(no subject)
Ok, so I was inpired by Mel's post and dug out this old list of "You know you're from Northern Virginia if...." Bold are the ones that apply to me, italics sorta apply, regular font means it doesn't apply.
You know you're from Northern Virginia if....
1. Speed limits are just suggestions. I actually do almost always follow the limits, but they really are only suggestions. If I'm going 60 on the Beltway (5 mph over the limit), I'm the slowest one on the road by at least 5-10 mph.
2. You take a major highway to school (95, 66,28, etc). 495 (7 sorta counts).
3. You constantly complain about there being nothing to do, even though you are right next to DC.
4. You have at least 2 friends who have no idea what their parents do because its "top secret" government work.
5. 50% of your senior class plans on going either to Mason, JMU, Tech or UVA. Out of ~430, 148 to UVA, 25 to W&M, 25 to Tech (they didn't include W&M in this, but they should have).
6. When people ask where you're from, you tell them DC because its easier to explain.
7. You've never told someone you're from Virginia without putting "northern" in front of it.
8. When you and your friends get bored you all whip out your cell phones and start playing with them. Actually at TJ, it was TI-89's.
9. Its not actually tailgating unless your bumper is touching the car in front of you.
10. A yellow light means at least 5 more cars can get through.
11. A red light means 2 more can.
12. It takes you 30 minutes to drive 10 miles
13. Your local news is national news
14. If you hear the word "sniper" one more time you're going to slap someone
15. You actually know what the black boxes at stoplights are for
16. Even if your high school is only a year old, its already overcrowded Well, not the year old bit, but everything's overcrowded, even one year after a renovation.
17. You have over 500 students in your graduating class
18. Despite the fact that Virginia fought for the south in the Civil War, you are NOT, under ANY circumstances, a "southerner". In terms of what? I am the first in my family to be born south of Chicago, but I am something of a southerner politically.
19. You are friends with people from at least 2 other high schools
20. You know at least 2 people who drive a mercedes, BMW, Lexus, etc.
21. The cars in the student parking lot are woth 3x those in the teacher parking lot. Or more...
22. You are amused by visiting relatives who are actually excited to see Washington DC
23. You are amazed when you go out of town and the people at McDonalds speak English.
24. You can cross 4 lanes of traffic in under 30 seconds. Can.. but don't (it's more than a little stupid to do so around here.)
25. There are at least 3 malls within 20 minutes of your house. Ha, there are probably 10 or so. There are two major major malls within ~5-10 minutes.
26. There are at least 6 Starbucks within 20 minutes of your house
27. You or someone in your family has a Smart Tag.
28. Homework/Extra credit for a class has been to visit a museum in DC.
29. When traveling, you have your choice of 3 airports. And my parents always pick BWI to save money, even though its not close at all.
30. You don't actually like the Redskins/Wizards (except when Jordan was playing). But I do.... (Well, not the Wizards, I don't actually like basketball.)
31. An inch of snow and you miss 3 days of school. The sentiment is right, even if the specifics are off.
32. All the potholes just add a little excitement to your driving experience
33. Stop signs mean slow down a little, but only if you feel like it
34. A rich white kid driving a BMW while blasting rap music is a common occurance
35. You call things "ghetto" even though in most of the rest of the country it'd be high class
36. You or most of your friends have a 3 car garage. And we have two cars parked outside of the garage at the moment as well. (One's my grandparents car, which is here while they're in England, and the other is my mom's car, since my car gets one of the three garage slots.
37. You don't actually keep your cars in it. Well, we do but they overflow.
38. When you were driving on the beltway at 2:13am on a Tuesday there was still traffic. Again, sentiment is right, even if the particulars aren't.
39. Crown Victoria = undercover cop. Either a cop or Kyle.
40. A slow driver is someone who isn't going at least 10mph over the speed limit. And I'm a slow driver.
41. You understand the meaning of "If you don't get it, you don't get it" Sadly, yes.
42. Subway is a fast food place. The transportation system is known as Metro, and only Metro
43. You've taken a wrong turn somewhere late at night and ended up in a bad part of DC(ex. anacostia)
44. Most of Loudoun County is the "middle of nowhere"
45. They just tore down the old farm house across the street and put 12 new houses in its place. See numbers 31 and 38.
46. The word Hfstival actually means something to you
47. Someone has honked at you because you didn't peal out the second the light turned green. Love the spelling error...
48. You've honked at someone because they didn't peal out the second the light turned green.
49. Rush hour lasts all day
50. For the cost of your house, you could own a small town in Iowa
51. Helicopters and airplanes flying above your neighborhood is a normal occurance.
52. 9:30 isnt just a time, its a place. Haha, yes. I'm not likely to show up there though.
53. If you stay on the same road long enough, it will eventually have 3 new names. Or more...
54. You have to dial the area code to call your neighbor
55. You live 5 minutes from at least 2 high schools, but you go to one thats 30 minutes away. Incredibly true (they must have written this one for the Jefferson kids). TJ is ~30 minutes away without traffic, McLean is 10-15, Marshall is 10, Langley is 10-15, and I could go on almost forever.
56. You know at least 3 alternate routes to avoid sitting at a stop light.
57. You can't pull up to a 7-11 without seeing at least one cop, and usually there's another cop sitting not too far away.
58. You refer to distances in minutes, not miles. Doesn't everyone nowadays?
59. When you put on your turn signal to change lanes, the people next to you speed up.
60. Talking on metro in the morning is prohibited. And you can't chew food on the Metro either apparently (but chewing gum is ok). O.o
So there's my list, feel free to comment/critique.
Edit: Owen's off to Real Madrid... Not good...
You know you're from Northern Virginia if....
1. Speed limits are just suggestions. I actually do almost always follow the limits, but they really are only suggestions. If I'm going 60 on the Beltway (5 mph over the limit), I'm the slowest one on the road by at least 5-10 mph.
2. You take a major highway to school (95, 66,28, etc). 495 (7 sorta counts).
3. You constantly complain about there being nothing to do, even though you are right next to DC.
4. You have at least 2 friends who have no idea what their parents do because its "top secret" government work.
5. 50% of your senior class plans on going either to Mason, JMU, Tech or UVA. Out of ~430, 148 to UVA, 25 to W&M, 25 to Tech (they didn't include W&M in this, but they should have).
6. When people ask where you're from, you tell them DC because its easier to explain.
7. You've never told someone you're from Virginia without putting "northern" in front of it.
8. When you and your friends get bored you all whip out your cell phones and start playing with them. Actually at TJ, it was TI-89's.
9. Its not actually tailgating unless your bumper is touching the car in front of you.
10. A yellow light means at least 5 more cars can get through.
11. A red light means 2 more can.
12. It takes you 30 minutes to drive 10 miles
13. Your local news is national news
14. If you hear the word "sniper" one more time you're going to slap someone
15. You actually know what the black boxes at stoplights are for
16. Even if your high school is only a year old, its already overcrowded Well, not the year old bit, but everything's overcrowded, even one year after a renovation.
17. You have over 500 students in your graduating class
18. Despite the fact that Virginia fought for the south in the Civil War, you are NOT, under ANY circumstances, a "southerner". In terms of what? I am the first in my family to be born south of Chicago, but I am something of a southerner politically.
19. You are friends with people from at least 2 other high schools
20. You know at least 2 people who drive a mercedes, BMW, Lexus, etc.
21. The cars in the student parking lot are woth 3x those in the teacher parking lot. Or more...
22. You are amused by visiting relatives who are actually excited to see Washington DC
23. You are amazed when you go out of town and the people at McDonalds speak English.
24. You can cross 4 lanes of traffic in under 30 seconds. Can.. but don't (it's more than a little stupid to do so around here.)
25. There are at least 3 malls within 20 minutes of your house. Ha, there are probably 10 or so. There are two major major malls within ~5-10 minutes.
26. There are at least 6 Starbucks within 20 minutes of your house
27. You or someone in your family has a Smart Tag.
28. Homework/Extra credit for a class has been to visit a museum in DC.
29. When traveling, you have your choice of 3 airports. And my parents always pick BWI to save money, even though its not close at all.
30. You don't actually like the Redskins/Wizards (except when Jordan was playing). But I do.... (Well, not the Wizards, I don't actually like basketball.)
31. An inch of snow and you miss 3 days of school. The sentiment is right, even if the specifics are off.
32. All the potholes just add a little excitement to your driving experience
33. Stop signs mean slow down a little, but only if you feel like it
34. A rich white kid driving a BMW while blasting rap music is a common occurance
35. You call things "ghetto" even though in most of the rest of the country it'd be high class
36. You or most of your friends have a 3 car garage. And we have two cars parked outside of the garage at the moment as well. (One's my grandparents car, which is here while they're in England, and the other is my mom's car, since my car gets one of the three garage slots.
37. You don't actually keep your cars in it. Well, we do but they overflow.
38. When you were driving on the beltway at 2:13am on a Tuesday there was still traffic. Again, sentiment is right, even if the particulars aren't.
39. Crown Victoria = undercover cop. Either a cop or Kyle.
40. A slow driver is someone who isn't going at least 10mph over the speed limit. And I'm a slow driver.
41. You understand the meaning of "If you don't get it, you don't get it" Sadly, yes.
42. Subway is a fast food place. The transportation system is known as Metro, and only Metro
43. You've taken a wrong turn somewhere late at night and ended up in a bad part of DC(ex. anacostia)
44. Most of Loudoun County is the "middle of nowhere"
45. They just tore down the old farm house across the street and put 12 new houses in its place. See numbers 31 and 38.
46. The word Hfstival actually means something to you
47. Someone has honked at you because you didn't peal out the second the light turned green. Love the spelling error...
48. You've honked at someone because they didn't peal out the second the light turned green.
49. Rush hour lasts all day
50. For the cost of your house, you could own a small town in Iowa
51. Helicopters and airplanes flying above your neighborhood is a normal occurance.
52. 9:30 isnt just a time, its a place. Haha, yes. I'm not likely to show up there though.
53. If you stay on the same road long enough, it will eventually have 3 new names. Or more...
54. You have to dial the area code to call your neighbor
55. You live 5 minutes from at least 2 high schools, but you go to one thats 30 minutes away. Incredibly true (they must have written this one for the Jefferson kids). TJ is ~30 minutes away without traffic, McLean is 10-15, Marshall is 10, Langley is 10-15, and I could go on almost forever.
56. You know at least 3 alternate routes to avoid sitting at a stop light.
57. You can't pull up to a 7-11 without seeing at least one cop, and usually there's another cop sitting not too far away.
58. You refer to distances in minutes, not miles. Doesn't everyone nowadays?
59. When you put on your turn signal to change lanes, the people next to you speed up.
60. Talking on metro in the morning is prohibited. And you can't chew food on the Metro either apparently (but chewing gum is ok). O.o
So there's my list, feel free to comment/critique.
Edit: Owen's off to Real Madrid... Not good...