My Year of Meaningful (2011)

On a very, very, VERY rare occaision I get these waves of desire to be back in the US. At present, I think that the current presidental primary elections, combined with not having been there for nearly 4 years are what's got me thinking about taking a trip back at some stage in the near future. But before I get ahead of myself (because our holiday list is still like a mile long, and includes our next trip to Aus, trip to the Seychelles, trip to Namibia, trip to... oh god everywhere) and go booking tickets or anything, I have been thinking about what it is that makes me feel like that:

• Sometimes I just get a craving for a yankee bbq. It's like, sometimes I've just had it up to HERE with this (also yummy, in fairness) dry braai chops and wors with pap and sous. I'm talking real PORK STEAKS, utterly swimming in KC Masterpiece over Hickory chips or some crap. With a side of potato salad. MUSTARD_BASED potato salad. Not mayonnaise-based... oh no, thick, gooey yellow potato salad with raw onion and dill pickles all chopped up in it. Mmmmmm....
• I want to call up someone who actually gets it, if you suggest "hitting the Boulevard and going out for ice cream" as a way to spend a random weekday summer evening.
• I want to walk into a Wal-Mart and have my mind boggled at all the amazing new inventions in food and otherwise, that have totally skipped my radar since 1999. Like... no-fat, no-carb, no-sugar, no-guilt but still tasty products in the cereal aisle, etc. Example: for my bday, my aunt sent me this stuff called Skippy HONEY ROASTED peanut butter. WTF!?! When did this happen!!?! And in an ORANGE jar no less?!? (I do find it oddly tasty).
• I want to go see live concerts.
• I want to see all the tv shows whose names I see dropped all over the msn.com homepage. And all the actors that are in them.... who are these people?? I miss being in the know!
• I want to go see live music played by hacks who still have amazing talent on electric guitars, in crappy midwestern bars - any bar!.... who absolutely rock, even though they're not world-famous.
• I want to pay 5 dollars to get into that bar and to get a plastic bracelet on my arm and a bottomless cup of beer for no charge for the whole night.
• I sometimes want to live in Washington DC where my best friend in the world AND nearly all of my other friends live, either in, or within a 3 hour radius of (not to mention the restaurants and concerts and art and theatre and multicultural madness and everything else that abounds there).
• I want my 4 seasons back.
• I want to drive around in someone's car listening to Steve Miller Band and not feel like a retard.
• I want to go to a Mizzou football game, in the winter, wearing a parka and a scarf and gloves. THEN I want to wander around in downtown Columbia, soaking up the atmosphere and feeling like a college student again.
• I would also settle for going to ANY football game in the autumn.
• I would also settle for going to a Cardinal baseball game in the spring.
• Oh MAN, I REEEALLYY want to go shopping at one of those PetSmart stores, WITH a dog! And I want to put it IN the trolly and browse ALL the aisles. Just like that woman in that clip that I saw on CNN awhile back... where they were talking about the recession and how it might affect dog owners?
• Starbucks.
• 3 words: Classic Rock Radio
• Multiple radio stations
• Red Lobster
• Olive Garden breadsticks
• Mind boggling technology & wireless internet connections on every corner
• My american buddies
• I would love to find out what this mysterious "NetFlix" is all about...
• Making deposits into ATMs.... siiiiggghhhhh

Man, I REALLY didnt think I was gonna have a list that long. Eeesh, that's disturbing.

But the point is, now that I've gotten that all out, I feel like I've identified everything and now I can move on with life as usual. Back to the blazing sun and bush. The end!