i just thought of something funny that happened years ago when chuck visited me in belleville, IL. (i apologize, but in my impending old age, i feel the need to document these things so that i can look back one day and pee in my depends undergarments whilst doing a full spit take with my ritual vodka-orange medamucil cocktail... blended, preferably....why? you guessed it: dentures)
anyway, we were driving through town and passed a building with a sign on the front reading 'seniors exchange center.' i thought to myself, 'hmmmmm, looks like any other small town center for the elderly-i better speed up so chuck doesn't think i live in some podunk, hillbilly hole in the ground!'.....but chuck, being the ever observant comedian at heart, noticed it right away and without missing a beat pointed out that if interpreted wrong, the sign might read:
'senior sex change center'
now, of course, in this day and age (oh my god, i'm ALREADY old if i'm using THAT dated phrase) with the internet and sites like youtube and myspace, i'm thinking what great video material that would've made - us posing as brother and sister walking in to inquire about sex changes for our pre-op transgendered grandparents....
anyway, we were driving through town and passed a building with a sign on the front reading 'seniors exchange center.' i thought to myself, 'hmmmmm, looks like any other small town center for the elderly-i better speed up so chuck doesn't think i live in some podunk, hillbilly hole in the ground!'.....but chuck, being the ever observant comedian at heart, noticed it right away and without missing a beat pointed out that if interpreted wrong, the sign might read:
'senior sex change center'
now, of course, in this day and age (oh my god, i'm ALREADY old if i'm using THAT dated phrase) with the internet and sites like youtube and myspace, i'm thinking what great video material that would've made - us posing as brother and sister walking in to inquire about sex changes for our pre-op transgendered grandparents....
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And WHOA!
You lived in BELLEVILLE, IL????
I did too...I moved there in 1980 with a guy I was living with in the Air Force.
I was born and raised in Washington, DC and suburbs. He got orders from Andrews AFB to Scott AFB and away I went with him 2 months later. I'd never lived anywhere else, but I was 28 and in love and happy and OMG did I get a culture shock!
One of the first things I noticed was the "Elderbuggy" parked outside a Senior Center. It was a converted bus to transport the seniors around town. And there were lots of them!
I'd never seen wheat, nor sunflower nor soybean fields that huge in my life.
That's one place that I'll bet if I went back tomorrow it would be very similar to when I left to come to the Valley in 1985.
talk about culture shock though, i moved there (with my ex hubby who was also in the air force) after living 3 years in honolulu, hawaii!!!! when we first arrived it was the middle of winter, my dogs had just spent many hours puking on the flight over.....and when i saw the first good ol' boy truck pass us by, i honestly thought i was either in the middle of a very bad dream, hallucinating, or the universe was playing a very sick joke on me (or quite possibly punishing me for every single bad thing i had ever done in my life up until that point)
the only positive being: my best friend lived only 9 miles away in st. louis. YEA!!
He called it my Sandy Duncan Wheat Thin commercial.
I got a job at Scott Credit Union after a few months of agricultural/unemployment bliss making a whopping $ 3.10/hr. After about a year, I quit and worked at the First National Bank of Belleville..Scott Facility. Wheee
I think I made $ 3.40 an hour and this for a few years until I left Illinois. Keep in mind, I had 10 years experience at a bank in Washington, DC. prior to this.
They didn't care. If your father, grandfather...etc didn't help found the town and you were associated in any way with those Air Force people, you were nothing!
Yet, the loved the commerce that the base brought.
Hmmmm..you and I may have been there almost at the same time.
I told my family that I felt like I had been time-travelled back to the Twilight Zone or the 60's!
We should discuss some time.
At least you had a friend sorta close.
OMG at the cold winters!
Did you ever go to Millstadt or Mascoutah?
I moved to Shiloh (population 4400) near O'Fallon.
I do have to comment that sometimes in the hustle and bustle of here in L.A. I wouldn't mind quietly visiting that area for about 3 days just to rest!
Smal world!
i visited alton quite a bit, since i had a few friends there, plus it had a really great artist community. but, other than that-i hopped over to st. louis a lot. it was nice to have the balance of small belleville next to busy st. louis, i gotta say.
i think if i had the choice to live anywhere now it would be san diego. cuz you have that small town beach community mixed with the vibrant downtown....
BTW, love your vlog, I've been following. :)
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