Pros and cons from my perspective.

I love the warmth of the sun. California is nice and warm and I love that.  It’s hard to make friends though.  I have been here 6 months and still not made friends with anyone. Friends in the sense of someone to call up and say, “Hey, let’s go out for lunch, shop or whatever”, kind of friend. My husband has an old cycling buddy and his wife, who we went canoeing with and that was nice.  I don’t think she’s the “shopping” type though. Don’t get me wrong, people here are friendly, considerate and polite but pretty much distant, hard to get to know.

I have a few high school friends that I have lunch with once a month, but they live quite a ways a way, so again, not a drop by and have a cup of coffee situation. Additionally, almost all of them babysit grand kids (mine are in three states, not nearby), so they are not free to just get up and go anywhere.

I’m thinking I  might take a job somewhere just to get out and meet people. I’d like to get close to a few screenwriters to throw ideas around with. People who know what a screenplay is supposed to look like and who will tell you point blank. . . “that doesn’t work, you’re playing it too safe,  how about…?”  and, someone I could do the same with. That would be ideal.  I’m not crying, it will happen. I just need to be patient.  California is just busier and people have very busy lives, that’s what’s different. Plus, I’m different.

Alabama is way laid back.  People march to the beat of a different drummer there.  I noticed right off, how talented Alabamians are.  Almost everyone knows how to play an instrument.  Now they are not as gregarious as Californians,  they are just wired differently.

Russ and I went to a Christmas program here and the kids were so much more expressive and entertaining.  The kids in Alabama were very shy and even those I knew could sing, held back when doing solos.  Not here! This is show biz country and it shows!

We had one little girl in church, maybe 6 years old, who just tickled us to death with the personality she put behind her performance.  Loved it!! Lots of vocal talent here vs instrumental talent there.

People in Alabama are warm and will easily become your friend for life. They will pray for you and with you and bring you meals when you’re sick whether you ask or not. They will throw you a party when you leave and when you come back,  they are just plain awesome.

Having grown up in California, I halfway expected there to be a great deal of prejudice, but nothing could be further from the truth.  The people I knew loved everybody. Sure, there were pockets here and there, but those are mostly the old timers (like near death old timers) who grew up that way, but the younger generation struggles against the tide of the old ways.  When I say struggle, I mean the struggle of reverse prejudice.  It’s hard to explain, but there is still much bitterness from the blacks over “old” history passed down, old stuff they can’t shake and in many cases they have an “attitude” that makes it difficult for the whites. Sometimes, they pretty much “dare you” to like them or to be nice to them. This attitude carries over to the countless Hispanics as well.  I haven’t quite figured out why blacks don’t like them, but they don’t.

The one thing I did notice is that it was the poor blacks who were more inclined that way, even though I have an educated friend who said she has to pray every day to have a good attitude toward whites.  She hated movies like “Roots”, “12 years a Slave”, “42” & “The Help” because they are constant reminders of what it was like and they stoke that fire of prejudice that makes it hard to let go of.  It, like makes them feel obligated to hate. What’s interesting is that she’s my daughters age and by then segregation was over with.  I had one black friend say that she hated white women because they’re stealing all their black men!  Also,  the younger generation all over the country, both black and white see’s movies like the aforementioned and believe that these attitudes or problems still exist not realizing it does but not for the reasons they  think it does and it becomes a vicious cycle.

In the situation of Ferguson, MO what is the real truth?  How will we ever know? It was tainted by prejudice on both sides. The public automatically assumed that because it took place in the “south”, that it was a white against black thing.  So, everyone formed an opinion and it escalated to fact. Once the race card is played, it’s over.

HAPPY NEW YEAR for 2015!!!

How about we all do our part to make the New Year the best it’s every been?  Make 2015 a year we don’t break our New Years Resolutions. Ha!?

I’m taking a trip back to Alabama to see my friends and old home one last time. No, I’m not dying or anything, but we finally sold our house, Yea! We have been so real estate poor it’s not funny.  (we still have one to sell in Colorado) That is the downside of real estate in AL.  You can get a very nice house there for little outlay, but poor you if you want to make money on it. It is a very poor state and with the downturn in the economy, it was a hard sell. But what a good end to the old year! Right???

I’ve got a screenplay, I wanted to add it to this blog but I’m having trouble figuring out how to put the link into the sidebar.  As soon as I do, I will.

IN the meantime, CHEERS!!