A friend once asked, “what is happiness for you in one word?” My answer: movement. I love the feeling of going places, whether that’s physically, mentally, or metaphorically. Planes, trains, automobiles, in my career, in relationships, through photos, even fantasy basketball — motion is what makes me feel most alive. William S. Burroughs once said, “when you stop growing, you start dying”. The 3rd Thursday in November through February 14th is the wildest time for movement in relationships. The rest of the year is a cakewalk, but I’ve coined these 12 1/2 weeks “the gauntlet:” * Thanksgiving: do I want to bring this person around my family? * Christmas: how much am I willing to spend/invest into them? * New Year’s Eve: do I want to spend this transitional celebration and/or fresh New Year with them? * Valentine’s Day: am I still into them romantically? * Bonus - Birthday(s): extra stress if one (or both) of y’all got a birthday in here (as I do) One type of moving I actually despise is changing homes. Crib filled up with boxes, analyzing every t-shirt like “what does this say about me?” Movers. Certificates of Insurance. Cable. Wifi. Address Forwarding. TaskRabbits. Excited to go but wish I could leave my whole apartment at Goodwill. Life is funny. You can arrive somewhere with a suitcase and leave with a U-Haul. Los Angeles is still cool, and I will most likely be out here half the year for business. I really enjoy weekend getaways in Cali—in a few hours you can be in Palm Springs, Ojai, Santa Barbara, Big Sur, San Diego, Joshua Tree, Lake Tahoe, or Napa, and be transported into a different world. But if I’m not working on a job out West, my favorite move is always New York City.