Moving Time!

It’s official. Lindsie and I are now residents of Springfield, MO and it has been great so far. Because we have about 4,000 things to do now that we’re officially moved and situated, this will be a short and simple update.

First things first, we have gotten all of our stuff into our sweet 3-bedroom duplex. We have some awesome neighbors who are both extremely friendly and extremely quiet, which is an fantastic combo in my and Lindsie’s books. And because we’re now in a sweet 3-bedroom duplex, we have room for everything and we can actually move around without bumping into each other. It’s great.

Springfield has been a wonderful town/community so far. I don’t think I’ve met a single rude person since we’ve been here and everyone seems to be generally helpful and excited to have us here. Not that Sioux Falls wasn’t pleasant or anything, it’s just nice to be a part of a community that has welcomed us so readily from the start. It’s kind of surprising how much of an impact that vibe can have on newly-arrived residents like us.

All in all, we’re sad to be out of Sioux Falls. It was a GREAT place to live for 7 years and it deserves a better post than this (which I’m sure it will get here sooner than later), but we’re excited to be in Springfield now and we’re excited to see what adventures unfold from here on out.

Anyway, I’ll post more info soon. For now it’s back to unpacking, organizing, re-organizing what I failed to organize correctly the first time and taking a little time to take a deep breath and figure out life in Springfield.

Photo by Doug Wertman.

Why Twitter comes naturally to me...

I’ve moved quite a few times in my life. Basically, throughout my formative years, I moved four times (and five times total for six different locations). At age 6, at age 11, at age 12, and age 18, I moved to entirely different states and communities. From Houston, Texas to Fargo, North Dakota, to Long Island, New York to College Station, Texas, and having recently settled (and going on five years) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, it’s clear that the places are…diverse.

Quite possibly the last picture taken of me before my rigorous moving cycle began...

Now, the reason I’m telling you this is because I think these moves have resulted in a strong passion for social media and, specifically, a social medium like Twitter. Many of my friends seem to struggle with the concept of Twitter. Part of that is because I currently live in Sioux Falls, where we’re occasionally a few months to a few years behind many communities in terms of technology and things of that nature. Another reason, however, is that many of my friends don’t understand the benefit of having numerous friends in numerous locations.

This makes me think back to my days of junior high and high school. Specifically, the cafeteria. Now, most people grow up with their childhood friends and they sit with those friends every day at lunch from first grade through their senior year of high school. But, when you’ve left your childhood friends behind to move into uncharted territories, you don’t have the luxury of lifelong friends. The result? For me, it was floating around to various places and hanging out with various people. Different lunch tables meant different conversations, different learning experiences, and different elements of life to appreciate.

This process continued after I moved to Sioux Falls for college. Different class schedules on different days meant I was spending time with different people. Although I might spend a Friday night celebrating a victory with the Men’s Basketball Team, I was just as likely to turn around and spend that Saturday night hanging out with all of the theatre friends I made while taking Theatre 220 (an acting class…which was a unique experience in itself that I recommend everybody do at some point in their lives). Or, I may have just spent the weekend with my regular, non-acting, non-athlete friends and had a great time going to a Twins game in Minneapolis or hitting up a Joey Ryan & The Inks concert in Dinkytown.

Here I am, rockin' a Twins game with friends @Hale_Storm & @brennifresh

The bottom line – My life has almost always been a social one that involves many different people in many different places at any given time.

Enter Twitter.

Suddenly I’m presented with an online version of what my life has always been. Now, I can make friends with people in different states (which eventually lead to the realization that inspired this post), come across new people who live here in Sioux Falls, or I can reconnect with friends from the past, all in a much more direct and open way than I could do through Facebook or regular, old-fashioned e-mails.

Twitter is basically a huge win for me – it gives me the usual benefits of moving (new friends, new thoughts, new avenues in life to pursue), without the downside of moving (moving). That’s not to say I don’t intend to move again at some point in my life. Although it’s usually not easy, moving has been ingrained in my life as a necessary element. Especially when South Dakota ends up being colder than 32 degrees five months a year. The only thing that could be worse is if polar bears lived here too.

Social media does for me what moving used to do for me. It allows me to open new doors and new conversations, ultimately forming new relationships with people all over the world. In the last few months alone, I’ve been able to discover new music, new TV shows, and entirely new mindsets, all as a result of listening to others and sharing my thoughts with the world.

So, if you enjoy Twitter and other online media services, I'm curious - What do they do for you? How do you use a social network like Twitter? Is it strictly business, is it meeting new people, or is it a reason you can’t quite put your finger on? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment and let me know what you’re thinking.

-“…said I dig ya baby, but I gotta keep movin’…on…keep movin’ on…”