Fox Force Five joke

Well, it's been a whole two weeks since I've updated my poor little blog. I know that everyone has been inconsolable since then, so to anyone who's been upset, I apologize. Also, please know that I am not yet that full of myself, and I'm totally kidding.
I wish I could say that I've been living such a fabulously, action-packed life in the big city that it's kept me from the daily musings that I started in January.
That has not so much been the case.
The most fun I've had recently involved waking up at 11 a.m. on a Saturday to attend a 4-hour beer tasting, replete with a band that played "Sweet Home Alabama," obviously, just for me. Yeah, that sounds oh, so, chic, I know, but it put a smile on my face.
No, sadly, I was just given a different temporary employment assignment that did not let me gaze fixated on the computer screen wondering what porn sites I could get away with looking at..(again, kidding)
I have had a rough week, involving sleep deprivation, and on one night, something called a growler of beer, so if this jumps around, I apologize, but I like to think that my semi-incoherent posts are the ones that have that certain "je ne sais quoi."
The other day I was having a conversation with someone who frequently describes me as a "kooky liberal," and I thought about how vastly less liberal I have become in the last 5-7 years.
I was a self-described "feminazi" when I was in high school and early college and can remember berated a certain whipped boyfriend when he deigned to open doors for me. What a self-important idiot I was. I could turn anything into an inequality issue and Lord have mercy on whoever had the temerity to argue with me, and these would degenerate into near-screaming matches with me vowing never to hang out with whoever had offended me again.
What a long, strange trip it's been. You would think that having worked for a political campaign, I would've become more indoctrinated toward that particular viewpoint, but I honestly think it was the absolute best thing I could've done in terms of expanding my horizons and being open toward opinions that differ from mine.
I will likely never vote Republican. I can't say it for sure, though, and that's something I never thought that I would even consider.
I am now able to truly listen to others' opinions and even if I don't agree, carry on an intelligent two-sided conversation that generally doesn't end with my stomping away and calling someone a poopy-head or whatever brilliant attack I used to come up with when someone incensed me so badly just for not agreeing with me.
And I prefer it this way. I left Mississippi because I wanted to experience things that I had never experienced before, and whatever other things I set out to do and haven't accomplished, I have and continue to achieve that, and I feel pretty good about that.
I remember having a conversation in Mississippi when I was on one of about 4 "farewell bar tours" before I left that I think serves as a good reminder as to how far I've come.
I was in a certain bar I enjoyed having the occasional cocktail and witty banter in before I left, and I happened to meet a guy who worked for a local state representative. I was flirting with him a little, trying to use a little "leaving town mojo" someone had told me to take advantage of, and then he lowered the boom about who he worked for, and I proudly proclaimed, "Well, I'm moving to Pennsylvania to work for John Kerry," and off we went.
Before the night was over, the bartender had declared me wholeheartedly unpatriotic, as well as the skanky barmaid, and this guy and I, while perhaps still flirting, were at complete odds with each other, and I was frankly disgusted with myself for still flirting with him. I was at the bar well after closing time while poor Ellen waited in the car for me, thinking that I couldn't possibly argue with all of those people for much longer. Wow, was she wrong. I was practically thrown out of the bar and told that I was probably going to hell for working for John Kerry, or at the very least, people "like me," would be sorry for not agreeing with the war.
So, clearly, I've had some experiences a little different than that since leaving, and I don't think it's just because of the difference in ideologies here. I think I've become a lot more open to finding out why people think the way they do, rather than immediately lashing out at them for not thinking the way I do.
And there's not a thing wrong with that.