Interview in Chico

I went to a job interview in Chico yesterday. I made enough of a good impression to have another one today. Its a 90 minute drive in good weather with light traffic. I may be making that trip quite a few times, but its a nice series of roads, including miles of lovely orchards along Highway 70 north of Marysville. Eventually, near Oroville, the water runs out and you're suddenly driving beside inch-deep topsoil covered in grass, with lots of flood basalts sticking out to the East, the southern extent of the Cascade range. Those are NOT the Sierras. Fascinating stuff, since Chico is much closer to the active volcanoes like Lassen Peak.

The highway turns into divided freeway in Oroville and with occasional breaks for stoplights and crossing roads. By the time it reaches Chico, its elevated through town and has surprisingly few offramps, which makes driving in town a little frustrating. Some of those roads go under the freeway without providing onramps. Chico is so full of trees you don't get much view while you're in it. It reminds me of home, only it has no mountains. It also has numbered streets and avenues, just to be difficult. And its not actually north-south grid either. Its reasonably flat and has wide enough streets. This is good for all the bicycling, and I saw many of them on Saturday. If I live there I would definitely bike around, at least when I was wanting exercise. If I'm working at night, forget about cycling. Its too dangerous after dark. Too many potential flats and accidents, plus critters. I saw evidence of raccoons, skunks, deer, and possibly cougars along Bidwell Park and I understand its north enough for black bears to wander down too. Since a black bear can run faster than I can pedal, that's not something I want to startle in the dark. A lot depends on the shift I'm assigned.

Chico State campus is closed on the weekend. No Saturday classes. The place is really empty. The downtown a couple blocks away was busy and full of young people, some of them drunk, but all of them enjoying the warm weather. Considering that a monster storm, from the remainders of Northwest Pacific Typhoon, are hitting the PNW and North Coast today, and sliding inland. I'll be driving through that for my interview today. The meeting runs until early evening, which means I'll be driving south into decreasing light and then turning up the mountain into some twisty roads. I will be cautious and hope that others driving out there will be too.

Dad suggested I take an overnight bag, just in case driving looks too dangerous or I need to do something there on Monday, like a drug test at a local lab for instance. That's a reasonable expectation. If I get a job, I will need to find housing shortly and get moved in. Dad suggests I do a room-share for cheap since those exist. That can sometimes work, if its NOT a college student or wild partying folks. I need peace and quiet. I don't know what shift I'd have in this 24/7 operation. Where I live needs to be quiet enough that I can sleep when off-shift. With my own parking space, too. And with people who don't invite over druggie friends that steal all my good cookware and food from the fridge and pantry.

I have been talking and writing for a long time about mobile lifestyles, about adapting to the new economy by staying true to your own values and recognizing your current situation is not your only option. Sometimes being mobile is the right answer. Signing a lease doesn't make sense in a flexible marketplace where obsolescence is merely a contract negotiation away. If I can fit my critical needs in my car trunk and escape being stuck somewhere, aren't I getting a better life? That's real freedom, after all. The ability to walk away because you are NOT trapped. Maybe the best way to deal with that is studio apartments with minimal stuff in them and good locks.

Minimal still seems to be the way to go. Its not the stuff you have, but the content and quality. Much like being able to cook and look after yourself is hugely more important than choosing bad restaurants for dinner tonight. An apartment should be a place to rest and recover from everything going on outside it. If the job I'm interviewing for is like I think it will be, I'm going to be quite busy when I'm awake and putting a lot of time into the place, not home resting. When I'm home I'm probably going to want to sleep, laundry, cook some good meals for the day and week, and prepare for the next burst of social-business activity. The apartment is the place to sleep. Having less stuff means needing less room, and paying less for it, most likely. This also means I should think seriously about selling off or donating to charity many of the things I own that aren't critical. The trouble with "possibles" and "maybe I'll need that someday" is the cost of storing them is often more than they're worth to replace with something new when you actually need them. I've already spent more than a grand storing my stuff from my place in Pton while living here and I'm not missing that stuff very often. That means I don't really need it. Maybe when I get a place, I can work out what's junk and get rid of it then. I hate to move it, but that's better than having to replace it at the wrong time. Best to be reasonable and recognize the limitations of my disinterest in materialism. My life is about content, not things.

On days off I can visit Dad and do some exploring. First in town, then into the valley and mountains a few hours out and back. I never did visit the Modoc Plateau yet, and its an interesting place from what I've seen on the maps. Full of volcanic cinder cones. Totally worth photographing. Geo-tourism? I suppose. I could also drive up the eastern side of the Cascades through southern Oregon. Never been there either. Maybe do some picnics. It's another part of California I haven't explored yet, so that aspect is making me smile. Good pictures and some new blog posts? Yeah, that would be dandy. I shall report back later.