Category Archives: city

As Moving Gets Closer

During my adult life I have never lived in a city. Moving day is fast approaching and I feel like a deer caught in headlights. I am going to start from scratch, after many years, in an environment I am for the most part unfamiliar with.Today I was in the kitchenware aisle. I have almost nothing. I stared at everything for what seemed an eternity. Ten years worth of kitchen-stuff accrual. Gone. Except I, ironically, get to keep most of everything that was a wedding present. I have three different types of salt and pepper shakes and grinders. I am well equipped should anyone need salt or pepper. Need utensils? Sorry, can’t help you there.

But it is not all bad. I am excited. I get to pick out whichever plates I want. I can get creative with my decor. I can wash dishes however I like. My pots and pans will no longer have restrictions.

I don’t know where the grocery store is. Yes, I know, I can search for things online. But I mean, as of right now, I have no idea where the grocery store is. What if there there is no Fresh and Easy? Will I have to stop by the one in Northridge instead? Is there one closer?

At least I don’t have to worry about traffic. I work off hours. What does that mean? No one is driving to or from the city before 6 in the morning or after 8 in the evening. Except maybe on the weekends, but then I don’t have to drive.

I do have to worry about parking. Basically this place has the worst parking arrangement. Ever. Even for residents. It is in an amazing neighborhood, and no one will ever want to come visit me because of the parking problem.

Is there a Target around? Of course there has to be, they are everywhere. But where? Where do I go to get all of my children things?

I have gone there several times now and walked around, drove around, and generally investigated, but I am not sure where the utilitarian things are. Actually, I still have to use google map directions to get around. The other day a friend asked where it is. I said 3rd and… um… um… yeah… I don’t know my own cross streets.

I know I will figure it all out. In the meantime it helps to know I can rely on the places in the valley that I am familiar with. Yes, grocery shopping 30 miles from my house isn’t ideal, but I can make it work. I can make anything work.

Sure, I don’t know where the closest gas station to my new place is, but I did find a piano bar not too far away that looks pretty interesting. And one of my friends said she is excited to go there with me next weekend. After I get back from Cambria.

City Rain

Today a friend of mine posted a video on Facebook. It was only fifteen seconds long, but it was beautiful. I wish I could share it here, but I haven’t the slightest clue how to get it off Facebook. I am sure she would not mind, as it was made public, and there are no people in it.
She took this video as she was walking home last night. It was pouring rain, and it was beautiful. It made me nostalgic for a city I have never lived in, and have not even ever seen. Several close friends of mine live there, or around there, and have often invited me to come. Maybe I should, but I have not yet.
In those fifteen seconds her city looked like any other, some of which I have lived in. It reminded me of New York when I was a little girl. It reminded me of San Francisco on the many occasions I have had the chance to visit. It reminded me of Paris, London, Bucharest, and several others in Europe I have been to over the years. It was nondescript, yet distinctly city like. The buildings and street were unquestionably urban.
She took the video as she walked, and her pace seemed steady, calm, used to the falling sheets of water. Brisk, yes, but not alarmed. Not like the suburban haphazard dash towards cover at the slightest provocation, the tiniest drops from the sky. Despite the fact that she was born and raised in Southern California, she seems to have adapted well to her new surroundings. I was not born or raised in Southern California, yet I have acquiesced to its climate, and somehow managed to bury myself in the deepest recesses of its suburbs.
I have moved to a place that only has one and a half climates (at best). Half the roads are unpaved, not because they have been well worn, but because they never existed. Everyone goes to bed at nine. And I blog nightly to escape.