Mar 27 2006
Some Clarification About Me
Someone suggested to me that changing scenery isn’t the answer to finding myself. I disagree. First of all, I know exactly who I am, so finding myself was never the issue. What I am looking for is a place to live that fits. When one is in a relationship with another person, if it doesn’t fit then the relationship is over. Often when entering a relationship is is not easy to know how things will transpire, and consequently people have many relationships and friendships that come and go over the course of their life. It’s the same way with where one lives. Very rarely will someone live in the same house for their entire lifetime. So when moving to a new home, who wrote the rule that it has to be in the same town, or an adjacent town? No one, to my knowledge. Part of life’s experiences are to see what’s out there, and I’m learning more about what I want and what kind of place will fit by being here in Las Vegas. I don’t totally hate it here. I appreciate all that this town has done for me. But I’ve known since the minute I set foot in this town that I wouldn’t be staying. Right now I have my overly pragmatic side at odds with my overly emotional side trying to figure out what my next move is.
I work as an administrative assistant. I like being an admin, but no one ever got rich doing it. I’m not looking to get rich or live the high life. My wages are decent for the job that I do, but not enough to afford my own apartment or even think about buying a home in this town. There are other parts of the country where having my own place is very realistic on the money I make, but Las Vegas isn’t one of those places.
Let’s do a little math:
Average household income in Las Vegas: ~$45,000
Average home price: ~$310,000
Now, if we take the old fashioned way - that is, before ARMs and creative financing - of figuring out how much house one can afford, it would be approximately 3x the annual income. So, $45K x 3 = $135,000. Something seems a bit off, doesn’t it? Even if I did find something in my price range, for rent or sale, I’m really not about to put myself on a fast track to bankruptcy just to have the kind of lifestyle I want. And if you’ve been reading my posts at all, then you’ll know that I’m really sure that the Vegas lifestyle is not what I want.
Here’s a little bit more about me - I am also an introvert. There is an excellent article that I came across online called “Caring for Your Introvert”. I’ve linked to it on the right. I think it’s important to understand that if you are reading all this about me. But don’t get me wrong, I do have a social life - I don’t want to be totally alone. I attend a great church with some really amazing people. I consider my job to be a lot of my social life, because I have so much fun with the people I work with. And I do have friends here. I enjoy a night out with my friends just as much as I enjoy a night in by myself. The key for me is to keep my social calendar light, because if I don’t get my alone time, trust me, no one will like me very much. If I don’t get my decompression time, the stress monster rears its ugly head. I try to make sure I have that balance. Those who know me know all this, those who don’t tend to criticize.
A little bit more on Las Vegas. I’m not bored here. There is a ton of stuff to do, even on an extremely tight budget like mine. But I’m not interested in doing most of that. Those who live here know that locals never go to the Strip unless they have visitors in town. I’m the same way. I didn’t move here to live the glitz and glamour of the casinos every night. I moved here for a change. I needed a change of pace. I needed to live somewhere different from where I was from, to have my own turf, to be anonymous. I found that. But Vegas is a fun-for-now kind of town. It’s not the kind of town where I want to put down roots, and like I said, I’ve known that since the minute I got here. It’s getting time for me to figure out my next move, so I decided to start this blog. I have a diary, and I’ve been keeping one for a long time, using it mostly to articulate my thoughts and figure things out. But this is fun too - fun for me. That’s what’s important, right? I really don’t care that this blog isn’t as entertaining as all the offerings of the Las Vegas Strip. If it was, then I could surely use my talents to make a heck of a lot more money than I am now. But I’m not interested in that. I’m just putting my thoughts down, and it doesn’t matter to me if it’s in a book that I hide in my room or in out there in cyberspace for all to see. This is just my way of getting through the decision making process, and I’m going to do it in whatever way works for me.
