Three months down.
Since it's been three months tomorrow since I moved across the country to Vancouver, and a couple of people on my friends list have been musing aloud about the possibility of relocating here themselves, this would seem to be an ideal time to recap my opinion of the city. Rather than go into any great detail (although anyone who cares is more than welcome to pelt me with questions that I'll do my best to address), I'll just recall a quick soda break I took today at work. After jogging out to Clark in a t-shirt to buy a Sprite at the Chinese take-out/bakery, I returned to the warehouse and stopped for awhile to stand on the loading dock and soak up the warmth, tempered by a cool breeze, sipping my drink and taking in the Vancouver skyline spread out before me to the west. To my north, the mountains sat silent as ever, and the sky over everything was clear and blue. It's unbelievably clean and beautiful here, and as I finished my drink and prepared to return to stacking boxes of Brazilian sandals, I thought to myself, as I do at least once pretty much every day, that it's really just a shame that it took me quite so long to actually escape Toronto and make it out here. Even if everything else is equal-- and it's not, from cheap, good food to boundless excellent record stores to quality hair on women all over-- the simple facts of the clean air, natural beauty and excellent climate result in a quantifiably better quality of life in ways that you just can't pay for or ever hope to recreate elsewhere in this country. Even the rain, which is sometimes frequent but nothing like the constant squall one imagines, is generally light and not unpleasant. I've made a lot of friends easily, found a nice apartment, seen good shows, eaten tasty food, bought great records and am enjoying my life in every respect more than I have in years. I can't recommend moving here enough.