Still haven't had a chance to reflect.
Trying to Settle In
9/12/2009 8:04:52 PM - Day - Los Angeles, California, United States
The good ole' USA. It is good to be home. In most places around the world, you don't see people hanging up flags like this on their houses for whatever reason.
I've been home for a month now and the whole idea of being home still hasn't hit me. I've been so busy visiting friends and family that I still haven't yet had that chance to reflect upon this trip. I gave myself one day when while at my parent's home in San Diego to sit down and think about my traveling over a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey but that turned out to be a bad idea because all I did was get drunk and fall asleep. Since I the idea of being stationary, in one place, and calling it home still hasn't dawned on me (probably because I don't really have a "home" at the moment) I can't write too much about how this trip has changed me as well as my thoughts about it. However I can give a quick rundown of what I have been up to recently as well as a few points of interest.
When I got home a month ago I flew into Los Angeles where I spent a couple days with a good friend of mine Tony while I also got accustomed to the time change. I then shot down to San Diego (1 ½ hours on the train) to visit with family. It was great seeing everyone and being somewhere familiar for once. I spent a couple weeks with both my family and friends, all of which I missed very much, and we for the most part spent it getting fat off of good food and drink. It was nice and everything that I envisioned coming home would be.
As I expected, not much about home or the people there has changed. For the most part it isn't a big deal, but since I have changed so much (how exactly I am still not sure) I have found myself having difficulty relating to some of my friends on a couple issues. Nothing really important, but things that I would take mental note of remembering how normal some of my/our behavior was before I left and how foreign that same behavior is too me now.
A couple things that I've enjoyed while being home:
My bed
Big American Steaks
Driving a car
Mexican food
Perfect weather
One thing that I found pretty interesting was the high amount of American flags that I see hanging from everyone's house or apartment (flat). I never really noticed it when I was here in the USA but now that I've been gone for so long, the phenomenon is pretty apparent. You don't see people hanging flags up all over their houses in many other countries like you do in the USA.
Now a month into being back in the USA I've visiting with friends and family in San Diego, visited friends in Orange County (where my wallet was knocked out of my hand during a bar fight and then picked up by some asshole, bad luck for me) and now I'm in LA staying with friends as I attempt to get back on my feet and re-assimilated into everyday life.
What do I mean by that? Well basically it means finding a job and a place to live. I've been looking for a job now for a couple weeks and have had a decent amount of interviews but still haven't found that one company that I am a great fit for (I'm a software engineer specializing in web applications if you are wondering). In this economy, I'm doing pretty well though. Most people can't even get interviews at the moment and I've already had a bunch so it is only a matter of time before I find a good job after which a place to live. Thankfully I have friends up here nice enough to let me crash on their couches in the meantime.
All in all, it is good to be back. The gravity of the trip being over still hasn't hit me but when it does, I'll be sure to write about it. I'm guessing it will happen once life slows down for me after I land a job and a place to call "home".
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