Happy Rat Year!

[lady_kishiria]

We just got back from Matt's. Mei-Mei is alive, so we didn't lose a cat for the first time in two years.

I ate a huge chunk of carrot cake in honour of Steve's late mum. I drank most of my bottle of merlot but I'm still not as drunk as I ought to be.

I fell asleep on Matt's couch because I'm not a night person. I woke up when Steve mentioned me sleeping through the New Year.

I had an unscheduled phone interview at 6 this evening. Portent of things to come or just the universe fucking with me again? After all, I interviewed at P&F and Mr. P called Mr. O at O&N...but it wasn't about me, he just called for the first time in five years to ask for legal advice and for the universe to fuck with me! I did not get the job at P&F but they only wanted to pay between $24,000 and $29,000 and that's not a living wage.

I've become deeply paranoid, but the rune I drew for 2008 is one that is allegedly of protection (algiz). The rune Steve drew was that of harvest (yera). I do hope so.

Comments

[shadowcell.livejournal.com]

Well, shit, here's hoping 2008 is where things pick up.

[die-uberfrau.livejournal.com]

For SD, no, $24,000 to $29,000 a year is not a living wage. In parts of CT, however, you can get by on that much for one person, living in certain apartments, with a certain food budget. SD has much more batshit crazy rents and everything is more expensive: food, clothes, etc. Everything.

I was going to do a working last night, and fell asleep sometime before 11, was woken up promptly at midnight by everyone in my neighborhood shouting, "YAY HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2008, WOOOOOT!" and saying to G., "I'm glad for them, now they need to die." Yep, I'm turning into an old curmudgeon.

We're having job problems here too, as I've told you, although currently we're in the black with bills and such, due to the extreme Xmas rush. I don't know how things are going to turn out, and I am a bit worried. Also, the minimum wage went up today in CA, and we went grocery shopping and saw that food has really been driven up (for reference: Stater Bros. is less expensive than Henry's for us).

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

OC is actually a bit more expensive than SD. Your apartment would likely be $900 rather than $1000. However, professional wages are also considerably higher because when people move from out of state they choose SD over OC because of the beaches and better climate.

Stater Bros. will always be cheaper than Henry's because Henry's is a specialty grocery. That's why I shop at the commissary and just pick up certain things at Henry's. Stater Bros. is a pretty good grocery store though. There aren't any in SD because we'd shop there if we could.

[die-uberfrau.livejournal.com]

Yeah we have Henry's out here and mind you, it's good for vitamin/herbal supplements and things Stater Bros. doesn't carry (venison, et al). I had no idea there were no Stater Bros. in SD, but then this is the n00b who's used to the Stop & Shop chain in New England. Stater Bros. is great because it's not that expensive. We also go to Costco for some things that are cheaper in bulk (toilet paper, for example).

Our apartment is actually $1135/mo and rising, for 500 sq ft, 1 bedroom, utilities *not* included. We have amenities here like 2 inground pools, a gym, basketball and tennis courts, laundry facilities (although not indoors, which has caused some serious problems with people not living here using our machines and people who do live here not being able to use them), etc, but in my never-so-humble opinion we pay wayyyy too much to live here, esp. when our leasing office is really tacky and gauche about holiday decorating.

The good news is we're supposed to be moving within the next year, staying within OC most likely but we won't have to pay such a ridiculous amount for rent and we'll *still* get more out of it.

My other half will most likely never leave OC for permanent residence, which I'm slowly resigning myself to. At least I got you guys down in SD and now I have peeps in NorCal who want me to come visit them. I do really like the beaches out here, and it's interesting to have a different variety of flora/fauna than what's in the Northeast. I may never fully fit into California culture, but it's becoming gradually more tolerable. Besides which, I can make lots of Schwarzenegger jokes that I couldn't otherwise.