California dreaming ....don't think it will happen for me this life time (Moreno Valley: find a job, movies)

[bophisto]

Yeah min wage as a starting point w/ roommates might be ok as a starting point until you can work yourself up..but how many years might that take ??

I guess I don't see the point of intentionally moving to a high cost place if you know that all you can get is a minimum wage or low paying job.

[Elle Oh Elle]

Originally Posted by bophisto

Yeah min wage as a starting point w/ roommates might be ok as a starting point until you can work yourself up..but how many years might that take ??

I guess I don't see the point of intentionally moving to a high cost place if you know that all you can get is a minimum wage or low paying job.

That's the thing. You have to have a set destination. He shouldn't be still floating on minimum wage for more than two years.

I don't know what else he would really be able to do, then. Even people who had better jobs in their home states/countries have been seen satisfying them for simple minimum wage jobs. Like you said, a lot crash with roommates or friends and family.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by john3232

If you're earning $70,000 a year there are plenty of other areas around the country where your money will go much farther.

I like Cal. but personally think the on-going problems within the state will only get worse.

If you are earning $70,000 a year (in the LA area) there are plenty of other areas around the country where you will make less because employers know that they can pay you less than in the LA area. Think about it, not all jobs pay the same in differant locations. Even our minumum wage is more than in most areas around the nation.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Here is my thoughts to the writer.

Show up with something to sell. Show up with a new idea. Have some development ideas allready in the works. Develop a few screenplays now. Write 22 episodes of a sitcom. Write a book about where you are from. What I am saying is show up with something that someone can build on. It is much easier to write in a cheap area where you don't have to hustle to get the rent paid and food on the table then to call yourself a writer and spend all your time working to pay for your dream of someday becoming a writer. You know what sells? Stories that you think are boring because you lived it. Others want to read about it and someone will even give you money for that. Lucky you because I am sure that you have a story to tell. Everyone does. Get that on paper before you show up and hawk that to someone who can get it produced.

[macmyapples]

Some of your posts are motivational, cant wait to move in few weeks.

Also,

[BarcelonaFan]

I love LA but it's glam factor is dwindling for me. I see it as the third world city it really now and it's a little depressing. I feel like I am literally living in like Bogota, Colombia or a sunny Moscow, Russia. It's tought out here and I am fortunate enough to not have to struggle. But it's just tough seeing the despair and the gawdy rich within a few miles of each other.

You see the faces of people and you know they're struggling. Even in cities like Detroit, they're just abandoned like a war hit it, but in LA commerce still flourishes yet people are scraping by, that by itself is the definition of a third world city.

I don't want to leave because opportunities here are endless if you have time to take advantage of them. The reason why many people can't is because first priority is trying to stay affloat.

[harhar]

Eh, a lot of LA is a dump filled with transplants. But a lot of it is great too. I miss a lot of things from the city, but I don't miss the traffic, Hollywood, and out of town hipsters thinking they own the place.

It's tough if you don't make a lot, but if you want to live in the city by yourself in a studio or 1br, you'd need at least 35k/yr assuming you don't have any debt. And if you work a regular 9-5 office job $35k shouldn't be that hard to obtain.

[bophisto]

Barcelona , what part of L.A do you live in. I agree there is a lot of struggle in the city. What opportunities can most people take advantage of here that they can't in many other cities in the U.S w/ a better quality of life? Besides Entertainment industry?

harhar, I agree ..it's annoying that these people move here and think they own the place. It's ridiculous . Also a native Angeleno doesn't get the same respect as a native New Yorker gets. In L.A it doesn't matter where you are from for most people.

[BarcelonaFan]

Originally Posted by bophisto

Barcelona , what part of L.A do you live in. I agree there is a lot of struggle in the city. What opportunities can most people take advantage of here that they can't in many other cities in the U.S w/ a better quality of life? Besides Entertainment industry?

harhar, I agree ..it's annoying that these people move here and think they own the place. It's ridiculous . Also a native Angeleno doesn't get the same respect as a native New Yorker gets. In L.A it doesn't matter where you are from for most people.

By opportunities I mean education wise. The community colleges here are pretty good and there are schools that offer a lot in terms of switching majors. For instance, I am going back to school to enter a field that is totally unrelated to my original major in college. I need my basics in this field and I found a school that offers that when it's hard to find in most other cities.

Outside of entertainment you have art, architecture, engineering (fleeting), tech, law, marketing/advertising, etc.

They're all competitive and fleeting but they're there.

Overall this city is tough. It literally reminds me of a third world city because it's rich with lots of industry but the companies pay low (relative to cost of living) and the vast majority of people live paycheck to paycheck. This is the very way a third world city works. People do not understand this because they don't have immigrant parents from a rich third world country. The wealth is concentrated. The disparities huge.

Most people think of Detroit or Newwark, NJ when thinking of what's a "third world" city. Those are wholly abandoned cities by industry. What I am talking about is a fully functioning city that can run and still has wealth and industry, it's just that the businesses care not to hire so much and when they do it's temporary or low pay, unless you're a professional with lots of experience.

Just make no bones about it. That's how you survive LA; you do what you have to do. You're not in your grandparents America. Los Angeles is only marginally better than living in Warsaw, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Chile, and Mexico City.

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by BarcelonaFan

By opportunities I mean education wise. The community colleges here are pretty good and there are schools that offer a lot in terms of switching majors. For instance, I am going back to school to enter a field that is totally unrelated to my original major in college. I need my basics in this field and I found a school that offers that when it's hard to find in most other cities.

Outside of entertainment you have art, architecture, engineering (fleeting), tech, law, marketing/advertising, etc.

They're all competitive and fleeting but they're there.

Overall this city is tough. It literally reminds me of a third world city because it's rich with lots of industry but the companies pay low (relative to cost of living) and the vast majority of people live paycheck to paycheck. This is the very way a third world city works. People do not understand this because they don't have immigrant parents from a rich third world country. The wealth is concentrated. The disparities huge.

Most people think of Detroit or Newwark, NJ when thinking of what's a "third world" city. Those are wholly abandoned cities by industry. What I am talking about is a fully functioning city that can run and still has wealth and industry, it's just that the businesses care not to hire so much and when they do it's temporary or low pay, unless you're a professional with lots of experience.

Just make no bones about it. That's how you survive LA; you do what you have to do. You're not in your grandparents America. Los Angeles is only marginally better than living in Warsaw, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Chile, and Mexico City.

I dunno about that.