Greetings from Irvine, California, USA!
Photo taken on Saturday, March 1, 2008.
This month I stopped my post office box service after nearly 17 years. In my present financially lean times, I’m forgoing this simple luxury. I have moved several times and the p. o. box was a stable mailing address. With the safety net gone, I wondered how many places have I called home?
First I was born in the Philippines and lived with my parents until they migrated to America. I stayed behind with family friends and reunited with mom and dad several months later. In the USA our first house was in Alhambra before moving to West Covina. In high school I was an exchange student and lived in the Melbourne area of Australia. I had two host families, one in Wandin and the other in Glen Waverly. Subtotal: 6 homes in my first 18 years.
I was extremely mobile in my college years. I lived in an apartment for 21 months until my roommates graduated, then a condo for 3 months (summer only), both in Irvine. Next was a house on Newport Beach’s Balboa Island for 9 months (school year only), then an Irvine condo for 1 year. Finished with college and now on my own, I moved into an Irvine apartment, didn’t like it and moved out 3 months later. I lived in another Irvine condo for 3 more months, then back to West Covina when my job ended as my boss retired, closing our two-man department. Subtotal: 6 homes in just over 5 years.
Later a job lead to moving to a Costa Mesa condo for nearly 2 years until I was ready for a change. My next three places were all in Newport Beach. I temporarily lived with a friend in her apartment for 3 months, followed by a condo for 18 months, then another condo for 1 year. My roommates and I moved to the second condo, just two doors from the first because it had a jacuzzi and the other didn’t but I disliked the new landlord. Next I stayed at the Costa Mesa condo of another friend for 3 months. Back in school for an MBA and laid off from work, I once again moved back to my parents’ until another job brought me to Orange County again and my current home, a Newport Beach condo. Subtotal: Not counting the moves back to West Covina, 6 homes in 13 years.
Grand Total: 18 homes in 36 years!!! I’ll miss the p. o. box but it was never a home with a dog waiting to greet you. Nor, as my weekly photo shows, is it an anteater blasting rolled shirts with a handheld air cannon into the audience with UCI alumni attending a homecoming basketball game (not volleyball this time) where the home team defeated Cal State Northridge 82-66. There is no place like home.
Angelo
Photo taken on Saturday, March 1, 2008.
This month I stopped my post office box service after nearly 17 years. In my present financially lean times, I’m forgoing this simple luxury. I have moved several times and the p. o. box was a stable mailing address. With the safety net gone, I wondered how many places have I called home?
First I was born in the Philippines and lived with my parents until they migrated to America. I stayed behind with family friends and reunited with mom and dad several months later. In the USA our first house was in Alhambra before moving to West Covina. In high school I was an exchange student and lived in the Melbourne area of Australia. I had two host families, one in Wandin and the other in Glen Waverly. Subtotal: 6 homes in my first 18 years.
I was extremely mobile in my college years. I lived in an apartment for 21 months until my roommates graduated, then a condo for 3 months (summer only), both in Irvine. Next was a house on Newport Beach’s Balboa Island for 9 months (school year only), then an Irvine condo for 1 year. Finished with college and now on my own, I moved into an Irvine apartment, didn’t like it and moved out 3 months later. I lived in another Irvine condo for 3 more months, then back to West Covina when my job ended as my boss retired, closing our two-man department. Subtotal: 6 homes in just over 5 years.
Later a job lead to moving to a Costa Mesa condo for nearly 2 years until I was ready for a change. My next three places were all in Newport Beach. I temporarily lived with a friend in her apartment for 3 months, followed by a condo for 18 months, then another condo for 1 year. My roommates and I moved to the second condo, just two doors from the first because it had a jacuzzi and the other didn’t but I disliked the new landlord. Next I stayed at the Costa Mesa condo of another friend for 3 months. Back in school for an MBA and laid off from work, I once again moved back to my parents’ until another job brought me to Orange County again and my current home, a Newport Beach condo. Subtotal: Not counting the moves back to West Covina, 6 homes in 13 years.
Grand Total: 18 homes in 36 years!!! I’ll miss the p. o. box but it was never a home with a dog waiting to greet you. Nor, as my weekly photo shows, is it an anteater blasting rolled shirts with a handheld air cannon into the audience with UCI alumni attending a homecoming basketball game (not volleyball this time) where the home team defeated Cal State Northridge 82-66. There is no place like home.
Angelo
