Breaking the Seal

So, I've started a blog (clearly). I know "bloggers" can seem vain and self-indulgent, thinking that people care what they have to say. Well, everyone is at least a little bit vain, according to Carly Simon (sort of), so I don't feel so bad. And I figured that with the seemingly insurmountable distance between myself and most of my loved ones (more on that later), that this would be a relatively easy way to keep those who do care, few though they may be, up-to-date on everything.

My friends and family might be interested in the goings-on -- I've certainly had several requests for photos of the new place -- and this is less intrusive than inundating their Facebook news feeds with all of Massachusetts' quirks. So, if you'd like to know the differences between the Big Easy and the Pioneer Valley (which is apparently where I live now ... and it has nothing to do with Oregon Trail), then please read on!

And (hint, hint) I'd love to know what's going on in my friends' lives as well, so maybe start a blog! Or for my friends who do have blogs, then we can ... um ... "follow" each other? Not sure how that works in the blogosphere. I'll find out soon, I suppose.

So, to summarize: I'm a Louisianian and late-in-life New Orleanian who has, in the last couple of years, fallen deeply, madly, incandescently (P&P adjective-drop!) in love with the Crescent City. I worked at Renaissance Publishing, helping edit and write for local and regional magazines, which was pretty ideal. I lived with two of my best friends in a beautiful house. I ate way too much fried food, and loved every bite (except for that time I went to Rivershack Tavern twice in one day). I made great friends, and experienced some great NOLA memories: Mardi Gras and the Rex parade next to my house, Jazz Fest (five years in a row!), shows at the Mahalia, Frenchmen Street -- too much to name.

But then I found a job listing for (and proceeded to spend three months trying to get) a position at a Disney  magazine in western Massachusetts, where my boyfriend happened to live. I'm a lifelong Disney freak and I worked at Disney World for six months after college -- some of the best times ever, by the way. The magazine is FamilyFun, and it's a national magazine with more than 2 million subscribers. Plus it's in downtown Northampton, which is a really idyllic town. When I got the job, it was one of the most bittersweet transitions of my life. I had to leave my friends and family, not to mention my favorite city, and move a couple thousand miles away. Really scary, but so far, really exciting.

I've lived here three weeks and am still completely shell-shocked. So many things are different -- some I was expecting; others, not so much. A few examples:

--The foliage. It's really breathtaking. Even in spring, the trees are all different colors -- some flowering and most unfamiliar. There are MOUNTAINS everywhere. Sounds simple enough, but I'm from Louisiana. Monkey Hill at the Audubon Zoo is a big deal. I'm still not used to being surrounded by mountains, waterfalls and flowers (Tulips and daffodils grow EVERYWHERE!) and I don't really want to get used to it. I hope everything continues making me act like a little kid in a candy shop ... a flower shop, in this case. Christian (aforementioned boyfriend) makes fun of me because I still squeal and point when we pass a particularly massive tree or field of flowers.

These pictures don't even really do it justice; they're just the only ones I had on my camera. I'll find better ones ... 

--The bugs. I didn't expect to walk into my new house and be infested with nasty, crawly (albeit harmless) little monsters, and not the good Lady Gaga kind. There were seriously 15-20 dead bugs just laying about, and plenty of live ones to freak me out. In the first couple of days, I twice found one crawling on my bedspread, and one bug actually fell on my head while I was in bed. Thanks be to Raid.

--The lesbians. Northampton has more lesbians per capita than any other city in the U.S. This was a good surprise. I love the gays. I mean, I worked at Disney World, which is gay man Mecca. My love for Meryl Streep, Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli makes me believe I am a gay man at heart. My bestie Alex and I are like Penny in Happy Endings: We love having a gay husband. Anyway, I love the open-mindedness of everyone here -- families of all combinations are completely normal, accepted, not thought twice of, as it should be. It's refreshing. Though I wonder if single guys face the same conundrum that single girls do in Disney World with the "is he? isn't he?" test of a cute guy.

--The food. Everything is organic, everything is locally grown, there are farms everywhere. Which is pretty awesome, because you have local, fresh veggies all the time and everything seems "green" and "sustainable" and all those good things. It's not so good when you're at the charming local foods store and there are no pretzels. Or club soda. Or the other necessities I needed that day. I mean, there are Wal-Marts and Targets, but they're not as fun. The Sophie's Choice of groceries.

--The people. I had this notion that only Southerners are friendly. That's stupid, I know, but I mean really friendly ... like, crazy friendly. Anyway, everyone is crazy friendly here, except for that insane woman that was screaming at dudes, calling them "LESBIANS!!!" at the Pride Parade. That was odd. But anyway, that was a pleasant surprise -- people are so open and welcoming. Making the transition easier.

--My job. It's fantastic. I have Buzz and Woody as the background on my phone screen. Sally from Nightmare is on my cubicle name tag-thingy. I play with toys and write about it. There are 10 different kinds of coffee and tea. Everyone wears jeans. I could go on and on, but I'll digress. This post seems way, way too long. I'll work on that.

--Last observation: New York State is a selfish, selfish state. Fourteen dollars in tolls JUST FOR MY CIVIC. Just to drive through the state. AND the roads were crappy.

I'll work on taking some pictures of the new place and of the scenery, and I'll post them here. In my next post, I'll have to talk about how in a few months I'll be working on Princess Magazine and Fairies Magazine. Oh yeah.