You can never go home

This week I attend the writing workshop I signed up for. I also will (I think) receive input on the three chapters I submitted as a writing sample. I am a bit nervous, but I am mostly excited. The workshop is scheduled for Thursday through Sunday... although I am a space cadet and booked a flightfor Sunday morning. I already spoke with the instructor, who told me I would be okay missing the last day. It makes me a little cranky that I will be missing it, but I planned a trip to Texas and cashed airline miles BEFORE I looked at my calendar. Like I said, space cadet.

Texas? Oh, yeah, I am going to Texas for a week with the Boy. I have not seen my grandmother since 2007. She is about a million years old, and ornery, and really doesn't like little kids. So, why am I going? Because I need to (read: guilt). Funny thing, seeing her is the reason I have to do this trip-- I cannot take time later on this year because of work and school-- but I am only going to be seeing her for an hour or so on my first full day in Texas. Otherwise, I am cramming in lots of other relatives, friends, and sightseeing.

I have not spent any time tooling around my hometown since I was still in college. I found out, while booking this trip, that the public library building is now a branch of the local college. That building was beautiful. It had a windy staircase to the second floor (adult fiction), and a creepy little hidden stair to the basement (juvenile books). There was a creaky old elevator, and a wide open, sunlit foyer just inside the front doors. There were two entrances to the building.... Yes, that building made quite an impression on me.

There are also parks, restaurants, a train museum, and all sorts of other things. My hometown has changed a lot. I don't miss it. Trust me. I don't miss being a freak of nature-- hating football and country music, dreaming of culture and valuing education. I have no interest in seeing most of the people who are still around. I have a few friends from those times that I rediscovered on Faceborg, and I will be attempting to spend time with them.

I dreamed of nothing else in high school than escaping out of Central Texas. I studied hard, did lots of extra-curricular activities, and bugged the college counselor endlessly-- all to get the hell out of there. I now avoid all calls for class reunions, or homecoming crap. God, I hated high school.

But, sometimes, you just gotta go visit. Maybe I will find that having grown up will make me a little less antagonistic to Central Texas. Maybe I will find that both the town and I have changed. I will never be a country music loving, football game attending kind of girl, but maybe I can appreciate the opportunity to at least see what I escaped and what I miss.

Like what hell happened to the public library.

Anyway, I will be in the writing workshop all day on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and then gone March 13-19. I may or may not post during that time. Who knows.

My final news is this-- I wrote my ten minute play. It was cathartic, and not just because I managed to cram in all sorts of awful topics into ten minutes, all while avoiding any nudity, cursing, or blood on stage. Anyway, I have to re-title it. The current title is the only thing that displeases me. And then I have to finish formatting it, and then submit it. I hope to do that before the Wednesday, so I can be done with it, and move on to other projects.

Cheers!