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Today is the last day of November; of NaBloPoMo. I started writing about how great it has been joining forces with a great new group of people I couldn’t quite call friends, but then I realized they are (or are getting there).

It’s true I can’t meet them, nor do I know their real names, nor where they live, nor anything except exactly what they tell me, which could be a complete falsification. But I don’t care. I have “real” friends that I can’t visit. I don’t know where some of them live. And really, who’s to say my “real” friends haven’t told me some humdingers about their lives, too.

I hope against all hope that Kate wades through the government bullshit to get decent insurance, that Lilymane wins her custody battle with Mr. Tapioca Head, and that Sepha’s cancer goes into remission. I look forward to Stepford Mom’s hilarious recount of this world gone mad and Beverly’s insightful blogs that make me question my own ideals.

So to all the “cool” people, the ones who think computers aren’t entertaining, the “unnerds,” the moms who fear their child spends much time online, the “computers are for geeks” group, and anyone else who disses online connections: my online friends are real friends, too!

I don’t mind doing laundry. The gathering of the clothes, the separating, the washing, the drying. Really, any chore that allows me to slack while it does itself is great.

It’s the putting away that gets me. I dunno why, but I really hate it. I used to think I just didn’t like folding, but that’s not the case. I have a walk-in closet now so most of our clothes are hung, and I still despise such an event. So I let it pile up on the bed, and then I forget about it, and then it’s waaaay past my bedtime and I just shove them into a corner of the room and tell myself I’ll do them tomorrow.  Tomorrow comes and I make up excuses in my head why I can deal with it later and then it gets to the point that I have to force my body to do it because my mind is screaming reasons why it can wait. When I finally do it I have multiple loads of laundry to reunite with drawers and hangars so it takes me an hour to do it, which makes me grumble what a long time putting clothes away takes and then I promise myself to do it after every load next time. Hah! Fat chance of that!

For those of you who understand, and for those of you who never will:

In a small town…

• people are called “folks.”
• only the main road is paved. They don’t bother with stripes.
• K-12 is in one building.
• the practice field/gym and the game field/gym are the same thing.
• the multipurpose room is exactly that.
• you don’t have to be invited to the wedding to attend the reception.
• town kids don’t ride the bus (unless its really, really cold and the bus drives by your house on the way out of town).
• an actual person calls your house when you’re not at school.
• your mother has heard from your softball coach’s wife that you were pulled over two towns over before you get home.
• your house water comes from a well.
• you and your neighbor switch off mowing the patch of lawn between your houses. There is never an argument, even if you have to mow it twice in a row.
• EVERYONE you pass by, even in a car, is acknowledged. Otherwise you’re extremely rude.
• you know as much about your teachers as you do your friends.
• similarly, they know as much about you.
• if you forget to take your hunting rifle out of your car before you go to school, no one’s going to care. It doesn’t cross your mind to use it on the school grounds.
• farm kids don’t attend school during harvest.
• someone will know what you did last night, and they will tell someone else.
• town consists of six blocks.
• mail will reach you without a last name, a street address, or a zip code.
• 3 minutes between classes is an exorbitant amount of time.
• when your dog runs away, someone across town nabs him and gives you a call.
• sometimes you forget to lock your door when you leave.
• you never lock it while you’re home.
• to call someone in town only requires the last 4 digits of the phone number.
• the government is county-based.
• there are alleys and ditches, both of which are fun to play in as a kid.
• it is not out of the ordinary to stop in the middle of the road and have a conversation with the passing car. Other people will drive around you.
• it is difficult to walk around without someone offering you a ride.
• when your neighbors are watering their lawns, you might suffer a drop in water pressure.
• the “rich” people have a hot tub.
• outsiders are recognized immediately. Everyone else knows your name.
• there are no stoplights.
• a traffic jam is three cars at a four-way stop.
• you have to go to another town to buy groceries, clothes, and other amenities.
• there are more bars than churches.
• minors can enter a bar whenever they please.

We’re now the proud owners of a new 50″ HP 1080p LCD flat panel HDTV. In layman’s terms its a pretty big thin TV with ridiculously good picture quality. It’s just getting turned on now…oh my, wow. I mean, wow. *hushed tone* It’s beautiful.

We bought it at Best Buy with a 3-year no interest plan along with a new bad-ass receiver and some new 5.1 speakers to round out the sound system. For the price we paid, its a steal for how much we use our TV for video games, movies, music, and programming. We also got a 4-year replacement plan for the receiver, calibration for the TV, and $60 worth of gift cards with their rewards program.

I have to go to bed now, but you can bet tomorrow I’m gonna be glued to our new toy.

ETA in Portland: Sunday, 11:00pm
Actual Arrival in Portland: Monday, 1:45am

ETA in Salem: Monday, 12:00am
Actual Arrival in Salem: Monday, 2:45am

ETA in Bed: Monday, 12:15am
Actual Arrival in Bed: Monday, 3:00am

Wake up time: Monday, 6:00am

Ugh.

(to be sung) Heading to the aeropuerto, aeropuerto, aeropuerto. Heading to the aeropuerto; I’d better get off my blog! I will receive muchos besos, muchos besos, muchos besos. I will receive muchos besos; I’ll be happy to see my dog!

</end song>

Apparently George is in depression mode with Eric and I gone. We can’t wait to see him either.

My dad has DSL internet and it keeps going in and out tonight, so I’m just posting a shorty noting how crappy intermittent internet service is. Suburbia hell soCal should not be suffering from lack of internet service.

I’ll be honest; I have nothing exciting to say. Nothing interesting, nothing new and riveting, nothing even controversial or humorous. *sigh* I’m just boring today.

We put up my dad’s Christmas lights outside. He’s super picky so sometimes it can be a bear, but this time they went up pretty easily. I ate some bomb-ass chicken tacos at Chili’s as payment for the Christmas lights.

At the hardware store we ran into this really sweet old Italian man buying Christmas lights. He pinched my cheeks and said I looked so young for almost 25 and would I help him get the lights he wanted. So I did, and I think it made his day…he was so thankful and said what a wonderful young lady I was. Boy if he only knew!

Best Buy had some great deals, so we got a few items…a 500GB hard drive for $99, a 2GB Sandisk card for $15, a couple of cheap dvds, and Mario Party 8 for Wii. It wasn’t even that busy – especially for Green Friday. I think California is just much more used to dealing with hoardes of shoppers, so they deal with the flux so much more efficiently than anywhere else I’ve been.

Now we’re watching something about prohibition on the History Channel. Mostly it discusses how ineffective it was, and how much rumrunners made bringing in the illegal liquor. Hmmm, does this sound like the war on drugs now?

Happy Thanksgiving 2007! It’s a nice day in sunny soCal and the Pack just beat the Lions. 10-1 on the year, baby!!!

Enjoy your turkey day, and I wish you all plenty to be thankful for!

We flew to LA today to spend Thanksgiving with my dad. As the plane was taxiing to the jetway on our last flight, the stewardess said this:

“Please be sure to take all of your personal problems with you as you exit the aircraft this evening.”

I think maybe it was a long day. *grin*