So, yesterday, we went to Grand Rapids.
It was a good time overall. One of the funniest parts about going to Grand Rapids is that you pass all sorts of Jesus billboards. Now, these sort of things are usually a mild annoyance but in Grand Rapids, they are actually funny. One of them says "those who believe onJesus will be saved" . I wonder what this means? Does that mean that Jesus just wants you to crawl on his lap, kind of like santa claus while you worship Ganesha or Buddha or whatever it is you believe? Does that mean that Jesus simply wants you to give him a hug? And just as you finally stop laughing at that one, you pass a billboard that says "please let all the people driving by love my Jesus" Not just any old Jesus, but her particular Jesus. New designer Jesuses! They're cute, make great pets and fit neatly into a drawer!
So we get into Grand Rapids and I get my hair done. I go to this salon, Hairacy and get it trimmed and dyed. It takes about two hours, but the woman does an incredibly good job. My hair is very long and thick, and so most hairdressers rush through it, doing a somewhat half assed job. But she doesn't, and that impresses me. It was also very reasonable. ($65.00. I've paid more than that to people who don't even do what I want.) I was most certainly impressed. While we were there, this blonde chick that seemed kind of spun, came in complaining about the dye job she had gotten. She wanted to correct a bad dye job that a friend had did and didn't like the results. Well, the guy who did her hair wasn't in that day but had told her previously if she wasn't happy with it, he would change it free of charge. She comes in bitching about the whole thing and demanding a refund. My hairdresser explains to her that she will have to talk to him and he'll be in the next day. That doesn't stop her. She goes on this long rant about how she left work in tears and had been up crying all night. It actually sounded pretty damned funny. (I mean, I understand being upset about not liking how your hair gets done, I've had bad salon experiences in the past, but come on, I could have sworn this chick was going for the oscar or something.) And she told us all not once, but several times, that she was up all night crying. At one point, Rob turned to me and went "aww..." at which point I really thought I was going to lose it and start laughing. Well, it came time for the dye to get washed out of my hair and so this chick left.
Happy with the final product of my hair, rob and I went exploring around Grand Rapids. We found a great anime/comic book store, where I got all kinds of Tenchi goodies. We also found a record store, where we got the latest Nick Cave cd. We then went out to eat at this chophouse, which had really tasty food and was quite reasonably priced. We were happy.
After letting the food settle for a bit, we went out to Intersection for a few drinks. It was rockabilly night. Intersection is a great club. It's huge and I love the decor. We only caught the first band, as it was starting to get late, but they were really good. And from Jackson no less. I had no idea that a prison town like that even had rockabilly kids in it.
After they were done, we went to the liquid room for coffee. It also had a very cool decor, comfy seats, nice ambiance. The best place to drink espresso after getting drunk. We sat around and talked about Grand Rapids and talk about Kendall. I voiced all my frustration with the things regarding this move that have not worked out, but also my frustration at the prospect of moving again. After having taken the Kalamazoo-Grand Rapids run, there is just no way that I could possibly do that on a daily basis, especially not in the winter months. But there is no way I can think about uprooting again. I mean, I know I would like Kalamazoo a lot more if I just lived in town instead of out in the sticks, but I don't even want to think about a move like that, let alone to another new city. This is a gorgeous place and I am just so tired of moving. I always thought I would stop my travels when I reached someplace really cool, but now I realize I will just stop my travels because I am too fucking tired.
I mean, I don't plan to die here either, but I do plan on living here longer than anyplace in my adult life.
So the Kendall thing is on hold. Oh well. There's still Valley, and Western if I really want the bachelors degree, which I am not sure yet that I need.
So my goal now is to reach a sort of acceptance. If I can resign myself to this for now, perhaps I will wake up one day and find that I've fallen in love with this town, and got the life I was hoping for.
And until then, at least I can keep busy.