Welcome to DC. 10 pm. 75 degrees and humid.

My first thoughts of Washington? Lots of young people. Lots of very, very attractive young people. Everywhere. You couldn’t avoid them if you tried.

So now it’s just me. No roommate. And I’m starting to recognize the +’s and –‘s of that fact. On one hand, I think I was about ready to have my own space. But it’s pretty lonely so far. I was taking the Metro home from Adams-Morgan tonight – one of the more social neighborhoods of NW Washington – and it seemed like a huge majority of the people on the Metro were people roughly my age, all hanging out with their friends.

It’s odd. I can’t think of a situation in which I would have come across that sort of environment in Baltimore. But here in DC, it seems like everyone here is more or less my age.

I’m not accustomed to not knowing people, or at least not knowing anyone in the city. (Even that isn’t totally true; I know about a half dozen people in Washington, but I’m not in touch with them yet.) And, to be happy, I’m quite happy to have this apartment on my own. But it sucks not having anyone around to talk with. And I don’t have an internet connection, so I feel pretty disconnected from the world.

Perhaps it’s a good thing. Maybe I need some time on my own, time to feel independent and slightly isolated and forced to think/work/live/figure stuff out on my own.

I’ve been driving a lot recently…probably averaging 100 miles a day for the last two weeks. Until last week I was commuting from Baltimore (~50 miles each way), and then this week I drove up to Baltimore on Mon-Wed nights to finish moving out. 100 miles is certainly enough distance to give one plenty of time for contemplation. And the fact that I was sleep deprived certainly added to my mental self-contemplation. And without writing or speaking a word, I figured out a lot of issues during my drives, or at least I felt that I was able to come to terms with the challenges that will be facing me in the coming months.

But here I am. For now, I’m feeling lonely and a little bit isolated. And maybe, for now, it’s a good thing. Let’s just hope it doesn’t last _too_ long.

Mood: Distant.
Song: Jack Johnson, “It’s All Understood”