Phoenix vs. LA pros and cons

Remember how, towards the end of high school, when you would be out anywhere with adults you could surely count on one of them to ask you, "So what are your plans after you graduate?" Do you also remember how you felt like you should almost have a script prepared to respond back, "well ya know...I am apply to X,Y, and Z and just blah blah blah"? Fast forward 4 years and the scene is the same. I am graduating in May and have begun to be asked that probing question more than once or twice a day. People who I work and live with here in LA sometimes find it shocking that I'd want to leave California and go back home to Arizona. I don't agree with their flabbergasted response and I've come up with a roughly sketched "pros and cons" list to start me off with. I realize that feelings change, opportunities arise, and things happen that you have no control over. So, if it seems that one list has more pros than the other, please don't assume that that is where I will most likely go, because I hope that I myself will be genuinely surprised as to what the next chapter in my life will be.

Phoenix, Arizona - the dry heat
What I love and what is pulling me here...

1. I've been out of the house for four years. However, it is a slightly different situation than a normal college student who moves out but keeps most of their stuff in their room and up on their walls to return home during Christmas and summer breaks. I literally have moved out, so sometimes when I come home I just want to stay. I want to have my own bed and I want to be "in the know" of all the neighborhood drama (LBB down the street for example). Moving back to AZ, even if I am not technically living in my house, would help me reconnect with everything and everyone. 
2. Building off that, I feel like I'm growing apart from my family. I now have 5 nephews and I want to be there for all of their birthdays and other milestones. Being home a couple of weeks ago for Max's 1st birthday and Brady's 4th birthday made me realize this even more. 
3. Phoenix is...Phoenix. I love driving around and, oddly enough, seeing cacti in my window. It is something that is unique and comforting all at the same time. Los Angeles has Palm Trees, cool, but it also has dirty freeways and a culture that thinks it is ok to honk your horn at an elderly person crossing the street because they are "moving too slow", not cool.

Los Angeles, California - hipsters all around

1. I was extremely lucky to have been given the opportunity to go to college in Los Angeles. I can get to the beach in 5 minutes. I can also pick what kind of night I want to have simply by the area --> Westwood for a cool UCLA vibe, The Grove if we want to try and stalk celebrities, Santa Monica if we want to see weird people and also hit up the Farmers Market or Hermosa/Redondo Beach if we are looking to go "out" and have fun. There really is no other word to describe it, it's fun. You literally cannot be bored. So, at least I know if I stay out here I won't be driving around looking for something to do on a Friday or Saturday night?
2. The people I've met: Not only through the Student Worker Program but also through cheerleading, Delta Gamma, Greek Council and Yearbook I have met some really great people who I could see myself living with after college. These people would not only be enjoyable to live with but have the same goals and motivation that I do. I don't think that if I picked to live with a Student Worker, 5 years later we'd still be bumming it in an apartment in Santa Monica "finding ourselves." I think it is important to surround yourself with motivated people and think that I, fortunately, have a great pool of friends to be able to pick from.
3. The industry: I say "journalist" when people ask what I aspire to be. But, what I've started to realize is just like saying "a doctor", you can take that career and turn it in to anything you want it to be. I'm not sure quite yet if reporting and writing for a newspaper or writing scripts for a news station is what I'm good at. Los Angeles has everything, and although I realize that every city has news stations and a local newspaper, does every city have 3 or more MAJOR newspapers downtown or the ability to choose to work for NBC local and NBC corporate? Again, not only will I not be bored socially but jobs and career paths seem almost endless here, especially for a person who is not positive what they want to do yet.

This list is literally a rough draft as I've typed it up in the 5 minutes I have left at work before heading to class. So, I would love your feedback and think it would help me start to think about these kinds of things more.

Love (from my closet of an office where I sell tickets to games we don't win),
Katie