Missing Pieces
Saturday evening I talked to my friend John. John lived in Madison during the first couple of years I lived here (1991-93 or so), and we met back when I was posting voluminously to the rec.arts.startrek hierarchy of newsgroups (back before I gave up on Star Trek altogether). He eventually moved to the Bay Area in California and now works for Apple as a programmer (which he came to because he'd been working for NeXT when it was gobbled up by the big rainbow).
John was probably my best friend back when he lived here, and I've really missed having him around. However, Madison isn't really suited to the sort of programming career he'd like to have. He likes working on cutting-edge technology projects - building them, not just using them - while I'm fairly content to draw a paycheck working on applications software. So I think he's reasonably happy out there on that score.
We haven't communicated all that much since he moved; in fact, since his 30th birthday party a few years ago (when I was still dating my last girlfriend, which means it was at least two-and-a-half years ago) we've hardly talked or written at all. Part of this is because John doesn't spend much time on the net anymore (not that I blame him for that). So this was a big catch-up session for us.
John apparently has regular (as in weekly) gaming sessions with his friends out there, playing some games I really enjoy and have trouble finding people to play with here: Settlers of Catan (my gaming buddies played this and overdosed on it last year), Robo Rally (none of my gaming buddies seem to like this game, while I think it's the coolest game I've bought in the last year or so) and the traditional card game Bridge (which I often hear people expressing an interest in but we never get around to doing anything about it; I think it requires a higher level of commitment than most games).
I had people over to game on Sunday, and I noticed again something I've noticed before, which is that the people I game with don't have a lot of patience for listening to and learning the rules, but want to grasp the game in about 40 seconds and start playing - which isn't really how I like to play, and which certainly doesn't lend itself to more complicated games (which I tend to enjoy). So I'm pretty jealous of John's gaming life.
I also just generally wonder if I'd be better off social-life-wise if I lived in California, since it seems like there are an awful lot of hackers out there of the type I'd like to hang out with.
On the other hand, I'm not too eager to dive into the high-cost-of-living nature of the Bay Area, and I must admit to feeling more than a little intimidated by the notion that maybe I'm just a medium-sized fish in a very small pond and that I'd quickly be eaten up out there. Not to mention scared of giving up what I do have going for me here (whatever it is).
John is also one of the very rare people who I just seemed to hit it off with, and who I seem able to relate to no matter how much time passes, although we also obviously have common interests (we also both read science fiction). I have an old high school friend, Rob, who is similar in that vein. I don't think I've really met anyone since John who is of that type (although Karen and I are close friends, we've had to work on it a lot more), so getting in touch with John sort of makes me lament that lack as well (and underscores how very different from me many of the people I've met over the last three or four years really feel).
Anyway, John says I should come out and visit him this year, and I think I might, if I can work out the vacation time required. I think it would be fun.
Whether or not it would motivate me to pick up and move... who knows? It seems unlikely.
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This entry was among those included in the March, 1998 Journal Collection. |
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