The People of Weed

Weed California is a small place near the Oregon border, a small place that pretty much no one has ever heard of and that sells all kinds of sundries that the pun-loving will adore. It's a beautiful beautiful place. Mt. Shasta shimmers above, the birds sing, the trees glow, and there are so many little secret creeks in which to dip bare feet. That side of this place is glorious. However, and this is a pretty big however, the 'natives' are a very different story. Maybe it's because of my background. I can't help that my parents were well educated and though we never had much money they always appreciated the finer things in life. Once you go through the process of getting your first college degree and meeting people brimming with novel ideas and labyrinthine minds just waiting to be explored,  it comes as a bit of shock to plop yourself down in the middle of Podunk USA. This post is probably going to make me sound like a stuck-up bitch and maybe in some ways I am (I'm a bit too biased to tell), but I can't apologize for thinking that we have enough resources to better ourselves- if not financially than at least intellectually- and I have very little patience for those who are willing steep themselves in ignorance.  I could seriously write a pretty hilarious novel about the people who live here. Apparently, serenity attracts a lot of meth-heads. Who knew! We have quite a few running jokes about the collective number of teeth here as well as the number of fathers for all of these teen moms all over the place. I guess there isn't much to do but breed and get high. Not even Hollywood could dream of some of these things. Some of the more colorful local characters are as follows: We have the 'Soda Lady'- this woman is either elderly or has done wayy too many drugs (probably the latter). She stands outside on Main St. asking for money for a soda. Now normally I would pity her, but what she does with the money is buy loads and loads of sugar. I'll let your little imaginations run wild with that one. Next we have the 'Boa Constrictor Guy'-This guys is actually totally badass and one of the few people who doesn't make you want move away from here as quickly as possible. This guy walks around with a giant white Boa constrictor wrapped all around his torso. That is just awesome, I don't care who you are. Then there is the 'Tooth-spitter'- this guys it perpetually drunk. All day, every day. When a friend of ours was talking to him at the bar, one of his teeth actually flew out and hit him in the face. I think that if I were in similar straits, I would probably have to burn that side of my face totally off and invest in a Phantom of the Opera type mask. It is that gross. I've decided that the main problem is that these people have so few opportunities to succeed that they are preyed upon by an ingrained sense of inferiority, which causes them to feel the need to constantly prove their worth. I have given up even telling people that I have a college degree (like that is even a big accomplishment these days...) because it just seems to make them list the tiniest achievements in their lives and expect me to be impressed. The men frequently try to start testostererone fueled battles to show of their manliness,  the women are hopelessly insecure, and the kids think they are gangsters and that they grew up in the 'hood'. If you are from Weed or the surrounding areas and are reading this and are not an asshole, I apologize. I know that some of you are totally normal and fine people (there are quite a few artists and hippie types who are awesome, but most of them live in Mt. Shasta and not in Weed proper). Hopefully you see the truth in this post and are not offended. Hopefully, you realize that I am just longing for some intelligent company and need to rant. This is a rather personal post I suppose and I will get back on track with French stuff very soon!

Now generally I love meeting 'weird' people and seeing a different view of the world, but these people are not interesting weird. They are completely empty. Nothing going on in their lives, no interesting stories. Hell, most haven't even gotten the chance to get out of this town. It just makes me sad because there is so much wasted potential, so much stupidity, and just so much that is completely blank. So there it is in a nut shell my thoughts, before leaving, on the social side of things. I do have to make a concession that the majority of people here are very very friendly and since it is such a small town you do end up talking to the same people frequently and kind of getting to know them. It's just that knowing people who don't interest me, well, doesn't interest me. Kind of glad to be leaving :). Sometimes we just end up in places where we we don't belong for a bit, but I suppose there is a reason.