I just took myself to see Keeping Up With the Steins. Oddly (or not), it was set in Kelly's neighborhood.

The surreal part of seeing a movie that is so very LA in character (not just setting, I promise), is the reminder that I no longer live there, and that is not my life. It was like going back to visit the Davis campus. Time had marched on without me and though everything was exactly the same, I no longer belonged there.

On the walk home, this led to a fair amount of contemplation regarding the extent to which I've changed as a person, both since moving here, and since starting college. Thinking about all of this in conjunction with Kelly's neighborhood highlighted the extent to which time and maturity has changed the basic quality of my relationships. There was always a sense of hero worship with my college roommates. When I met them, I was terribly insecure and my self-esteem was unbelievably low. I marveled at the fact that such seemingly perfect people could want me as their friend. Over the past seven years I've become comfortable in my own skin and gained a more complete sense of self. Now I feel far more like an equal to most of my friends. I'm a leader rather than a follower. In some ways, I feel like this makes me closer and gives me a better understanding of where they're coming from. In others, I feel like it's kept me from being close because I'm just too critical.

Additionally, I was disappointed that the cultural relevance of the valley joke, and of the social role played by upscale barmitzvas in the Los Angeles-film making-Jewish community was completely lost on Arlington, VA.