you miss the seasons. When I was in Singapore, the OS teachers I spoke to there all expressed a desire to experience the seasons again. They said it was draining, having an endless summer.
You could come here and be my Au Pair. ;) Free board and food in exchange for some childcare. And we do have an entertainment industry here. It's smaller so there is that big fish in a small pond thing.
In terms of US cities, I can certainly understand the appeal of Boston. I loved it when I was there, and it definitely has a very different feel to LA. The New England area is so much nicer.
I would KILL to go to Australia!!! We need to work something out so I can go before I settle down anywhere else!
this is Deadlydoll/Siranya from LJ. :)
Your cons listed are the reason I left L.A., I did kindoftrytowarnyou but I knew you had dreams... =) I hope things are better or at least you are happy.
Boston sounds fucking awesome. Europe is well I am biased but I love it.
I kind of agree with the person above me... Au Pair is an excellent way to go somewhere and have everything paid for you, for a year or so.
Cheer up girl.
Good luck in whatever you do.
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