...as john o'd likes to call this place. so, my first taste of the midwest. flew into omaha on monday, had a great afternoon walking around the old market area...red brick streets, great record stores, quirky little boutiques, retro collectibles, bars, restaurants and a great candy store. since then, i've been on the farm in newcastle, nebraska, and visited sioux city and vermillion. otherwise, surrounded by cows, corn and crickets. it's peaceful here. really peaceful. but the wind is wild, so it's an energising kind of peaceful. i woke up my first night to a thunderstorm. the wind, incidentally, feels a lot like a hairdryer. here, you come outside to warm up.
there has been the eating of homemade blueberry muffins. the eating of homemade chocolate chip cookies. the eating of homemade angel food cake. the eating of homemade whoopie pies (a new one for me). you get the picture. along with my waistline.
there has been the reading in a gently rocking hammock. there has been the reading of david dark. there has been the reading of dave eggers. there has been the reading of hart crane. but not enough. not nearly enough.there has been the feeling overwhelmed by the sea of suvs in the parking lot. there has been the feeling overwhelmed by the wal-mart the size of two football pitches. there has been the feeling overwhelmed by a serving of fajitas large enough to feed a small nation. there has been the feeling thoroughly thrilled by a frozen margarita of similar proportions :)
there has been the feeling complicit in the wal-mart/tescos plan for world domination. there has been the buying of cheap cotton wool. at 88c for 100, there has been the feeling that we have different kinds and colours of slavery where the cotton industry is concerned.
there has been the ripping up of mud in a quad. there has been walking between grant wood style fields. there has been the constant sound of the locusts. there has been the enjoyment of slowness. there has been the feet in one place, imagination and memory somewhere else, type feeling.
there has been the introduction to disc golf. there has been the seeing of the missouri river. there has been the hard to describe but easy to spot americana aesthetic, in the main streets, neon signs, red lettering. there has been the discovery of the old skool nintendo and the playing of super mario bros. there have been the resulting smiles and shrieks of delight! there has been the discovery of the warp zone over the wall and down the pipe at the end of 1-2 AND the warp zone in 4-2 which takes you straight to world 8. there has been the resulting hand blisters. and the utterance of expletives. there has been the reminder that duck hunt always was crap. there have been the pangs of longing for double dragon II.
there have been other things too.
