Living in the present, being in the now, is a whole lot easier when the now is really great. I always struggle with living in the now, I tend to live in the future, but today my problem is getting myself to plan. This leads me to the next enlightenment topic, Divinity, and two quotes from Epictetus, the second is:
Men are disturbed not by things
that happen,
but by their opinions of the things
that happen.
Epictetus was a Greek Stoic philosopher and former slave. I like the Stoics and was introduced to them in Tom Wolfe's fiction book, A Man in Full, and in some ways this book has influenced my adventure. So, it is not my inability to plan that is the problem, it is my opinion about it (or, I would add, my ideas of what my father's opinion might be about it.)
I did reschedule my flight to Boise for August 3rd to 5th, because I thought it should be closer to when I expect my retirement money. In my research on housing available there seems to be many good choices available in August and my focus for the trip is on finding housing. I would like to be in Boise before Labor Day and there is a big art fair Labor Day weekend.
There are many reasons I chose Boise and I started with the practical ones. If I could chose where I wanted to live, rather than going where the job or the family is, where would I want to live? What do I want in a home? I have the luxury today of being able to chose where ever I want to go. I am from Southern California, so I have to kind of discount the weather, because no place is going to have weather that can beat Southern California. I want to stay in the West and I want to live in a red (conservative) state. I thought it would be good to live in a capital, so if I needed to use my Master's Degree for a job, I could. At work, Jocelyn said, what are the other choices besides Boise? So we looked at a map on Google Maps. (Hey Jocelyn, you know those tooth picks we were talking about, the wood ones with the mint taste? I found some in my Dad's stuff, they are called Stim-U-Dent, but Dad's have lost their mint.)
How well do you know your state capitals? Jocelyn knew her's better than me. So, Austin, Texas is conservative, but Austin is not, and it is too humid! I figured I could travel Texas for a year and still not be able to chose a place to live, Texas is too big! Phoenix is too hot. Santa Fe is beautiful, and I like the Southwest, but there are either rich or poor in Santa Fe and I am afraid that the art community is too cliquish. I already tried Nevada, Utah is beautiful, but without being Mormon I would have a hard time finding community. Oregon and Washington are too blue, and so is Colorado, really, and I do not want to live a mile high. I want to live in a smaller town, but when we were looking at the map, we had to zoom in on Montana and Wyoming to find a city that made it on the map, this is too small. On a list of US states by population, Wyoming is 50th (Montana is 44th.) California is 1st, so going from biggest to smallest is too dramatic of a jump. Idaho is 39th. East of these states, we are no longer in the West, although this was the only reason I discounted Iowa.
So I want to live in a smaller town, I want some city with something to do and some culture, and I want conservative government. I want to live on a good size piece of land with some quiet and where I can grow things, so I need a place with enough of it's own water. (That leaves out Arizona, Utah, and Nevada.) I want to live somewhere beautiful, as in artistically inspiring, and I want cheaper land and rent.
Boise is the capital of Idaho. When most people think of Idaho, they think of Coeur d'Alene, which is much farther north, less populated, more mountainous, and more snowy. Idaho actually has a wide variety of terrain, from mountains to high desert, is renowned for being beautiful, and full of lakes and rivers. Boise is in southern Idaho, on the edge of where mountains meet high desert, and the Boise River runs through downtown. South of Boise Idaho is very flat. Downtown Boise is at 2700 feet above sea level with a population of around 200,000. Summers are hot and dry, with an average temperature in the upper 80's and a few days a year at 100. January average is 30 degrees and average snowfall is 20" (rarely even 3" at a time.) It has 4 seasons. The unemployment rate is 9%, ranked 28th lowest of the states. In or around Boise, I can rent a 1000 square foot duplex with a yard for $700 a month. It has an art museum, a historical society, and a renown Shakespeare Festival. In less than 7 hours, I can be in Spokane, Washington or Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, or Yellowstone National Park. The LA types should stay in Sun Valley, which is 3 hours away, so I can sell art to them without having to live with them. Idaho is also safe, and full of retired police and military. My friend described Idaho as an entire state like Simi Valley. Finally, Idaho is one of the most fiscally sound states in the US.
The only drawback I could see is that winter is cold, although not that snowy in Boise, it is a pretty far move, 840 miles or 15 hours from Simi Valley, and my Tuesday Night Women's coffee is not there.
No comments:
Post a Comment