Yeesh, Hil, hope this works.

I hate it when it's like that. I have a local BFF, but we used to work together and see each other every day in the trenches. But then she quit and my corp stopped working with that corp anyway. So now we're all, let's get together! Awesome! And we do, and we really enjoy each other's company. And then we don't get together for another three months. It's crazymaking.

I loved it when my friend Lauren lived two blocks away. We'd just trot down to the 101 Cafe on Saturdays and get a scone and talk. Also, it was nice having Emily S. in the city, because I could just call her up when I was in the Mission and we could get a beer.

Proximity: it matters more than you think.

I'm really cranky and not that good at socialising right now, but for some reason on Sunday I texted Polgara and told her she was coming makeup shopping with me. Not like she wears makeup, but whatever. But she's just down the street, you know? And it got me out of the house at short notice after an awful week, and we did lunch, and it didn't take much organising, and it was a great simple mood-lifter. I do like living in LA for that, especially being kinda close to Burrell and bon and Polgara. *Really* close to Polgara.

I love having Nora and Tom and DJ's cousins just a couple of blocks away. For a while, a friend and I would get together for cheap drinks on a weekly basis and gripe about not being able to find jobs... But then we found jobs and now we're too busy.

smonster...I miss youuuuuuu

My iPhone autocorrected for youuuuuuu.

Proximity: it matters more than you think.

There are two women that live in my neighborhood that I recruited (they already go to my church) for my womens' bible study group just on the premise that I wanted to get to know people who were physically closer to me. Even as little as my town is, I'm pretty seriously rural from it, so the people that I hang out with from town don't really want to come all the way out here. And as winter happens, it will get worse.

Of course, I am a hermit, so I also like cloistering in during winter storms, but it's nice to know there's someone within reasonable range who, like, knows your name.

smonster, I know how you feel...well, not exactly, because so far, I'm mostly I Don't Think About You Like That Girl. Was just thinking I don't make BFFs anymore, either.

I will drive to see my BFFs who are mostly in DC Metro, and Baltimore, but the year I spent in Baltimore I never did anything but work, sleep, and go to karaoke with my same two to four friends. I really regret that I never even saw lisah or sarameg. I just failed to have a life there. Bleh.

But in Philly, I will have more balance. And, very awesomely, Amy and Sox are so close! I'm a little giddily excited about just starting over. Which I am truly doing, because I've been living in furnished places for the past almost ten years. Um. I have a bed and a chair. Hello, freecycle!!

I'm actually looking forward to that part -- finding things to furnish with but being judicious about acquiring too much. Anymore, the fewer things I have, the less stressed I feel. I think if I were settling in permanently, I wouldn't be so reluctant to build up a nest, but right now, I look at things as "and how hard will you be to move?"

ita ! I checked the Angel Red and, although it's old and may have gone off, it's a purple-y red. So, not at all what you're looking for.

The cosmetic line that the makeup artist is coming out with is called U Lifestyle. The "U" is umlauted.

Jen, I'm excited that you're moving to Philly, because that's where we fly in to visit M! Things can Be Arranged!

Proximity: it matters more than you think.

Oh, hells, yeah! When I was working for KY, living in Lawrence, which is less than an hour away from KC, I was utterly miserable. Loved my job, loved my boss, but not having my friends around just made me miserable, exacerbated my depression....I had to quit and move back. No coincidence less than a month after I moved back, I was in the hospital.

(OK, I was working for KU but the typo was way too funny to edit.)

ION, D's company's system has not processed anyone's paychecks - snafu in tech processing -- and none are hitting direct deposit.

You wanna see furious chaos? Have this happen at an IT company who works with FINANCIAL COMPUTER SECURITY FOR THE GOVERNMENT. Apparently, it's frickin' a bloodbath over there tight now...