So this is why I pay so much to live here.

I live in Southern California, and it's incredibly expensive to live here. I highly doubt I'll ever be able to own a home here. Sometimes that can get me really down. Other times it makes me angry and I wonder why the hell California home prices and apartment rentals are so high.

Then days like today happen. Today it was really hot, so on my way home from work I decided to go to the beach and go surfing. I went home, changed, then headed to the beach. It's about a 20 minute drive to the beach from my house (in California, everything is a 20 minute drive away, no matter how near or far away you're going, it's sort of a weird law of physics here).

I got to the beach about an hour before sundown and was able to surf as the sun started to set. The water was a little colder than usual, but I was still able to go in without a wetsuit. After surfing, I headed home, changed again, then I decided to go get a sandwhich from the really awesome pizza place across the street from my house. The sun had gone down, but it was still really warm out, so I grabbed my bike and rode over to the bank, got cash, and then went and got food.

As I was riding home through the warm evening air, with salt still on my skin and in my hair from the ocean, I was suddenly reminded why the hell it costs so much to live here. Here it is, the day before October starts. It's been officially autumn for over a week now, and I can still go to the beach and then ride my bike to go get dinner. Most of the country has already started getting ready for winter, and I'm still acting like it's July.

I need days like this to remind me why I live where I do. I love that I can do stuff like this. I love the fact that as I type this, I have the sliding door to the patio open and a fan is blowing in air from outside.

Someday I'm sure that I'll want a house more than I will want this other stuff. And on that day I will finally decide to move out of California for good. But that day hasn't come yet. In the meantime, I'm going to go pour myself a glass of wine and go sit out on my patio.