Why, oh why, oh why-o, did I ever leave Ohio (that's where I went to college, so you see this title almost works)

In the vein of Lauren's second introductory post...allow me to explain why I ended up in the City of Angels.

First off, let me share that for most of my natural life, I . Was. Never. Moving. to. Los Angeles.

Granted, nearly all of my impressions of LAlaland were gleaned from one of two sources- a family trip at age 12, the most vivid memories of that trip being hooker-watching in Hollywood (this was pre-Disneyfication of H'wood, natch) and crying on my 12th birthday in Disneyland. The other source was the media. As most anyone familiar with American tv, movies, and news can tell you, Los Angeles is home to a race of thin blonde celebrities who wear brightly colored clothing, wear 10-15 designer logo-ed items simultaneously, and spend days lying by the backyard pool while pondering the mysteries of Scientology/Kaballah/organic foods. Oh, and gangs. Violent gangs. LA has those, too.

You can see why I was quoted as saying something to the effect of, "Southern California could float off the map because of an earthquake? This is wonderful news, indeed!"

In my defense, this is a view held by the majority of East Coast and Midwest denziens. Well, at least the ones I'm friends with, anyway. When I first announced my move, I think I would have been faced with less to justify had I been moving to Antartica. At least everyone knows exactly what's there- a lot of ice. And penguins. Who doesn't love penguins?

So now that's I've established my feelings on the greater Los Angeles area prior to moving here...let's get to the "why" of why I'm living in the land of (artifically transplanted) palm trees and other such monstrosities...

(pie graph forthcoming once I figure out how to make an attractive one with Microsoft Office)

40% - glorious weather/ completely ridiculous inability to deal with cold temperatures consider the fact that I'm from Minnesota
20% - career opportunities- LA's actually a pretty great place to start out being an opera singer
15%- boyfriend
15 %- very favoritest roommate EVER moving here and wanted a roommate
8% - lots of extended family in California
2 % - interesting adventure!

(more to come tomorrow...time to head out of work for the day!)