Man. It seems like it's been forever since I wrote a column or had a computer for that matter. Simon took apart my old one about a month ago, and I've had my newly upgraded beast for about two days now. As I type this, I am no longer in exciting, scholastically enriching Kalamazoo. I sit here, in my uncle's house, back where I vowed that I'd never be again. About 8 months ago, when I left for Western Michigan University, I said to myself and everyone else around me, "I won't be caught dead back in that town." I hated it and everyone in it. I couldn't have been more wrong about returning, though.
I still consider Kalamazoo home, though. Even though I don't live there right now, the majority of my year is spent there, and there is where all of my newfound friends are. Sure, in Sturgis I have friends, but if I have to choose, Kalamazoo is definitely the city I prefer to live in, and Sturgis is the one I like to visit.
Currently, I'm working at a butcher shop in downtown Sturgis. I started working there my junior year of high school, and stuck with it until I moved to Kalamazoo in August of 96. Over the course of the school year, I came back twice to assist with deer processing and disgusting things like that. I was visiting Sturgis one day in March, and I found myself entering Central Meat Market with the desire to once again return for full-time action for my four-month summer.
And when I really think about it, I don't have it that bad. The past 8 months have been very good for me. It's not that I actually hate Sturgis all that much, it's that I was dying to meet people from elsewhere. And when that goal was accomplished, I regained contentment that I needed.
All the positive aspects of my life that I love are with me now. My friends Simon, Bone, Stelle, Nina, Meg, Hoosh, Becky and Ryan are all here. I live with my uncle, and my grandma is just across town. One of my best friends and Tae Kwon Do instructor Mike Houck lives here also. I have my old job back, with a dozen really cool co-workers. My friend Corey emails me from Ohio, and my friend Jessica lives up in Kalamazoo…yup, I've got it pretty darn good.
I suppose the moral of this short little rant is not comically based – it's not supposed to make you cry, either. I merely hope to let people know that sometimes the situation is not as bad as it seems and can easily be fixed but simply broadening ones horizons…try it sometime. It worked for me.
