| Residents of SoCal said they didn't even know it existed until they met up with NorCal residents. NorCal residents always knew about it, always felt it, always kept it in the back of their heads when they met someone from LA. The battle between NorCal and SoCal. Fact or fiction? To me, I sense a little difference between someone growing up in SoCal and someone from NorCal. I can't generalize and say it's true of ALL SoCalers, but there definitely is a difference. Just walking around, driving around, there is an obvious difference in the air, but I can't put it into words. It's not just in terms of what we have to offer, either. It's so much more than that. Yet, what is it? I can't explain. The SF newspapers trash SoCal, especially LA, and the residents of the north sneer at people from SoCal, while the SoCalers are clueless that the NorCalers are even sneering. I've been down here in SoCal, more specifically "The Valley", for about two weeks now. It really hasn't been that bad, but to picture myself living down here is a stretch. Obviously, I would like to move down here, but if you ask me if I am excited about the location itself, I would have to say "not really." I am excited about being with M., with being closer to friends, with starting new, but in terms of location, there isn't much to be excited about. The more I see of SoCal, the more I miss living in the Bay Area. I get these warm, fuzzy feelings when I think about SF and everything that is up there. Not really the people, but just the city. Here in SoCal, the feelings are for the people. Up there, it's for the City. Why can't we have both? But it's a new year, which means it's a good time for change. This whole lounging out things with no schedule hasn't been too difficult for me, yet I still look forward to getting a job. I need a schedule. I want a schedule. I want to know that during the weekday, I will work from this time to this time, and after work on these certain days, I will go to capoeira. On these other days, I can go to the gym, or I will go to fellowship. And then on this weekend, I will be doing this. I like spontaneity too, but having such a free schedule every stinking day is killing me. (Imagine me saying it like the kid in "The Sandlot"..."You're KILLING me, Smalls!!") Challenges still lie ahead as I need to establish myself in a new setting, to make sure that people see me as an individual, independent of any "significant other." Fortunately that "significant other" desires that of me as well, and for that, I am thankful. And for me to put in some extra effort to be an extrovert is a little draining. But everyone here is really cool and I feel comfortable enough with them that I don't have to try too hard or feel fake in doing so. I still see many uncertainties, but as I'm meeting M.'s family, friends, church, and just being here in enemy territory (enemy meaning SoCal, not "THE" enemy of the Indy Chick), some fuzzy areas are coming into focus...and it's exciting to see that it is all coming together. Happy 2003. |
| 1.10.03 fact or fiction: the battle of the californians |
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