Springfield and Its Awesomeness!

Hello everyone. I have been feeling like I should share some of mine and Vieve's experiences (more mine) in our new hometown of Springfield, Mass. This way you can get to know more about a town that people aren't very familiar with. 

If you were to ask Vieve what she thinks of Springfield she would probably tell you it's a hole, where you could get shot or mugged at any moment. This seems to be a bit deceiving, considering she doesn't get out of the apartment as much as she would like and her vivid imagination is let loose.  She locks the car door when a guy in a three piece suit gets too close to the car. She just hasn't had the chance yet to see the awesomeness that is Springfield, but with time she will come along.

Sure people are getting stabbed or shot every other day, but I'm not too worried. The way the news anchors announce these incidents so nonchalantly, it makes you feel much more comfortable. I figure it is a culture thing. I mean if you were visiting back home and saw a big family, you would say, "Hmm. Must be in Utah." In Springfield, when you see a homeless man attack a guy in a car with a meat cleaver, you say, "Hmm. The weather sure is nice today." Anyway, this wasn't supposed to be about the few negatives of Springfield, Mass., but the many positives of our town. I think that there are just too many great things that I could talk about, so will limit it to just a few for the time being.

I think that pretty much everyone knows how awesome Boxster is, especially the wife and sister-in-laws. Sadly, I wasn't able to bring him with me. Well, what could fill the void of Boxster? The answer is nothing. However, in a time of  need you have to go with what you got and I got squirrels. Lots and lots and lots of squirrels. The squirrels in Springfield are more plentiful than you could ever wish for. Normally, you would see a squirrel and not think anything of it. Here, you have to watch where you step or else squashed squirrel. Seriously, it's not unusual to see 5-7 of them at a given time and all over the city. For some reason, I find them so fascinating. I will sit at the window and watch a pack of them outside our window for 15+ minutes. One morning I opened the shades and two squirrels were in the middle of an aggressive fight, at least thats what I think they were doing. It looked as though one had a nut in his grasp and the other was wanting it real bad. They would chase each other all around and up the trees. Finally, after some sweet attempts at the nut, the loser decided it was a lost cause and started pursuing elsewhere. The winner took his prize and began to eat it with his back to the other squirrel.

This is a blurry close up of the two squirrels going at it on the tree. 

One is on the lower left side and the other is slightly higher to the right.

He must have still been paranoid because all of a sudden he leapt high into the air, like someone had snuck up and tapped his shoulder. It didn't scare him too bad because after he landed it was back to his nut. Then boom, two feet in the air. This process repeated itself a few more times. I found it difficult to take my eyes off of them. It was like watching a nature show, "When Squirrels Go Berserk!" The best is when you are walking in the direction of a squirrel in the open and he freezes. He thinks, "if I don't move, they won't see me." Well, that's enough about the squirrels for now, but you certainly haven't heard the last of them. I mean, I didn't even get to the dead squirrels.

Many people probably read the first part of the blog about the stabbings and what not, and were scared for us. I must say that it is okay and that we are taken care of. We have superheroes roaming the streets, during business hours, for our protection. I figure the politicians felt the need to reallocate all or most of the street repair money (needed for absurdly deep sinkholes in the roads), in order to continue Springfield's high standard of safety. 

As of the time being, I am only aware of two superheroes in our area. The first one is Fairy Man. First time I saw him he was protecting a local Burger King when I was coming home from school. I haven't seen any of his super powers yet, but I figure the purple and gold fairy wings on his back have something to do with the process. He occasionally has a a wand with a star at the tip, which must be for those difficult days. He also has giant earphones. Maybe this is for a bug like appearance, but not entirely sure. All I know, is when I see the purple and gold I can crack the car windows a little further.

The next superhero is the one and only Superman. I saw him early in the morning on my way to school, strolling down the sidewalk. I don't know how we got him but we sure are lucky. Either Springfield has more money than I expected or Superman is short on dough. Anyway, he seems to be sporting a slightly new outfit. Instead of tights he has switched to red sweat pants which are still tighter than normal.  I think they help him glide better when he is tired of flying. Of course he still has the original cape with the "S" logo on it. Come on, this Superman we're talking about. Although he might be contractually obligated to wear the original cape. Another change was, instead of having a full body suit made of tights, it was split up between the sweat pants and a regular Superman t-shirt.  This is obviously a practicality issue. He he needs to go to the bathroom sometime with full accessibility. Also, I think it is to promote slumping t-shirt sales. 

You may ask, "But KC, how do you know it isn't just a crazy bum in a Superman suit, walking down the street?". Good question and at first I thought this too. I failed to mention one thing though. He was carrying a briefcase and bums do not carry briefcases. Only can carrying devices. He was on his way to the office and hadn't clocked in yet. Probably had his lunch and spare suit in there. Thank goodness for these men. We can finally feel safe again .

Thanks for listening in and I hope I have convinced you to visit in the near future. If not, I will continue to try, with posts about Springfield and its Awesomeness.