Tennessee: Year One

Well, it's been 1 year and one month since I arrived in my new home of Tennessee. A definite eyeopener I must say. When I first met Cathy, I was pleasantly pleased that she was a different person than I thought the typical Tennessean would be. She is intelligent, open minded and willing to accept different things about people and places. WOW!!! Not what you'd expect from a Right Wing, Bible Belt State. The first City I moved to was a little spit of a place called Algood. The Police Station closes at 10 pm, and WalMart is the biggest thing in town. It's a Town run by the Good Ole Boy club and with that same attitude. There are a lot of the Stereotypes represented there that we Californians expect to find in the South. The Rednecks with their Confederate Flags on their Pick ups (which by the way, are what all the jerk off drivers drive on the freeways around here......if someone is tailgating you....it's a pick up.), the enormously fat people waddling out of Billy Bob's Cholestrol Buffet. Then there are some good people too. They live in Cookeville, the town right next door. Algood would do well to let Cookeville annex it. Of course Cookeville has it's Redneck Hicks as well. It does have some culture though as it is the home of Tennessee Tech University. College Towns always have culture of some kind. The only problem with it, is the planning of the expansion of the City. It is sprawled, and things that should be in one part of town are next to things they shouldn't be next to. There is retail next to residential...literally right next door. There are parts of the town that are run down and ignored, then there are parts that are all spiffed up and new. It reminds me of my home town of San Bruno, CA. There are sections of San Bruno they concentrate on, then there are sections they ignore. Those sections have crime issues, abandoned businesses, etc. Cookeville has alot of that too. My In-Laws live there, as does my Oldest Step-Daughter Amanda and my Step-Son Kevin. They are great people....there are several folks in that town that need help. The one thing I noticed there was the word Buffet seems to be popular. There are no Salad Bar places like Fresh Choice or Sweet Tomatoes....those places would die a horrible death (much like the enormously huge people that usually eat at the buffets will one day). Aisian cuisine: forget about it!!!! It's some pretend Chinese crap that doesn't even remotely taste good. The thing that gets me is these places are run by Chinese people. Now you would think they would want to represent their cultural cuisine alot better than they do. Nope. I was so glad I got a job near Nashville. It gave me an excuse to move to a Suburban area much like the ones I've lived in in years past. Having been to Nashville on several occassions I became very fond of it. It was partly San Fran, and partly Oakland. This City boy was happy. We settled in a Suburb called Mount Juliet. A great City much like San Carlos or Belmont. We also got in at the perfect time as they are (still, but almost finished) building a brand new residential development of mid to high priced homes. Next to that they are building (and it's mostly finished now) a retail establishment called Providence Marketplace. Now in Mount Juliet you have a more Metropolitan diversity of people. There are your Rednecks....hey it's the South. It's hard to not run into your fair share here. For the most part though, it's nice, Family oriented people. I have met some really good people out here playing Airsoft. Decent folks who run the gambit of personality types and political, social orientation. I've also discovered something that there wasn't much of in California: Centrists. Politicians who's attitude is that both parties are full of crap, and both parties have their points to contribute to the Government in a Happy Medium. Yay!!!! Of course there are still your Good Old Boy Conservatives out here. The one thing I'm still getting used to, and honestly I don't think I ever will, is the overly Religious attitudes that run rampant through this State. Way too many people are somewhat hypocritical. They go to Church because it's what they've done all their lives. Some go because they don't want their neighbors to think poorly of them. I won't fall for this crap because of my attitudes towards organized Religions. Basically, out here you go to a Baptist church, where you are supposed to tithe 10% of your yearly income to the church. Excuse me???? I slipped a buck at the most in the basket at the Catholic Church I grew up going to, and that was if I felt like it. Why should I pay someone to preach at me and tell me how to think and how I should be spiritual? I have never understood that. I've also realized that the people I commute with every morning would not last 5 minutes on a Bay Area Freeway. They'd be shot instantly. God these people cannot drive. I do like the fact that we don't have a State income tax. Very nice......instead of two hits to my take home pay, there is only one. Oh yeah, and I could actually afford to buy a house out here. It's awesome!!!! My 1400 SF house that has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths with huge front yard only cost me 130 K. Back home if the Bay Area it would be 900 K easy. I do miss my buds. I miss gaming and going to gaming conventions. Do I miss the Bay Area? Yes. Very much. But my Wife and kids are here and I love them very much. I don't regret my decision to move here, I really don't. Life is nice. The City I live in is a great town and it's great having to only drive 5 minutes away to buy anything I need. Clothes, home stuff, groceries, electronics, restaurants.....it's all there. It's also places I like to shop. Target for one....I love Target. I sure wish we'd get a Trader Joes, but I know the farthest East they have gone is Arizona. It's been a great year. I am very happy that I get to be with my Wife in the same State and same house, etc. Would I move back? Maybe.....it would have to be for a lot of money and a really good reason. That's my report for Year One as a transplanted California in Tennessee. Can't wait for years two and up.