Back from California!
So, a week ago, I went to visit my cousins in California and came back a couple days ago. It was great to see them again, especially since I'm on the east coast and don't get to visit too often. They're doing well, settling down just fine in their new home and jobs. We perused a bit of the area, including a number of new places for me. For one thing, I got to walk along the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It's a bit grungy looking now, but the theaters are absolutely amazing. The Egyptian and Chinese are absolutely amazing, complete with plenty of celebrity impersonators (nearly had my head cut off by Jason Voorhees!). Unfortunately, if you want to see a movie at any of them, you have to shell out 16 bucks. But it summed up the movie industry pretty well: you're surrounded by the legacy of Hollywood legends, teenagers trying to break in by playing guitar on the streets and a Church of Scientology. Yes, you read the last few words correctly: in addition to that there was a shop selling endless copies of Dianetics and offering free 'stress tests'!
We also went to LA to see 'A Chorus Line' (highly recommend it, absolutely loved 'Dance Ten, Looks Three'), and Santa Barbara as well. The latter is really pretty, being next to the ocean, a cool bookstore and an 18th century Spanish mission where the woman who inspired 'Island of Blue Dolphins' was buried. For those of you who don't know, Juana Maria was a 19th-century American Indian woman who was accidentally left behind on an island and lived alone for eighteen years until being rescued:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juana_Maria
Even now her story is so sad. Although the friars at the mission praised her for her endurance, it must have been awful to be alone for that long a time...
So, I've been back home for two days now, and went back to job-hunting. After desperately trying to ignore it, I've finally looked at Craigslist. It's surprisingly little-used for the Hartford area in contrast to Boston or Denver. Although I've decided that I'm going to have to leave Connecticut sometime, it's a matter of getting an apartment, a roommate or two and an actual job offer in a new location. And then, I found something: assistant research editor for Disney publishing! It sounds like I could have a shot at it, but I don't think it'll happen. For one thing, it's only part-time. Second is that it is in, of all places, Northampton (surprised that Smith didn't drive them out due to the whole 'Disney Princess' controversy)! I would love to head to eastern Massachusetts, but admittedly I'm not too thrilled with the idea of returning to the Western Massachusetts area. The cost of gas for commuting would probably guzzle up most of the paycheck. Am I being too negative, I wonder?
On one hand, I wouldn't mind returning to California as a resident. The last time I went I wasn't as fond of it, being further south and the air was exceptionally bad at the time. Further north, it's a lot more pleasant (but with some not very enviable rent costs). In the meantime, as I try to find something viable, I'll be dreaming of that move somewhere...
We also went to LA to see 'A Chorus Line' (highly recommend it, absolutely loved 'Dance Ten, Looks Three'), and Santa Barbara as well. The latter is really pretty, being next to the ocean, a cool bookstore and an 18th century Spanish mission where the woman who inspired 'Island of Blue Dolphins' was buried. For those of you who don't know, Juana Maria was a 19th-century American Indian woman who was accidentally left behind on an island and lived alone for eighteen years until being rescued:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juana_Maria
Even now her story is so sad. Although the friars at the mission praised her for her endurance, it must have been awful to be alone for that long a time...
So, I've been back home for two days now, and went back to job-hunting. After desperately trying to ignore it, I've finally looked at Craigslist. It's surprisingly little-used for the Hartford area in contrast to Boston or Denver. Although I've decided that I'm going to have to leave Connecticut sometime, it's a matter of getting an apartment, a roommate or two and an actual job offer in a new location. And then, I found something: assistant research editor for Disney publishing! It sounds like I could have a shot at it, but I don't think it'll happen. For one thing, it's only part-time. Second is that it is in, of all places, Northampton (surprised that Smith didn't drive them out due to the whole 'Disney Princess' controversy)! I would love to head to eastern Massachusetts, but admittedly I'm not too thrilled with the idea of returning to the Western Massachusetts area. The cost of gas for commuting would probably guzzle up most of the paycheck. Am I being too negative, I wonder?
On one hand, I wouldn't mind returning to California as a resident. The last time I went I wasn't as fond of it, being further south and the air was exceptionally bad at the time. Further north, it's a lot more pleasant (but with some not very enviable rent costs). In the meantime, as I try to find something viable, I'll be dreaming of that move somewhere...