Happy New Year, World!

Got back from Maine last night. Pretty uneventful flight, although I made my way through security after a couple pints of beer, so that was fun! Also my friend Ophelia saw me off, which is nice, because I hardly ever have anyone sending me off on a flight any more.

Maine was good. Weather was typically wacky. It would snow one day, rain the next, then freeze up. Repeat. Spent a lot of time with family members whom I haven't seen since last Christmas, which made me happy. Also saw a couple friends I haven't seen in years. It was low key, but I never seemed to get much sleep. I think the whole landing on Christmas Eve day and rolling from there set the tone.

Waterville (which is a podunk little town) seems to becoming very urbanized, to my chagrin. Since I was there last year, they've filled in a shopping center right by the highway with (among other things) a Super Wal-Mart (aka a fucking aircraft hangar with all manner of shit in it, including a grocery store) and a Starbucks. When I saw the Starbucks, I knew it was game over man, game over. Also, some jackass approved this project which added another stoplight 100 feet from an existing one that goes into this new strip mall. Which has the effect of blocking up traffic even on non-pre-Christmas shopping days. And the people in the area don't seem to have figured out urban driving very well. Which means they drive like Massholes. Bleh.