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Seriously Milt, you got a half dozen people who will stand up and say they like having you around. How many people can really say that nowadays?

Hell Milt, I think I have tangled with you over opinions (I think?) and I still want you to hang. Change is a ***** but it is MORE of a sure thing than death OR taxes in my opinion.

Attitude adjustment and reload?

Glad to hear you are going to still post, particularly your car stuff. I would miss reading your posts.

I kind of hear where you are coming from. I'm a So. Cal native, been out of state and have lived in the San Gabriel Valley since the '70's. Depressing to see the changes locally, with over crowding and too much traffic. Not to mention the politicians shoving a Wal Mart in the neighborhood, with total disregard for the residents. I have family obligations and will be here a while longer, but I am looking forward to escaping to a much smaller town.

Milt,

I like reading your posts and I find your views and opinions interesting and thought provoking. I just don't have the time to respond to everything I read...

You do what you are comfortable with but you know you have friends here in any case.

The world would be a damned boring place without differing views and the odd bloodied up spat to keep things spicy!

I know you've tried the decentralised life before and you obviously aren't enjoying where you're at now. Take another look at decentralising somewhere "new" for you. Broaden your already broad outlook even further - you might find what you're looking for someplace you never imagined.

Hell, we've just gone and done it! We've moved 3 kids and Mum to a country town but we still commute back into the city for work. Mind you, we're not remote - about an hour and a bit from Melbourne now. But we could be anywhere once we're home! We're in a town of 12,000 people and it's NICE! I mean really nice...rolling pastures, mountains in the distance, so far great people who have time to give a smile. I am hoping that it stays this way for a long time. I think it's up to a community to ensure this and I get the feeling we've made a good choice for our kids and us in doing this. I love what we do everyday (mostly!), but I find myself counting down the hours when I can point the car to home at night.

Milt, please look around some...pursuit of happiness is far from easy but you deserve to find it.

Cheers,

Lisa

Kind words. You wouldn't have thought I had any friends or any respect whatsoever from the ***** coming down my way. You know, if you push hard, people push back. That's OK, but some make it personal. I've tried to keep it non personal, or at least 2nd person type of writing. I've made some very acerbic and terse remarks in fun. My fun.

I've been told so many times that the writing is the key. One has to really tone it down from the terms and phrases used in every day conversation lest it be taken as having some attitude when read in print.

Well, guess what, I have an attitude and I don't tone my writing. I wasn't made for the Internet and the Internet certainly wasn't made for me. What's more, I've never had to work with a group for any length of time. I'm self employed, I work alone, and I've been scratching out a living one nail at a time since 1970, mostly as a lone wolf. So the group thing is not my thing.

Before that, I was a race car mechanic in the late 60's when the hash pipe was passed along with the wrench. Still, I did a lot of the work on my time, when I wanted to, where I wanted to. You get the pattern. I've not answered to anyone, by and large, for all of my adult life. I wouldn't trade a minute of it for any desk job in some cubicle. Hell, I wouldn't trade a minute for the corner office with a view if it meant sucking up to the pointy haired boss. Bosses suck.

AFA moving, Lisa, I've got to tell you that an hour in every direction in CA is just the same. People here drive 2 and 3 hour one way commutes. My wife works with about 3 that drive from the local mountains, some 100 hundred miles one way, each day. Not me. I'd rather do my driving for sport.

I moved back into my hometown, the 5th largest city in the state, yet the poorest of any with a population of 100K or more. I need a population base to work for. In a city of 500K, I've got plenty of prospects. In a city of 25K, I'd starve to death before I could latch on.

I like a fast moving business. My favorite business owner was the roofer. A hot mop specialist, he did a house a day. People don't buy many roofs in a lifetime, so he did a new customer every day. Perfect. I tried to buy his business, but he explained very well why it was his business that was successful. Take over and I'd fail.

So, I patterned my own installation business after the roofer. House a day, mostly. Some take longer. People buy windows once in a lifetime. Perfect. But the city has become a sewer. I work in about one third of it and avoid driving through the rest. With the demographics such as they are, there's no point in working for some of the poorest in the country (Long Beach is the 6th poorest city in the US of 100K or more, with respect to the number of people living under the adjusted for CA national poverty level.)

I used to complain about the East Coasters that came here for the sun or because of a job opportunity. They brought their Eastern ways with them and didn't take the time to understand the SoCal culture which is mainly laid back. There is no So Cal culture left now. It's hard to find a native that can explain it. The new culture speaks another language and they damn sure don't have a clue what it is to be part of the laid back scene. Shoot, they work 7 days a week making all kinds of noise and commotion. A real So Cal native would be out in the back yard at the grill on Sunday, not remodeling. Not having a swarm of worker bees from the day labor corner working on a weekend.

The original work force here worked hard and played hard. We had a lot that had their surfboard in the work truck. Or skis. At least a beach chair to cop a tan. Now, you get a tan by opening the sun roof while you're stuck in grid lock. Not the same.

I could go on forever, but you get the point. And, there's no moving out of it. You're either here, or you aren't. I wish mostly anymore that I aren't. However, I need the money. I can't work at a hardaware store, Richard, for 8 bucks an hour. Just my health insurance alone would eat half of that at full time.

Milt,

I understand your point(s) completely. We are just lucky that Oz still can offer a more laidback lifestyle dependent upon where you choose live and work. It's different here - we don't have the population of course and that in itself means I cannot draw comparisons. I wasn't meaning to - after having spent some time in LA I got the picture first hand. Frankly I wouldn't swap Oz for anywhere as a home base. I know the going is too good here overall.

Mind you the whole ethos has changed the world over...we want more; we work more; we pay more for everything but don't find the time to enjoy what we've procurred...cos we're too darned busy working more in order to have more! But basic costs and society's assumption of needs have changed and risen too. Point in fact - I don't want any more gadgets in my house - I am totally sick of tripping over remote controls and such ****....but my kids are coming up in an age where they seem to need such gadgets as ipods and the like. Don't get me wrong, they are great gadgets - I just don't NEED them!

Melbourne is a totally different place to live than say Sydney...I can't do Sydney. Life is more frantic, cost of living is higher etc etc. I don't like the atmosphere there. Sure there are pockets and places that I could probably live in greater Sydney but I couldn't move too far out of those surrounds without feeling like a caged animal. I guess that's how you feel where you are now.

You need to finish your car and enjoy it...I watched my Dad for many years use his cars as his place of "cleansing". When he was overly stressed, he would go for a long hard drive in the middle of the night and come back purged and whole again. His cars were his saviours - truly. My mother understood completely...smart woman.

Try hard not to let your environment smother your zest for life...we are a bloody long time dead and life is way too short - get your car on the road and join Wayne on Mulholland!

Cheers,

Lisa