(no subject)

Today was good. Last night was also excellent. So far, I've been wrong in my worst fears. My parents have been calm, mostly, and very loving. Thanksgiving dinner we all trundled over to the home of a kind French professor, where we visited with people from all over the world. I met a ten-year-old girl who took a liking to me and spent much of the evening sitting next to me. I thought she was sharp and interesting, but wasn't sure why she liked me. It all became clear when I asked her what she liked to do and she answered, "Well, most of the kids at my school like music and things, but lately I've been watching YouTube videos about conjoined twins".

Ah, a kindred spirit.

I'm sending her a book by Neil Gaiman, "Coraline". I feel sure she'll like it. Maybe I'll send her "The Graveyard Book," too.

Even better, I've spent most of the day listening to my dad talk and tell stories. I love it! Soon, I'll record some of the cooler excerpts from our conversations. For this alone, this trip is a success.

I hope tomorrow is just as good.

(no subject)

From my Dad's last encounter with door-to-door Mormon missionaries:

Missionary: "Did you know that Christ ministered to the Indians before Columbus came to the New World?"

Dad: "Do you mean to tell me that the Lord had a massive crop failure? Because there was a severe lack of Christian Indians when the Spanish showed up".

(no subject)

I'm a little bit shocked at how out of shape so many folks are here. Almost everyone I see outside of his/her mid-twenties is heavy and uncomfortable-looking. The college kids are in better shape, but it's weird to see so many people over 30 looking stressed out, heavy and sad.

EDIT: I know that people can come in many wonderful shapes and sizes and be sexy, happy and healthy. This is true for my diverse group of friends, many of whom live joyful, active lives. But what I see here is different. There is diversity of shape, size, ethnicity and gene pool in New Jersey, and I see all sorts of people there. So far that hasn't been true here.

So many folks here look very much alike, and many seem to be happy to walk through the aisles of stores at a really slow pace. There's a uniformity here that seems odd and a little scary, and I see why public health people talk so much about the obesity epidemic among children. For whatever reason, it stands out here in a way that it doesn't in New Jersey.

I ran this past my dad and he says it's because folks here still eat an agricultural diet but don't do the same level of work they once did. He says they cook like they did years ago, but lots fewer of them are getting up early to work on the north forty (acres).

That may be it.