Notes From The Flip Side: 09.29.2002
"Seems everyone's gone / Must've been a neutron bomb / The town's the same yet bare"
Senseless Things
It's done. I'm moving. I'm gone. I'm fucking out of here. I'm history. Or, perhaps more accurately, a historical footnote. And in writing this, I feel like I'm paraphrasing a line or two from Jeff Koyen (the guy behind 100 Words and Crank - sheer brilliance, if you didn't know).
I have lived in San Diego for more than 30 years. For more than three decades, it has been my home. I have fallen in and out of love, gotten in and out of trouble and stumbled in and out of bars. San Diego is, for the most part, the place I consider home.
Yet in recent years, it feels less and less so. Alex moved to San Francisco, then Los Angeles. I've seen him twice this year and I'll be lucky enough to see him again before I go. Hauck is also in L.A. Davey moved to Texas. Philip moved to San Francisco for J. school, then relocated to Portland and recently moved to Seattle. Kali has been on the East Coast for months now. Mandy is in Indiana. The other Mandy is back in Portland. Parker is in the Bay Area. Jeremy moved to Utah.
It's not as though I don't have friends here. I do - too many to list. It's just that it's time for me to go. I could blame it on circumstances and note that the only job offer I received was from a firm in Illinois, but really, I think it's just time for me to leave. This seems to be my cue to exit, midwesting. S.D. Puckett, will you please go now? And don't let the door hit your ass.
I leave behind a string of ex-girlfriends. Several graves. And more bitter memories than I can beat with a stick. I don't hold the illusion that leaving will change these things, but I think it's time for me to see and do something new. And maybe midwestern fields will be just the thing for me.
I'm spending as much time as I can with my friends these days because it's the last chance I'll have to spend time with them for a while.
With that said, and to end this thing on a positive and, for once, humorous note, here's a caricature of yours truly that my friend Gary did some months ago. I figured it deserved to see the light of day again. I will also note that it's pretty damn accurate.
So long, San Diego. It's been good to know you.
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