Adjusting to a different lifestyle.
Lately I have been thinking a great deal about where I am in life, and where I am heading. I have now been living in the USA for over six years, however it feels like much longer. While it is true that I do miss my Canadian roots, I also find myself becoming more and more Americanized. All politics aside, it is the culture that I have been welcomed into that has been changing my views on the world. I am unionized, and work in a shop environment with a wide variety of other people who are also unionized. I tend to get along with just about everyone else fairly well. I recently went fishing with some guys in another department, and had a blast with them. I can't wait to get another chance to go out fishing again with them. The point being that I am being exposed to a new culture, one which I had little to no exposure before hand. This is a big change for me.
In Toronto most of my friends were hackers, hacker wanna-bes or other social outcasts. We hung out in our small secretive groups and did our own things. And while some of us enjoyed going up north on Vacation to Algonquin or whatever, in the end, I doubt that many of them really knew anything about gutting a fish, or dressing a deer. I know a few did, but not many. And while my father tells tales of heroic fishing stories, I really haven't sen much proof of his abilities out on the water.
No, it wasn't until I moved to the states that I found myself surrounded in a culture involved with real manly things. Discussions of how to properly mix Quick Set 45, now replace discussions of which operating system is the most stable. Spent slugs taken from inside a deer, are now the objects of interest rather then who has the coolest smart phone. Dewalt vs. Bosch power tools is now the discussion, which replaces Apple vs. PC. And more often, it is smarter to work slower. And it is also recommended to pretend to not know much. Where as I am used to people bragging about how much they DO know. Problem then is that if you know everything, you will be asked to do everything.
That being said, I do still work in the electronics field, and while we still sometimes talk about geeky things, we are mostly jaded by that industry, so we try to avoid talking about 'work' as much as possible.
So I have been finding myself questioning older friendships lately. I may have been a little hasty in calling some friends out in the recent past. This is such an alternate lifestyle, that I sometimes forget how I used to be. I am often finding myself having a clash of personalities inside me. My old self, merging with my new self doesn't always equate into a seamless image.
While I still believe that some of my old friends are better off remaining old friends, some of them may still be valuable and good life long friends if they are able to understand that I have changed. My real challenge now is finding new friends. While i isn't really a challenge, as I have been making a few from work. But I want to find some outside of work. I did find a very cool friend through my model railway project, and I have enjoyed his company and friendship so far. I am starting to meet other cool people through him as well. So that is good.
I still do miss the days of hosting huge meets for exploration, with 40 people, ad 8 vehicles in convoys to various locations. But that is in the past. I now believe a better time is had with a smaller number of people, then with a huge group.
Anyhow, I hope this post somehow helps people realize whats going on with me.