diego to the bay

more like, the bay to diego. it's been about two years since i moved to san diego from the bay ... about two years since i graduated from berkeley ... and about two years since i entered the working world. i'd like to take this time to reflect on the past two years. basically, what do i have to show for it?

... in some areas, a lot ... in others, not much at all ...

i moved here for my job. i started off underpaid, but since then i've received two substantial raises. i enjoy my job. the atmosphere is relaxed. the people are nice. the work is interesting and challenging, and i feel i am learning. for the most part, i enjoy working life much more than i did student life.

for the first ten months here, i lived in a tiny studio (i liked to refer to it as cozy). the cheap (or as cheap as sd standards go) rent allowed me to save money ... which enabled me to buy my condo. if you haven't seen it yet, you should come visit. i think the place is pretty sweet. it's very spacious and centrally located to everything (almost everything worth going to is within 20 minutes). the inside is painted very nicely (came that way) and i furnished it well (if i do say so myself). money was tight (maybe an understatement) for awhile, but the aforementioned raises helped. a few months ago, mujtaba, an old roommate from cal, moved in, and his rent makes things MUCH easier. yeah, the fat mortgage payments suck, but having a place to call your own is great.

the ford tortoise is still running. it has its good and bad times (right now, it's on a bad swing). i've been wanting to buy a new car for awhile now, but that purchase keeps being pushed back ... probably because my taste far exceeds my means. the car has around 195,000 miles right now and will probably hit 200,000 around the end of the year. that milestone, along with my 25th birthday, may be the last straw to retire the old thing ... finally. unfortunately, when i pull the trigger, it'll most likely be an acura tl and not the g35 coupe that i really want.

moving to sd and back to so cal has brought me closer to my family again. i LOVE my family. it's great being able to see my family whenever i want on the weekends. i head up to oc/la once or twice a month depending on family gatherings, and being around all of them is sooo nice. i don't think i'd want to leave so cal again since i wouldn't be able to see them all the time anymore.

now i wouldn't say i moved to san diego because sueellen, my girlfriend at the time, lived here. i moved here because the best job offer i received was down here (i looked all over california); however, she probably is the reason i even thought of looking for a job here. unfortunately, a mere two months (she was in india for a month of that) after i moved here we broke up (for reasons i will not get into here). that SUCKED. to make a long story short, we were in a strange intermediate between being together and not for a few months after that. now we're strictly friends; although, i must say it's been (and maybe still is) a difficult adjustment. post-sueellen, my love life has been virtually non-existent. i've been genuinely interested in only one girl during my newly single life (although i guess it's not new anymore), and that interest was pretty much shot down after a single date. i simply don't meet many new girls these day for my love life to get off the ground.

when i moved here, i basically only knew sueellen. since the breakup, i have struggled with difficulty of meeting people while not being in school. i've met a decent amount of good people. unfortunately for me, almost all of these people are med students (i'm tossing rakh and rita into this category for discussion's sake), and med students just do not have time for ... well, for anything. i enjoy going out ... a lot. i'm down to go out during the middle week, even if it's just hanging out at someone's place. throw in the fact that once i leave work, i have nothing to do for the evening/night. i have a lot of free time on my hands. unfortunately, i have no one to kill that time with. there was a good run some months ago when i was spending a lot of time with archana and priyal, and things were good. unfortunately, the rigors of call schedules and whatnot (and maybe boyfriends) swiftly killed that. i still see them more than anyone else here, but i don't think that says much.

my non-existent social life has forced me to change. i've started to become more outgoing and, probably more importantly, willing to go out by myself. i made three new years resolutions in january: 1) go out more ... even if that means by myself, 2) go to one concert a month (also to further the going out more cause) ... and once again, even if it means by myself, and 3) travel more (which isn't relevant to the current topic). my new mindstate brought along bar dynamite. i had been to this place a few times before and loved it, but now it's a regular occurence ... EVERY thursday. and most of the time, i have a good time there, enjoying the hip hop, meeting/talking to people here and there, and drinking ... but sometimes, it seeps into my head that i'm hanging out at a bar by myself, and that realization is a downer. mujtaba came with me a few times, but for whatever reason, that stopped. i continue to go every week, knowing if for nothing else, i can kick back and enjoy the good hip hop. i've met some regulars and other random people there, but those friendships/acquaintances have yet to move outside of dynamite. honestly, i miss having a group of friends at my fingertips that are willing to go out on a moments notice. i'm sure that feeling will be further accentuated with the coming summer and beautiful weather. i'll want to go to the beach, kick back with some beers, play some frisbee/volleyball, and just chill ... but those things require friends to do them things with.

and unfortunately, two years into it, i don't feel like i know san diego well. aside from dynamite, i don't feel like i know what the good bars/clubs are. similarly, aside from taste of thai, i don't have a good feel for good restaurants in the area. i need people to explore with.

to wrap it all up, my life is good ... very good ... except for the holes where my social and love lives should be. do i regret moving to sd, instead of staying in the bay or moving to oc/la? no, not at all ... but i still wish i knew more people here.