do other people not have a hometown?

I have multiple hometowns. I have one in CT where I was born and raised through 2nd grade. One in Kenai where I spent high school and have family, one in Anchorage where I lived for quite a while (for me) and have family, and where I live now, which is my favorite place evah. I know that's kind of cheating, but whenever I go to any of the above, my brain thinks I'm going home.

I live in mine. I don't belong here. And then, there's the whole Baltimore thing.

And it says exactly that--"HUMAN CANONBALL".

Like, she's a little bundle of the officially accepted lore and backstory? Kewl.

I have a hometown. It sucks. Not as bad as where my FiL is living now, which is 20 minutes from erika's hometown. This is a tiny burg with one Chinese restaurant, which is horrible and run by gwailos because the lovely residents of the town ran the ethnic Chinese out a year ago - rocks through the windows, etc. While standing in line at Wal-Mart there, I noted a guy wearing, with no obvious irony, a t-shirt that said "You Mess With Me, You Mess With the Whole Trailer Park."

Which, okay, I thought was funny.

"You Mess With Me, You Mess With the Whole Trailer Park."

Heh. As white trash proverbs go that's right up there with, "Let go of my ears, I know what I'm doing."

I have a hometown and I do not. I am Jamaican through and through, but I last lived there when I was 11. But it's where I'm from, and it's where my immediate family lives. I become less tense just stepping off the plane onto the hot tarmac.

But I've never tried living there as an adult. I refuse to drive there. We lived in Ottawa too, but that's not home. I was too young to attach to anything. London was great, but not home, although I have nostalgic feelings for some of the places, it wasn't the physical place that formed me so much as the culture which is different now.

Montreal's a kind of home town. This year is only the second year since 1993 that I haven't gone back. This makes me sad. But I go back, and I wander, and although things have changed it still feels like it's mine. I know which corners I can sit on and read, where to get the good sangria, how to duck the rain, where the malls join each other underground and you can walk and shop and eat and pray and watch movies without seeing the sun.

I love LA. Home it is, hometown it is not. But it rocks.

I love LA as well. It's taken me a little time to get to know her, but what a crafty and beautiful city she is. Her beauty is unconventional and quirky and has some scars, no doubt. But she sprawls languidly outward, dipping her fingers in the Pacific and resting her back against the mountains. She's bright darkly and as deep as she is superficial. She's a city of contradiction.

Pardon me while I wax cheesily poetic--I just didn't expect to love her when I moved here. It's been a constant surprise.

Drew and I put in a rental application for an absolutely gorgeous Pasadena bungalow this evening. I think my excitement about that potential move is making the whole city shiny.

Some author (Elizabeth Hand?) said that everyone has a first city, that everyone discovers a city that is theirs.

Mine is Los Angeles, I think. I get LA, even with all its yuckiness. It was my first city.

Istanbul may be my city too; I've loved it every time I've been there, but I don't think I've been there enough to say for sure.

So, in case you didn't know, Fay is a fantabulous individual.

And I can't believe we didn't get around to seeing the film. It was just half eight all of a sudden! And then chinese food had to be eaten!

Teppy, I hope your grandfather is calmer today, so you can go visit.

vw is possibly doomed! Whee!

Fay, I love my hometown (as I'm currently living in it), but there are days it does just the same thing to me and I start to consider moving west. Most days, it's a nicely liberal, upscale, chic, hip college town. Other days, I feel like Walmart is going to pave over the entire city and all the houses are going to spontaneously morph into trailer parks. The only reason Wisconsin ever ends up a blue state in elections is because of the cities of Madison and Milwaukee. Just enough of the entire state lives there to tip the difference.

I have seen PotC2. It was good. Can I have more, please?

I finished 11 student evaluations! I just have two left!

This means I can take a break, right?