California Dreaming

Whenever the weather starts to change over from winter to spring, I start to get majorly anxious about the impending warm weather. So much so, that I think I can trick Mother Nature by wearing what I think are season appropriate clothes, even if they aren't really weather appropriate. Take that Mother Nature! You must be so bitter, making it so cold for us on the East Coast right now. Warm up already, you frigid bitch! Kidding! I love you. Now make it warm.

Sometimes it's difficult being an East Coaster, especially being a female East Coaster. My friend sent me an article today with a map of the US that identified how many more singles there are in each metro, by gender. Women equal red dots on the map (um, thanks for reminding me of my period, dude who created this map), and men equal blue dots. I live on the wrong coast. For reals. According to this map, there are 210,820 more single women than single men living in the NYC-Northern NJ area. AH! I know there are over 8 million people living in this city, but that’s just depressing! Incidentally, my friend entitled her email, “Why It’s Not My Fault That My Love Life Stinks.” With odds like that, no wonder!

As I’m studying the map more, still in shock from the huge red dot looming over NYC, I glance to California. The state contains one tiny red dot, which appears to be the location of Sacramento (at least I think it is). San Francisco has a huge blue dot, LA has a huge blue dot and two additional blue dots surrounding it. In LA, there are 89,459 more single men than women living there. Obviously, I’m not only in the wrong city, I’m in the wrong state! And in the wrong portion of the country, for that matter. The East Coast is heavily populated with red dots compared with the mass amounts of blue dots overtaking the West Coast.

In the article that accompanies this oh-so-informative map, the guy who wrote it, Richard Florida (nice name, buddy), is basically saying that people move to different regions for two reasons: job opportunities and to find a mate. Duh. Why else would I move anywhere? The typical person makes most decisions in one’s life based on these criteria (with a few exceptions, I might add!). People genuinely want to be happy – or at least I hope we all do! (Cheer up, Charlie!) – and moderately successful. The article never really mentions why there is a higher population of women on the East and men on the West, but it does mention that men are more willing to travel away from their families for work than women are. I’m not so sure about that one! I know plenty of mama’s boys on this coast, particularly in NJ (I’m not dissing you Jersey, just making a statement. I know you get rough treatment, baby).

I’m not even sure how this map makes me feel, to be honest. I looked at it and said to myself, self, you already knew this. It just makes me wonder why there are so many single women in NYC. It is the greatest city in the world! And it’s also one of those places that will always have opportunities opening up, something that women have not been privy to for as long as men have. Yeah, women in the workplace! We wear heals and we don’t care who we step on! Oh, wait, sorry, did that hurt? Let me get a bandage.

The guru often goes out to LA for work, and I’ve been incessantly asking her if she will take me out there sometime (I’ve only ever been once when I was just an innocent child). This map just gave me more reason to want to go out there.

So, here is a run down of the cities that are constantly having sausage parties: Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver-Aurora, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland Dallas-Ft. Worth, and Honolulu. I expect you all to be planning a road trip at this moment.