Well, I finally did it. I went to Willoughby, and the only difference I can see between the idyllic setting described by the Twilight Zone and the actual reality is that everything is in color--but in fairness, the entire universe was black and white before the government added color to the nation in the 1960s. I can't imagine what a costly undertaking and Herculean effort it must have been to colorize the entire world, but it sure did make TV and photography a lot more pleasant to look at. If I had been in charge, I certainly would have just made special cameras that would make the world look colored, rather than wasting all those resources to do it to the real world, because you don't really need color much in every day life, and it certainly doesn't enhance the world around us or society at large--as a city with a crime index 5 times worse than Chicongo, Cleveland is definitely proof of that. Fortunately, despite it's reasonably close proximity, Willoughby has a crime index that is around 36, which places it prominently among those lowest of crime areas in the US, which still have all the modern conveniences of a city. Anyone can get a crime index of 100 if they live in a cave, but I like running water and clothing. They're nice.
So it's been 2 days so far, and I've finally got settled in, with all the logistics of my readjustment finally cared for, everything's arranged, and now I get to turn my attention from logistics back to exploring my new world. From what I can see so far, everything about this place is every inch the kind of place I've been hoping to find in my travels someday. It's every bit as beautiful as Oregon in the autumn, there's a 5 star VA hospital nearby, the crime is low, the people are friendly, the cost of living is low, lodging is reasonably priced with long term options, I've been told it's cloudy here from November to April with plenty of rain and snow, the temperatures are lower than elsewhere because of the lake, and the cost of renting a really nice place is absurdly low. Yesterday someone told me about a 40 story highrise next to the lake that's well under $1000/mo. That's unheard of most of the places I've been. Oh yeah, that's another thing--the Great Lakes are right down the street, with beaches and everything, and because it's the Great Lakes and not the ocean, the beach doesn't smell like hookers, ass, and catfood. Word has it, the seafood restaurants here benefit from their reasonable proximity to the Atlantic, so the lobster's inexpensive as well. Probably not as cheap as Maine, but where there's Maine, there are Maineacs, and the great cheap lobster isn't worth living in a Stephen King story. I'm not living in a world where they put exercise circuits in cemeteries as though they were the city park, and piss off people burying their loved ones by crowding their funeral with camera crews to film a fucking Stephen King movie. Maine is proof that pretty does not mean safe. The people are batshit insane, crazy dangerous, and there's a reason Stephen King got rich writing about them. Do not go there unless you're suicidal. His stories are a lot more fun to read than to live in.
Willoughby, on the other hand, it's a safe, beautiful, big fat big titted hit and I am enjoying myself thoroughly here. :)
