We are minutes away from ringing in 2017 here on the east coast. Talking to different people, reading various blogs and other social media platforms the majority of people want to send off 2016 with a big middle finger. My thoughts on the year are quite different.

2016 was a year of growth for me. I moved cross-country to New England from California. Well technically I moved at the end of 2015 but it was close enough to this year, so I’ll call it 2016. I met a great woman and her adorable son, and love them both of them dearly. My friend and ex-girlfriend of four years lost her battle to cancer. I saw some interesting mansions. Went to Florida for the first time. Had lows and highs at work. Bought a car that I don’t really need and in the process learned about personal finance. The Dodgers lost the NLCS for what seems the bajillionth time. The lovable losers Chicago Cubs won the World Series. Nico Rosberg won his first Driver’s World Championship driving for Mercedes AMG; then quits F1. A controversial president got elected. Tons of celebrities die. Interesting year for sure.

An opportunity to work at a new store opened up and I decided somewhat hastily to apply and submitted a transfer request. The move from California to New England was a spontaneous move. I am not a spontaneous person; I have never been to Massachusetts or the east coast for that matter. By moving here I think my spontaneity quota is fulfilled for the next five years. I had no idea what to expect but had faith that I would be able to handle whatever came my way. It’s as if there was a force telling me that I need to do this. 

My family and friends were very supportive if not a little sadden by my decision. I have a good handful of friends in California, and we had lots of good times. The last four years before I moved to Massachusetts, I lived in Bakersfield – a small city in central California. The housing there is very affordable though the air quality is the worse in the nation. Yes, nation!
The cost of living is higher near Boston compared to Bakersfield. However I thought, I’m from Los Angeles so cost of living should be on par with that, right? No… as it turns out, its more expensive in Boston than Los Angeles. Even the food is pricer here which is a whole other topic. 

So it is very cold here in the winter, and it’s actual cold not the cold us Californians are spoiled by.  It’s in the 30s at best during the day; but that also means snow! Now most native southern Californians are enamored by snow and I’m no exception. I’ve only seen snow once prior to moving here. It’s awesome though, almost like living in a real-life snow globe. Like all good things its sucky when it melts and becomes ice, then it’s dangerous.
 

 

A month or two after the move, I started dating my current girlfriend. It is a serious relationship and I am very fortunate to have found her. It is amazing to think that I moved cross country and found someone so special. She has definitely helped put things in perspective and has a wonderful family. Logan her son is a mischievous but adorable three and at times he is a laugh riot. Full of zeal and animated, he’s not shy and he loves being the center of attention. He makes the role of father difficult but rewarding.

In March my ex-girlfriend lost her four year battle to colon cancer. Mourning is new to me. I’ve been sad when other people passed away but nothing like this. Some days I have moments of sadness thinking about her. I am comforted by the fact that she is now at peace, not suffering anymore. In January we had a brief discussion about my move east. Interestingly she did not want me to move to Massachusetts though she never explained why. In our chat she said, I will haunt you in the after life if I did not go to her service, so I promised her I would. I flew back home for her memorial service in April. It was a lovely service attended by her friends and family. More people went than she thought would show up. We talked about these things years ago, though I did not expect to live it only a couple years later. She was definitely more in tune with her clock than I was.  The world is definitely a lesser place without her quirky sense of humor and love that she gave. She is missed.

During that same trip I saw a friend who also happened to back home. It was great hanging out with her and another homie from high school. Catching up with them after spending a few months in a new place where I didn’t really know anyone was terrific. I ended up buying another car, and drove it back to Massachusetts with the help of my brother -in-law. We took turns driving and completed the trip in 48 hours. Being confined to a car for that amount of time isn’t exactly a picnic but it wasn’t as bad as I thought.

If you ever have the opportunity to drive cross-country, I would recommend you go for it. Just take more time than 48 hours to do it, enjoy the different sights of this great nation of ours. The car was solid, ran continuously without issue as expected with an Acura product.

The one hiccup on the trip was that I got pulled over in Missouri by an over zealous cop. I was stopped for “exceeding a city-wide imposed speed limit”, which I understood as the posted speed limit is not the speed limit or some bullshit. I was not going any quicker than traffic so I was frustrated to say the least. Anyway I made it back to Massachusetts and completed my second cross-country trip in less than six months. My brother-in-law got to undo the 48 hour trip in a six hour flight back to LA.

I went on a couple of vacations with my girlfriend and her family this year. We spent almost a week in Newport, Rhode Island in the summer. There’s mansions from the Gilded Age that visitors can tour. Think The Great Gatsby and that paints the picture of the excess and extravagance of the Gilded age. We had a day at the beach which was my first visit to an east coast beach. The waves were underwhelming and it was a little humid. I got a gnarly sunburn as a souvenir to take home from my time at the beach to boot. However the water was warmer than the Pacific I’m accustomed to, though that was due to being in a bay. From what I understand, the water in the Atlantic is quite frigid. Newport has shopping, dining and other events. Think of it like Seaport Village in San Diego with humidity and no In-N-Out close by. I’d like to visit Newport when there’s snow, that would be interesting.

The second vacation was recently at Disney World in Orlando. We went in December for about a week and for a few days it was crazy humid. I was sweating like Kobe at the foul line – the entire time I was outdoors. I am definitely not a fan of humidity at all. To think that people go in the summer is mind-blowing to me.
Traditionally when I go to theme parks, I like roller-coasters but we did not ride any. This was not a problem however because we saw a lot of shows which I was surprised to have enjoyed. We took tons of character pictures, Logan had a blast. My favorite experience of the trip was the IllumiNations show at Epcot.

Even though it rained heavily right before the show started, it was definitely worth getting soaked. I was enthralled by the show. The firework sequences, the score, the monologue, all top notch. It had a special holiday ending which was my favorite.

To summarize my first year living on the east coast, it was mostly positive. I learned a lot about myself and life. I will continue to add to this blog throughout the year about various topics. I welcome any comments and/or recommendations. I do not feel like the majority of people saying bye to 2016. I would say thanks for the memories 2016 and I’m looking forward to what awaits in 2017. While we can’t control what happens to us, we CAN control our reaction to what happens to us. It’s up to each and every one of us to make our futures. Happy New Year, prosperity, growth, and peace to all.