Hey all! I've spent the past few weeks at my childhood home in Irvine, CA (BTW you can see what I'm up to right now on my now page). I moved around quite a bit in the past few months - from Southeast Asia, long road trips, to stays in the Bay Area - it's been a pocket of time with lots of uncertainty, spontaneity, and traveling. So if you know anything about Southern California suburbia, moving back to Irvine has been quite the change of pace from what I've been experiencing the past few months (hint: life is super slow here).
It's been a great time to be back in Irvine though. Most of my friends, both from high school and university, have all convened in the Greater Orange County or Los Angeles area over the past few months. Some have been working in other parts of the States, and after a couple of years have moved back down to find a better community here. Others have stayed in Irvine living with their families or living in a group house sharing a home in the OC area. So when I arrived back from my stay in the Bay Area, it was a nice surprise to be welcomed back with more familiar faces than I thought would be here. It's been fun having friends within a couple-minute drive to do impromptu dinners, group workouts, and plan events without a hassle. It makes you appreciate the ease and access of friendships purely from a geographical perspective.
Currently, I don't have any plans to stay in Southern California. Although I might've said I wanted to settle down and nurture a community after coming back, I still have a couple more travel plans to knock out and plan to see the world while I am still able to. I still have quite an uncertain future since I haven't found a stable employment option (yet). That being said, the past few weeks reminded me of the importance of living close to your friends.
A large subset of my friends is moving to Los Angeles together shortly. It's a marvel to see signs of an exciting new neighborhood sprouting right in front of you in a brand-new city with lots of opportunities. I feel a bit of FOMO, but I know I'm on a different timeline and path that I'll be happy with in the long term. A part of me also feels a little conflicted about settling in Southern California (at least now). Although I have a great group of friends which I enjoy spending time here, I also found an amazing group of people in the Bay Area. Although I initially moved to the Bay Area for a tech job, I've realized that I'm more interested in a subset of people who also tend to be fascinated with technology or tinkering with things. It's not a huge criterion, but it's always something I keep in mind when I think about a neighborhood or community I want to be a part of. I change my mind frequently so it's hard to say now where I'd end up settling down. I'm sure wherever I do settle down, I'll enjoy as long as I'm there with great company.
Regardless, I think it's extremely important to live close to those who you enjoy being with. In an ideal world, I'd construct my own little neighborhood, with all my friends owning homes 5 minutes walking distance from each other, a community garden we all tend, and letting our kids play with one another. In any case, I'm making it a top priority to manifest that dream world once the dust settles. It's a monumental task to organize all my friends, but I can say with 99.99% certainty that it'll probably be worth the effort.
This post is a simple plead to convince your friends to live closer to you a bit higher on your list when you think of settling down (wink wink).
I've written about a dozen random posts in the past couple of weeks that I didn't want to share (due to quality or subject), but I'm glad to be writing publicly again. I'm off to Taiwan and Japan next month! Hopefully, by the end of it, I'll be fluent in Mandarin and also have a job! (XD) I'll keep you all updated.
Thanks for reading!
