Birthdays and Bugs

Blerghhhh. I had my birthday this week. It was nice. We had chocolate cake (I managed to blow out all the candles but one) and homemade butter pecan ice cream that was a pain in the neck to make but tasted fabulous.

I got lots of nice gifts, and am awaiting the big one. (I won't tell you what that one is, I won't get it 'til June sometime, so y'all will give to wait.) Most of the gifts were small, practical gifts. Hobbi gave me chapstick, Krisbie gave me some peppermint tea, Pippin gave me a candle. I was also given some double pointed knitting needles. I won't tell you who gave them to me, but I will say that my Esteemed Father has been begging for a pair of handmade socks and bought me a skein of sock yarn not too long ago...

So yeah, it was a nice day.

But now I'm on the tail end of a shower of birthday cards and well wishes and I'm sitting here on my bed reading them and crying and eating lemonheads (also a birthday gift). Some of them are from friends back West. They miss me. I miss them.

I kinda hate living here. I hated it worse two months ago, but no matter how long I'm here I can't get used to it. Maybe it's because I'm not letting go of my old home. I try, but I lived out West for thirteen years. I loved it. I loved the hills of golden grass and I loved my mountains and the everblue sky and the scraggly junipers and the dry air that you didn't need gills to breath. I miss how clean the grasslands were. No bugs. You saw a grasshopper or cricket every now and then. Sometimes a centipede or a rollypolly. Miller moths would come out in the summer in droves, and you had to shake out your clothes if you hung 'em on a line, but the bugs out there were large and not particularly gross or bloodthirsty.

Moving East was a nightmare for a bug-hating person like myself. THERE ARE FLEES IN THE GRASS!!! And ticks! And all manner of evil bloodsuckers. And so many other creepy crawlies. June bugs. Boxelder bugs. Asian lady beetles. Slugs and snails. All manner of wicked, plant feeding garden monstrosities. Giant grey ants. Horrendous xylophagous larvae that turn into hideous abominations of wretchedness. Horse-flies! The list doesn't end. It doesn't end! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Actually, you know what, I was gonna make a much longer post complaining about how utterly depraved the East is, but honestly, need I say more? I had a bit of fun bashing insects and if I keep on complaining I'll depress myself.

In summary: I miss the West and my old friends, this desolate mitten is home to faaaaaar to many evil devil horrors, and if I eat another lemonhead I will become exceedingly ill. That's all for now folks.