and back again

arriving home to boston from a month in the suburban midwest was a shock to the system for sure. i mean, it's not like i went to another planet, but things there are, 'different'. for example, the people are noticeably nicer than the northeast, and noticeably 'not bitter'. while in chicago, i went into a cafe in wickerpark (which would be the chicago equivalent of davis square, only bigger). not only was the waitstaff not hateful and mean, but when i asked the counter help how far the communter rail was from there, she asked everyone else behind the counter AND offered to go into the back and look it up online just to be sure. wierd.
being a good southern girl, i grew up around 'over the top' niceness. but the niceness in the south is different than the midwest. in the south, people are super nice to your face, and then they usually talk about you when you walk away ("good lord, did you see that child's hair, bless her heart, it just looked god awful", that sort of thing).
but, in the midwest, i really felt like they were sincere. maybe it's all the fresh air. maybe it was because i went there in the summer, and people are so happy to have survived another winter that they thank god every day that they're alive.
who knows what causes this sort of odd, humane and decent behavior...but i wish we had more of it around here.

in a twist, i've decided to stop hating boston and surrounding area so much. i know that i can't change the bitterness and meanness of the people who live here, so i'm changing my own attitude. i realize that while boston may not be the kind of city that i love, or will ever truly 'love', there are a lot of great things going on here that i hope to be more involved in, and there's always the ocean (smells better than a lake), and the mountains are very near if i ever want to lose my mind and live as a hermit.

and this has nothing to do with anything, but this is my new favorite comic. (bit of dirtiness, if you're sensitive to that sort of thing)
fuck you dane cook!