Things I will and won't miss

I've already catalogued a few things I will miss about my little corner of the Southland--favorite retail haunts and independent bookstores, the joy of discovering new goodies at Trader Joe's, walking around Old Town Pasadena, favorite westside eateries and a long list of quaint tea shops to enjoy with the girlfriends. Will also miss being near mountains, hiking, Chinatown and Little Tokyo and seeing the old neighborhood with its "San Gabriel Village" neon sign.

Although I'm ready to move on professionally, I will miss some things about work: walking past the arroyo stream and up the hill to the office, seeing deer all over the facility, Larry and Wesley--the friendliest security guards at the site. Wesley stopped his truck to say hi to me this morning and is the only living being who can get away with calling me "Doll."

As difficult as it will be to leave Southern California, there's an equally long-winded list of things I won't miss:

--The officemate I mentioned in the last post (who's snoring even as I type). I give her a pass on most things because I'd rather not get enmeshed (or targeted) [you're free to argue that I'm already both], but when she failed to perform backup duties while I was out of the office, I alerted management.

--Even though I'm rarely in it: Los Angeles traffic including but not limited to the 10, the 110 transition to the 10 in downtown and the 405 any time of day. Honorable mention to the 101 and the 210 west underpass to the 210 east.

(My mom refers to all the freeways by their names rather than their numbers, which forces me to translate. Her: "Take the San Bernadino Freeway west to the Long Beach Freeway south to the Queen Mary." Me: "Take the 10 west to the 710 south to the Queen Mary." Clear and less syllabic).

--Film crews taking over the school where I tutor. Tutoring either gets cancelled or it's nearly impossible to get into the library to tutor. The kids I work with are disadvantaged enough without the cash-strapped district pimping out the educational facilities.

I'm sure I'll think of some more.