As most of y'all know, I spent the holidays at home in Albuquerque. My parents had been living elsewhere for the past few years, so it was my first time home in 3 1/2 years. I was really looking forward to the visit for two reasons: friends and food. An unbeatable combination.

As the plane descended into the Albuquerque Airport, sorry, the Albuquerque Sunport, one thought went through my mind: Albuquerque is dumpy. This is not something that I noticed while growing up there, but having been away for a few years (and especially in contrast to where I live now) really made me realize that the city is kind of a dump. Driving down Central (which is, incidentally, part of Route 66) from the airport to my house, everything was brown, the buildings were old, and the city itself just looked tired. It didn't help that there are four, yes four, Pussycat adult video stores along the 20 minute drive. (Oh man, I may regret typing that sentence here. Google don't fail me!)

When I got home, I was stuck with that weird feeling that everything was very different but at the same time very much the same. There were the same streets, the same houses, but also a few new houses, or maybe a different paint color on an old one. My room in our house had been completely emptied and converted into a guest room, with all of my belongings from the first 20-some years of my life neatly packed away into boxes in the garage.

I spent most of the break seeing old friends. I alway like to tell people that the great thing about my friends back at home is that no matter how long it's been since we've seen each other, when we get together it's like no time has passed. But this time, things had changed. Not for the worse, mind you, but despite our best efforts at acting like we were still in high school, the way we interacted had subtly changed. We've all had sort of a strange few years and I think it's forced us to grow up a little. Hard to believe, I know.

I think I may have reached that point that I suppose everyone eventually reaches when you realize that your home is not home anymore. Sure it's a place to relax and have fun, but it doesn't quite feel like I belong there.

Reading this you may think that I didn't enjoy my time there, but that's not true. I saw Nathaniel, Marsha, Christine, Caitlin, and Jennifer (the latter 3 whom I haven't seen since 2001), plus the McCampbells (the OG best friends), the Shagams, and Aunt Ruth's husband Martin. I had lots of yummy Albuquerque-only food like Frontier, Dion's (which was robbed right before I met Jennifer there), Bob's Burgers, and Little Anitas. I visited old places like the Natural History Museum and the Outpost Skating Rink (though it turns out the owner of the Outpost received an award for "Businessman of the Year" from the Republican Party...*shudder*). I actually had a great time. It was good to be home...er, good to be in Albuquerque.

P.S. While there, Nathaniel and I came up with a new word: New Mexibling. Don't know what it is? Some examples:
[New Mexibling 1] [New Mexibling 2] [New Mexibling 3].
I think you get the idea. I've decided I want a necklace with my name spelled out in turquoise. That would be hard core.

(*) Required fields

* Name:


* Email Address: (Required, but will not be displayed)


URL:



* Please retype the above number:


* Comments:


Remember info?