I hate Ridgecrest - kinda

Let me tell you a bit more about Ridgecrest. I hate it. The town is small, for 25k people, we have a remarkable amount of nothing. A Wal-Mart, a K-Mart, a Mervyn's, some fast food places, one or two...okay, one chain sit down restraunt - and it's a Sizzler! YECH!

The sand, the wind, the people who are either on welfare or filthy rich from working on base for 20 years and bought their house for a dollar. Those houses are now worth 250k, by the way. The rude shop owners who do nothing but complain that Wal-Mart puts them out of business. (Note: If you weren't so freaking rude, maybe more people would shop at your store....duh?)

The heat in the summer is unbearable. Seriously, what human lives in 117º heat? The lack of trees, grass, and the overwhelming amount of desert poisonous creep-crawlies.

The horrible city planning that went into the decision to build a naval base here, the fact that we don't live anywhere NEAR a freeway, and that the nearest area to do any decent shopping of any sort is an hour and a half away. The cost of groceries is outrageous! (Come on Super Wal-Mart, COME ON!) My job truly sucks, and I have no hope of moving up with a bunch of people who've worked there 13 years and shouldv'e been demoted 10 years ago. Until they die, I'm basically not moving up. YAY!

The houses in areas are painted exactly alike! It's just overall, a city I never think I'll truly even want to belong to, much less fit into well.

But right now, there's no talk of moving away, for a few rather tenuous reasons. The money is good for Pat, and the job can't be outsourced. Basically, he'd have to kill several people or walk around with a camera phone to get fired. He lives 10 minutes from work, with no traffic in between, unless he gets caught behind a tractor going 5 mph on the 35 mph road where everyone goes 60. In which case, when he gets home, he's amusing to listen to!

We bought our house last November, and we both love it, and since then, the value has skyrocketed. But since Ridgecrest is controlled completely by the base, who knows how long that will last.

BRAC has promised us 2,500 jobs, but the fighting with people in Pt. Magu and places in Ventura county who don't want to live here has begun, and there are people saying we'll be lucky to not move jobs. No one wants to come here, and the government will lose years and years of experience in people who won't relocate. Only a few people make a site visit here out of college and decide to come here. Those who do tend to come here because friends from college are here, and there's a happening party scene. Let's face it, if you're here, might as well be an alcoholic. There's nothing else to do!

But let's face it. Moving would be a disaster right now! Our home is here, our life is here! This is us whether we like it or not. But even so, it's not really that bad.

We get a lot of free time to play computer together. Puppy can spend the nights in the summer outside and I won't worry about him freezing. And we're together, building our life together, happily. What more does one need?