DC in retrospect

i moved here two and a half years ago. i definitely felt like an outsider. part of that was living on the wrong side of the Potomac, and part was not having any friends that i wasnt related to. nowadays im living in the district proper in the kind of neighborhood that i think i have always wanted to live in on some level. so life is better now, but looking back, it never was that bad, but it wasnt a dream either.

at this point in time i realize that i have met some really cool people here and that DC can be a cool place. now that i dont live in suburbia, i can walk to good bars, concert venues, and basically dont need a car except for work. its pretty bad ass. i never would have met killer fucking people like Rob and Heidi, a fellow writer and blogger. unfortunately, due to the nature of this town, both have moved on to other opportunities and locales.

now allow me to rant on what still pisses me off about this town...

public transit: its so tantilizingly close to being good, but falls short in a few key ways. first, lack of coverage. there are large swaths of the city that are miles from a metro and the busses that are supposed to fill the gaps are so goddamned unreliable, you never know when or if a bus will come. now i realize that building new tunnels and shit is not only very time and money consuming, but it also costs a lot and takes years, but come on, if you want to calim to have one of the best transit systems around, back that shit up and start building. or at least get some bus routes that function on something like a schedule. catching a bus is like getting a cab, you just have to hope one comes by. and dont even get me started if you need to take public transit somewhere outside the city. the suburbs are a minimum of an hour away and cant even fathom what it would be like to get from Fairfax to College Park, its gotta take a damn day.

voting rights: this is supposed to be the fucking worldwide seat of god damned democracy and im not represented in congress? what kind of ass backwards shit is that? i really dont know what else to say... nearly 600,000 people without a voice. bullshit. and congress has the balls to try to dictate gun laws that affect us, not them, without even a single vote on it. how hard is it? can you even imagine is congress tried to tell Texas what the gun laws there were going to be? it would be a god damned nightmare. its complete bullshit.

traffic: seriously, fix public transit! i dont want to drive, but it takes too damn long to get where im going. i dont want to be on the road with all sorts of diplomat plates. they dont give a shit, theyve got immunity. not to mention that if theres weather, it takes twice as long to get anywhere. its like water causes retardation around here. forget about getting anywhere if its snowing. you might as well stay home and beat your car with a sledge hammer.

suburban jobs: my office is in Fairfax. fucking why? all our job sites are in the city, why cant our office be? i waste so much time and gas getting to and from work. if we were anywhere in DC, it would cut costs of commuting so much. unless you live in Leesburg or Stafford, but you have to be a special type of stupid and a bit masochistic for that. i like punishing myself with hangovers, not driving in traffic to a cookie cutter house in a land of strip malls.

the nationals: they suck. hard.

no one is from here: or fucking stays here. it seems like i meet some cool people, then they move. this town is full of transients. i mean i guess its okay, but it would be nice to have some constants.

but i do like the dive bars near me. and rock creek park.

2 years ago i would give this town a score of 2 out of 10. now, its more like a 6 or so. better than worse, but i wouldnt take you home without a serious set of beer goggles. and no, youre not meeting my family. youd be fucking lucky to meet my friends. get some exercise, get a hair cut, and a get a ride, you scrubby skank, and wash yourself off, then we will talk. you make me yearn for Detroit, for fuck sake, at least that town has a personality....