Calling, calling, East Coast, do you hear me?

 Back in Boston, calling friends and family wasn't a big deal, they were always just a phone call away even though by bus or train -- my travel medium of choice -- they were many hours from me.

Now that I'm across the country -- though perhaps not as far away in terms of practical time to get there -- it's been harder to stay in touch. It's the time zone, when I'm done from work and ready to do things, it's bright outside, and doesn't feel like I should call, and then in the evening when it's time to get in touch, it's already far far to late in there. Weekends are busy and tiring, and everybody has plans. Plans are made to call and talk, but they get postponed or forgotten. I didn't realize this disruption would happen. Bummer.

But of course, if I stay consistently in one time zone, and think in terms of where I need to be at, and assume the day outside is just weird, I can keep it going. That's what I've been doing. Plus, the friends I usually call have been unusually busy, which has disrupted our regular communication channels. It's a bummer, but something I'll fix, no doubt.

Finally, I've decided that texting people is strictly inferior to just calling them and chatting them up for hours, and I've started just calling friends and acquaintances I want to actually converse with. It's so much more personal, you talk about so many more things even if the calls are short-ish and irregular, and you feel more in-sync.