It’s been almost 8 months since I moved from California to the previously-mostly-left-leaning State of New York, taking up residence in the heart of New York’s Separatist Confederate Appendage, known as Long Island.
As a forever Californian, I am truly grateful for every time I’m on the highway, and see a blue, black, or camouflage green Dodge Ram 1500 pickup, sporting any number of multiple Black-and-White-Thin-Blue-Line-Punisher-Skull-Let’s-Go-Brandon-I’m-Armed-And-I-Vote decals that never fail to remind me just how great a Second Amendment Patriot they are, because without said decals, I might lose my soul by inadvertently making eye-contact with them on my way to that Sanctuary City of Retail… Trader Joe’s.
Other things that I have learned in my 8 months of living just off the southern border of Canada are words and phrases used by New York TV meteorologists. Those terms… and their Straight Outta SoCal translations… include, in no particular order,
East Coast Terms…………………….West Coast Translations
Rain…………………………………………..Rain
Soaking Rain…………………………..Wet Rain
Wash-out…………………………………Rain (stay home)
Drought……………………………………Rain Next Tuesday
Tree Pollen Alert……………………..People Sneeze
Heat Index……………………………….People Move to California
Wind-chill………………………………..Cold
Lake Effect……………………………….Cold (stay home)
Arctic Air…………………………………..Cold (for Canada)
Dew Point…………………………………Meaningless Weather Obsession
Bomb Cyclone…………………………Patio Furniture into the Garage
Ice Fog………………………………………First Circle of Hell
Thunder Snow………………………….See: Lake Effect
Weather Watch………………………..Beer in Hand on Front Porch
Tropical Storm………………………….Now and Then Winter in Southern California
Weather Warning…………………….Beer in Hand in Basement
Hurricane…………………………………..I’d Rather Have an Earthquake
Truthfully, being raised in Southern California, I have never encountered a more weather-centric culture than the Tri-State (that’s New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, NOT Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky).
Also totally new to me is their weather-centrism, which, while totally legitimate as with Super-Storm Sandy, also carries over to weather-watching along the Southern-Atlantic Coast (because that’s where the hurricanes make landfall) as well as watching the West Coast of Africa (where the storms that become hurricanes originate).
Then again, I’ve also never known folks who would still rather live in a region where all that weather shit happens regularly, yet become visibly agitated when the idea of an adorable little 14-seconds-long-7-point-ohhhh earthquake in California finds its way into a casual weather conversation.
But that’s probably a blog post for some time in November, 2023.
And today’s question. Did you ever move from one part of the country or the world, to another distinctly different part of the country or the world? How did that change the way you think, about where you once were, as well as where you ended up?
This one, I’m extra curious about.
I’ll be reading.
Talk to you tomorrow.