Recently in looneyville Category
I almost started bawling this evening when the fiance pointed out the fact that I have been trying to ignore all day: tonight is my second to last night in Lawrence. The movers come on Thursday and we will be spending Thursday and possibly Friday night at my parents' place in KC and then we head out.
Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled about this move. We are moving to a part of the country where I have wanted to live for as long as I can remember. I am so exicted about this ... but still incredibly sad about what I am leaving behind.
We left Florida when I was a senior in high school and for a long time I felt sort of ... displaced. Florida was home but my family wasn't there anymore and it wasn't where I spent my summers in college. My high school friends all scattered to go to school and I lost touch. Kansas City was where my parents lived, but that was where the connection ended. I would go home for the summers and be in a place that was still largely foreign to me, without many friends. Lawrence was great but I was only here for nine months at a time. I loved the town but it seemed like I was always coming or going ... until I moved here full time.
I've lived here in some capacity for the last nine years. For the last five years I have been here exclusively. For the first time in forever I feel like I am home. I know that Free State has the best beer and La Prima Tazza has the best coffee. I know that if you want to blow your paycheck on the snazziest food in town you go to Pachamama's and that if you want a slightly less pricey and pretentious meal you go to Teller's. I know that the best place to watch the sun set is from the rocks by the dam at Clinton Lake and that the best place to watch it rise is on your bike, headed out of town. I fell in love with biking again at the river trails and learned to run long on the streets south and west of town. I know that the guys with the "honk for hemp!" signs have been rallying for their cause for over ten years, and that on nice Saturday evenings there will almost always be a guy playing a sax on the corner of 8th and Mass. I know that you have to watch out for the guy with the socks on his hands ... he frequently steps out into traffic. And I know that the guy who dresses like a pirate might seem a little strange but he is actually harmless and very very friendly. I know about the fights to keep Walmart and Starbucks out and about the now twenty year long controversy over the proposed highway through the wetlands.
I came here as a bright eyed and slightly wreckless freshman. I went out a lot. I drank a lot. I made out with a lot of random guys. I had my first serious relationship and found myself walking the streets of Lawrence at 4 a.m. when my heart was completely and utterly broken and it was all I could do to maintain sanity. I calmed down over the years. I funnelled all that energy into mountain biking and then triathlons. I met the man with whom I will spend the rest of my life. I decided to go to law school and smiled when I found out I would get to call this place home for three more years. People and relationships have come and gone (and some have stayed) but the one constant was the backdrop. The strange and silly place that I called home.
And now its time to leave. We are moving to the mountains, to the place we have always wanted to live, but this crazy quirky town will always hold a very special place in my heart. I can't imagine what is going to feel like to point the car west, as we have done so many times in the past, and know that we are not coming back. I have always said that I could live the rest of my life here, and I still believe that's true. I still believe that this town is one of the country's secret gems. A vibrant place full of character and charm and so many people who make it so very special.
I'm ready for new experiences and places and people. But its so very hard to say goodbye.
It has been one helluva freakin' day. I don't know how else to describe it.
Because of finals I haven't been to work in two weeks. Today was my big day to go back. I got up early in the morning and got all prettied up. Took the dog out twice and I was on my way out the door to actually go to work when I looked at my car and realized I was looking right into my car. My first thought was "that's weird ... I must have left the window down." My second thought was "Oh dear god someone broke into my car".
Stupid stupid me left my iPod sitting on the seat of my car, which was parked next to my front door (NOT in the garage ... again, stupid me ...) and apparently it was just a little but too much of a temptation for some loser. Well, that loser now has an iPod full of some pretty great music, and I have a smashed window.
Doing what any self-respecting twenty-seven year old lawyer-to-be would do, I called my dad. We spent the afternoon cleaning glass and other crap out of my car (yeah, dad wasn't too happy about the amount of "other crap" in my car ... and rightfully so ... even I hadn't realized it had gotten that bad!), taped a tarp over the window (did I mention it was POURING rain today?!) and dropped it off at the shop. The repairs will cost me a few hundred, which pretty much sucks, but I should be good to go by tomorrow evening.
All day I have oscillated between feeling grateful (we'll get to that) and feeling incredibly violated. One minute I feel fine and the next I'm sobbing. Its all very strange.
How can I possibly feel grateful? Well, here's the thing. I know that I can be way too trusting of other people. I know that there have been nights where I have left my purse in my car or a bike in the car. What if it was my tri bike or my new mountain bike that was stolen? Or my laptop? What if (and this is by far the scariest) instead of breaking into my car they broke into my apartment and stole Maddie (or let her out in the process of breaking in)?! This was a very very good lesson in not being quite so trusting. You better believe I will be parking in the garage religiously from now on and never ever leaving anything in sight.
Aside from his grumpyness over my messy car, my dad and I actually had a pretty nice day. After dropping the car off at the shop we went and had a nice lunch. We talked about all sorts of things including the fact that my lease will expire this summer and I will need to find a new place to live. While we were sitting there eating he commented "Yanno [Looneyville] is a pretty cool town". I said "Yeah ... I love this place ... its home. When someone asks where I'm 'from' the answer is Looneyville. Not Florida and not the BigCity. I'm gonna be really really sad to leave". To which he said "Well why don't you stay?"
Neither Josh nor I had ever really pondered the thought of staying here. Of course, my best friend has commented on several occaisions that she can't imagine us living in the BigCity .. we are "too [Looneyville]." Jobs in this town are hard to come by. The thought of commuting never really occurred to us. But really, why not? Sure, moving to the BigCityBurbs would cut my commute time in half ... but how valuable is that really? Moving here would dramatically add to Josh's commute ... but is it maybe worth it???
I love this town with all my heart. Its wacky and vibrant oasis in a state that is largely very bland. The BigCityBurbs really just sort of suck the life out of me. There's parts that are ok but nothing out there compares to living in Looneyville.
Its definitely something to consider. Commuting is officially a pain in the arse but it could be worth it. My commute from here is 45-50 minutes ... if we moved to the City it would be 25-30. Both Josh and I have jobs (this is all assuming I actually get to keep working where I work, which at this point is probably assuming too much) which will allow us to work from home sometimes or work condensed four day schedules. Compared to the city (at least where we would live in the city), the mountain biking out here is FANTASTIC. I have two different trails within ten minutes of me and another trail system about a 25 minute drive away. We would NOT have that anywhere in the City.
I don't know. Its definitely something to consider. Now I just need a freakin' job offer ... and a new passenger side window in my car ...
Its hard to believe, considering my somewhat nomadic tendencies, but I have been a proud inhabitant of the People's Republic of Looneyville for the last 8 years (with the exception of two study abroad programs where I left for a few months at a time). This means that, since I was the ripe old age of 18, I have hung out in the same coffee shops, drank at the same bars, and eaten at the same restauraunts.
Last night, as the boyfriend and I were sitting in a downtown bar, I realized that in some ways this town is full of ghosts.
There are a finite number of bars here that I like to go to. Many of the downtown bars are way to "college" or too "frattastic" ... I didn't like them when I was in college, and I definitely don't like them now. I like to hang out at the places where the townies and older college/grad kids go ... which whittles the number of bars that I frequent down to about five or so. And at this point, every single one of those bars has a story for me.
In some ways its comforting. Its cool to be able to walk into a place and in a sense relive your past. But it makes me sad. Most of my memories from most of these bars involve people I'm either no longer in contact with or who don't live here anymore. Most of the memories involve romantic relationships of some sort, and as relationships go, there was usually some sort of emotional fallout, even from those that ended well. It makes me sad and nostalgic and overly pensive.
Don't get me wrong, I love where I am in my life right now. My life is so full of excitement and possibilities and the pieces just now finally seem to be falling into place. I honestly don't know when I've felt happier or more settled. But I sometimes miss the past.
I love this crazy mixed-up town with all my heart. I've always said that I would stay until they kicked me out, which in actuality would probably be the day I graduate from school for good, because jobs around here are hard to come by. I still think I could live here forever, but a part of me is ready to let all these ghosts go. Its a strange realization for someone who finally feels like she's "home".
I pulled up the Looneyville newspaper site today and immediately saw this.
Bloody fucking hell. I was hoping, PRAYING, that this wouldn't go through. I live friggin next door to where this will be built. It makes me ILL to think that a Wal-Mart is going in next to me. I friggin' HATE WalMart with a passion.
Yes, I am one of those people who would prefer Looneyville to stay exactly as it is, but I realize growth is necessary and inevitable. But WHY did it have to be a WALMART??? I would have taken ANYTHING but Walmart. Target would have been better. Whole Foods or Trader Joe's would have been ideal.
We already have ONE WalMart in this town and its a DISASTER. The whole area of town its in is a mess and the place is constantly expanding. And now they're gonna build another fucking eyesore out on the edge of town? This is an intersection that I ride through pretty much every time I head out on my bike. Once this thing is built I will be dodging rednecks in big ass trucks spewing exhaust and trying to run me off the road. Do I sound like I'm being a bitch and making generlizations? I don't care. I HATE Walmart. HATE HATE HATE.
This weekend the Looneyville played host to the Collegiate Road National Championships, which meant hundreds of cyclists congregated in this fine town for a weekend of bike madness. Unfortunately, thanks to this looming behemoth of a final, I was only able to catch one day of the festivities, but believe me, that was all I needed to be inspired.
The crit took place on a rainy, cool Friday afternoon on Looneyville's main drag. A big chunk of downtown roads were shut down so that the riders could race around and around past the historic buildings and enthused crowds. It was way cool. We managed to catch all four races (men's and women's Division I and II) and I have all sorts of thoughts on the things I saw that will have to wait for another day. The biggest lessons I learned tho were that:
- Roadies crash
- Roadies crash a lot
- Roadies crash and they get back up on their bikes and hop back in the race
- I could stand to be a little more roadie like
Watching people spill all over the place, dust themselves off, and get back on the horse, so to speak, taught me that I really am a huge wuss. Its not that I don't brush myself off and get back on ... its that I'm so damn terrified of crashing that it greatly impedes my ability to progress in the sport (and puts a bit of a damper on my enjoyment of it in general).
I'm inspired. And tomorrow, I will ride. Hopefully, a little less afraid.
The whole thing also prompted a way enlightening discussion on sports psychology between the boyfriend and I. We dissected my head and found a few gray areas as far as sports go, and I'm actually thrilled to be able to put what I learned to use. I will explain it all in another post on another day when i don't have a final that i am certain to fail (and no, I'm NOT a possum - I'm really in deep sh*t) the next day. Plus I want to think about it more.
P.S. The boyfriend took some amazing pictures this weekend which can be found here. If you look closely enough, you might even find a pic of me with one Mountain Bike Hall of Famer's dog !
Making fun of tax night.
The stolen flamingos have returned home (mostly) unscathed.
Now I can sleep at night once again.
headline froom Looneyville:
I somehow managed to procure (hell yeah I've got hook-ups!) two tickets to what is being considered the most important home basketball game of the regular season. In this basketball crazy town, tickets to this game have been rumored to be selling for 800 bucks a pop. Our tickets are in Row 1.
With the paper I'm still working on, and an hour and a half run to do tonight its sooooooooooo tempting to see how much we could get for them....
I think Tina and Sahara fit right in in Lawrence!
