And along the way you will lose many, many things. No one is immune. Everyone can understand it. Orange County is the most densely populated county in California, home to people who live in poverty as well as billionaires. Government is very friendly to business.
Business basically runs the government, so the government is often corrupt.
So there's a real energy there, a real buzz people are high energy, and feel very entitled to pursue their happiness with absolute vigor. Sometimes it's comic and sometimes it's criminal. Either way, plenty of good material. I still write about Laguna Beach, even though I don't live there anymore. Your novels have touched on pretty heavy stuff, like the Vietnam War, immigrants, police corruption, local politics, right wing extremist groups, child molesters, rapists, cancer, death, divorce.