Exactly one year ago tonight, I pulled into Southern California, driving a car full of my belongings, scared halfway to death about the prospect of finding a place to live and meeting new people in a strange and completely foreign city all the way on the other side of the country from where I had spent my entire life. It's a little hard to believe I've been here this long and weathered it so well, especially since people back East had confessed to me that they thought I was the kind of person who didn't like change all that much. I remember one of my friends (someone out here who is also a transplant from Boston) telling me that the first year is the hardest in L.A., and I have survived it with flying colors.

As a result, for a public service announcement, I have compiled this list in the usual genre of Things I Have Learned: The SoCal Edition.

- Traffic here really can be as bad as everyone thinks it is. But that's only because a lot of people out here don't know how to drive. When in doubt, avoid the freeways. Unless it's somewhere between 11pm and 4am.
- I wish they all could be California girls. Seriously. It's like survival of the hottest out here. There are a ton of gorgeous women here. And I want one.
- Stereotypes are true to some extent, and they wouldn't have been formed unless there was some truth to them. There are a decent number of plastic and rude people out here. But there are also a decent number of very cool people, and I'm very lucky that I've found a lot of cool people.
- Contrary to popular belief, things in Los Angeles are not open 24/7 like in New York as I had thought. The bars here close at 2am, just like in Boston, and some do last call even earlier, the losers. But at least the supermarkets are open 24/7.
- The liquor. Dear Lord. Coming from a Puritan-based society, being able to buy liquor in the supermarkets, the drugstores, the convenience stores, the gas stations... it's amazing. They even advertise it in the drugstore circulars -- "not only do we offer over-the-counter hangover remedies, we also offer more liquor to ease the pain!" And I can buy it on Sunday. Look, all you blue-law-abiding folks back East, I'm buying liquor on Sunday, and God isn't smiting me!
- It's pretty disorienting when it's sunny and 65-75 degrees every single day of the year. I was writing the date down the other day and wrote "June" instead of "February" because it felt like June. I have lost all track of time because there are no seasons here. Seeing Christmas lights on palm trees and Santas dressed in shorts was pretty odd, too.
- It's always a little surreal when you hear about things your entire life and then experience them on a daily basis. The Sunset Strip always seemed so glamorous... until I started going there weekly for shows.
- Yes, Virginia, there really is a subway here in Los Angeles. I've seen it. I've ridden it. I think it's the dumbest thing ever that they built a multi-million dollar subway and then didn't put turnstiles in because they just kind of figured on blind faith that people will buy tickets to recoop construction costs and use them rather than just walking on the trains without buying the tickets.
- I think I'm starting to develop That Fear that I will die in The Big One. (Earthquake, I mean, not the Bomb. Stop watching 24, it's warping your view of reality.)
- Did I mention the gorgeous women?
- Yes, I live three blocks down and one block over from the infamous O.J. house where he killed his wife. Oops, I can't say that he killed her because he was acquitted, can I?
- I still need to learn how to surf and play guitar in order to cross them off my Grandmaster List of Things To Do Before I Kick Off.

I'm sure there's more, but I was woken up at 7am this morning by someone honking their car horn out in the street, so my brain's not running on all cylinders at the moment. Happy anniversary to me...