New Resident Meeting


Last night was the Gilmore Girl-esque meeting. Okay, so I may have exaggerated a bit about what to expect. The meeting last night was nothing more than informational. We were told things we already knew about our town and from the two hours that we sat there, probably only got a few things out of it...other than finding out that our facilitator likes pizza and had to go to the E.R. for kidney stones. If you ask me, that's a little bit too much information I'd like to know. There were four other people in attendance- one lady from New York, one from Wisconsin, and a retired couple from northern MN. Miss New York had tons of questions, thus explaining why the meeting ran two hours +. Miss facilitator lady was a bit too jovial for me...so peppy, so eager, so involved. My goodness, this lady must be a member on practically every board there is for the city. As she was naming them off, I lost track. Miss New York and Miss Wisconsin inquired about a Toaster's Club, Women's Club, Rotary Club, and other blah-blah-blah clubs. Hubby, who was taking notes on his phone, typed a message to me, "This is SO puti!" Yup, you got that right! I mean, I ain't never seen any Filipinos trying to get involved in things like this. Why? Because of all the damn politics. Here is a typical scenario of a reelection process for any one Filipino organization:


1) Two people will run for the office of president
2) Only one person will win
3) The loser will become so enraged at the loss (aka: sore loser) that he will leave the organization, but not without cursing them out and taking some loyal friends with him/her
4) Loser will start their own organization and be president. Organization will have a fancier name and hold similar events, but with better food.
5) An election will take place and the results will unanimously be in favor of the president. Why? Because no one else had the balls to run against current president.
6) Said president will reign for the next 3-5 years or so.
7) Upon reelection after the 3-5 years, someone will step up and challenge the president.
8) Challenger will win the election.
9) See #3 as the cycle begins again.


As unfortunate and silly as this may seem, this is the pattern of Filipino politics. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just telling it like it is. In any case, that's why there wouldn't be any Pinoys/Pinays up in shi-shi organizations like that. I mean, there may be a few, but ultimately, not very many.


ANYWAYS, a few things we got out of the meeting:

- There are only a handful of mailboxes in the city. Miss facilitator lady named them off. Wow. I never realized it until she mentioned it. Sure enough, there ain't any on the corners like you'd see back in da Bay. Interesting. I'd say, there are probably about five total. Most opt to go to the post office or put their outgoing mail in their mailboxes.


- The highest crime is MN is identity theft. Of course, there is crime everywhere, but this is a biggie out here. Apparently, there are these "mail crime rings" that are out to get people via their mail. Those who put outgoing mail in their mailboxes are the top of the list. Plus, there is said to be some crooked mail carriers, too! Ain't that a bitch?


- Cats need to be on a leash. Not that this is of any importance to me, but pets need to be kept on a leash, cats included. Now, I don't know how doable this is since cats have their own agenda on any given day. I suppose the best thing to do is to keep them indoors, but heck, once they're out, who knows what they do, right? Again, no significance to me, but interesting nevertheless.


- Hoses are NOT allowed on the lawn. 'Tis a city ordinance. In order to preserve water, you can't be out watering your plants with a hose on any given day from 12pm-5pm. You can use a watering can, but if there's a hose out, you can very well get fined. $25 for the 1st offense, $50 for the second, and a court date for the third. Miss facilitator lady mentioned that washing cars is permittable...and if it so happens that your plants are in the vicinity of the car, well, by all means, give them a spray or two.


- We got a couple of national parks in our city. The way she was describing it, it's like Golden Gate Park minus the museums. In lieu of buffalo, there are deer and probably other critters that run rampant nearby. There are also camping grounds, too, which I thought was neat. I mean, as close as it is, you could basically camp out and if you forget something or just want to handle your business in a regular bathroom, home ain't too far away. Y'know, that's what I'm saying! To hell with all the nature and camp lovers out there who say that's not really roughing it in the wild!


- There ARE tornadoes. The last one to hit our city was in 1997. Other than that, nothing serious has blown are way. The Wood is said to have big wind though. For example, Miss facilitator lady described one wind storm where the contents of her garage were basically sucked out, blown across the street over a pond, and into her neighbors house. Although it wasn't considered a tornado, it was enough for her and her husband to hide out in the crawlspace of her home! WTF?! Things being sucked out of her garage? That ain't no regular wind storm, lady. If there's damage like that, man, I sure as hell hope that there isn't any wind storms like that in our area. But yes, tornadoes. Remember that bit I wrote about living in the boonies? I wonder if that ups our chances of being hit? Shiet.


Other than that, that's it. It was basically a waste of two hours. And just for the record- there WEREN'T any refreshments! What's up with that?! LOL!


Anyways, wishing ya'll a Happy Friday and a slammin' weekend! Peace out...