How Being in San Diego is Affecting My Thinking

Comments

1. Frank Bishop says:
   July 5, 2011 at 5:48 pm

   Well, I had taco bell last night. I think right now my fiancee and I can generally agree that wasn’t the best choice. If I was sitting next to an alien ambassador, I would probably be saying something offensive.

   Cheers from STL.
2. Gilmoure says:
   July 5, 2011 at 5:51 pm

   Tulio understands.
3. MasterThief says:
   July 5, 2011 at 6:10 pm

   And then Scalzi sings this song. Exactly like this.
4. Del says:
   July 5, 2011 at 6:23 pm

   Don’t worry, after the first decade or so you get back some small level of interest in the rest of the world. You find yourself wondering in an idle moment if there might be someplace else on the planet worth visiting for a day or two.

   I’m not sure if the decade is cumulative or consecutive, if it’s the former then you’ll never build up immunity staying only two weeks at a time!
5. Huey says:
   July 5, 2011 at 6:35 pm

   Now I want to record a ukulele cover of “That’s When I Reach For My Revolver”.
6. surfwax says:
   July 5, 2011 at 6:35 pm

   Yep, San Diego is the best place on earth. Welcome back John.
7. Greg says:
   July 5, 2011 at 7:19 pm

   san diego brings up an entirely different reaction for me.

   one place where I got ‘lost’ like that was in the ruins covered by Mt Vesuvius. my god…
8. Bill says:
   July 5, 2011 at 7:47 pm

   That’s why San Diego was a great town to grow up in. =)
9. Steve Burnap says:
   July 5, 2011 at 8:23 pm

   I used to feel like that too, which was not good as UCSD was my alma matar.
10. Dan says:
    July 5, 2011 at 8:35 pm

    It was pretty awesome yesterday wasn’t it? The weather here doesn’t disappoint. Glad to share it with you, even just for a little while.
11. Paul Gardner says:
    July 5, 2011 at 8:40 pm

    Lived there for 10 glorious years during my Navy career- a fantastic place!
12. Lorenzo from Oz says:
    July 5, 2011 at 8:41 pm

    Being in a big country might make a difference. I live in a great city (Melbourne) in a country which is territorially as big as the (continental) US but there are only 22.6 million of us, and so we tend to have more small country nervousness about the rest of the world.
13. Alex Field says:
    July 5, 2011 at 8:43 pm

    I guess you’ve already been there too long. Very Eddie Vedder of you to go all ukelele after four days there…
14. Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey says:
    July 5, 2011 at 9:32 pm

    Never travel without your ukulele. That’s my motto.
15. mythago says:
    July 5, 2011 at 9:43 pm

    Ah, the California Coast Effect. Here, have another lotus.

    (I was pretty impressed with San Diego until I spent an hour in their sorry excuse for an airport.)
16. cturkel says:
    July 5, 2011 at 10:04 pm

    I lived there for a while in the Navy and San Diego is awesome. My favorite part of California.
17. Tom says:
    July 5, 2011 at 10:14 pm

    Did you try a Berto’s variation yet? Carne Asada chips. Yep, I know where the Freshman Fifty came from at UCSD. Totally worth it!
    And enjoy the architecture and the Stuart Collection. My faves were the talking eucalyptus (especially on a foggy drunken walk), the shroom room in Mandeville, the Sun God and the TV/Statues in Third/Marshall College.
    Totally jealous.
18. MikeB says:
    July 5, 2011 at 11:00 pm

    Trust me, you don’t need to be in San Diego to feel that effect although I have to admit it probably helps. I can get to that state of mind right where I am with laughable ease. But a lot of that is because BC is like CA but without (most of) the crazies.
19. Erica Ginter says:
    July 6, 2011 at 12:39 am

    What’s going on in the world? O. J. Simpson and Casey Anthony are going out on a date. Then they’ll redouble the search for the real killers.
20. George William Herbert says:
    July 6, 2011 at 1:48 am

    Darn it, I wasn’t the first person to think of a cover or Filk of “That’s when I reach for my Revolver”
21. DemetriosX says:
    July 6, 2011 at 4:30 am

    Wow, at least 3 UCSD alums here. Not surprising, I guess. It’s a very sfnal campus. Greg Benford, Kim Stanley Robinson, and David Brin all got degrees there (and I met the latter 2 while I was there) and Benford set a novel there and KSR one in the area. And, of course, the Geisel library has been in lots of SF films.
22. Owen says:
    July 6, 2011 at 8:48 am

    Indeed, San Diego may have the best weather weather in the world. I imagine southern Italy or Greece may be similar, not sure. The crazy part is that the weather you are experiencing now will also be the same during winter. Maybe slightly colder. I had to wear a light jacket at night sometimes. Another interesting perk is that there is no pollen. It is too dry for grass and trees to naturally grow there.

    Still, after 5 years of living there, it never felt like home. I guess I need snowy winters and growing things in the spring and summer to feel normal.
23. Theophylact says:
    July 6, 2011 at 9:24 am

    Vernor Vinge set Rainbows End at UCSD, too.
24. --E says:
    July 6, 2011 at 9:58 am

    I’m in Philadelphia and I feel the same way. Must be the heat.
25. heteromeles says:
    July 6, 2011 at 10:47 am

    Dude. KPBS, 89.5 FM or http://www.kpbs.org/radio. Get back in touch.

    Oh, and thanks for bringing the humidity with you. We’d been missing that.

    Have fun.
26. michael says:
    July 6, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    San Diego works on your systems faster than a SciFi movie virus. You are now one of us! Going to try to get to M/G tonight.
27. ryber says:
    July 6, 2011 at 3:56 pm

    You stay classy, Mr. Scalzi
28. John Kusters says:
    July 6, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    Yeah, San Diego does that to people. I lived there for nearly a decade, and if it wasn’t for a dream opportunity elsewhere, I would probably be looking to stay there.
29. Casey says:
    July 7, 2011 at 10:30 am

    Moving here had the same effect on me. I’m four years in and make myself care about world events because I know it’s the responsible thing to do…but do I really care? *Looks out window to see beaches, mountains, and cloud free sunshine* Not in the slightest!
30. Mary Sue says:
    July 7, 2011 at 4:30 pm

    That’s not San Diego. That’s the power of the ukulele.

    And possibly, in my case, partially the influence of Portland, Oregon plus ukulele.

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