Petco Park, I am in you. LFGSD ⚾💛🤎

I have been to several Padres vs. Dodgers games (both in SD and LA, both during the regular season and the postseason), and the Padres have never won against the Dodgers in my presence until last night! It was incredible. Thanks to Pammie for buying us tickets in the Agave Club 😘

Jessie and Abe were there with Baby Isaac, and Jess was wearing a City Connect shirt. I was like, ‘How’d you know they were gonna wear their City Connect uniforms tonight?’ And she was like, ‘Because it’s Friday!’ I was today years old when I found out that the Padres always wear their City Connect uniforms at home games on Fridays 😅 If I would’ve known that, I might’ve cricutted a brighter shirt for today.

I saw people watching the game from their balconies in the surrounding buildings and thought, ‘What a cool view.’ Pammie was like, ‘If I bought one of these condos downtown for you to rent, would you move back to SD?’ Um, 100%! I was looking at prices of rentals overlooking Petco and the median was $4,000/month 😵‍💫 I could afford to live there if I didn’t do any extracurriculars 😅 It was like when I was living in my apartment in La Mesa, but was so poor, all I did was work at my graphic design job during the day, go to art school at night, do my homework at the library because they had free air conditioning, and eat honeydew with a spoon with Shi on hot days. Life was so much simpler back then, but I’m financially stable now 😅 People who make less money than I do have nicer cars, own homes… It all depends on what you want to spend your money on. And I would rather pay for VIP access at a concert or first class on an airplane than own a nice car. I was looking at more affordable rentals (still downtown, but not overlooking Petco), and they were in the low $2,000s/month. That, I would be okay paying. It’s comparable to the rental prices in LA, look much nicer than the apartment I live in now, have in-unit washers/dryers (some asshole hit my parked car at the laundromat last month), and I’d save money in gas not driving back and forth from LA to SD all the time.

My boss recently told our web team (who’s been WFH since the pandemic), that she was talking to our VP about the new buildings our department is moving into soon (the print team has been working in our current office for the past few years. They started building the new offices during the pandemic and people started moving in this month), and his boss (the CEO’s son), doesn’t plan on having the web team come in. I’ve always felt like he thought the web department wasn’t important (we get the revenue reports, and a single one of our emails generated $5 million in revenue last year, so I beg to differ), so I’m not surprised he doesn’t care if we’re in-office or not. Besides, my boss and I are the only ones who live near the office in the South Bay, because we were here before the pandemic. Everyone else is scattered throughout LA (or have moved out of state), and I know they wouldn’t be down to commute. She said it’s not official yet, but something to think about…

I find the office environment very toxic (not all offices, just this department in particular), and I was dreading being in-office again soon. I even made a portfolio in case it was too much and I decided to leave. I’ve lived in LA for 13 years now (I moved here to work at this same company), and it’s never felt like home. Sure, it has good restos, and artists always have shows in LA, but Mexican food in SD will always be superior to Mexican food in LA (fight me), and I’ve gone to more shows in SD this year (it’s always easier than going to the same show in LA), plus most of my friends and family are in SD. If I have the opportunity to still work for an LA company (and make LA money!), but move back home to SD, I should take it, right?