WANTED: New hometown

Fairfax and Wilshire midway thru a 5-mile walk the other day.

I was looking forward to eating here. They were closed.





As to @Batman's Why?

I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

What I'm finding, slowly, again, is that the more I go on these long walks and take photos, the more I find a sense of normalcy. I'm closer to accepting the reality that I'll be here for the length of the lease. Such is fucking life. And hey, the food ain't so bad.

 

I'll probably never leave Microville. But friends and I talk selling our over-valued Microville houses for a huge financial gain and moving to another 30-60K D1 college town where we could make a killing in real estate (without freezing our asses off 5 months of the year), get a place for less than $200k and bank a cool $350K or so.

So far we've come up with Mt. Pleasant, Kalamazoo or Ypsilanti, Michigan; Bowling Green, Miami or Athens, Ohio, or Hattiesburg, MS. Not gonna move to Kansas or Wyoming. Housing in Mt. Pleasant is unbelievably cheap.

 

I love coffee shops! Just had breakfast today at the counter, handmade sausage patties and eggs.

 

Why did you leave Vermont?
Thought you were happy with the gallery job and the rural setting.

 

Here's another idea:

Find or launch a street newspaper on Skid Row. https://wraphome.org/street-newspapers/

Maybe talk to the people at the Los Angeles Community Action Network to find out how. LA CAN Home

You could also start a Substack of your writing and photography. Or freelance a photo essay for the Times digital platform.

 

To clarify, are you looking at leaving the country, too, or just getting out of Nashville? I can speak to the former. Unless you have a very specific set of skills, passports and/or money, it's a massive pain even without taking the global pandemic into account.

 

In general it's much easier running to something, than it is running from something.

In part because the one thing you'll never outrun is yourself.

I speak from experience.

 

I never loved Bowling Green. I didn't find a lot in that town. But if you move to Athens you might never leave.

 

Over the years, I've received job offers in the U.K. Friends from there have given the rundown on cultural realities, costs and standards of living, etc. Since the pandemic, I have been taking classes in various areas of STEM and language. A more doable thing would be to go back and get some additional letters after my name and see what happens.

Bowling Green, Kentucky? Were you there for work or school? Sorry if this is prying. I went to school there and saw a divide between town and gown. Funny thing is, the nature of my degree meant getting out and listening to people, so that schism dissipated quickly.

BTW, seconding Athens. Frankly, it's nicer than Austin.

 

I have never been to California but have always been intrigued by all these famous cities I've heard about all my life and laugh when I find out they are only a few square miles in size.
The same is true for famous New York City neighborhoods.
I struggle to wrap my mind around it.

 

We call it Maya Angelou's, and man, the pizza scene has grown here in the nearly 14 years since this post was made. Mary Angela's pizza is fine, but I'm not sure I'd even put it in the top 5 in the city anymore. But it's a 15-minute walk from the house so I'll get it from time to time.

 

Nobody outruns me better than me.

New visual from this morning's walk down La Cienega. I found it humorous considering my current mental state. Does this photo belong in the Prayers and Thoughts Thread? Just once I'd like to see one of these signs be on conjunction with "Hashem offers" ...