The thought occurred to me as I was driving to work this morning that it's been almost exactly a year since my first trip to Southern California. The reason why the thought occurred to me is because every morning on my way to work, I drive past the hotel I stayed at during my first visit. It was a real dump, though it looks very nice from the outside and there's always a line of Lexuses and Mercedes and BMWs parked out in its valet area whenever I pass it by.

L.A. seemed huge then. To the point of intimidating. I had no idea how to make my way around the city, but I did recognize the names of some of the more famous streets and places that I now drive on and through regularly. I first visited the place I'm now working at, met the people I'm working with -- but simply as a visitor, not a co-worker.

It's kind of odd, and you'll all see me for the music geek that I am as I say this. But I think the first time that I really felt like I'd made it here was when I was approaching the city when I was coming into it for the first time on the 10 freeway. I crested a hill near Riverside and looked down on the entire L.A. metro area, then I turned off the car's CD player and tuned in KROQ -- a station I'd heard about my entire life, and was finally setting it on my own car's radio presets and not just a rental. I think that's when it finally hit me that I was really here.