Thursday, July 08, 2004

In Kansas now. Working on getting my grandparent's house painted as well as a few other projects for friends and family.

Upon returning to Kansas, especially knowing that I will be here for a few weeks, I discovered that there seems to be a pull to extremes here. The music sucks here as a rule, so I find myself and others I know here drawn to hard hitting music to which none of us would listen if elsewhere. The lure of alcohol is greater. The desire to do anything at all to break up the monotony, the mundaneness (no I do not believe that this is a word either), the overwhelming mediocrity of it all here. It is as if the people, the "culture" for lack of a better word simply mimicks the landscape. Flat, brown, and without inspiration.

That said, I have been fortunate enough to spend time with some good people while here. Friends who had moved away, others who I had not seen in several years but were back here at the same time, my grandparents.. While the area and some of the attitudes are more than a little stifling, it is not all bad.

That said, one last complaint: the internet connection here is worse than the one in China... so I am logging off now.

All the best.

Brian