Pros and Cons

Well we've been living in L.A. for about 3 months now. When we were back in Canada for a quick visit most people asked how I like living here and how it compares to living back home. My answer was usually "well, there are pros and cons". So, in no particular order here are the pros and cons of living in L.A.:

Pro - The freeways. When the freeways are relatively traffic-free they are such a fantastic way to get around. You have anywhere from 5 to 7 lanes to choose from and you can comfortably go about 110 km/hr and zip from one end of the city to the other.
Con - The freeways. During rush hour but also at other random, unexpected times (such as 3pm on a Sunday) the freeways get ridiculously backed up and you creep along at 15 km/hr. I always think that there must be an accident ahead but there never is. I have been told that one should always have spare food and water in your vehicle in case you get stuck on the freeway for hours. Seriously.

Pro - Lots of ethnic diversity. It's very cool to go the the park or even Asha's classroom and be surrounded by people of all sorts of ethnicities. You can literally get authentic food from every single country in the world somewhere in L.A. Asha's learning a little bit of Spanish although for some reason she's gotten it in her head that "four" is "mothro" in Spanish and she tells me I'm wrong if I tell her otherwise.
Con - Lots of ethnic/economic disparity. The neighourhoods are quite racially segregated and there's a fairly distinct unspoken caste system when it comes to employment. The whole economy seems to be dependent on the sweat of cheap, Mexican labour.

Pro - The weather. It has just started to get a bit cloudy sometimes but the summer was entirely cloud-free. We haven't had a drop of rain yet. The west side of L.A. where we live also benefits from the winds that come off the ocean so it doesn't get too hot in the summer as it does further east in the valley. We haven't had a winter here yet but I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that it'll be better than an Alberta winter. I told someone the other day about how we plow and shovel our snow into giant snowbanks and she didn't believe me.
Con - Hmm. Let's see... Nope, I can't think of a con when it comes to the weather. No opportunity for cloud-gazing? Oh wait, how about the fact that people use huge amounts of water shipped from hundreds of miles north to water their lawns. It's ridiculous and sickening. But that's what you have to do when you live in the desert and you want a beautiful lawn. People also seem to wash their cars CONSTANTLY. I'm not exaggerating when I say that most people wash their vehicle at least once a week. I'm also not exaggerating when I say that our truck is the dirtiest vehicle in the entire state.

Pro - A generally positive attitude. People are just so damn happy to be American! The patriotism here is kind of cool. I think that all the sun and good weather is also somewhat responsible for people being in a generally good mood. I've said it before but people in  L.A. are pretty much always really friendly and nice.
Con - I think that Americans may be so busy being pleased with themselves that they don't see that their whole system is broken. In L.A. at least, they have a fairly high sales tax and property taxes are very high but I can't figure out where all that money goes! Certainly not toward health care or education or infrastructure for that matter. I guess I do have an inkling of where it goes but maybe I shouldn't write it for fear of getting thrown out of the country. Let's just say this - do you know how much it is costing to keep American troups in Afghanistan? $1 billion a week. For real.

Well that's all for now but in order to stay true to form I will end on a positive note. We went to Hollywood for the first time last night and saw the Walk of Fame and handprints in the sidewalk and all that stuff. My hands are the same size as Julie Andrews' so I'm basically famous now. I also may or may not have seen that Asian guy from The Hangover. Did I mention that I also may or may not have seen the red-headed kid from Harry Potter at the airport last month?