I missed posting my one-year anniversary here, and all I can really say is, well, life is a lot different now!
I still miss a lot of what my life was like when I lived in Los Angeles, but I miss going down to the Strand for a run or a ride the most. I never thought that would be the 'thing'!
I used to use the Strand for training runs, and I'd meet the cycling team at Ballona Creek for rides. I would run late at night when there was no one at the beach or ride early in the morning when the only people out were the surfers, stand-up paddle boarders, and the UCLA crew team. I'll have to look it up, but I used to have the distances from my apartment to Manhattan Beach Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, and Redondo Beach Pier memorized. It was so nice to be in the middle of such a metropolis and yet have miles of sand and waves be relatively my own for a while. It was so much fun and I have nothing but fond memories of those experiences.
I still experience culture-shock relatively frequently here, and there are days when the weight of being the one fish swimming upstream exhausts me. Not quite to the point of tears, but definitely to the point where I revisit my decision to move here. Just the other day a coworker exclaimed as we pulled into a Chinatownish shopping center for lunch, "Do you think they'll let us in here? I just don't feel like I belong!" Really, lady? Try not belonging your entire life! She is blonde, so I suppose I should give her a pass.
I met the love of my life here, actually not long after I moved and adopted the dog. We started dating in early May and he is truly the man of my dreams. We are such a good match that it feels like we've been together forever, and it is unbearable to imagine a day or life without him. A man who was so kind as to celebrate my one year here by treating me with a trip to In-N-Out (which he loathes) and a long drive out to Fort Worth to shop at the first Trader Joe's in this area (we'll get our own in Plano on September 7th). I'm much happier now than I was a year ago, and I attribute much of that to him. Of course, I had to fall in love with a native Texan who has never lived out-of-state, and potentially turn my Dallas Detour into a Dallas Destination, but life is really amusing like that. Really, *really* amusing.
I still think traffic fucking sucks here; inanity knows no bounds on the
roads. Everything is so spread out that it feels like it takes forever
to get anywhere also. Small-minded people are in abundance, and are so
loud they drone out the more open-minded souls like zombies in a horror
film. The dentists here are particularly drill-happy, and I've yet to
find one I really like. I swear I've spent more on dentist work here in
one year than I did in 5 years of living in L.A. I don't ever think I
will fit in here like I did in L.A. I did buy cowboy boots and a hat (even though
I can't bear to see myself in them), but putting on the traditional
garb doesn't change the person wearing it. And native Texans will be
the first to say that you're not really a Texan if you're not born here, not that I ever see myself wanting to call myself a Texan.
Is Dallas all "that bad"? Probably not, as even Hamlet said, "for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so". There are many good restaurants here, and fancy restaurants. Even good, fancy restaurants. I still think the Dallas Symphony Orchestra is a bargain. I would have gone more than a little nutty had the tango community here not been so welcoming. It's possible to live quite well with the income I make, which was not really possible in Los Angeles. There are cycling clubs here, and running clubs, and even some trails (although none nearly as nice as the Strand). Obviously if I had never moved here I would have never adopted my dog (who has been a most loving and constant companion), and I quite probably would never have met my husband-to-be (since he was obviously never going to move to L.A. on his own).
For love, I think I can suffer Dallas. :)
