So I've been back home for a couple of weeks and in that time I have come up with some final thoughts and personal opinions of Los Angeles. Note that these are personal opinions, not gross generalizations about said people in Los Angeles.
Though I enjoyed the beautiful weather in sunny LA, there were some essential elements missing from my experience and some things I found out about myself that made me realize that LA just wasn't a good fit for me.
First thing that was missing was my family. After a long 6 years of discord between my family and I, we are just now at a really good and healthy relationship. I respect them as parents and adults and they are accepting me as an adult as well. I missed them and I will say that one thing about myself that I learned was that I am still dependent on them. As much as I don't want that to be the case, it is the truth and I am working to get away from that (with another one of those secret interviews on Tuesday!)
Second thing that was missing was some genuine help. I had a wonderful support system while I was out there with Angie, Jon, and Justin and I am so very grateful for their willingness to let me crash at their apartment for two weeks. But aside from that, I didn't have much help otherwise. Yes it was my responsibility to get settled and situated but that fell through for a number of reason. I actually was only financially prepared for about half a month's worth of living costs in California (but I WAS very adamantly assured that I would have a job in two weeks, no problem...more on that in a sec).
The types of people in Los Angeles are people who tend to make sure they are secure professionally and personally before anything or anyone else. I TOTALLY understand this. It's expensive to live out there and you have to worry about your job and everything. However (and yes this makes me sound selfish) it does make making friends tough. And it does make it difficult to learn about the city you are in when everyone you depend on is only available after 8PM. Yeah I could have taken the initiative to drive around and get myself acquainted with the area but everyone who hasn't been in Los Angeles should understand that there is SOOOOO MUCH IN LOS ANGELES that it's difficult to decide whether to drive 20 minutes to a less convenient Norms or 30 minutes to a mid-point Norms to spend a half an hour eating and then go your separate ways let alone figure out what to do in a city of millions with no money to do anything with.
To give you a great example of some of the empty promises I encountered with the people there I give you this story:
My dad was walking outside of the hotel we were staying in at the very beginning of this journey and a woman with a dog came up to him...well the dog came up to him and the woman followed. She was coming from the residential area of where we were staying, and seeing as how I was looking for somewhere to stay, my dad struck up a conversation with her about the safety of the area. As the conversation progressed, she mentioned that she was a producer for The Ellen Degeneres Show which prompted my dad to come get me and I got to meet her. I told her that I was looking for some potential jobs in composition and was looking for any type of job in the "industry" until I could go back to school. She said she had a friend who worked in music and that she would gladly give her my information. Looking back, this is generally always the answer anybody has and I experienced a lot of what happened next too. I heard nothing back from her. No response to my email to her about whether or not she even got my information, no call to reassure me that she spoke to her friend. And I get that people are busy in LA, but when I say I am going to help out someone, I usually follow up with some kind of answer or help.
So the month and a half passes by and I am in my car driving back across the country when I get an email from her. "Hey this is blah blah, I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Here are some craigslist ads for jobs in composition in the LA area." Okay so at least she emailed me back, but with a craigslist ad? Really? Don't you think that's something I could have done myself? When I ask for help, it's help for something I can't do ON MY OWN! I am clearly capable of looking for a job online!!!! Everyone has access to Craigslist. At least Jon got me directed to a website I didn't know about (and also Jon was the only person to really help me (depending on how well the interview goes on Tuesday!) out in finding a job, so Thanks Jon!)
Among other attempts on my own at employment there was the Temporary Agency that Angie directed me to. I go in there and am a great representative of the type of client they are looking for: hardworking, professional, willing to do almost any type of job and have an overall cheery disposition. And the agent said "Yeah I think we can find you some work pretty soon!" Three weeks go by and nothing...then I get a 4 hour 1 day job sitting at a desk LOOKING like I am working. Another promise that fell through. And all anybody can do is shrug their shoulders and say "welp, sorry but I tried." Unfortunately it wasn't a hard enough try in my book.
So yeah I was fairly unhappy with the overall results of that whole fiasco. It was an adventure moving to LA and I really don't regret it because I learned so much about myself in a short amount of time. But it was costly and now I am back home. I'm glad to be home but realistically I am 23 and still living at home.
Some positive info about the secret job though: After my last interview, I told them I was moving back home and they said they would contact the local Akron manager of the company and that they would contact me. Well they did! And as you read earlier, I have my first interview with the Akron location of (mystery company) on Tuesday of next week! Hopefully I can take the good positive parts of the SoCal personality and bring it to the job, something that job really is looking for! Also I think that at a job where 1 in 1000 applicants get hired and I was one of the lucky and competent few to make it to the last level of interviews in LA (the retail mecca for the company), I feel that I have a good chance at making it all the way with the company in Akron. Also I feel that I'm perfect for the job! I've been wanting to work there for such a long time and I know a lot about the company and what the company has to offer to the public. Let's just keep our fingers crossed on this one!
My last thoughts on LA: It was real, and I'd love to move back to California, but when it comes to living in Los Angeles, I will probably choose to live somewhere else and visit LA! See you next time, I will miss driving at night seeing all the buildings lit up but I won't miss your daytime traffic and constant fretting about parking and driving with stupid people on the road.
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