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"Where You Once Belonged"

October 7, 2008 11:48 PM

alerie, a friend of mine from Wisconsin, is currently kicking it in the good ol' Flagstaff, AZ (I've never liked calling it "Flag"--anyone who does is a loser). Talking to her in the past few days has made me realize how much I love that city and how much I miss it, which is strange because I had sort of thought that I hated everything about Arizona and didn't miss it at all.

Last night, Valerie was telling me about driving from Phoenix to Flagstaff. And I couldn't help thinking about how many times I made that drive by myself or with friends. And she told me about how she drove up 89A between Sedona and Flagstaff, and my mind immediately flashed back to the millions of times I made that drive. I remember one time just after I had gotten the seXterra when my friend Karen made some remarked "Of course you don't want to be on the road, you're just thinking 'why can't I be driving over there, on the side of the road, over all those tree stumps and rocks!'" And I was thinking that. Valerie asked me where she could go for late-night cheesecake, so I looked up her hotel on Google Maps. Immediately, I realized that she was just two blocks from The House, one of the most important physical locations in my life. And I saw that the only place she could really go was down to the Denny's on Milton. And my mind flashed to that Denny's--I remember it when it was just your normal Denny's and then when it got remodeled. That's where I met Larry, the midget that got me my job at the TV station. That's where I met Princess Buttercup. That's where Lauren and I went late at night when there wasn't anything else to do but study and sleep and we didn't feel like doing either. That's where Frank and I waited for the first screening of Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

And then I told her how to get there from her hotel: just drive down Milton. And I remembered the Jack in the Box where we went so many times after a night of ridiculousness, the Hastings where Gen worked for so long, the Arby's where Mr. Morenononsense and Gen met to begin with, and I remember all the other buildings and places. And sights.

Valerie's only there for a few days, and she's doing all the touristy stuff, so she won't have a chance to even sample the nightlife. At the time, I remember that we were all frustrated with the limited options of where to go: Do you go to Flag Brew, or Charlie's, or the Monte V? Or am I so desperate for something new that I'll even go to Mogollon? Or, god forbid, the Joint or whatever the fuck it's called this week?

Man. I don't know where it came from, but hearing about her being there made me insanely jealous. I haven't been to Flagstaff since the day I left. I remember parts of that day fairly clearly. I remember we had driven all the way out east past the mall and everything else. I was driving the seXterra, Gen was in the passenger's seat. Laurie and Lauren were in the backseat. The U-Haul was attached to my car. And Mark's car was somewhere nearby, too. I remember looking out the window, seeing the landscape rolling by, and I wondered if I'd ever be back or if I'd ever miss the place.

I haven't been back, but I want to now, which I honestly never thought would happen.



9 Comments


erika said:

i was up there a few weeks ago...my first time up there since i left six years ago...they were having the science in the park thing at wheeler park and i saw all these people i used to work with...it was nice...i would love to move back up there...Haydn would do so much better socially. the kids in her school suck...i want to smack them.

October 8, 2008 11:33 AM



Dee said:

during the last typhoon, we lost power in our apartment for a few hours. it reminded me of the time some of us were watching Goonies in morenonsense's room, and right before the end, the power went out. so we did the sane thing and headed downtown to help drink all flag brew's beer while it was still cold. that was such an awesome day. for some reason, i can't remember if you were there?

October 8, 2008 10:42 PM



morenonesense said:

Dee, i def. remember that... it wasn't even that warm of a day, if i remember clearly, and we drank cold beer outside on the patio anyway... yeah, i went back in march; i miss it all, i hope when i die heaven will be a little like those times, but when i went back recently, its all different. its too bad.

October 9, 2008 12:12 AM



TheExpat said:

I appologize in advance if this reply shocks or bores to death any reader but those to whom it is directed. I will also refer to Flagstaff as Flag, so a big Whatever in advance to our host, Ismael.

Honestly, Flagstaff is one of the best places on Earth. The weather is fair, the air is clean and the pace of life is far more relaxed than the big city. Some things that I'll never miss about it, though, are smug hippies. Being smug is one of those things I can't stand in people, one of those wanna-make-me-smash-faces kind of things I have always resented from everyone, myself included. Smug conservatives are bad enough, but smug hippies really drag me down.

Case in point: I invite some dude to my house for lunch. He comes in, takes one look at my TV, my furniture, my CDs, then looks at me and says, "What's it all for?" like I'm supposed to defend every gift from a friend or relative or personal purchase because IT'S A MATERIAL THING THAT WILL DAMN MY SOUL FROM HEAVEN FOREVER.

Some people really just seem to believe that if something is material, it's just bad, very very bad. I like material things, but I don't rely on them for happiness. Also, unlike most smug hippies from Flag, I don't have a mommy and daddy who put money into a trust fund for me so I can buy things and then smash them up or deface them only because they have the sad distinction of being something that you can buy with money. I have my possessions because they are useful, and I take care of my possessions because I know the environmental and financial costs of replacing them (or even disposing of them) are very high. And before this rant comes to include, "I work damn hard for my dad-blamed yadda yadda," I really want to drive home the point that when you have something, it's special, not in the same way life is special, but for other reasons that go far beyond the temporary enjoyment or transparent and empty social status material things can sometimes bring.

So if you're reading this and you're one of these Trustafarians I used to hang out with, fuck you and your smug attitudes about material things. You know one thing that's more abhorent than material wealth? Waste.

October 9, 2008 8:49 AM



Lauren said:

I think I remember that day, Dee. Didn't we all snicker about One-Eyed Willie? Weren't Gen and I still underage? Wasn't I cold (as usual)? That day, like so many, is just a fuzzy haze of happiness and the details escape me, even if the sentiments don't.

October 10, 2008 12:15 AM



Ismael Tapia II said:

erika,
I saw the pictures on your Myspace. I definitely missed the Monte V after that.

What's wrong with the kids where you're at?

Dee, Morenononsense, and Lauren,
Yeah, I'm going to say that I was there. I recognize the possibility that this is one of those things where I've just heard the story so many times that I implanted myself in the story, but I really think I was there. I definitely remember watching that movie in that room.

That was an awesome day. Yay.

TheExpat,
I was gonna say--didn't you hang out with a bunch of those fucktards all the time? What changed your mind about them?

God, I hate hippies so much!

October 10, 2008 5:17 PM



TheExpat said:

I don't think my mind was really ever made about some of them, but I always thought most of their attitudes were really naive. And for the record, real, hardworking people with liberal viewpoints that just happen to smell like patchoulli are mostly exempt from my angst, mostly.

But enough of that. Power outage day was one of the coolest days in Flagstaff that I can remember. I wish we were all back there again for a day or two.

October 10, 2008 7:07 PM



Justine Henin said:

I remember the trip to Madison, of course.

There is a lot to remember there in Flagstaff, and it seems foolish to try to write about it to try to capture anything.

The thing I find myself missing most, for some reason, is driving east from Flagstaff into a thunderstorm, or something, and listening to music. In the car. Just knowing that you're driving somewhere, etc., and that there's flagstaff to return to eventually--flagstaff, the way it was, circa 2001-2002.

It will never really be possible to have that feeling again, and that's sad.

I went camping in Sedona recently, at 740 mountain. And that will still be there and everything. But flagstaff isn't appealing without everyone there. it just isn't anything without everyone.

October 12, 2008 3:14 AM



Justine Henin said:

By the way, I've always had a very strong lesbian attraction to Princess Buttercup. What is she doing these days?

October 12, 2008 3:33 AM



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