Exactly six years ago today I left SoCal and moved back to Hayward. I remember making a right turn onto Ocean Blvd. in my U-haul when a guy passed my up, flipped me the bird, and then cut me off. “How fitting of my last day in SoCal,” I remember thinking.

I hate Hayward. Hayward sucks. I’m sick of Hayward. I want out of here.

I don’t miss living in SoCal, but I do miss my friends terribly. Long Beach wasn’t so bad, actually. It was the whole driving on the freeways and commute thing that seriously ruined SoCal for me. If I could live and work in, say, Belmont Shore I’d move back in a heartbeat.

I miss Chico. I could be happy there again. Yeah, the heat sucked. But that’s why everyone has AC. I miss being 30 minutes from pine trees and solitude. I miss hiking and mountain biking and playing golf and swimming and fly fishing in Bidwell Park. I miss the rainy season up there.

So yeah.