EDIT: My request was a bit silly, and I'm pretty sure at some point I was too out of it to make a wise decision. I'm a touch nuts, and a bit wishy washy. Really, all I accomplished was a bit of self humiliation. Again, either way, thanks drumminmama. Kind of spurred me to google those towns, and then I just kept dredging out info. I probably should have done something like this first before posting a thread about it. But then, that'd mean using logic. Not my sort of thing, sometimes.
Not much matching your needs. You can get almost affordable housing, usually with a roomie, and some job availability, but that insinuates density, which is a key factor in crime. Now, if you are ok with petty crap, like fools rifling through your car at night, or houseplants disappearing from a balcony, some of the suburbs, which are small cities, not 'burbs in the eastern sense, are almost a fit. I'm assuming SM means "community has a few munches," and there is plenty of that in Cali. What draws your attention to Cali in the first place? What sort of weather or terrain do you want? Because Bakersfield is vastly different from Carmel, or Ventura, or Crescent City. As for the lauded acceptance, what I see in practice is everyone dislikes everyone else, so it isn't personal, the way it would be in, say, Texas. More misanthropy than racism. But I hear a lot of off color comments, even in SF.
I'm generally not too picky about weather. I can enjoy whatever comes, although I love the cold. I don't mind some petty stuff, I tend not to deviate much from the plain and there won't be much of value. A little misanthropy is healthy, in my opinion, although I will take what you said into consideration. A number of things drew me to California; distance, the sea, and some decent folk I've seen that are associated with the state. Thanks for replying. It's going to be a long time before I head over there, yet I've been stressing out over this for a time. I know nothing is going to be as fantastic as expected (anticipation tends to go this way with me), so having a dose of realism is greatly appreciated to keep and idiot like me reasonable. EDITED IN If I am to trust what I'm reading online, I am so fucked it isn't even funny. Ok, so I'm kind of laughing because I even included those extra preferences when the info I've seen makes it seem like scraping by is going to be a bitch. Additional thanks are still due to you, Drumminmama. Giving me city names to work with, and me impulsively google searching them was a much needed wake up slap. I admit to stupid assumptions. I still really want to go to the West Coast (As Winds of Plague would say, "the motherfucking best coast") I'm going to open my mind beyond that shitty little fantasy I had running. Again, hair-brained indecisive kid here. Probably going to have to pick somewhere else to plant myself, but I'm going to look into things more. However, if I decide to follow through... Just reading over a nearby thread of North V. South California, if you guys know a place where a douche like me could move in with very little initial resources and manage to scrape by in the North, drop a name and I'll look into it. I probably pissed people off with the request, because just a few hours later I'm looking at myself as if I were a starry eyed whelp. My bad, I'm an ass. Anywho, I don't need much to get by. Cover taxes, insurance and housing, I can live off minimum food. Maybe even factor out gas, might get by on foot. If a minimum wage job is even somewhat probable, I will work my ass off at it. I really want to avoid violent crime.
At one time I wanted to move to Cali. I had an indepth, thought I had the gig, three day trial run in Gilroy, and thank all that is for NOT landing that job. I wound up coming out for a partner. Now, I like the cold, too, and a mountain town is alway a better fit for me, but I'm learning city 101, (like the fools who broke into partner's car and took our.....shopping bags. Empty, reusable, rolled in the pocket shopping bags. Eco-thieves) Taxes seem high here... And I came from a state with personal income tax. Gasoline is high, so public transport is, too. I already had a degree and a decade in the profession, but a recent separation from an employer. I retrained on my own dime in nine months. Education is expensive. A great skill is multilingualism. Spanish in particular, but Cantonese, Korean, Taglog, Mandrin, Hindi all help. What skills do you have for a gig? Let's talk legal here, because every person and their dog trims, grows or moves the real economic powerhouse of northern Cal. What have you done? What might you want to learn? What are your interests? Some of the CSA farms have internships (look up Capay Valley) One option, a bit outside the pale, is Stalton Sea/Slab city. Have fun looking that one up. I've known a few folks who stayed there.
