Turned in my last assignments today, so I am absolutely done with my Master's degree. Just like that. How anticlimactic. This means I now have to turn my attention to the small matter of moving to Seattle by the end of the month. Though moving generally sucks, and though I'm sure it will be somewhat stressful, I'm finding the idea isn't bothering me much. After drawing up the lists below, regarding the pros and cons of living here in Davis, California, I think I see why.
Things I will miss about living here
Being able to dry clothes outside on line (between March and October, anyway)
Edible stuff growing everywhere
Our big wide kitchen sink
A few select people
Yellow-billed magpies (normally hate birds, but these are nice to look at, and they run around in pairs, which is cute)
California nights
Things I won't miss about living here
California days (sun glare)
California drivers
People bicycling while talking on cell phones
Every fourth pedestrian talking on a cell phone
Drunk college students yelling "Woooo" after midnight on quiet residential streets
Star jasmine (I originally loved the stuff and thought it smelled heavenly, but lately it has struck me as cloying and perfumey, and the town is absolutely covered with it)
Total and complete lack of topography
Being at least a two-hour drive from anywhere interesting and/or attractive
No rain for five months straight
100 degrees being normal and 90 degrees being "not too hot" for June through September
Sales tax AND state income tax (Washington at least doesn't have the latter)
High rent prices, low vacancy rates, dinky square footage
House being so lacking in insulation that temperature inside is always within ten degrees of temperature outside
Sugar ants
Black widows
Homework
University politics
Having to water lawn all the time
People asking if Oregon has paved roads
Sacramento radio stations
People wrinkling their noses and saying "Oh, but the RAIN" when I tell them I'm going back to Seattle
Hard, sulfurous, chlorine-laden tap water
The pollen/smog/dust clogging up the air
Only bodies of water in town being puny ponds infested with ducks and mosquitoes
Living across from Co-op, which means hearing really loud delivery trucks at all hours, not to mention hippie live music on occasion
Being owned by Co-op (seriously, they own our duplex)
Dark-colored clothing being highly impractical most of time
Having to shave legs way too often since wearing shorts is necessary most of time
Not having bathtub (and try shaving legs without one, incidentally)
Sycamores (they're everywhere, they smell weird, they drop leaves and junk constantly, they are not very pretty)
Having very little, in fact, in the way of attractive autumn foliage – stuff just turns brown here
The dork who rides past the house every night on a teeny motorized scooter that sounds like a cross between a mosquito and a jet-ski
And just to round things out...
Things I look forward to about Seattle:
Rent won't be any cheaper, but should at least get more square footage for the dollar
Evergreen forests by the square gigamile (if that isn't a word, it should be)
Being able to point to at least two volcanoes even if it's too cloudy to see them
Most days, in fact, being too cloudy to see the mountains
80 degrees being considered "hot"
Drizzle being considered normal
Gothly clothing being practical
Salt water with fresh tides to keep it clean
More CD stores, bookstores, trendy shops, and totally weird-ass shops than I can shake a stick at
The yearly possibility of snow
The way the skyline looks at night (especially from a ferry in Elliott Bay)
Plenty of hills with actual views
Seals and sea lions barking just offshore from Ballard
The smell of the air (some combination of ocean, Douglas fir, traffic fumes, and wet pavement)
Mucho cool family members up there, with corresponding beach houses 'n stuff
Halloween night on Broadway - now there's good people-watching
The Space Needle fireworks on New Year's Eve
Several places within city limits where our kayaks could actually be used
The Stranger
I could go on.
But, to be fair:
Things I don't look forward to about Seattle:
THE TRAFFIC.
That's mostly it.
Things I will miss about living here
Being able to dry clothes outside on line (between March and October, anyway)
Edible stuff growing everywhere
Our big wide kitchen sink
A few select people
Yellow-billed magpies (normally hate birds, but these are nice to look at, and they run around in pairs, which is cute)
California nights
Things I won't miss about living here
California days (sun glare)
California drivers
People bicycling while talking on cell phones
Every fourth pedestrian talking on a cell phone
Drunk college students yelling "Woooo" after midnight on quiet residential streets
Star jasmine (I originally loved the stuff and thought it smelled heavenly, but lately it has struck me as cloying and perfumey, and the town is absolutely covered with it)
Total and complete lack of topography
Being at least a two-hour drive from anywhere interesting and/or attractive
No rain for five months straight
100 degrees being normal and 90 degrees being "not too hot" for June through September
Sales tax AND state income tax (Washington at least doesn't have the latter)
High rent prices, low vacancy rates, dinky square footage
House being so lacking in insulation that temperature inside is always within ten degrees of temperature outside
Sugar ants
Black widows
Homework
University politics
Having to water lawn all the time
People asking if Oregon has paved roads
Sacramento radio stations
People wrinkling their noses and saying "Oh, but the RAIN" when I tell them I'm going back to Seattle
Hard, sulfurous, chlorine-laden tap water
The pollen/smog/dust clogging up the air
Only bodies of water in town being puny ponds infested with ducks and mosquitoes
Living across from Co-op, which means hearing really loud delivery trucks at all hours, not to mention hippie live music on occasion
Being owned by Co-op (seriously, they own our duplex)
Dark-colored clothing being highly impractical most of time
Having to shave legs way too often since wearing shorts is necessary most of time
Not having bathtub (and try shaving legs without one, incidentally)
Sycamores (they're everywhere, they smell weird, they drop leaves and junk constantly, they are not very pretty)
Having very little, in fact, in the way of attractive autumn foliage – stuff just turns brown here
The dork who rides past the house every night on a teeny motorized scooter that sounds like a cross between a mosquito and a jet-ski
And just to round things out...
Things I look forward to about Seattle:
Rent won't be any cheaper, but should at least get more square footage for the dollar
Evergreen forests by the square gigamile (if that isn't a word, it should be)
Being able to point to at least two volcanoes even if it's too cloudy to see them
Most days, in fact, being too cloudy to see the mountains
80 degrees being considered "hot"
Drizzle being considered normal
Gothly clothing being practical
Salt water with fresh tides to keep it clean
More CD stores, bookstores, trendy shops, and totally weird-ass shops than I can shake a stick at
The yearly possibility of snow
The way the skyline looks at night (especially from a ferry in Elliott Bay)
Plenty of hills with actual views
Seals and sea lions barking just offshore from Ballard
The smell of the air (some combination of ocean, Douglas fir, traffic fumes, and wet pavement)
Mucho cool family members up there, with corresponding beach houses 'n stuff
Halloween night on Broadway - now there's good people-watching
The Space Needle fireworks on New Year's Eve
Several places within city limits where our kayaks could actually be used
The Stranger
I could go on.
But, to be fair:
Things I don't look forward to about Seattle:
THE TRAFFIC.
That's mostly it.
- Current Mood:
thoughtful
Comments
And I'll be sure to keep you updated on the recall :)
Yes, I'll be keeping an eye on the California drama. All day my husband and I have been saying in Arnold accent, "I know you will help me *recall* him."
To the real world.
It's a return to the real world, technically, since I took five years between my bachelor's and master's to be a cubicle worker (in Seattle, even). But Academia is just too weird to be borne for much longer.
The land of black coffee, goth girls, and almost daily rain (how else is it going to stay so green), sounds like the place for me.
Lydia
And as K8 (yet another sister) said, no matter what you do, you will still never be the weirdest person in Seattle. Kind of good to know.
I moved to Gresham about 5 years ago and thought I had been transported to hickville. OK, so later I found out that I was on the "wrong side of the river" *sniffs with disdain* but still, it was truly hideous. Then, working in Troutdale (ha ha) was even worse.
Bowling, muscle cars, drinking heavily, and titty bars are favorite past times. Everyone in Portland seems to think it is the most progressive city in the U.S. No one could even imagine a world outside of their little piece of heaven.
And you wanna talk about drivers???? Why WHY WHY does everyone drive 10 miles UNDER the speed limit?
Ok, sorry...had to interject my ranting. Though I have 2 good things to say about Portland.
It's beautiful in the summer (the 3 months that it's not raining), and they put on some pretty awsome outdoor concerts.
Anyway, thank you - I feel validated in my opinions about Portland now. Though I will add that the rose garden up on that hill is pretty nice too. If you like that kind of thing.
July and August tend to be sunny, so sunscreen is still a Good Thing.
Another cool thing is how the hours of sunlight vary with the seasons. We're high enough up in latitude that we get very definite differences. In late December, the sun sets at 4pm; these days it's setting after 9pm.
-Jen, Seattle native.
What lovely lists -- all of which I can resonate with (except the Portland views, of course ;-) I've spent time in both the Bay area and southern California. Nice places to visit but wouldn't want to live there. I grew up in the Seattle area and while I swore that Portland (or the surrounding areas) was one of the places I would never move to, here I've been for 17 years! :-)
The two things that I dislike about Seattle the most are the traffic and the housing prices. Compared to Portland, I could never find an equivalent house anywhere near the price this one is worth and still live within 30 miles of Seattle ;-)
I miss the ferries (and faithfully ride one almost every time I visit) the most but the Oregon coast is much better than Washington's. However, IKEA does tend to tip the balance some in Seattle's favor.
Well, I'll be getting quarterly doses of Seattle as part of attending the UW's distance MLIS program :)
Good luck with your move!
Heh, I have fond memories of trips to the Southcenter IKEA when we lived up there before. I'm sure we'll doing more of that soon.
Good luck with the move!
Well, keep in mind I'm moving out of a California university city, so Seattle might actually be to the right of that. :)
Congrats on getting your Master's degree by the way. All that hard work is finally paying off.
Heh, I wouldn't have thought Alaska was anything but wet and/or frozen. But I guess it's an awfully big place with plenty of room for desert. At least you get fewer mosquitoes in the desert, right...? Plus you get the aurora. I envy you that!