I live in Long Beach, California. As Long Beach is a rather large portion of Greater Los Angeles County, I think it would be best to explain a little more than usually just about my neighborhood's location rather than where I live.
California Heights, the name of my neighborhood, is kind of hard to really place. Even after looking at maps, the best way to put it would be to describe its surroundings It is west of the Long Beach Airport, north of Signal Hill, east of the "blue-line" train tracks, and south of Hughes Middle School and Longfellow Elementary.
I have never moved from my neighborhood, and the only real change I can record is when my grandparents moved closer to us when they moved directly to our block. I used to fly or drive out to Law Vegas almost every summer to see them when I was really young, so their proximity is one of the greatest blessings God has bestowed on me. They moved to our block maybe five or six years ago.
Other than my grandparents, not much has changed around my neighborhood. The house directly north of mine has had three different neighbors in the time that I've known it, and I still haven't really gotten to know the most recent ones yet, as they moved in only a couple months ago. Neighborliness has never really been a big thing in my family, because my father worked late nights for his job while he was with us, and my mother is extremely shy. Whether that indifference and apathy is wrong or not (FSAE: It is. You'll have to be the first in your line to change that.), I'd rather not think about it for the time being, and just devote my convictions to being a better and friendlier person than my old self.
I only really had one childhood friend in the neighborhood, because none of the other neighbors had children the same age as me and my brother. This guy's name is Chris DeGuzman, and he lives two houses down from me. Something that sticks out in my memory of him was that I had a really weird sense of jealousy towards him. His family is much "better off" [financially] than mine, especially since his parents still love each other, besides that he is much more mature than I. I always knew that envy is wrong, and I never fully was envious of him nor was I ever fully devoid of envy towards him. Strange, right? My mind is very complicated (FSAE: No, you weren't. Now you are.), and sin makes it worse. But maybe sin is both the cause and the effecting crescendo of a result? Anyways, our friendship deteriorated when I began to introvert when my father dropped the ball and when he entered high school. Since he's a year or two older than I, he is now commuting to college, so I see him even less frequently.
My parents have told me countless times that they picked out the neighborhood we live in because it is quaint and docile, one of the quieter and tamer parts of Long Beach: perfect to raise a family in! That decision seems to have backfired (to me, personally) and left a broken home in a community that is collectively younger than my mother.
California Heights, the name of my neighborhood, is kind of hard to really place. Even after looking at maps, the best way to put it would be to describe its surroundings It is west of the Long Beach Airport, north of Signal Hill, east of the "blue-line" train tracks, and south of Hughes Middle School and Longfellow Elementary.
I have never moved from my neighborhood, and the only real change I can record is when my grandparents moved closer to us when they moved directly to our block. I used to fly or drive out to Law Vegas almost every summer to see them when I was really young, so their proximity is one of the greatest blessings God has bestowed on me. They moved to our block maybe five or six years ago.
Other than my grandparents, not much has changed around my neighborhood. The house directly north of mine has had three different neighbors in the time that I've known it, and I still haven't really gotten to know the most recent ones yet, as they moved in only a couple months ago. Neighborliness has never really been a big thing in my family, because my father worked late nights for his job while he was with us, and my mother is extremely shy. Whether that indifference and apathy is wrong or not (FSAE: It is. You'll have to be the first in your line to change that.), I'd rather not think about it for the time being, and just devote my convictions to being a better and friendlier person than my old self.
I only really had one childhood friend in the neighborhood, because none of the other neighbors had children the same age as me and my brother. This guy's name is Chris DeGuzman, and he lives two houses down from me. Something that sticks out in my memory of him was that I had a really weird sense of jealousy towards him. His family is much "better off" [financially] than mine, especially since his parents still love each other, besides that he is much more mature than I. I always knew that envy is wrong, and I never fully was envious of him nor was I ever fully devoid of envy towards him. Strange, right? My mind is very complicated (FSAE: No, you weren't. Now you are.), and sin makes it worse. But maybe sin is both the cause and the effecting crescendo of a result? Anyways, our friendship deteriorated when I began to introvert when my father dropped the ball and when he entered high school. Since he's a year or two older than I, he is now commuting to college, so I see him even less frequently.
My parents have told me countless times that they picked out the neighborhood we live in because it is quaint and docile, one of the quieter and tamer parts of Long Beach: perfect to raise a family in! That decision seems to have backfired (to me, personally) and left a broken home in a community that is collectively younger than my mother.
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