Skip to main content

Where are MY peeps?

I thought that the friends I made when I first moved to Austin would eventually form my family away from family. That didn't work out like I expected. I've concluded that most of the friends I've made through the kids, have not translated into social interactions sans children. That's the crux of it.

So, how can I actively find and keep female friends; women who I consider my band of sisters? And will they view our relationship the same way I do? And how is this latest harbinger of head-hurt related to understanding my world? Here it comes.

Because I don't interact with people on an everyday basis, (my contact today has been the boys and the Ozarka guy dropping off water), I miss out on the office conversation about the latest news, gadgets, social networking, etc. Now, I'm left to my own devices to acquire and assimilate my world, but what I lack in richness I make up for in diversity. Which brings me to why I am pondering about my peeps. (As a testament to this diversity I found a twitter application that lets you see who is cussing real-time on twitter, but I digress.)

I was listening to Eric Weiner talk about his book The Geography of Bliss, (this is me learning about my world), and he supposes that "social cohesion" makes a nation happy, concluding, (unsurprisingly I guess), that the quality of someone's personal relationships is what makes anyone happy. (And I apologize to Mr. Weiner if I inadvertently mis-represented his findings/opinions.)

So, I need peeps. Got to go back and work at building those long-term relationships and onwards to hyggelig. Roughly pronounced 'hewg-gly', the Danish word for 'cozy', which apparently represents their homes, relationships, society, urban planning, etc. And the Danes are a happy lot.

So go hug your homey today!
Labels:

Comments

Unknown said…
been there Sal!!! it gets a whole lot better as they grow older, I too was in intellectual starvation for a while, but they grow up fast,
and soon you'll be reading their school essays and real book reports. I learnt Spanish from tapes when S started Form 1; I brought home our first computer - a laptop in '94/95;we all self-taught! together!, and now they teach me !
just 2 adults live here now, and we have 3 computers in the house- all online 24/7, all with active history- when i look back those few years - IT WAS JUST YESTERDAY!!!!, WE love you Sal,
17 August 2009 at 19:06
Austin Trini said…
Raziah, I cannot believe you would ever be in 'intellectual starvation'! :)

Thank you for taking the time to remind me how fleeting these times are, how much learning I have ahead of me, and above all, that I do still have my remote peeps..who love me.
23 August 2009 at 21:29
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Job Search2: Networking etiquette..

On which I have a few ideas.  As my husband keeps telling me, I won't get a job by spending hours in front of the computer submitting applications to online job postings.  The best use of any job-seeker's time is spent talking to friends and acquaintances and letting them know that you are looking for a job and what your skills and interests are. So here is what I found tricky about networking: How hard to push?  Working parents are busy, so if I asked a friend, who is a working parent, about a position I had seen at their company, do I ask a second time? How soon after? And what if there is another position - do I talk about that too?  If that friend is very enthusiastic about getting more information for me on a post then I hear nothing, what then?  Is it realistic to think they'll get back to me?  I find it difficult to broach the topic again.  I might ask a second time but for me there is no third time. What do I trade in return? In the net...
4 comments
Read more

What is your 'bread & butter' conversation?

I am anxious to get back to the playgroups with my Moms group, and talk with some of the other moms because I want to know what they talk to their husbands about at the end of the day. If I were to truly tell my husband what goes on with my day? Well, the conversation would be inane and irrelevant. Gunnar: "How was your day honey?" Big smile. Me: "You know the usual. Lucas got up late this morning and was crabby because he didn't have enough time to play before breakfast and Liam pulled off my tiny earring, you know, the one I was so excited about getting because I thought he wouldn't notice it, and I could wear earrings again? Anyways, he pulled it off, and I grabbed it from him and set it down so I could deal with him appropriately, and I forgot about it, but when I went back to look for it I couldn't find it. It might have gotten wiped off the table when I was cleaning, so I spent part of the day sifting through the garbage looking for it, then I looked ...
3 comments
Read more

10 things I have learnt about my teen and language

I have just been thinking about how my son speaks and what he says. He is 13 now and here is what I have discovered: 1. He does know some curse words, although he does not use them (at least in my hearing). I know this because he knows to switch the YouTube video he is watching when he hears one. 2. His language is tempered by having a younger sibling around (and he knows he will be in big trouble if he forgets that). 3. He gets more animated when he is around his friends and especially when he is gaming with them, and he uses a different vocabulary than regular speech (see #5). 4. I should not be annoyed if I am speaking to him and he shouts back "What?!!" The decibel level gets really, really high when he has his headset on AND he is gaming. 5. I am grateful that he uses expressions like, "What the fudge?",  "Crap" and "YOLO". Usually these are followed by the terms "Die!" or "Hackers!" or "Destroy" , bec...
Post a Comment
Read more