It's a Small World
I can't remember how much I've ever spoken of the daily life of Mystie on my blog. I've been webmastering for over a decade and have gone through about a half dozen urls and probably more than that in blogs, so the contents of all I've written have escaped me over the years. If I haven't blogged yet about my 3rd grade letter from Jim Davis, remind me to do so.
I live in a borough of about 4,000 people wedged somewhere between Allentown and Reading, PA. I'm considered to be in Pennsylvania Dutch county. I can see my elementary school from my bedroom window, and I still hang out with some of the same friends I had when I was in attendance there. In the morning I drive out to my office which is between a dairy farm and an airport where I spend the day coding doctor's visits and charging various insurance companies absolute fucktons of money. I also know way more about Medicare than anyone my age ever should.
Yes, I still live with my parents, and two older brothers on top of that, and frankly, I don't see any shame in it. I'm not at a point yet where I can afford to move out without risking sacrificing things like an internet connection or, to be completely honest, running this site. At least not without a roommate, and sadly all my friends are either married, have kids, or I would stab in the eye after 2 days. I can tell you that right now my garage is filled up with an inordinate amount of boxes because in less than 2 weeks one of my brothers will be hosting the National Guitar Hero Championship. Said brother has also been known to visit my site and has in the past caught me in the kitchen photographing a repainted Skeletor action figure.
After work today I ran back out to buy tomatoes because I wanted to make delicious chicken tacos and I insist that my tacos be half tomato. To get an idea of how small my world is, the grocery store is less than a 2 minute drive, and across the street from a farm. When I went to grab a pack of Dunkaroos, I ran into one of my karaoke buddies who I went to school with and who used to be in my Girl Scout Troop way back when. I was trapped in a 30 minute grocery store conversation about the woes of the 20something female, wondering if I could fake that my cell phone was on vibrate and pretend I just got a very important call.
When I came home, I had a message on MySpace inviting me to a girls' night on Saturday with some of the ladies I went to high school with and rarely see. In fact, I wasn't even great friends with them, because most of my high school years were spent creating fan sites and reading weird shit like Kafka. Have I ever shown you clips from the video I have of my 15 year old self? They're horrendous. I had long straight hair down to my ass, and was wearing an outfit that looks like I just walked off a filming of Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. My then best friend Julia Story and I go off on tirades about how Canada sucks and how we think Titanic was a grand laughfest. Back then we had it all figured out -- we were going to graduate high school, go to Kutztown University, find awesome husbands, move to Savannah and live Maison Ikkoku style. Instead she's living in Boulder, divorced, working at IBM, and never finished high school. And I'm still here, blogging about Dunkaroos.
If you walk out my front door and go 3 blocks to the left, the sidewalk will stop and beyond that is seemingly endless farmland. You'll also pass my Mennonite neighbors, my elementary school, a baseball field, and a secret hideout where Nikki and I used to gather as kids. Maybe my world should be a little larger, but I'm pretty cool with living amongst the cows for now.
I live in a borough of about 4,000 people wedged somewhere between Allentown and Reading, PA. I'm considered to be in Pennsylvania Dutch county. I can see my elementary school from my bedroom window, and I still hang out with some of the same friends I had when I was in attendance there. In the morning I drive out to my office which is between a dairy farm and an airport where I spend the day coding doctor's visits and charging various insurance companies absolute fucktons of money. I also know way more about Medicare than anyone my age ever should.
Yes, I still live with my parents, and two older brothers on top of that, and frankly, I don't see any shame in it. I'm not at a point yet where I can afford to move out without risking sacrificing things like an internet connection or, to be completely honest, running this site. At least not without a roommate, and sadly all my friends are either married, have kids, or I would stab in the eye after 2 days. I can tell you that right now my garage is filled up with an inordinate amount of boxes because in less than 2 weeks one of my brothers will be hosting the National Guitar Hero Championship. Said brother has also been known to visit my site and has in the past caught me in the kitchen photographing a repainted Skeletor action figure.
After work today I ran back out to buy tomatoes because I wanted to make delicious chicken tacos and I insist that my tacos be half tomato. To get an idea of how small my world is, the grocery store is less than a 2 minute drive, and across the street from a farm. When I went to grab a pack of Dunkaroos, I ran into one of my karaoke buddies who I went to school with and who used to be in my Girl Scout Troop way back when. I was trapped in a 30 minute grocery store conversation about the woes of the 20something female, wondering if I could fake that my cell phone was on vibrate and pretend I just got a very important call.
When I came home, I had a message on MySpace inviting me to a girls' night on Saturday with some of the ladies I went to high school with and rarely see. In fact, I wasn't even great friends with them, because most of my high school years were spent creating fan sites and reading weird shit like Kafka. Have I ever shown you clips from the video I have of my 15 year old self? They're horrendous. I had long straight hair down to my ass, and was wearing an outfit that looks like I just walked off a filming of Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. My then best friend Julia Story and I go off on tirades about how Canada sucks and how we think Titanic was a grand laughfest. Back then we had it all figured out -- we were going to graduate high school, go to Kutztown University, find awesome husbands, move to Savannah and live Maison Ikkoku style. Instead she's living in Boulder, divorced, working at IBM, and never finished high school. And I'm still here, blogging about Dunkaroos.
If you walk out my front door and go 3 blocks to the left, the sidewalk will stop and beyond that is seemingly endless farmland. You'll also pass my Mennonite neighbors, my elementary school, a baseball field, and a secret hideout where Nikki and I used to gather as kids. Maybe my world should be a little larger, but I'm pretty cool with living amongst the cows for now.
I understand you feeling you haven't progressed as much as you thought you were going to. I feel that way too. I wish I could be your roommate. But it's cool that you can go out and party like you want to even when you are still living at home.
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Aw, I bet you would be a cool roommate, Jodi! I would behave myself, I assure you. I'm not really bad, I'm just drawn that way!
My mom really doesn't mind when and where I go. She's always said she's more concerned about who I'm with. My dad's pretty much a lump, so I don't even bother with him. Spring and summer is always badass, though, because we grill a lot so my mom, brothers, and I have dinner together on the patio pretty frequently. We don't converse too much outside of that, really.
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Why does Canada suck, again? The drinking age is mostly 18, and women can be topless in public. Two things that are near and dear to you.
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Wow, I had no idea you lived in such a wide open place, and with so many people. I've so far pictured you living in the city in your own place, being a woman about town--you know, all Mary Tyler Moore and shit.
I hear you on the roommate thing. I have one now and I'm planning on getting my own place in a few months. I don't do well with the roommate thing. If she doesn't start filling up the g**damn ice trays before putting them back in the freezer, I will murder her in her sleep.
I know what you mean though. When I go back to my home town (which is about an hour and a half away from where I live now), I still get my hair cut at the same place I did when I was 8, and the same lady is still working there. The place hasn't changed one bit. I occasionally run into people I went to kindergarten and elementary school with and it's weird. It's like we're almost tied together for life. I grew up in really tiny town and it's somehow hard to escape it no matter how far away I get.
Wow, how cool is it you have Mennonite neighbors? Do you ever talk to them?
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You're not living in a small world unless you think you are living in a small world. You certainly like to get out and explore the area where you live and you seem very happy with the way things are. There is certainly something to be said for that. I am also from a small town area. My town has a little over 2,000 people in it. Sadly it's not nearly as idyllic as PA sounds. We have lots of drug problems. It's still very similar otherwise, little grocery store, my elementary school is 7 very small blocks (like a 10 min walk tops) away from home, lots of lazy fisherman out on the lake at any given time... stuff like that. Instead of being surrounded by farms we're surrounded by a very large natural lake and ringed by 4,000-5,000' foothills. Wow... now you know pretty much everything about here. I still run into people from my elementary/high school and it can definitely be awkward. Moving away to SD for 4 years than up to Santa Rosa (North Bay) for a year... then having to come back home makes for some interesting conversations with your friends parents and former friends and acquaintances. I don't like roommates either, so I am going to be stuck here till I can find my own place to have to myself on a non-college grad salary... so it might be awhile. My parents are not nearly as awesome as your mom... my dad has his nose in everything I do, which is really annoying when you are in your mid 20's and have lived on your own for years away from home. Argh... At least I don't have to pay a huge amount of rent. I can't complain too much... and besides there's never a stack of someone else's dishes to clean constantly which is a beautiful thing after dealing with my last two roommates.
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