December 8, 2001 ~ Exploring the Neighborhood

We had heard good things about our neighborhood, so today we decided to explore it a little.

The people we met are generally really friendly, and it certainly has the positive community feel that everyone mentioned.

On our short walk down the street, we found that we are within short walking distance of several neat establishments. A coin laundry, two tiny (inexpensive) old-fashioned barber shops (complete with the striped barber pole), several thrift stores, a LIBRARY (!!), a coffee shop, a bakery (where the wife of my summer-time-computer-tech-job boss works), several furniture shops, some really cheap gas stations, a karaoke club (heh), a tattoo parlor (not that I'll be using it, but I thought it was neat), a building being renovated to have a natural foods community co-op (yea! Inexpensive specialty vegan and organic foods, right down the street!), two Mexican markets, a branch of our bank, churches of several varieties, and (a really cool coincidence) literally just three blocks away live two of Morgan's best friends from childhood!

So yes. Our little tour of the neighborhood was very productive, and we only went a few blocks. I am really looking forward to further exploring this place. It's so exciting to have a neighborhood again. Remember, as much as I talk about the woods, I grew up in a city. Both environments have their charms, and I need them both equally, it seems. As introverted as I am, I still like being around people sometimes.

Footnotes:

weather: Cloudy, and if finally rained.

bookmarked: Not much. I'm saving my reading for the laundromat tomorrow.

writing focus: Revisions.

observation: So good to feel the rain.

random:

mood: Tired.

journal land:

"I am a latchkey kid from the eighties. I grew up on television, microwave dinners, and instant, immitation everything. Isolation was my culture. People today suffer from an isolation that rots their core. They have no communities, they have no connection to their families, they have no connection to the earth. Shooting in and out of automatic garages, they don't know who their neighbors are. They go around trying to amass more and more material objects and yet they never feel quite satisfied. Television has become a best friend, but our children can be raised by strangers."

Liosha in this entry of her diary.