It will soon be time to call it quits on my Calabasas experiment–or will it?

Dawn’s downtown library project is underway, and I’m proud to say that my involvement has been the spark that’s kick-started her back into action. By helping design, organize, and help labor through organizing the over 10,000 books she has laying around to make the library a success, Dawn’s been re-motivated to make regular trips down to the center to ensure the facility is prepared for their arrival. The books will soon be ready to be transported downtown, and we’re hoping for a grand opening before the holidays.

There’s much work to be done yet, but I feel satisfied I’ve done my part to help Dawn realize her library dream. My plan has been to move out of Calabasas come mid-month and I’m now considering my options. Living there this summer leads me to report the following:

• Some level of stability is necessary for achieving high-level goals. Because of having regular access to secure facilities, I was able to make wild progress on a few fronts, most notably the aforementioned sizzle reel. I’ve created a product that my manager and lawyer agree is one of the best sizzle reels they’ve seen, and has won the favor of the Creative Artists Agency for representation. Those are big compliments, and I’m hoping the momentum will guide me to choose the right production company partner. That search is underway. I’m thankful to have the space and energy access at all hours to devote to combing through footage, editing, replaying, learning graphics design to make a title card, etc. These are things that would’ve presented serious difficulties if undertaken while living a mobile lifestyle in a very confined space.
• Sharing a home has its drawbacks. Being prone to holing up for extended periods working on projects is not conducive to keeping a steady positive relationship with your housemate. Dawn is a talkative person, so I’d often find myself ceding time over to conversation rather than diving into my work as preferred. This leaves a gap in working efficiency that negates a like-for-like exchange in available time from my home-free situations. All in all, I would say I was most productive in my office free time because I was rarely interrupted. I was more productive on complicated projects in Calabasas than would’ve been in the truck, but I think the truck wins over on smaller-task projects simply because I control my own environment. Ideally, for productivity sake, one would live alone. But that’s productivity in a vacuum. For what it’s worth.
• The Calabasas situation in particular has unique drawbacks. It’s far away,but without being inaccessible. So I can work, but it takes a commute. I can see my friends, but if I drink I’m putting myself in an uncomfortable situation with regards to transportation. The positive is that I’ve been discouraged from engaging to heavily socially. The negative is that when I do, it’s a pain in my ass. Secondly, while I did embrace the live-for-volunteer-help situation, the reality is that living there did necessitate an exchange. I could choose my volunteer hours, but I felt obligated to provide them–even if I preferred to dive headlong into my projects for a while. So, again, there was a productivity loss there. As well as a social one.
• Living in a large house is comfortable. News flash! Luxuries are luxurious! And, as stated above, the cost in engaging them is at times prohibitive. So where does the trade-off become untenable? I’m not sure, exactly. But it is apparent that home ownership on such a level is a stressful enterprise. Aside from paying the mortgage and the bills, maintenance is a real struggle. In my short time there, Dawn had to deal with replacing flooring, plumbing problems, a faulty refrigerator, electrical wiring shorting out a ceiling light, cable and internet freezing out of nowhere, and substituting her grass lawn with a drought-friendly turf lawn. First world problems, FOR SURE, but most of which are commonly associated with owning a large home. Would I really want to spend a fair chunk of my free time engaged in home improvement? No.
• I part of me is considering renting again. But I have to look deeper into the mathematics of the finances. I know that’s heretical to say on a site espousing living rent-free, but when you’ve lived that way for a thousand days I think you get some latitude to consider alternatives!

One thing is for sure, answering the common question, “So where do you live?” has not gotten any easier. In fact, as I transition out of summer it’s becoming as trying as ever. It’s only because we’re so socially accustomed to long-term, contracted living situations that we feel so tied down to that statement, as much as we are to our homes themselves.

I never got to feeling completely at home in that house. Living there as I did, I never took the steps to move in–didn’t decorate, didn’t put my stamp on the layout of my room. I kept my bathroom stuff in a backpack and kept my fridge belongings in one confined corner. I’ve heard of homeless being housed and feeling uncomfortable in their new apartments, to the point of having to set up tents in the living room, sleep on the floor, or even spend an occasional night on the street. My situation is not as drastic as these. But I do understand a deep seated reluctance to settling into a place. Or maybe it’s just the opposite. Maybe I’ve grown fond of the whimsy of the nomadic life, trotting off to homestead in a new place every once in a while, just to see how that inspires me.

We’ll see where that leads me next.

-TOH