The dreaded transitional phase

You'd think that after traveling all over the world by myself, going to new cities every few days and having to make new friends everywhere I went that starting a job in a new city would be no big deal. You'd be wrong. Visiting a place and living in a place are two completely different things. For one, if I went out by myself in Bangkok or Krakow or Dublin and I didn't meet anyone cool, it was no big deal. I didn't have to worry about looking like a loser because there was virtually no likelihood that I'd ever see any of those people again. But living someplace is entirely different. When you go out you worry you might see someone you know (one of those 10 people you've come into contact with so far) and they'll no longer think you're cool because you're out by yourself. Grr.

I know it's just the weird transitional phase. I've done it before, I can do it again. I'll make friends and it'll be no big deal a month from now (knock on wood!). But man it sucks for a while ...