Littleton, U.S.A.

Good morning everyone.  Since I wrote about San Marcos, America yesterday, I thought that I would write about my hometown today.  I moved to San Marcos for college from the town of Littleton, New Hampshire.  I was born in Littleton 100 years ago, but I was an "Air Force brat" (now I'm just a brat), so I didn't spend my whole childhood in northern New Hampshire.  My parents divorced during the summer that I going into the 8th grade, and I went to school in Littleton through my high school graduation.

Littleton is a town that has a population in the neighborhood of 6,000 people, and it is a BIG town compared to those surrounding it.  My high school graduating class had 96 people in it if I remember correctly, and the following year 70 students graduated (70 was much closer to the norm than the 96).  Due to moving around as an Air Force kid when I was younger, I actually started school early and graduated from high school when I only 17 years-old, but I was happy in the class that I graduated with and also have many friends in the class that graduated the year after mine.  Moving around as much as I did when I was younger, the one constant that I had as an interest was sports.  One of the nice things about going to high school in Littleton and being, well..., athletic enough..., was that I was able to play football, basketball, and baseball for the Crusaders.  For you Texans reading this, my high school is comparable to a '2A' school in the Lone Star State.  During my high school summers, Remich Park was the focal point of my time (it was also the focal point of my time during the school year, as it was home to both our football and baseball field - same field).  I was a youth summer camp couselor as a high school student, helping to run activities for the elementary school kids.  One of the nice things about living in a small town is that everyone knows everyone and you have several friends.  One of the disadvantages about living in a small town is that everyone knows everyone and gossiping is a popular pasttime for several people, but you take the good with the bad, right?  ;)

As far as living in New Hampshire goes, there are two reasons that I couldn't do it right now.  The first is that I have become very acclimated and accustomed to living in or near large population centers.  Yesterday I told you that San Marcos is located about a half-hour from both Austin and San Antonio, and this is where I have spent the majority of my life now.  I have also lived in San Antonio, Dallas, and Las Vegas since moving away from Littleton.  I have always been a "night-owl" - the job that I am currently doing has me leaving work at about 4 a.m. after every shift.  When I dealt poker in Las Vegas, I worked the "graveyard shift" from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. I'm not saying that I necessarily like working this late, but I am used to staying up late.  When I visited my hometown about 3 years ago, the town was shutting down by 10:30.  Actually, the town was shutting down pretty much by sunset, but the VERY LAST things that were open were closing at 10:30 at night (just like Las Vegas - BA HA HA)...  The size of the area in northern New Hampshire also limits opportunities to events like concerts, sporting events, etc...  The second reason that I would have a difficult time living in New Hampshire is that it is... COLD!!!  You cannot fathom how much I HATE the cold...  When San Marcos got our cold snap a few nights back, I was working the backdoor from 8:30-10:00, got cold, and I was in a bad mood ALL... NIGHT... LONG...  I was wearing a sweatshirt and shorts and was dealing with a light but steady wind which was not helping.  The temperature was in the low 40's - THIS is the point where anyone from my hometown reading this blog just spit their coffee onto their keyboard...  Low's 40?!  Pfffttt!!!  :)  When I was in high school, I remember one winter where the wind chill factor was in the negative digits for 2 weeks straight, and my moustache had frost on it everyday by the time my 10-minute walk to school had ended.  Being cold, waiting for the hot water heater to warm up in the morning before taking a shower, warming the car up while scraping ice from the windshield, shoveling snow, driving in the snow, being perpetually sick - I... HATE... COLD... WEATHER!!!

In May 3 1/2 years ago I joined facebook at the recommendation of my brother.  He knew that I was about to take my trip back north to visit, and he told me that I had to join because so many people in my class were on it.  This is probably the best advice that he has ever given me.  He is also the one who got me into playing Texas Hold 'Em though, so...  :)  Due to small-town dynamic, I had probably half of my class and over a quarter of the following class as "facebook friends" before I even made the trip, and this helped to facilitate getting together with people when I arrived in Littleton.  I don't know how all of these friends of mine put up with the cold and the snow (as many of them have never moved away from Littleton), but it builds some character in you, I'll tell you that... :)

I hope that gives you some insight into where I came from.  Today I am basking in the 4-1 record that I had predicting the outcome of yesterday's college football games, and as a Steelers fan, today I am very intrigued about our matchup with the Redskins and RG III that I will be watching at my workplace within the next couple of hours...  ;)  I hope that you have a great day and I will see again tomorrow with my ramble.