...and this part is called "HAPPYness" - the iLLadelphia edition

It's where the nation was born, and currently America's sixth-largest city. It's where a whole chunk of my family settled when my elders decided to head north back in the forties and fifties. And it's ultimately the city that gave me my first job outta grad school.


It's Philadelphia, and now... it's home.


After a year out of grad-school and numerous interviews/efforts aimed at making a livelihood in the ATL, I landed the first "northern" job that interviewed for. About three weeks ago, I was offered that [dream job] Project Management position by the City of Philadelphia. Today, I will start working for the City's Redevelopment Authority addressing vacant housing and new development issues concerning America's first city. Yo... real talk... I can't wait til people start asking me "Do you have a card?"


A couple of days ago, I hopped in the car with my dad -- drove to ATL, rounded up my belongings and moved it to Philadelphia to start all over. I really didn't feel the remorse that I thought I would when I pulled outta ATL... but I will say that I didn't look back once when we hit that road headed north. Simply put, I'm over that part of my life. Before this past weekend, I hadn't been there in two months... nor had I missed it in the least bit. Being north had reminded me of how good it felt to live for myself and be around those who understood me most. I will always remember the friends that I made and those who helped to me learn about myself in ways that I could never imagine. I'll miss the Waffle House. I'm far from religious but I consider myself pretty spiritual... and I'm thinking that things didn't work out for me in the South [as well as I planned] for reasons beyond my control. It has always seemed that in order for things to improve in my life that I had to [literally] remove myself from certain situations and stop trying to fix things that couldn't be fixed. Case and point, it was time for me to go.


So here I am, knowing that 2010 was going to be my year. I'm starting all over again, from scratch. Blogging from my best friend's couch [aka my bed for now] with nothing but my clothes, television, dog, artwork... and anything else that I managed to fit in the car coming back. There's nothing more refreshing than to finally get control over something that you [couldn't help but] lost grip of; in this case, that something is my life. Times like these, speak to me... and I feel like I'm hearing "You shouldn't have left in the first place". I thank God for those who did they're best at trying to make Atlanta resemble a home for me. Although it was pretty hard for me smile about anything over this last year-plus, I couldn't have got through any of it without them. For them, the "A" will have always have a special place in my heart -- especially when I feel like a taking a trip in the near-future. A transplant-southerner is what I thought I could be at one point, but that clearly was not the case -- which is why I also thank God for the people who are there to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of the big decisions that I make (my family and friends).


It ain't Jersey, but I'm ready to make this place that I call "iLLadelphia" mine. I have [what I think will be] an exciting career ahead of me. Despite what people say about it, I've had some great times in Philly as a late teen/early twenty-something. Now as a yuppy, wiser late twenty-something guy -- I plan on making some memorable times and getting back into the groove of being "happy by any means necessary".