I really have trouble leaving familiarity.

In the last few days, I suddenly realized that I don\’t want to meet any more new people in Pittsburgh. There isn\’t enough time to do the new person thing. The awkward, exciting stage of I-don\’t-know-yet. Then the comfort phase of friendship where we establish ties, an exchange of cell phone numbers or screennames, the regular hang out, the casual small talk of every day life.

The prospective phds are visiting this weekend. The prospectives for my masters program are visiting the following week.

I know I am often at my best in times where I have nothing to lose. The last few months I had in Berkeley, I met so many people–people who felt like they had known me forever. It\’s reaching that point now, but unlike before, I won\’t be as likely to return. In a few years if I ever visit Pittsburgh, the city won\’t be the same. Perhaps, only one or two of the people I knew would be here. And that\’s it.

How about a cliched statement? Isn\’t this just the…end of the beginning?

I smell someone cooking ground beef in my house. Now I am hungry.