(4-0 baby!!!)

What a week for transitioning!

First up, we have the job situation. Adjusting to a new job is definitely the most stressful part of this whole relocation thing. You come into the situation much like a bunch of middle schoolers and try your best to fit in and be cool, but somehow you never manage to ease into things. Hopefully, much like middle school, the work will come along and occupy your thoughts more than your anxieties. Some helpful tips for getting along on the first few days:

- they are as scared of you as you are of them so don't fret, be outgoing until someone tells you to bug off
- ask questions, lots of them, it's the only way you'll learn and it demonstrates you are interested in learning
- make lunch dates, everyone has to eat (with the exception of those really really weird programmers who hook themselves to a feed tube and catheter so they don't have to leave the warm embrace of the internet)
- go to meetings, even if they are optional, making your face one that people see will make your face more likely to be remembered
- wear leather chaps...if your into that sort of thing, your rep will grow very very quickly



Additional efforts were spent since last we spoke trying to find a place to worship. I attended my first service in Southern California and it was alright. I have to begin by saying that my community on the East Coast spoiled me over the last 3 years or so and they set the bar pretty high for what I expect from a religious community. Any way, the first thing that was different was the officiant was a woman and truly embodied female characteristics. Her sermon was in 2 parts, the first dealing with having faith and her use of the word "itsy-bitsy" is just one example of how motherly her speech seemed. I felt as if she ever invited me over to her house, there would be the scent of tea-rose and chocolate chip cookies coming out of the oven. This style of sermon was different than the more point-by-point appeal to rationality-type homily I am used to. Despite the stylistic difference, the point was driven home.

I perked up for the second part of the sermon as it dealt with transition. She quoted someone who defined transitioning as a two step process. First, you need to let go of the old. Second, you need to embrace the new. Within this definition of transition, I don't know that I have even begun to make my shift to the West Coast.

A topic which sets a sort of backdrop for this transition process and a topic which has been coming up a lot in conversations recently has been community. What is community? How does one build community? How does one join a community? Looking at my daily life, I am a member or at least I am attempting to gain membership in many different communities. Home, work, social, religious, governmental, etc. all contain communities and sub-communities into which I would like membership. Some are easier to join than others. Some are worth the membership dues and others, not worth participating in. Doing this math is tricky and probably contributes to some of the hesitation in embracing the new. Committing too quickly or over committing is a fear I have when picking and choosing my activities.

Especially considering: 1) I still don't have a desk chair at my home office; 2) There is still a veritable city of empty boxes on my deck; 3) I've really only been here just over 1 month.



Damn over achieving impulses.

Finally, I had a very difficult time food shopping this past weekend. Back East, the pasta and tomato product aisle of the supermarket was huge. Many different options for sauces, pastes, dice, sliced, peeled boiled, spoiled, etc etc etc. Out here, it's as if these items were considered "ethnic" foods, relegated to a small section in an obscure part of the store next to the motor oil. Furthermore, the options available were, needless to say, very weak. I made do though and said to myself," Self, it's not that bad, go with a basic brand and start to embrace the new." So I did. I then went to the meat aisle to get some proper gravy meats, only to be looked at as if I were asking if they sold boiled smurfs or some other out-of-this-world product. Tofu mozzarella, mock-sausage, wheatgrass low-cal soda, sure thing, aisles 2, 3 and 7 respectively....but pig's feet, neck bones or proper tomato products, no sorry, we haven't carried those products since the gold rush.