Coasting

I love Buzz’s very thoughtful response to my (somewhat) throw-away question about New York and San Francisco. So much of what he said about San Francisco rings exactly true and are the types of things I promised myself I’d try to avoid when my wife and I decided to “make our home in God’s perfect paradise” not quite six months ago.

It’s funny, since Buzz1 and I have different backgrounds but such similar interests, how much these mirror where we’ve chosen to live. Buzz, being an engineer and programmer, would naturally gravitate to a place like Silicon Valley and me, with my journalism degree and decade in media, should be orbiting New York. Yet, here we are. I suspect this is a reflection not of our differences but our similarities, namely, a certain disdain for cliquishness, cults of personality and the shallow celebrity that accompanies even a little bit of money.

After even a short time here, I know Buzz is right about a lot, particularly how small and incestuous this town is. I also know (a little) about what to avoid and to be thankful that I didn’t move here seven years ago, when I was young, dumb and full of … misguided ideas.

The nut of Choire Sicha’s original post that kicked this whole thing off was that we’d probably all be a little better off if we called out a little more bullshit, something I fully endorse, no matter where you call home.

p.s. WEST COAST 4EVA

funny thing about Buzz that I maybe only just realized: he’s probably my oldest “online friend” – we first crossed paths because we were linking to the same stuff on del.icio.us, of all places. He’s also one of those people who’s opinions on just about anything, but particularly the finer things in life, I trust implicitly. I eagerly await the next time we get to share a drink and a meal together, regardless of who’s turf we’re on. ↩︎