Rapid City

 Rapid City, South Dakota is not well known; I've never bought any products from companies based in Rapid City, I've never seen ads for jobs there, I've never met anyone from there, I've never read of anything significant in history happening there. No major political party will go there to campaign and gather votes. At 78,000 people, t's not even the largest city in South Dakota, a notoriously unpopulated state (first is Sioux Falls). And that's the exact type of city that Jeopardy loves.... just big enough to matter, and just close enough to an important landmark (it's called the Gateway to Mount Rushmore) to matter. Rapid City is also the city that my parents and I passed by on the way to Yellowstone from Chicago when I was really little, like before-my-sister-was-born little, one of many road trips, some to Boston, some to Disney World in Florida (from CHICAGO! Man my parents really enjoyed the freedom of driving around America after being confined in cities in China). That's probably why I developed such a love of road trips: looking at maps, going places I'd never been before, charting out a route, sometimes through obscure cities like Rapid City. Also the open road is really a nice feeling of freedom and possibilities as opposed to being stuck on the I-405 going back and forth on your commute feeling trapped in a little bubble. 

Sometimes I pass by Jehovah's Witnesses stationed outside the train station or other urban centers, looking friendly and ready to chat. To their credit, they've never approached me or yelled out at me with their message, they've been very polite and respectful of others' time, and not tried to guilt me into talking them as I walk by. That in itself is kind of a good marketing tool for the Watchtower magazine group..... that actually makes me interested (not interested to stop and talk with them, but I could see it being a good selling group for others). They always come as a group, showing solidarity (not just one guy yelling into the void), they seem well dressed especially if it's a cold day, indicating comfort and stability, and they always have literature, I'm always down to read. But do they have to stand outside all day? I mean these people are out there as early as 8AM or so and still there in the later afternoon....quite the dedicated pitch. 

Pro tip for future elections: vote in a swing state if you want daily messages from numbers you don't know telling you to vote in that election 4 years later, even though you haven't lived there for 3 years. This is why people dislike election season, but also if you want to avoid it go to a solidly red or blue state, where politicans don't spend any time. On the bright least I don't live in Pennsylvania, which has become the No. 1 swing state in America, and has a sharp contrast between the rural areas and the big cities.... someone recently told me between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh it's basically the Deep South. That's where the dichotomy comes from. 

MJ and I went to watch the 1993 Tim Burton "classic" Nightmare Before Christmas tonight with accompnaying musical score played by orchestra, and we..... didn't enjoy it that much. It's like that time we watched Kubo and the 2 Strings.... we didn't think a Disney-backed kids movie could possibly be bad...... it wasn't bad but it didn't make me feel good. Is it a comedy? A drama? A horror movie? Is it a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie? Is it a musical? All of it is kinda garbled in there, that and some genuine scary things for little kids like vampires, zombies, and a guy walking around with an axe buried in his skull. What kind of audience was Tim Burton going for here? It's decent in the concept of a new type of cartoon/ visual effects, but I don't see how it gets a large following still 31 years later when it should have gone the way of movies like "Brave" or "Brother Bear" (aka not classic hits). Not everything can match my tastes, I guess. Some people like Nightmare Before Christmas and hate going on road trips; I am the opposite. 

Happy Halloween!