A Year in the Bottom Left Hand Corner

[rickps]

It's now a year since I relocated to San Diego, the bottom left hand corner of the US.  The year's gone by quickly, more quickly than I'd imagine it would.  Observations are many...

San Diego is a lovely place to live.  Weather is near perfect if you like it warm year round.  Housing costs are much higher than they used to be but they're cheap in comparison to San Francisco (but then, what isn't?).  Inexplicably, electricity and gas are painfully high.

I love the little house I'm renting (no it's not on the prairie, Gary).  My stuff just seems to fit perfectly inside.  It's home.

Finest City Squares, the sole LGBT square dance club in the area has been extremely welcoming with little drama.  Differing from the SF clubs, FCS's membership features a broad sampling of the gay community and a surprising number of straight dancers as well.  The monthly dances are more frequent than those of any Bay Area club, but the callers are in general, less exciting.

It's wrong to consider San Diego a city.  It's really an overgrown small town.  Everybody seems to know everybody, and often in the biblical sense.

San Diego is a couples city (all of whom seem to be in open relationships).  With few exceptions, the single folk I've met have good reason to be single.  This is likely the most dramatic difference from SF where being single is a career for many.

San Diego is a cultural wasteland.  If you want to see a show, don't hesitate, buy tickets immediately.  The Civic Theater (one of the few performance spaces in town) has the worst acoustics of any space this side of a hockey rink.

Social life in San Diego is bland, diet vanilla ice milk bland.  If it weren't for reality TV, I don't know if people would have anything to talk about.

San Diego is often rudely called "Tijuana North" by the locals.  They can make a strong case.

If one sees a vehicle with Mexico license plates, it's best to pull over until they're safely away.  Those that can achieve high speeds usually do so... sideways.

Finding places to dine or be entertained that are not part of a chain is difficult.  If you want healthy food, this is your town.  If you want pizza, go to New York.



And so, on balance, how has it been after a year?  Not bad.  But I really did leave my heart in San Francisco.