Nickname change: California - the relaxed state

Everyone said it before I got here. "California's pretty relaxed and casual." Then when I got here, Brenda made a comment something about the relaxed style out here. And even then, as I entered into my internship for the first day, wearing a blouse and a pencil skirt with 3 inch pointy-toe heels...my editor was wearing jeans and a polo with comfy shoes.

And so began my constant noticing that California really is different than other states...especially in the business world.

One thing that I feared coming into work was that everything was "business." Not relaxed. Not casual. Just, well...business. Not that there wasn't a part of me that wanted business - I actually enjoy wearing pencil skirts and pointy-toe heels.
But now, even a week here, I have realized that people, even in offices, wear jeans to work. Oh yes, there are still those that walk around in business suits. But they are even fewer and further in between than Minneapolis. Or heck, probably even Watertown. For the most part, those in business suits are the managers at stores and those who work for national companies, like banks. It's just odd sometimes, comparing it to the stereotypes (true - I've seen it), of busy New Yorkers in suites rushing to their next meeting...that's just how I pictured myself, even though I was on the other coast. Yet walking downtown Ventura, I saw more t-shirts and khaki pants. Most workers I see wear jeans and some form of a business-ish looking shirt. And seeing high heels aren't as common, either.

But it's not just stylistically I have noticed the casualness. Even in work times, many offices here don't open til 8:30 or 9.

Or maybe it's mostly my profession; we're journalists, which, by nature, we need flexible schedules. Today one of the editors didn't come in until abut 10 am.

I want to relate this experience (real-life career work) to my job at Farm Bureau, where I worked at my desk from 8-5 with a 1-hour lunch break. But everything about this job (whether paid or not), is so much different than I anticipated. I have interviews off-site. I made a run to an electronics store, where I exchanged a broken voice recorder for a working one. By nature, this job allows me more freedom, more creativity. And I think I like it. A lot.

One of the biggest fears I have in life is that I will be stuck behind a desk, working from 8-5, for the rest of my working career. And as a journalist, I still wasn't sure what to expect. But now that I'm getting a taste of being a journalist, I love it. Not that I didn't understand that I'd need to go off-site for interviews and photo ops before. It's just more apparent now.

So I guess between the combination of my jeans-allowed,look-decent-but-not-overly-professional dress code, and my creative and freedom liberties, I am loving this job.