I'm on my way. Well, not yet. This time tomorrow I'll be snug as a bug in a rug (which I don't understand that saying, and therefore shouldn't be writing it... but what was that whole deal with bed bugs sweeping the nation, starting in NYC? Gross, America. You're better than that.) or tossing and turning in my bed thinking, "Where am I?" Missouri. That's the answer. Though I feel like when I say it out loud it sounds like "misery." But it's really not that bad. Quite a beautiful state, actually. And even though it's in the thick of the Bible Belt, the people are pretty lovely from what I remember. My town's a sad place architecturally, with a ghostly downtown that was abandoned for blocked out strip malls close to the subdivisions.
Missouri. Saint Joseph. We started the Pony Express, killed Jesse James and birthed Eminem. Those are our claims to fame.
I'm not scared anymore now that I'm nearer to the time zone of my upbringing and back from the future. Anxious? Slightly, but mostly just curious as to what's going to happen next.
My mom and step-dad don't live in the house that I grew up in anymore. They live in a townhouse. It's nice and colorful and full of childhood memories misplaced. My mom hates it (retraction as of June 11, 2011: she doesn't hate it, it's spacious and colorful, she just isn't a fan of the "association" which sounds more like a cult to me, or another title for that 1995 made for TV movie starring John Ritter, The Colony where the members of said colony took out his dog's voice box because it barked. Period). She can't garden because the neighborhood has people who mow their lawn. My step-dad's happy because he has less to fix.
I hear it's hot in MO right now, and I can't wait. LA was much colder than I anticipated. After living in summer for over a year one doesn't adjust well to the mid 60s. Plus, I'm all green'd out and only turn on the shower when I'm rinsing - seriously, people, you don't need to take 20 minute showers, or even 10. Turn it on, turn it off, lather, rinse, repeat. (I digress.)
I'm really excited to go home-home. Cook and bake with my momma, chat with the ole step-daddio and get him to fix my computer, and go to concerts with the brosef.
Missouri. The Show Me State. I didn't intend to let it, but it's followed me everywhere I've been. "You say Korea is green and forested? Oh, yeah? Show me."/"The Great Wall of China is steep and the food there is greasier than at home? Prove it."/"Everyone drives everywhere in LA and most people are incredibly self-centered? People are lazy and egotistical everywhere, but put your money where your mouth is."
I'm going to be that 25 - soon to be 26 - year-old living in her parents' basement, like I never wanted to happen. Things are coming beyond that. I hope, I hope. Friends' couches await me in Chi City. It's so pretty there in the summertime.
I didn't get that writing job in Chicago and I think it's for the best. I haven't heard the best things about the company, and I'm not sure what I even want to do - professionally, aside from writing - at this point in time. Office jobs and the daily grind don't seem too appealing to me at this juncture in my life, but we'll see. Only time will tell, but until then I'm going to do my best to keep an open mind and an open heart to opportunities I might not have otherwise considered.
As always, one thing remains the same:
PS- my awesome buddy, Ty and I went to a Richard Simmons' class on Tuesday and he ended everything with a message on loving - or doing anything, really - with your whole heart and soul. That has nothing to do with anything I wrote about tonight, but it just popped into my head and so I wanted to share. LA pictures and stories to come - boy oh boy, was it ever fun!!
PPS - Penguin to the Grauman's Chinese Theater tomorrow before my flight!!!
Missouri. Saint Joseph. We started the Pony Express, killed Jesse James and birthed Eminem. Those are our claims to fame.
I'm not scared anymore now that I'm nearer to the time zone of my upbringing and back from the future. Anxious? Slightly, but mostly just curious as to what's going to happen next.
My mom and step-dad don't live in the house that I grew up in anymore. They live in a townhouse. It's nice and colorful and full of childhood memories misplaced. My mom hates it (retraction as of June 11, 2011: she doesn't hate it, it's spacious and colorful, she just isn't a fan of the "association" which sounds more like a cult to me, or another title for that 1995 made for TV movie starring John Ritter, The Colony where the members of said colony took out his dog's voice box because it barked. Period). She can't garden because the neighborhood has people who mow their lawn. My step-dad's happy because he has less to fix.
I hear it's hot in MO right now, and I can't wait. LA was much colder than I anticipated. After living in summer for over a year one doesn't adjust well to the mid 60s. Plus, I'm all green'd out and only turn on the shower when I'm rinsing - seriously, people, you don't need to take 20 minute showers, or even 10. Turn it on, turn it off, lather, rinse, repeat. (I digress.)
I'm really excited to go home-home. Cook and bake with my momma, chat with the ole step-daddio and get him to fix my computer, and go to concerts with the brosef.
Missouri. The Show Me State. I didn't intend to let it, but it's followed me everywhere I've been. "You say Korea is green and forested? Oh, yeah? Show me."/"The Great Wall of China is steep and the food there is greasier than at home? Prove it."/"Everyone drives everywhere in LA and most people are incredibly self-centered? People are lazy and egotistical everywhere, but put your money where your mouth is."
I'm going to be that 25 - soon to be 26 - year-old living in her parents' basement, like I never wanted to happen. Things are coming beyond that. I hope, I hope. Friends' couches await me in Chi City. It's so pretty there in the summertime.
I didn't get that writing job in Chicago and I think it's for the best. I haven't heard the best things about the company, and I'm not sure what I even want to do - professionally, aside from writing - at this point in time. Office jobs and the daily grind don't seem too appealing to me at this juncture in my life, but we'll see. Only time will tell, but until then I'm going to do my best to keep an open mind and an open heart to opportunities I might not have otherwise considered.
As always, one thing remains the same:
PS- my awesome buddy, Ty and I went to a Richard Simmons' class on Tuesday and he ended everything with a message on loving - or doing anything, really - with your whole heart and soul. That has nothing to do with anything I wrote about tonight, but it just popped into my head and so I wanted to share. LA pictures and stories to come - boy oh boy, was it ever fun!!
PPS - Penguin to the Grauman's Chinese Theater tomorrow before my flight!!!
You're sooo close! When are you stopping through st. louis?! Call me, lady!
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