Friends

For the most part, I have made a smooth transition from SoCal Desert Rat to East Coast wharf rat. I enjoy living with my wife, and I think she's happy I haven't made as many changes as she thought I might to "her house." I have developed a new group of friends with whom I now play Dungeons & Dragons, go to the movies, and other activities.

However, I am really missing my friends in SoCal. I had a good group of friends who worked hard to get together at least once a month. When we couldn't get together as a group, we would still get together as smaller groups for things like lunches. I played online video games with one friend regularly, on a scheduled day, to keep in touch there. I met others often for lunch, as they were in offices close by. My mother would drive down every now and then and we would go out to breakfast, watch a movie, or do something.

Since joining Facebook, I have found even more friends in my former area that now want to get together-- and I'm sad to say I'm so far away and can't do it. I'd love to touch base with these people and see what's going on.

The four hour time difference is really bugging me, too. Not only do the few Lakers games I can watch typically start around 11:30 pm local time, but it makes it hard to play those same online games with my friends in SoCal -- when they log on at 7 pm, it is already 11 pm here. Now that I'm working, I can't play until 1 or 2 am as easily to get in some quality time with them. I would be a big proponent of those who want to start up the measure to switch NB to EST! That extra hour would make a huge difference to many aspects of life in general, but would help so much in my particular case.

I am only now nearing the end of my first year here in SJ. I'm sure that is why I'm feeling this moreso than before, and it will likely get easier as time goes by. While I've made some great new friends, I'm definitely missing the old friends.

PS - this is my 666 post on this site. Spooky number. :-)