Thoughts of Home

Now that I'm back in the States, it's kind of hard. I was really glad to see my parents, and they're being really cool about giving me my space and not asking too many questions at once.

Coming from Seattle, looking over the landscape as it turned from mountains to plain and then mountains again, I knew that I was home. No matter how far away you go, you always have this feeling of familiarity when revisiting old haunts.

We ate dinner at a local grill, as I hadn't eaten that day since 6.30 am (it was about 5.30 pm), and I had my first pint of Moose Drool in 2 years. Very nice.

It's frickin' freezin here, Mr. Bigglesworth. The temperature's only 80 degrees or so, but it seemed so cold to me. I'm in my basement typing this, wearing a sweatshirt. And it's August 2nd!

Today I slept until almost noon, but woke up with no visible jet lag. I got up, ate lunch with Dad, then did a few things, then I went up to his shop to help him for a few hours. I cleaned his truck--it was hella filthy. Drove my old car a bit, and miss my Levin already. I may be getting a new car here shortly, as I don't think the old green Beretta will make it to Arizona. Will look at it tomorrow and see. Dinner was pork chops off the grill, with roast potatoes and corn. Lovely!

I'm trying to catch up on my classwork. 3 days gone is a lot in graduate school. I'm doing my best, but it's the last week of courses, so I'll focus more on getting to the final on Monday. My professor and everyone knew that I was transitioning this week, so I think they understand that I may not be contributing so much to the weekly discussions. I've contributed a lot each week, so I don't think that missing one week will affect me so much.

I was just reading my friend Lee Sean's blog (http://lshuang.wordpress.com), and saw that he had many of the same observations I had about the States. There was a world of difference between the Canadian faction and US faction at Vancouver immigration. The Canadian guy was friendly but official, the US people virtually barked at me like we were on Full Metal Jacket. At least I went through rather quickly though.

Yeah, lots of fat people (not that I'm exactly skinny myself). Loud rude people. I said 'hello' to the airport staff in the States, they didn't even have the courtesy to answer back.
Holy shit, in Osaka this United woman flight attendant comes barreling to the head of the security line, chomping gum (two things which are appaling to Japanese, barreling ahead and chomping gum like Dobbin the Horse), and then starts yapping loudly in English to this Japanese dude, who of course didn't understand her because he's Japanese. What's up with United flight attendants? You want attitude, fly United. Air Canada, though, was very polite. Nice people.

Today I went to the gas station to get some beer, but didn't find anything I liked. So I just told the attendant "sorry about that, just didn't see what I was looking for", and she snaps "you have to be 21 anyway". I stopped, and said, "Yes maam, I am aware of that, and I AM over 21. In fact, I've lived independently in 3 countries now, and can drive in two. I've also learned the virtue of speaking to people with respect, without snapping. I frankly am appalled by your rudeness." and walked away.

This was in my one-horse town of 300 people, which used to be a lot friendlier.

Can't wait to see what else is out there.