I visited Mum in Jacksonville this weekend. I lived in Jax from grades 6-12. I never cared for the city much when I lived there - the town has a weird smell because of the paper mills there, it's conservative and religious, and it's not Ohio. Though to be fair, they've gotten rid of most of the smell, there is a Maxwell House coffee roasting plant that does smell good, they now have pro football, most people there are friendly in a Southern hospitality way, and does any teen like where she lives?

Anyway, as mentioned before, Jax is very conservative, and I had to laugh at a local newspaper article about a church play. Only this was no ordinary play, it was one of those "Scared Christian" deals, where they show people going to either heaven or hell. What blew my mind was that one of the characters is "considered a good, religious person but who didn't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ" - and for that reason, is condemned to hell. Where in the Bible does it say you and Christ have to have a "personal relationship"? And exactly what does that mean, anyway? Are we supposed to get together with Jesus and have a couple of beers every now and then? I don't mean to knock people's religious beliefs, but I just don't get that. Oh, and I saw a billboard for the "High Intensity Training Center" - that has to be a reference to that old joke about Special High Intensity Training.

In other news, Mum made a couple of anti-French remarks. While I did tell her I thought that changing the name of French fries was going too far, I gave her leeway since she grew up during WWII. We had a nice visit, visits with her are laid back, normally she sends Jeff and me to go out for a while. This usually consists of hitting the fabric stores, book shops, and The Great Big Honkin' Craft Store. My brother came over Sunday morning for breakfast, it was cool to see him. Though he made a startling revelation, he recently bought a 12-gauge shotgun. Greg doesn't seem the type, though his reason fit him, he intimated that he thinks society is on the decline and that is why he may need 12-gauge protection someday.

We stopped by Jeff's parents on the way home. They cannot fathom us just stopping by for an hour or so of chat, FOOD MUST BE INVOLVED. So we had a late lunch with them. Note to everyone: compliments like "you look so much better without all that extra weight" imply that one looked like crap before. My parents-in-law are nice, decent people, I find that if I don't contain my laughter when they say wacky things, the visits are easier for me, for some reason.