One Year
I have lived in Arlington, VA for exactly one year. The night before I left, an unexpected amount of friends ate with me at Mitsuwa and joined me at Gameworks afterward. JT gave me a gift. Jenny paid for my dinner. Mark gave me some CD-Rs of this new My Little Pony cartoon I’d never seen. When I left Gameworks, TF and Dave walked me to my car and I cried, telling them I don’t want to leave.
There’s an episode of Garfield where Jon tells him he has to go to the vet. Garfield questions in horror, “The VET?” On his way out the door, he held onto the door frame, leaving a trail of claw marks as Jon struggles to pull him out of the house. The way Garfield felt at that moment, is how I’ve felt about: going to the dentist, visiting the gynecologist, the three surgeries I had with my oral surgeon, paying my student loans to a non-accredited college I dropped out of, and moving to DC.
(Note: DMV stands for DC, Maryland and Virginia.) I’ve been told DC runs on government, but the DMV actually runs on seriousness. "Where did you go to college?" is a normal conversation starter. A DMV guy tells you he got his dog from Ghana while in the Peace Corps and he now works for the “state department.” A DMV woman will get her PhD, has her husband pay for it, and then becomes a stay-at-home mom. A DMV college student can somehow get her $50k/year tuition paid for. The poor parts of the DMV are a hot mess of traffic and people, and the rich people are far more uptight and annoying than they ever were back home. Being surrounded by these people does not make me feel like this is the place to be, as I cannot relate or have anything in common with them.
Socializing is incredibly difficult for me here. I’ve been to several parties or outings where I get stupid drunk to make up for my inability to talk to anyone who doesn’t play video games, watch the same shows, like the same music, etc. I once had a former-frat boy pester me about playing a drinking game with him. He kept insisting, and I finally blurted out, “SHUT UP! I’M TRYING TO TALK ABOUT PONIES.” To you, this behavior seems typical of me, but to a bunch of normals, this is probably very weird.
Also, the pizza is just okay. The streets have a wheel and spokes pattern, and in order for me to get to the closest fabric store, I have to drive through a death trap called Seven Corners. (It’s a seven-way intersection.) If you want to live in civilization, you have to deal with bull shit like this. Less population density means you probably live a place like Woodbridge. Woodbridge is about an hour out of DC. There is no Starbucks, people have southern accents, and there's scary conservative literature about "the gays" near the gas station counter.
Most of the people I know, love, and have spent over a decade of my life with are from Chicago. It is the most beautiful city and has the best food. I grew up in the suburbs, and when I moved into the city, I hated it. I had to take the L for two hours a day during rush hours, and those two hours made me incredibly nauseous. The art college I went to was a joke. I lived off $20 a week and couldn't do any cool city things. There was something incredibly lonely about living in a big city. You live with hundreds of other people in the same building. You’re right up against them on both sides, yet you never speak to each other. When I heard my neighbor unlock his door, I’d run up to the peep hole to see what he looked like.
There was one saving grace. I could be alone. All the lights would be off except a single IKEA desk lamp. I would stay up until 4AM drawing, listening to music, writing ridiculous erotic fiction and playing PS1 games on my PS2 because I couldn’t afford new games. There was absolutely, positively no one to bother me. There was no one there to wake me up in the morning. There was no one to see who I was bringing back to my apartment. There was no one to make a comment about how I’ve been in the same place for the past 10 hours doing the same thing and wearing the same clothes. After I dropped out of that poor excuse for an art school, I decided I was still going to go to school in Chicago because I wanted to stay there. I lived in the city for five years.
This was taken in my 1st apt. and is also proof that I've enjoyed taking photos of myself for years, which is admittedly embarrassing.
Before I left for DC, I told everyone I’d be back in a couple of years. At the time, I meant that. I really did. Now, I feel like I never want to come home. Even after all that bitching I did. (There’s plenty more where that came from too.) Living in DC, I have been able to realize that work is my highest priority in life. I am a living sweatshop. I have long hours, hard labor, and little pay. These are things I wouldn’t go through, if I didn’t truly love my work. I would have never realized this while living in Chicago because there are constant personal distractions. In DC and in Baltimore, I have received recognition for my original work. Just this past week, I finally figured out how to drum up online business. With all the serious business out here, people actually want my work because there is nothing else like it in the area.
The start of me loving the city of Chicago was when I realized I wanted to be alone, and could do so when living there. The fact of the matter is that could have happened in any city. The start of me really loving DC was when I realized I wanted to dedicate myself to my work, and living here gives me the ability to do this. The fact of the matter is this also could have happened in any city.
I never stopped loving Chicago. It is still my favourite city. I love DC too. The cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin had to be the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. I love showing my visiting friends all the amazing food, the cool neighbourhoods, and some of the best museums in the world. I don’t think I’ve ever known another place to give out tickets to the public for “A Conversation with Hideo Kojima.” Despite my difficulties socializing, I actually made met a few people who I'm happy to say are my friends. I’ve also got two of my best friends living just a state or two away from me. Because I live near Baltimore, I learned to love that city too! It has the best crabs, the best anime con, the best pizza outside of Chicago, and Malcolm Cuffie.
Mmm food...OH NO LURENE
Somehow, I’ve failed to mention Mike throughout this entire post when he is the very reason I moved to DC. He is my mischievous, gullible, absentminded, burrito-loving tanuki. He is my best friend and companion. He also helps guide me in my work decisions and is my regular booth assistant. Recently, we saw this weird Japanese film outdoors and ate sushi on a blanket. We discovered a bumpin’ burrito shack in a CVS parking lot and it’s open until 3AM! We went to Disney World together and I almost vomited after getting on the Mission to Mars ride. He watches ponies with me, even though he doesn’t really like them. He left the life-sized penis drawing I made on our dry-erase calendar because I would freak out every time he had to change out the month and days. Now, it won’t come off. We think it might be permanent.
People ask me what the fuck is going on in this drawing. That's for a whole other post.
I am incredibly lucky to know the people I do. Every person I’ve met and can remember has impacted me in some way. Moving has not affected my relationships. Maybe we see each other less, but that doesn’t mean I love them less. Knowing this, I could move anywhere. I want to move to Baltimore, but Mike doesn’t like that so much. He mentioned Microsoft’s interest in him, and I would totally be down for Seattle. (I could live near my best high school/college buddy!) As always, I would love to live in Southern California. The first time I moved away from home, and the first time I moved to a different state taught me it doesn’t matter where I live. My roots don’t disappear and every place offers new discoveries, whether it’s a self-realization or a bumpin’ burrito shack in a CVS parking lot that’s open until 3AM.
They start playing booty bass music for you when you walk in.