The Next Step

I am suddenly moving from one artists' community to another, staying in Los Angeles but relocating to a different neighborhood. I have been at the first community, The Sugar Shack, for two years almost to the day, and I had no plans to move as recently as two weeks ago, but I stumbled upon another one that is more music-oriented and that I think will be a good place for me to live for a while in terms of developing that part of my career. It's closer to downtown and the music scene in Silver Lake/Echo Park, and the other residents are almost all professional musicians. It's in an old convent which reminds me of something in New Orleans, where I lived briefly until Katrina put a stop to that. It also reminds me of another artists' community in Dallas in an old church where I lived for a while after I was forced to leave New Orleans. I've met five of the people there, and I like all of them. I am still friends with the housemates at the first house, but I got a strong feeling when I found this place that I need to go there next. It's certainly shaken my energy up - I got a move on this week and brought home a truckload of free boxes for packing and I've been sorting through clothes and stuff to give some away and sell some more. I've had an issue that has dogged me since I left home to go to college that I have more personal stuff than I ever really can rent enough room for. Cities are so expensive and space is at such a premium that I've always had to cram stuff into a little apartment or pay to store too much, and I am sick of it. This space is smaller than where I have been living, so I need to pare down, and for once I don't feel bad about it. I had a big rent-controlled apartment on Staten Island in NYC for three years and I accumulated too much. I also picked up a lot from family storage in Texas and enough is enough. I won't get rid of family things, but I have enough vintage clothes and purses and shoes that I could go the rest of my life without buying a thing and still be okay, so it's time to purge. I have always thrifted and yard saled for entertainment, and I have a lot of lovely things that I paid pennies for, so I feel okay about recycling some of it. I am supposed to be moved by the first weekend of November. It's interesting, I have a very intuitive feeling about this place and there is a lot of synchronicity around the move. My aunt told me that her very first apartment in Los Angeles was only a few blocks from my new one, which I take to be a good sign.