CA is a wonderland

I am now a freelance worker in IT field. It's good and bad. I can't afford a full health insurance benefit, I can not afford 401k.. If I want I can extend my health insurance from the previous company. Yes, I still have several weeks to make my decision. I am so far O.K., I am healthy and young enough!

The good thing is that I finally give it a serious thought about moving to California. Why CA? People may say it's crowded, lots of crimes, getting dirty, living costs are expensive.... OK, OK, those are how they look the cities in CA. For me, those are the result. Those are the result on how much CA has been loved by people.

Let's think it this way. Are you interested in living near the beach? Yes. Many people are interested in living near the bearch. Now lets look on the U.S. map. Where are the beaches? Everywhere? No. Beaches are only on the West, East, and South coasts. This country is big. It's too big to have a lot of beaches... It's an irony that the bigger the country, the smaller the beaches :-P Hahaha... So, if we want to live by the beach, you need to go either West end, East end or South end. There's no beaches BETWEEN coasts. There are just boring and endless plains and plains everywhere.

Then think about this. Are you interested in skiing, hiking, climbing mountains, enjoy hot springs, having scenic drive, time after time. Yes, yes. Now, where can you do that? Let's see... you need to go to Colorado to do skiing, scenic view are somewhere in New England, or smoky mountains are in North Calorina... O.K. But how about living in CA? You can get everything in one moving! Ha!

Next, Are you interested in warm weather? Yes. I am tired of cold, hard, dark winter. So, where is the nice and warm place? Texas... too hot. Florida.... good. California... good, good. Even in CA, northern part is not quite warm in winter.

Lastly, the job opportunity. As a Japanese person living in the U.S. many years, the best places to find a job is either NY or CA. That's mainly because there are the biggest japanese communities out there.

So, naturally, the conclusion is - southern CA.

California Dreaming....

Yes, I love California... especially Southern California. Since I came to think about studying abroad over 10 years ago, I always thought to live in CA. I have not made it yet.

This photo is taken several years ago in San Diego. The building is the San Diego convention center. Back then, I was a science major student and dreamed to live there. When i attended the conference, I tried to find job interview opportunities. None was for me.

The sky was always this deep and crystal clear blue, the wind is mild, the sun is shinning with no mercy.. I mean the sun was shinning mercilessly clear and bright.

Now I live in this cold, dark, New England and still is dreaming California. Well, the good new is, I remembered some job opportunity. As soon as I got a reply to my inquiry about a teaching position, I will start to prepare the move!

Cat in a room

I live in a room of an apartment. This cat is my landlady's. The name of this cat is Row... (or raw?). Anyway, this is a male cat. He is quite a guy. In this photo, he sits under my chair, enjoying scratch the carpet.

He lives with his sister cat, Jazzy. Those two guys have quite different personality. Jazzy is talkative, comes to me meuwing a lot, while Row is rather quiet and reserved.

While I am in the kitchen, Jazzy is always here with me, bothering me. When I give them foon, however, Row never miss it. He hears the slight sound of dish and comes right here!

A castle in Rockport

On a day in this summer, I went sightseeing in Rockport, MA. Near Stage Fort Park, there's a castle. Well... no castle. Literary, there's no castle in the U.S. :) A castle is where a king and queen lived. The U.S. is not allowed any kings and queens to control this country.

So, this is a private house built some time ago. It has this appearance.

Hachiko - a dog's story

In Japan, almost everybody knows about the story of "Chuken Hachiko" - a loyal dog, Hachiko. It's a dog's story in 1920s or 1930s.

An Akita was brought to a college professor's home in Tokyo. He was named Hachi and loved by his family, especially by his direct owner, Dr. Chozaburo Ueno. Every morning, Hachi sends Dr. Ueno to the train station. In the evening he comes to the station to meet Dr. Ueno.

However, the tragedy happened in one day at the college class. Dr. Ueno collapsed suddenly at the podium and soon died. Of course, Hachi could not understand what happened to his owner. So, he kept his habit - came to the train station in the morning and evening every day. He stayed there in the evening until the station closed. He juste kept waiting for his master to come out of the platform.

People watched the dog and thought it was a sad but a loyal thing of the dog. After the dog died when he was about 10 years old, people made a statue of the dog in front of the station. That became the simbol of loyalty.

This story became a movie in Japan (Hachiko Monogatari). Now a remake has been on its way in Hollywood. We will be able to see the movie next summer.

Halibut Point State Park - Rockport

I visited this park on Thanksgiving day holidays this year. It was not so cold yet and I enjoyed walking around the park.

As people say, most beaches in MA are always crowded. My landlady is a native of MA, and she often brought me to beaches. The problem is, she can not find a place to park. "When I was young, this place was not this crowded...." She keeps saying so. Anyway, I do not like to circling around to find a place to park. So, I stay away from neighboring beaches.

I could find a place to park probably because the beach is a little too far from downtown Boston. I walked to the pond and looked down the water from the view point. The place was about 10 yards high from the water. The wall of the pond was almost vertical from the surface, making the scene so unique. That's because the pond used to be a granite quarry.

It was a nice short trip in a day.

A starbucks is still there

It's been a while since I heard that a lot of starbucks caffee shops will be closed soon. The economy is slipping into a recession and there's more unemployment. Since I came here in this small town in MA, I've noticed a starbucks near my place. Everytime I drive by the shop, I feel relieved to see it :)

If the place is closed, where will the neighbors go? Maybe, Dunkin' donuts... Starbucks to Dunkin' donuts? Basically, it the same: you drink coffee and have some thing sweet. But the atmosphere can be different!

I remember when I was in college in a mid-western state, the school newspaper said "There's no city life in our town? Don't be so sad. We will have a Starbucks in our campus soon!" Now that a recession comes, I wonder if the Starbucks in the college is still there or not.