An occasion to post
So.
Flying into San Diego we passed directly over circles of cream colored houses, each built the same. We passed over many such developments and I found myself dreading my visit. Even on the plane I could tell the difference, the people, their hair, their clothes, their manners...I find San Diego offensive.
Then we passed over Balboa Park with a clear view of the Botanical Gardens and the Museum of Man. I started to feel better about my hometown.
Still I'd rather spend a day with the most shallow blowhard in Portland than almost anyone in San Diego. The level of elitism runs high, people sneer at you or ignore you. It's not like New York where they ignore you because they're too busy for you, it's like they get off on it.
(This post may turn into a lot of complaining...apologies. San Diego's deficiencies are forefront in my mind right now.)
Still the town offers some odd cultural perks. You never have to walk; the city seems to discourage walking by its very design. You can spend a thousand dollars and not a cent will go into the local economy. You can wear a t-shirt roughly 300 days a year and feel fine. The landscape is always evolving, always tearing down one tacky building to put up a new tacky building. And if a strip mall or an office park goes unused for decades, well why reuse that old space anyway? Obviously no one wants it. We can just expand the town more until we sprawl right into Los Angeles.
It makes me feel like I've come a long way.
Also I love seeing my friends, who seem to be on an upward swing for the first time in nearly a decade. And my family is nice, if not loud and a little boorish.
What amazes me, what my brother and I talked about, is the cult of negativity here. I rarely make friends so intent on cutting each other down. Not to say a lot of you reading this aren't elitist jerks (you totally are) but I feel more support, more encouragement from people outside of San Diego. It's like we were made fun of so much as kids for being different that we've internalized and now just rag on each other the moment we step outside the boundaries of what is cool and what is not.
Looking forward to home, to the north, to Maxwell and everything else about my quiet little life.
Flying into San Diego we passed directly over circles of cream colored houses, each built the same. We passed over many such developments and I found myself dreading my visit. Even on the plane I could tell the difference, the people, their hair, their clothes, their manners...I find San Diego offensive.
Then we passed over Balboa Park with a clear view of the Botanical Gardens and the Museum of Man. I started to feel better about my hometown.
Still I'd rather spend a day with the most shallow blowhard in Portland than almost anyone in San Diego. The level of elitism runs high, people sneer at you or ignore you. It's not like New York where they ignore you because they're too busy for you, it's like they get off on it.
(This post may turn into a lot of complaining...apologies. San Diego's deficiencies are forefront in my mind right now.)
Still the town offers some odd cultural perks. You never have to walk; the city seems to discourage walking by its very design. You can spend a thousand dollars and not a cent will go into the local economy. You can wear a t-shirt roughly 300 days a year and feel fine. The landscape is always evolving, always tearing down one tacky building to put up a new tacky building. And if a strip mall or an office park goes unused for decades, well why reuse that old space anyway? Obviously no one wants it. We can just expand the town more until we sprawl right into Los Angeles.
It makes me feel like I've come a long way.
Also I love seeing my friends, who seem to be on an upward swing for the first time in nearly a decade. And my family is nice, if not loud and a little boorish.
What amazes me, what my brother and I talked about, is the cult of negativity here. I rarely make friends so intent on cutting each other down. Not to say a lot of you reading this aren't elitist jerks (you totally are) but I feel more support, more encouragement from people outside of San Diego. It's like we were made fun of so much as kids for being different that we've internalized and now just rag on each other the moment we step outside the boundaries of what is cool and what is not.
Looking forward to home, to the north, to Maxwell and everything else about my quiet little life.