not sure if it's a new year's resolution or what, but i have done some thinking.
1) my loose vague could-chage-at-any-moment plan for the next 18 months in LA is as follows;
*work for coffee bean through august (i said i'd stay a year and i plan to honor that.)
*in september quit coffee bean and move to the craft center full time, hopefully running the web store. since the commute is terrible, i would probably move to culver city. ideally, desiree would move back out and we could move in together, OR i could talk to jesse's posse and see about moving in with the girls who i'm sure would love a break in rent but I'm not sure could fit all my stuff in their apartment . . . plus i'd need to talk to avi about all this. i'd be willing to commute if it meant keeping a great apartment/roommate, but he's said some things that make me wonder how long he's planning on staying here. he may want to move closer to his girlfriend, who lives 40 miles away. (not closer to culver city.)
*work for the craft center another year, then leave LA.
2) this plan means that i'll be in LA for long enough that maybe i should think about trying to get an associate's degree in accounting. I really like ordering for coffee bean and peet's, and looking at numbers and thinking about trends and all that. I'm terrible at figuring out business plans and pro-active ways to create business, and i'm getting really tired of "herding ducklings" - not sure if it's a real phrase or if i made it up, but i've said it a few times recently and i like it. basically i mean i'm tired of trying to convince 19 year olds, and 29 year olds, and 39 year olds that yes they should show up on time, sober, and work while at work. it's old, i'm over it, i don't want to be a manager where this is my primary responsibility. but i really like the number and analytical stuff, so i'm thinking accounting would be good for me. i could also still work for small funky retail/craft stores, just in a higher position. (the goal is after all to have a grown-up job someday.)
3) with this in mind, I decided to enroll in some classes at my local community college. the problem is that by the time i decided that, all the classes i need are already full for the upcoming semester. drat. gosh darn. I'm going to start investigating other local community colleges to see what they have. (my brother's girlfriend was taking classes at several last term in order to get the courses she needed.)
4) within an hour of finding out that all the classes i wanted to take were full (not just accounting, but some of the more basic math classes and the early childhood education classes too), some friends from berkeley sent me an instant message on facebook saying that they're planning on moving to minnesota and that i should come. they're thinking of heading out there summer 2011, and while i'm sure they were just kidding around when i showed interest they met it with enthusiasm. My point was basically i'm thinking of leaving LA around then anyway, i'd love to go somewhere with seasons and i'd love to go somewhere that i know people. (i also had the epiphany that i could bring my quilts. ALL my quilts. and they'd be useful!) i told them that if they change their mind and decide not to go, or decide that what they really want is to start a life together away from everyone else, i'd understand but if they really want me to come out with them, it's actually quite possible and they should keep me posted.
the huge gaping drawback is leaving kate. Not that i don't love all of my other friends, and not that i wouldn't miss my family, but she's the one person that I do actually see fairly regularly and would really change my life a lot if she wasn't there. (to my parents reading this - i love you both, but family means you'll be around and i'll see you every christmas/birthday/thanksgiving/summer/forever.) I would try my damndest to get a job with set hours, so planning visits would actually be possible instead of the stresser it is now, but i still wouldn't see her as often as I have while living in LA. I think we could work it out, but that would royally suck.
On the other hand, this is what i've kind of been looking for. A chance to go somewhere new and different with poeple i know, seasons, outside of california, cheaper rent . . . but even if it happens, it's not happening for a while. a good while. i have a lot to figure out first.