In case I haven't mentioned it, Elizabeth City is the size of a walnut...

...So why did Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Costner feel it necessary to come here to research and possibly shoot scenes for their newest flick -- and, in the ultimate invasion of my creative space, brand said chick flick with MY TITLE? Jackasses. I hate you.

I'm a little freaked out by pop culture's assault on my tractor-racing town, but the actors have finally left and in their wake floats grudging normalcy and disappointed fangirls. It's nice to be able to go in Farm Fresh without the cashier striking up a conversation about how they're "totally going to hang out at Levels or Thumper's!!!!" Yes... congratulations... you can be their hick eye candy for a night. It will probably be the most impressive item on your resume. "Pay no attention to all these mundane jobs, my lack of qualification, and the fact that I never made it out of Hickville... once, Ashton Kutcher looked at me!!"

After experiencing the soulless Starbucks joints common in DC and even Berlin, returning to Muddy Waters, my local coffee shop, feels good. Their coffee is all fair trade; they peddle the projects of local artists in subtle, unobtrusive ways; they're refreshingly... homey, yet with odd little edges that manifest themselves in strikingly progressive magazines scattered throughout the shop. I love being there. There's an organic food store (SoHo's) across the street that I still haven't visited, but I believe I've seen SoHo's in DC, too... stores I recognize from DC in Elizabeth City make me feel more at home than stores I recognize from Elizabeth City in DC. Weird, no?

After getting a Muddy's drink with an old friend and driving out to visit my mom at her job, with the sun gleaming in the air and cotton-candy clouds bunching up below the blue, I realized that this town really isn't that bad. I always realize that things aren't that bad right before it's too late. I'm just getting used to EC again, and now I'm leaving; the end of my room cleaning/redesign is just getting in sight, and I won't get to enjoy the finished product for more than a few days. But variety is the spice of life, and I wouldn't want to stay fixed in one place too long anyway.

Nonetheless... when the light hits the water just right... I almost want to grow old here... then I smack myself, with the reminder that I have quite a bit to do before I shop for retirement homes. I don't understand the people who let themselves get stuck here; the world is huge, and whatever Kutcher and Costner think, there are better places to be than Elizabeth City.