Almost there

All summer I wrote my blog from my work computer (in Hungary you cannot get home internet service until 90 days after you place your order), a PC. Blogger, the service I use, has lots of great features. But, as with most things Google (Google owns Blogger), it is just not as good on a Mac. Which is unfortunate. So, unfortunately I cannot get fancy with fonts, bold, italics or even underlines, unless I learn HTML, which is unlikely to happen.

EAST v. WEST
The holidays are upon us and even after ten+ years in the Bay Area, I still cannot get used to the idea of December without snow. I remember many years ago listening to a radio show on NPR in which some guys who had moved to San Francisco were trying to explain the difference between friendships on the East Coast and friendships on the West Coast. They suspected that the lack of cold weather here contributed to the relative shallowness of the friendships. Which is not to say that friendships here are shallow but rather that intimacy with friends on the East Coast is easier to come by. So where does cold weather factor into the equation? Well, when you live in New York (for example) and it's December and it's brrrrrrr cold out and you want to hang out with your friends, you all gather at someone's house, you hang out, chat, play board games maybe, watch a movie and cozy up to keep warm. Such physical closeness can't help but breed emotional closeness and thus deep and meaningful friendships are born and nurtured. Now let's say you live in San Francisco and it's cold out (meaning, by the way, that it's like 50 degrees!), and you want to hang out with your friends. Well, first you have to wait until you and your friends are home from your/their bike ride/run/other athletic endeavor. Then you have to jockey for who is going to drive to whose place, because nobody wants to lose their parking spot. And you have to hedge, because chances are your friends are either single or married with children - there seems not to be an in-between in this town - and if they are single, they are for sure willing to ditch you if a better offer (meaning from the opposite sex) comes along before a decisive plan is made. If they are married with children, well, anything can happen: baby rules the roost and if they don't outright cancel, they are bound to arrive very late and be the first to leave. There is no cozying up on the couch or sprawling around the floor and playing games. And so here in the Bay Area, we don't get as close with our close friends. Or so it seems. To me anyway. Of course there are exceptions...but it's usually the East Coast transplants that are the exceptions.

PSYCHIC
Robyn called a psychic (don't ask). She said the woman was strangely accurate about her current situation and made some interesting predictions for her future. She didn't have much to ask the woman and found herself with extra time on her pre-paid appointment. So she asked about me and my prospects for a husband. By the way, I find that completely absurd and hilarious. Much to my surprise, now that Robyn is engaged she has turned into one of "them" - you know, one of those people who thinks that their singular job is to get all their friends hitched. Anyway, turns out that the psychic told Robyn my husband is someone I will either meet in October or whose birthday is in October. So...there you have it. Mr. October. Now we can all rest easy.