The trip to LA was wonderful. If I didn't love the boyfriend and the dogs so much, I wouldn't have come back.
But I do, and I did.
This time.
I'm a little surprised at how excited I am to be teaching again. I hope I have a lot to offer the kids and maybe some of their youthful optimism will rub off on me. That's something that's been sorely lacking in my life these past few years.
I didn't even mind the drive. All those years of living in LA have conditioned me to accept long commutes I suppose. I once lived in Venice Beach and worked in the Valley and on a good day that was an hour and a half drive each way, not much better than the two hours it takes me to get into the city from here. And to be honest it was nice to be untethered from the computer for the better part of a day.
I have found myself questioning why we even still live here anymore. For the past three months absolutely all my work has come from LA. I've given up even trying to find work from the charlatans in this town, I've just been burned too many times. After watching how quickly the houses in this neighborhood rent (including next door, which is another story to come), we could easily rent this place out quickly.
So why are we still here?
The answer is twofold. First, the work from LA has ebbed and flowed pretty dramatically over the past two years. In fact, the reason we're even here in the first place is that it ebbed so badly and for so long we had little other choice. Without a more stable foundation it's hard to justify moving back.
And secondly, shocking as this may sound, is quality of life. Home life, that is.
The reality is I will never make anything even approaching what I once earned. That's just something I've come to accept. And for all of Bako's faults, which are legion, here we can afford a large three bedroom house in a decent neighborhood with a large yard for the dogs. For the same price, in LA, we'd be looking at a two bedroom apartment in a dodgy part of town and we'd either have to sell or pay to store a large part of our belongings.
So, without a little more to go on, we'll stay put for the time being
Unless our luck changes.
And I don't think I'd count on that happening any time soon.
The only trepidation I had when it came to accepting the teaching position was... the weather. The only route between here and LA crosses the mountains at the Tejon Pass and several times a year it's closed due to snow and ice. But after talking to several people I was assured that we rarely get winter weather before Thanksgiving and it's even rarer to get snow before Christmas, which falls several weeks after my class ends. I felt confident it wouldn't be an issue.
Tomorrow's weather forecast?
Rain... and SNOW!
