one eye on the road and one on you

The Carrolls (minus JoJo and Sammy) begin the long walk to Maryland.

Things don't change too much for me anymore. I've been at the same job for 5 years, living at home for 4 years, driving the same car for 3 years, and avoiding abrupt changes for as long as I can remember. Sadly, today is one of those difficult changes I've been hoping to avoid. My brother Brodie, his wife Jen, and their three kids started the long drive across country for their move to the DC area this morning. Brodie has basically lived with me or near me for my whole life. I remember being sad when I was in grade school and found out he was moving out of the house to an apartment about 3 miles away and I thought I would never see him again. Plus, I've gotten used to seeing Jen and the kids on a weekly basis their whole lives (the kids' lives, not Jen's,) so it will be strange to watch them grow up through Facebook pictures and videos now and only see them a couple times a year. Coincidentally, one of my best friends, Jason, flew to DC this morning for an interview with the intention of staying there permanently. I guess the bright side to all this is that I now have people to visit in DC, but it's kinda depressing that I just lost half of my friends in one day.

However, I guess the circle of friendship is kinda like the circle of life because I just got another best friend, Brigitte, back from New York. She's been busy doing awesome Hollywood stuff, but it's reassuring for me to know she's around. Plus, I've spent a lot of time the past few months reconnecting with other high school friends and hanging out with my coworkers more often. And to top it all off, my temporarily handicapped friend Caitlyn is still talking to me even though I dropped her on her face.

In other news, I noticed I'm about halfway through the list of summer concerts I mentioned a couple posts back. Fun at the Glass House was pretty...well, fun. I didn't get close enough to make any form of vague contact with my future wife, Emily, and our paths just barely missed each other on the way to the parking lot, but our Words With Friends relationship is still going strong. The Death Cab show at the El Rey was excellent. I've seen the full band twice before, but never in such a small venue. Ben Gibbard is pretty much a hero of mine, so I got a huge rush from being within about 20 feet of him. U2 at Angel Stadium was also pretty spectacular. The show was similar to the Rose Bowl show I saw a couple years ago, but the song selection was better and it was refreshing to see it through the eyes of Brodie and Jen since they had never really been to a real concert before. Hopefully, I've still got the National at the Hollywood Bowl to look forward to in September if I can gather some troops to go.