So it’s kind of hard for me to believe it hasn’t even yet been three months since I returned to Oklahoma. It seems like much longer – so much for time flying when you get old. The thing I have missed most about San Francisco is a tie between the Diversity and the Convenience. And the way the two combine there…..sigh. Of course, I miss my boy more than anything, but that’s another subject….
I miss the 3 different excellent Thai spots – all within 3 blocks of my apartment. I miss having a 16-screen movie theater, a 4 screen independent theater, my credit union’s ATM, a major grocery store, several mom & pops, and tons of other eating options all within 5 blocks. City blocks. I miss seeing non-white people. Hearing other languages.
Luckily, I haven’t yet had to really miss the weather. Oklahoma has had a very unseasonably warm winter, so stay tuned for whining on that front once the temps start hitting 90 this summer. Wah! Oh, and when the bugs start showing up. Ugh. Sigh. California, why do you have to be so expensive?
On the plus side, there’s lots of cool eateries in Norman/Oklahoma that aren’t in SF, so that’s been a plus. Including one of my all-time fave Mexican places – El Chico’s – and my favorite greasy spoon American, Sonic (mmmmmmm, chili cheese tater tots).
And of course it’s been nice to be back around the family – scissor out drama here – particularly the nieces and nephews . I realized that once my sister gets my new nephew from Africa, he will be my 12th – that is dozenth- nephew/niece. My gawd, I think that’s plenty – effing breeders! :)
A cool thing here is having a house. Although my HUGE back yard is starting to look like a jungle, so I’ll have to break down and buy – and use – a lawnmower! While I do miss the awesome apartment I had in SF, I will say it’s cool having a house, being able to plant flowers, etc., etc., etc.
But migodmigodmigod I miss the politics/culture from the Bay Area. The racism and the religion here…..ugh. It’s actually kind of silly that two such disparate states should be “ruled” by one and the same president. Break it up! Break it up! I mean, we can’t get effing Trader Joe’s out here because Oklahomans think, somehow, that selling Two Buck Chuck in the same store as they’re selling chocolate covered pretzels leads somehow to Hell. I seriously don’t get it. This is 2012.
The year that Oklahoma will vote for – wait, Super Tuesday is tomorrow – I will call it and say they’ll go for Santorum. It not him, then Newt. I don’t know which is more humiliating. While driving to OKC last week for a job interview, I heard a couple of radio ads for Newt from a Super PAC. Around town (Norman!), I’ve seen Santorum and Paul signs. But absolutely nada for Romney. The best thing about a Romney ultimate win is that, in the general election, many Repubs will stay home; hopefully enough to balance the Dems that will stay home pouting because Obama turned out to be (gasp!) another cowardly politician. But I feel safe in saying there will be no Romney win in Oklahoma. That fella ain’t conservative enuf! (later: turns out I was right!)
I’ve been away so long I forget why, exactly, they are so hysterical here, legislatively, re: marijuana. I mean, you have to be completely deluded or, well, ignorant, at this point to not see the ludicrousness of a drug policy that allows alcohol and cigarette consumption, yet is so. very. anti-pot. I mean, even Pat Robertson has come out for legalization! Again, both alcohol and cigarettes are horribly addictive, while pot is not (for some, psychological addiction can occur); alcohol and cigarettes kill thousands upon thousands of people each year while marijuana generally kills around zero; while there have been some beneficial attributes found in alcohol, there is certainly none in cigarettes, while pot has been clinically proven to help with glaucoma (me), depression, chronic pain, insomnia (me), dealing with cancer/cancer treatment, etc. etc. So help me out here, local folks – red or not, what exactly is the rationale for the continued marijuana-panic? Is it “simply” a “morals” thing? Like, “Ugh! My preacher say pot bad, so pot bad!” I really want to know.
I learned when applying for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters job, that Oklahoma incarcerates more of its female population, per capita, than any other state in the country. Even more than Texas! Or Mississippi! I always thought we could rely on Mississippi to be the bottom of, well, everything. “We’re” #3 in terms of incarcerating men. Also in the top 5 for meth labs. Granted, these are random stats, that just happen to have been in the news lately, but it brings me back to that old conundrum: How is it that the red states, i.e., the most religious ones, are the ones with such poor rankings in terms of quality of life issues like divorce rates and unwed mothers and drug use (oh yeah, Oklahoma is also at the top in terms of prescription drug abuse) and so on? I’m really not trying to be “mean” here – I’m genuinely curious and would love to hear a reasonable explanation from one of my red state friends as to why they think this is? And I know the marijuana virulence leads to the increased incarceration ratio, which all gobbles up tremendous taxpayer dollars – but they want to keep spending their money there and NOT for food stamps for an unwed mother whose boyfriend/husband was put in jail for selling dope? Nope, but they’ll pay to support HIM in prison. I mean, seriously – I don’t get it. Then all the cops busting kids for pot can work on those meth labs—in other words, a real problem, not a made up one (“Ugh! Pot bad!”).
Again, why are the reddest of religious states also the states with the poorest quality of life rankings? Do I have to just take that fount of wisdom Brad Pitt’s explanation? In discussing growing up in Oklahoma, Brad said something along the lines of one reason he was glad to get away is that “people in Oklahoma don’t like to talk in depth, or critically, about anything. There’s no intellectual curiosity, no willingness to share or discuss views on things.” Pretty bad when you’ve got one of them there Hollywood elites talking smack about you! But what does Brad know, my family would say, since he foolishly threw over that charming and wonderful Jennifer Anniston for the man-stealing bitch Angelina Jolie? :)
