Andy Chase

My friend Ryan has asked me several times since last summer when I'm going to start keeping a weblog again, and each time my response has been "Weeell, I'll probably wait until I have a job; I wouldn't want prospective employers to take exception with any particularly opinionated things I might write."

Well, as most anyone reading this probably knows, the fact of the matter is that nowadays there aren't really any prospective employers out there, so in the words of the esteemed Dr. Emmet Brown, I figured... what the hell!

Besides: if somebody is actually thinking of hiring me they may as well get a better glimpse into what makes me tick than an hour's worth of interview can provide.

I haven't done any writing of this sort since July 2002. I hardly know where to pick up the threads. My wife and I escaped from Los Angeles at the end of August 2002 and made our way to central Massachusetts, where we're staying with my parents.

No, we're not living in the basement.

I did have some contracting work after moving, but that slowly dried up, and so began the search for gainful employment in a truly crappy economy. In about three months of searching, composing cover letters, and faxing resumes I've had exactly one callback. Two interviews and almost two months later, somebody else got that job.

If I hadn't hated Los Angeles quite as much as I did, I would be inclined to second-guess the decision to leave a very stable job doing something I enjoy to drive cross-country and move back in with my folks with no real job prospects on the horizon.

Considering the exponential increase in quality of life, however, I think I'd still rather be temporarily broke and close to my family out in the sticks than employed and in southern California.

Get this: When my wife and I pulled into Flagstaff, Arizona after our first day's drive out of Los Angeles, we realized we could smell our bottled water. Most people would be inclined to make a remark about how clean the air is in Flagstaff, but that would be overlooking the obvious correlation of how filthy the air is in southern California.

Yes, it stays relatively warm there during the winter while we get snow and temperatures in the teens for several months. I'll even confess that now, in March, I'm looking forward to the end of winter and all the green and warm breezes that spring will bring.

Who wouldn't be?

I would rather have spring to look forward to than nothing, which is what I had to look forward to for those six years in Sherman Oaks. However, I can understand how difficult it is for native Los Angelenos to conceive of dealing with snow and below-freezing temperatures for a few months out of the year.

Having lived there as an outsider I will say that turnabout is fair play: Having grown up in woodsy, hilly New England it's difficult to conceive of dealing with cloudless skies and 80+ degree temperatures for most of the year, year after year. The monotony is enough to drive a person insane.

The thing about seasons is this: No matter what lousy things may be going on in your life, the seasons are something you can count on to bring change. I think the perpetual summer of southern California is largely responsible for the pervasive sense of detachment I felt there.