Whatever, I'm STILL pissed about that when I come out of a downtown subway stop that's not my usual.

You're right, dammit, we're New Yorkers and should be pissy about this.

I went to a club in Soho and when I tried to give a friend directions to meet me there I had NO IDEA if I had walked uptown or downtown from the subway. I felt like a tourist. Fuckin' Al Qaida.

I grew up with the Atlantic Ocean, it is deffinately like breathing to me. The Gulf of Mexico never seemed like it was on the wrong side since they are so different from one another.

I also grew up in the woods.

My mountains are the rolling Appalachains, but the Andes and the Rockies and the Alps felt like home as soon as I saw each of them.

I live right by the Hudson and make sure I cast my eyes on it every day -- its easy to just see the bridge and I want to remember the big hunk of nature wrapped around my city. Sometimes during storms I'll taste sea water or I'll pass road work and see seashells and remember that the Atlantic and the Hudson are very much merged.

Portland confused me a little becuase I felt like I should be near the ocean but it was very far away.

I thought I would hate the desert but I was so wrong. I've only been there once but sometimes I'll pine for it.

Imagine my disorientation living in Spain with the Atlantic ocean to my left instead of the Pacific. My sense of direction was totally discombobulated for a while.

When I was in France I just pretended it was the Pacific, but I only had to delude myself for a couple of days.

Tech ~ma to Jesse...

(And a cluesticking for the techsupport idjit)

OMG, I'm going to kill somebody. I have to send a proposal to the feds by 4pm, but I just realized I have to download a program in order to do it, and of course the install doesn't work, and then tech support was completely unhelpful. Turns out, I had called the wrong tech support, but I don't know why she didn't just say that in the first place!

Sounds like it's time for a little vigilante cowgirl justice.

Wait, I've been to the desert twice -- part of the reason I didn't like Las Vegas was that I was in the desert but I couldn't tell until we went for a long drive.

I find it nearly impossible to contemplate not living near the ocean (or at least a very large, if not Great, lake).

Granted, I also find it nearly impossible to contemplate living outside of New England.

The one exception to the first rule would be Vermont, since it's the only landlocked New England state. So far, I haven't found any exceptions to the second (though my travels out of NE have been decidedly limited).

Yeah, I found the lack of water very hard to adjust to in Atlanta.

The one exception to the first rule would be Vermont, since it's the only landlocked New England state.

Has a big ole lake though so it isn't even a real exception!

I am also a New England girl, but I could certainly be tempted to become a NoCA or Pacific NW girl.

I like being around the ocean.

Unless I am on a freeway with signage or dancing to "Stand" by REM, I never know what direction I am facing at any given time. I can not follow directions that use North, East, etc. I need Right, Left, Forward. I am directionally challenged.

(And a cluesticking for the techsupport idjit)

Aw, she wasn't even an idiot, she just couldn't help me with someone else's issue! But she did kind of try. And she did give me the right number to call next.

It was only recently that I realized I'd never lived anywhere of my own choosing. It had always been circumstance driving the choice-- like I couldn't afford to go out of state for university and when we lived in Nashville and NE Ohio, it was for school for Lewis. Jax was because family wanted us back down in Florida so they could be closer to our kids.

So, once the kids are out of school, we're gettin' the hell outta Dodge and I get to pick. I think that vacations for the next several years will consist of potential Future Places to Live.